Mrs. Cook was lazy. Mr. Cook had to cook dinner and wash the dishes every day. One evening, Mr. Cook was cooking dinner. Mrs. Cook was watching TV. Henry, their son, came into the kitchen and said in a low voice, “Dad, you pretend(假装) to be ill after supper, then mum will wash the dishes.”

After dinner Mr. Cook said that he felt some pain in his back. His wife was very worried. She said, “If you are ill, what should I do?” Henry came to his father to make him comfortable(舒服的) with his hands.

“Are you better?” Mrs. Cook asked him after a while. “Yes, I feel much better now. I’m all right.” Before Henry could stop his words, Mr. Cook told his wife.

“Really? Go and wash the dishes!” said Mrs. Cook.

Fin is puppet (玩偶). He is made of wood. There are strings on his arms and legs. There are also strings on his hands and feet. Children like to play with. They move his arms and legs. They move his hands and feet too. They cannot move his nose or his mouth either.

Pip is a puppet too, but she is made of cloth. She is a glove puppet. She doesn’t have any strings. Children like to play with Pip too. They can put their small hands inside Pip. They can put their fingers in her hands and move them.

We’ve all felt confused before. The feeling of not knowing what the answers or solutions are can make us feel useless, stupid, and cause us to worry.

People are often likely to think the person who has all of the answers is smarter than the one who asks a lot of questions. As a result, people often try to hide their confusion in different ways. People sometimes act as if they have the answers. At other times, people make guesses or create an answer even if they know it isn’t right.

But confusion might actually be a good thing. When we jump to an answer, we don’t have time to explore (探索) the thing we’re confused about. Instead of paying no attention to your confusion, accepting it and taking the opportunity to think about what’s confusing can benefit our learning. In fact, scientific studies show that confusion actually leads to deeper understanding. A 2004 study explored six moods that people feel while learning, including upset, bored, and confused. They found that students who spent more of the lesson confused learned the most. In another study, scientists tried to confuse students by giving them contradicting (矛盾的) information. Students who expressed confusion during the lesson did better on the final test. Not knowing the answer to a problem gives us space to look at different ways to solve it. The feeling of confusion also encourages us to look more deeply into the problem. In the end, this helps us understand the topic on a deeper level.

Confusion is also important for learning your identity (身份). People find out their identity in two steps. The first step is exploration, where you try out different groups and values and see what fits. The next step is commitment, when you decide firmly (坚定地) about some parts of your identity. You make up your mind that you will act in a way that fits your identity. Exploring your identity can feel very confusing. But a study found, that people who do the most exploring about who they are have better outcomes such as higher self- confidence and self-esteem (自尊) later in life.

So, instead of trying to hide your confusion, try a new method, ask for help, or research different ways to deal with the problem to work through your confusion.

9 . Rainforests are home to a rich variety of medicinal plants, food, birds and animals. Can you believe that a single bush in the Amazon may have more species of ants than the whole of Britain! About 480 varieties of trees may be found in just one hectare of rainforest.

Rainforests are the lungs of the planet-storing vast quantities of carbon dioxide and producing a significant amount of the world’s oxygen. Rainforests have their own perfect system for ensuring their own survival; the tall trees make a canopy (树冠层) of branches and leaves which protect themselves, smaller plants, and the forest animals from heavy rain, intense dry heat from the sun and strong winds.

Amazingly, the trees grow in such a way that their leaves and branches, although close together, never actually touch those of another tree. Scientists think this is the plants’ way to prevent the spread of any tree diseases and make life more difficult for leaf-eating insects like caterpillars. To survive in the forest, animals must climb, jump or fly across the gaps. The ground floor of the forest is not all tangled leaves and bushes, like in films, but is actually fairly clear. It is where dead leaves turn into food for the trees and other forest life.

They are not called rainforests for nothing! Rainforests can generate 75% of their own rain. At least 80 inches of rain a year is normal-and in some areas there may be as much as 430 inches of rain annually. This is real rain-your umbrella may protect you in a shower, but it won’t keep you dry if there is a full rainstorm. In just two hours, streams can rise ten to twenty feet. The humidity (湿气) of large rainforests contributes to the formation of rainclouds that may travel to other countries in need of rain.

10 . Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side. Most people know this joke. But recently, some people have been much more worried about how the grizzly bear and mountain lion can cross the road. “Millions of animals die each year on U.S. roads,” the Federal Highway Administration reports. In fact, only about 80 ocelots (豹猫), an endangered wild cat, exist in the U.S. today. The main reason? Roadkill.

“Eco-passages” may help animals cross the road without being hit by cars. They are paths both over and under roads. “These eco-passages can be extremely useful, so that wildlife can avoid road accidents,” said Jodi Hilty of the Wildlife Protection Society.

But do animals actually use the eco-passages? The answer is yes. Paul Beier of Northern Arizona University found foot marks left by mountain lions on an eco-passage that went under a highway.   This showed that the lions used the passage.

Builders of eco-passages try to make them look like a natural part of an area by planting trees on and around them. Animals seem to be catching on. Animals like salamanders (蝾螈) and grizzly bears are using the bridges and underpasses.

The next time you visit a park or drive through an area with a lot of wildlife, look around. You might see an animal overpass!