2 . In today’s Internet age, online games can be a change from pressure of school and work. However, they can also cause problems and unhealthy addictions. This is most clearly seen in the example of South Korea. This country has the world’s highest percentage of high-speed Internet services. It also has a high number of game players who are addicted to online games.

In 2004, a young man died after playing online games almost nonstop for 86 hours. A 12-year-old boy stole $ 16,000 from his father to continue online games which he could not get away from. Such problems are spreading to other parts of Asia as well. In 2005, it was reported that about 80 percent of China’s 13.8 million online game players were under 25. And many of these were said to be addicted. Such numbers point toward a growing problem among Chinese youth.

Dr. Sue–Huei Chen, a psychologist, discovered some signs of at-risk people. Such people often go online to escape from their problems. And they usually have no friendship or good social skills. They feel the need to spend more and more time online, so they may be absent from school or family. And they become upset if anyone tries to limit their online game playing.

3 . When is the best time for us to enjoy the bright moon? Of course, it is Mid-Autumn Festival, one of the most important holidays in China. We look at the moon, eat moon cakes, and get together with our families. The tradition is thousands of years old.

The moon, the key part of the festival, is special to most Chinese people. We enjoy and admire it. We use the round moon to describereunion, that is, get together.

Our respect of the moon dates back to ancient times. There is the legend of Chang’e flying to the moon — the most famous story about the moon. Many Chinese poets connect the moon with homesickness. For example, “Beside my bed a pool of light. Is it hoarfrost on the ground?” fromJing Ye Si(Thoughts in the Silent Night) by Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai.

Today, the moon is still important to Chinese people. The Miao minority in Guizhou province has a special custom. On the night of Mid-Autumn Festival, young people dance under the moon to find their other half.

However, Western people see the moon differently. In some stories, the full moon is somewhat frightened to people. The most well-known story is the werewolf. A werewolf usually looks like a human, but changes into a wolf-like creature when there is a full moon. Also, if someone is very excited or even crazy about something, others may joke, “It must be a full moon.”

4 . In school all over the world, boys and girls are learning foreign languages. Everybody knows his own language, but another one is very useful, in especial when we travel to other countries. If we go to France, we ought to be able to speak French, and in Germany people will expect us to understand German.

How many languages are there in the world? There are about fifteen hundred, but many of them are not very important. English is one of the most important because so many people use it, not only in England and the USA, but in other parts of the world. About 200, 000, 000 people speak it as their own language, and another 200, 000, 000 use it as a second language. It is difficult to say how many people are learning it. Many millions of schoolboys and schoolgirls are trying to do so.

Which is the best way to learn a language? We should remember that we all learned our own language well when we were children. If we could learn a second language in the same way, it would not seem so difficult. Think of what a baby does. It listens to what people say and it tries to imitate what it hears. When it wants anything, it has to ask for it. It is using the language, talking in it, and thinking in it all the time. If people had to use a second language all the time, they would learn it quickly.

It is important to remember, also, that we learn our own language by hearing people speak it, not by seeing what they write. We imitate what we hear. In school, you learn to read and write as well as to hear and speak, but it is best to learn all new words through the ear. You can read them, spell them, and write them later.

6 . It happens every spring. Flowers suddenly burst out everywhere on the same day as if they were in tune with one another. But how exactly do plants “know” when to flower?

It is a question that has puzzled biologists for years. But according to Science Daily, a US research group may have finally answered it-the secret lies in the protein called FKF1. This allows plants to sense the differences in day lengths so that they can tell the seasons are changing.

Researchers spotted the FKF1 protein when they were studying a plant called Arabidopsis. We found that the FKF1 protein is a photoreceptor（感光器）. This means it is sensitive to, and can be activated by sunlight.

Plants produce the protein every day in the late afternoon throughout the year. If there is no light at this time, for example, in winter, when the sun goes down early, the protein won’t be activated. But when spring comes and the days get longer, the FKF1 protein can be activated by daylight as the plants “know” it is time to flower. “The presence of light in the late afternoon is the signal for plants that the days are getting longer and that it is the best time for flowering.” explained Pakato Imaizumi assistant professor at the University of Washington and leader of the study.

The daylight-sensing system also keeps plants from flowering when conditions are poor for growing, such as during autumn or winter. When the weather is cold and days are short.

Although researchers have only studied how the FKF1 protein works in the Arabidopsis, they believe that the process is similar in many other more complex（复杂的）plants, including crops like rice and wheat. This could be useful to the agricultural industry.

“If we can control the timing of flowering, we might be able to increase crop yield by quickening or delaying this.” Imaizumi said “Also, if we could control the timing of flowering in horticultural plants, they may be worth more commercially（商业上）.”

New technology based on this research might also lead to higher use of biofuel（生物燃料）plants. This would be helpful for providing energy.

7 . Do you know what family instructions（家训）are? They are common beliefs（信念）that family members follow. In ancient China, people passed down their family instructions from generation（一代人）to generation.

Some schools in Zhejiang are encouraging students to learn more about their own family instructions. At Hangzhou Gongyi Middle School and Hangzhou Xuejun High School, it was part of students’ winter vacation homework to learn about their family instructions.

Meng Yaohan, 16, from Hangzhou Xuejun High School, looked at her family instructions. One of them is “Don’t take the wrong way”, a piece of advice that has been passed down for 100 years. Her father told her how her grandfather stuck to his “right way” to become an engineer. “It encouraged me to pursue what I love,” she said.

Shen Duanjie, 14, from Hangzhou Gongyi Middle School, has got good from his family instructions—“democratic”（民主的）and “equal”, they have helped him get along with his parents.

The school has also published（出版）books about two classic collections of family instructions—Family Instructions of Zhu Xi and Family Instructions of Yan Clan. The books include dialogues and pictures drawn by students.

Gong Zhenyue, 14, drew pictures for one of the instructions in Family Instructions of Yan Clan. She was impressed by the instruction, which says that parents should not only love their children, but also educate them. “ It made me understand my parents’ strictness with me, ” she said. She made it her own family instruction.

8 . We all know the strange feeling of watching the time change on a clock. You never see it change because the hands move so slowly. But of course, the time is changing all the time.

Human faces, like clock faces, are also changing. And like clocks, the changes take place too slowly to be noticed. Over many thousands of years, though, huge changes are possible. For example, the human brain tripled in size and began to think more. Our faces became flatter.

If our heads became larger in the past, how will things change in the future? Unlike the changes of a clock face, the changes in human faces are very difficult to predict. One of the main reasons for this is the way in which we can now control parts of nature. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, all changes were natural, but now we can actively choose paths for our own evolution.

A US artist named Nickolay Lamm has recently offered an idea. It is what human faces may one day look like. The designs, inspired by his conversation with scientist Alan, show humans with larger heads and eyes, especially the forehead may be larger because of increased usage of the brain.

Just a few hundred years ago, most humans were working in the fields, whereas nowadays more and more people receive education. These are just predictions, and no one can be sure how human beings will become in the future. But with such huge changes in our environment, it seems likely that beings will become in the future. But with such huge changes in our environments, it seems likely that we will look very different in the future.

9 . We often face the following situations in our daily life: The woman next door plays her piano after 12 o’clock at night. The family across the street never cleans up their yard. The rubbish blows into your yard. The man next door always parks his car in front of your drive.

Have things like this ever happened to you? If so, you may ask yourself, “Who are these people? Why are they doing these things to me?”

These days, many people don’t know their neighbors. Sometimes we share a friendly smile or say hello, but lots of people don’t even know their neighbor’s names! When you don’t know someone, it’s easy to be angry when something has happened that you think is unfair. You think, “Maybe they like to make me angry,” or “Maybe they do it on purpose.” Believe it or not, your neighbors probably don’t mean to irritate (激怒) you. Often, they don’t even know that they’re making you feel angry. So before you take unusual steps to fix the problem, you should discuss it with them first.

When you move towards your neighbors, you should talk to them in a friendly manner. Praise their children to make them feel good. Then explain the situation. And if you can think of a simple way to solve the problem, suggest it.

If talking doesn’t work, ask another person to help. This person can listen to both sides of the story and help you and your neighbor solve the situation.

Finally, sometimes it’s a good idea to avoid the problem. Depending on the problem, it might be best to just stay out of your neighbor’s way.