1 . Do you drink enough water every day? Studies show that drinking enough water helps you deal with health problems. How much water you should drink depends on many things. There are also many other ways that are good for your body.
It's useful for your body to drink enough water. It might help you lose weight. Some researches have suggested that drinking enough water can help you burn calories (卡路里). And it will avoid staying hungry. Both being hungry and tired might be the signs of not drinking enough water.
There are also many other ways that are useful for your body. For example, swimming, a shower is a great exercise. It gives you a full-body exercise and rises you up. It even doesn’t make you sweaty (流汗的), because the water around you will keep your body cool. Like swimming, a shower is also great for your arms and legs. A shower will get you cleaner. It might also help keep you away from illness. A study found that people who took hot-to-cold showers had fewer sick days from work.
But if the thought of all that activity has left you tired, you’ll be cheered to learn that floating (漂浮) in warm salt water has been shown by researchers to lower stress and reduce pain, while increasing active feelings and sleep quality (质量).
1. From the studies, we find that drinking enough water helps us2. Swimming can give us a full-body
3.
4. The good things of floating in
5. We can learn that water is very
Hey, hey, it’s your scientist pal Tania here. Today’s topic is…drumroll please…the human body!
Human bodies can seem weird sometimes. After all, your body didn’t come with instructions. No wonder a bunch of you sent me so many questions about it. Well, read on, curious human beings! I’ve got answers for you.
What are toes for?
Toes aren’t just weird little things that stick out of our feet. They do most of the work of keeping our balance. Toes act like teeny pegs. They dig in and make sure we stay upright when the going gets wonky.
But wait, there’s more! Ever tried to walk only on your heels? If so, you know that toes also put the spring in your step. Here’s how that works: When you raise your heel to start a step, your toes bend. That stretches your foot like a rubber band. As you finish the step, your stretched foot snaps back to normal. That springs your body forward to the next step.
When you run, your toes bend even farther. This creates a super spring that sends you soaring through the air!
Yup, toes let humans walk, run, and even fly. Well, for a few seconds, at least.
Why are babies so cute?
It’s not easy to care for a baby. Their diapers get stinky, and they cry a lot. And yet, they’re just so cute, right? Well, guess what? Their cuteness is the superpower that makes us take care of them!
Babies grab us with their powers of cuteness. We love to see a cute baby, hear it gurgle, or even smell its tiny baby head. And that’s great for babies. They need our attention.
But what do we get out of it? Well, we smile and get a warm and fuzzy feeling around babies. That feeling comes from chemicals that flood into our brains. Even when babies are smelly, loud, or sticky, those chemicals still flow. The chemicals make us happy, and that gets us to care for the baby’s needs. Both the needy baby and our happy-hungry brains win!
How come my belly makes that weird noise when I’m hungry?
It’s the middle of the school day, and your belly suddenly starts growling. It sounds like angry lions are fighting in there! But it’s just the strong muscles in your gut doing their jobs.
After you swallow some delicious food (mmm, like a juicy apple), your stomach soaks it in liquids called acids. These acids break food down into a gloppy goo. Your stomach’s muscles then pound and mix the goo for hours. They rumble around like a washing machine. Finally, your stomach calls it quits. It sends the goo into your small intestine. For several more hours, your small intestine groans. That’s because it’s squeezing all the good stuff out of that goo.
You can’t hear these noises when your stomach is full. But when your stomach is empty, it’s like a giant echo chamber. You get the very loud hint that your stomach has run out of food. And so does everyone around you!
Speaking of food, I keep thinking of apples now. I’m off to snack on one. I hope everybody enjoyed this! I’ll be back soon with more answers about the world around us.
Until next time, stay curious!
1. The topic of the passage is2. Toes help us
3. Babies are cute because their cuteness makes us
4. Our bellies make weird noises when we are hungry because the strong muscles in our guts are
5. Tania will
Do you want to know about the animals? Let’s read something about them!
The panda is black and white. It likes eating bamboo. It’s very popular in China. People like it because it’s the symbol (象征) of China.
The elephant is large and heavy. It has a long nose and can do something for people. It comes from Africa.
The koala is very clever and cute. It’s from Australia. It lives in trees and likes eating a kind of leaves. It often sleeps for a long time and gets up at night.
The dolphin (海豚) is lovely and likes living with people. It lives in the sea. And you can see it in the aquarium (海洋馆). Children like it because it’s interesting.
1. People like panda, because it’s2. The dolphin is
3. The elephant is
4. The koala often sleeps
5. The writer (作者) talks about
In China, there are 24 solar terms(节气) in a year. And there are six of them in winter. The six terms are beginning of winter, light snow, heavy snow, winter solstice(冬至), lesser cold(小寒) and greater cold.
Beginning of winter usually falls on November 7th or 8th. After beginning of winter, most parts of the country can start to expect cold weather. On this day, after a year of hard work, people are happy to have a rest and spend time with family. The northern China celebrates beginning of winter as the “Small Spring Festival”. People usually have dumplings and mutton soup on that day.
Light snow usually falls on November 22nd or 23rd and heavy snow usually falls on December 7th or 8th. When winter solstice comes, it brings the shortest days of the year and the longest nights. Many places of the country can expect the coldest weather yet. Winter solstice in 2021 is on December 21th. People often start counting “nine cold periods” starting from winter solstice. Every cold period has nine days. People believe that after 81 cold days, spring will come. Greater cold comes after lesser cold. The field is covered with snow. And all Chinese are ready to welcome the Spring Festival after it. Of course, a new round of solar terms will start.
1. There are2. Beginning of winter usually falls on
3. People usually have
4. Chinese are ready to welcome the Spring Festival after
5. The first day of nine cold periods is
Many people just regard crows (乌鸦) as a natural cleaner. But researchers have found more than that. Here is something about crows that you might not know.
Crows have strong family values. They are social, living in large families of more than ten birds. When you see a number of crows gathering, they’re usually family groups that are helping each other. Crows take care of their kids, just like people.
Communication is key to their survival (生存). Many calls are used, each carrying a different message. For example, they have separate warning calls for cats, birds and people. Loud “caws” are their common calls, but they also use other calls. Some crows even imitate (模仿) the sounds of other living things.
Marzluff, a scientist who studies wildlife science, did several experiments to decide whether wild crows remember human faces. In one researchers wearing masks (面具) caught seven crows and marked them. After setting the crows free, researchers found that ordinary passersby got no reaction, but as soon as anyone wearing the same mask passed by, they made loud warning calls even years later.
Catherine Shevcenko of Diva Crows, a wildlife protection organization, warns, “Never do bad things to a crow. They not only remember faces but teach their baby crows to be careful.”
They also remember those who were kind to them and pass that information along, too, often bringing gifts of rocks or other small objects as thanks . So you see they are so smart, family-loving and grateful that you may want to know them a lot.
1. We can know crows are social and look after their kids just like2. Crows can use different calls to
3. Marzluff found crows can remember
4. The crows use some small gifts to show
5. From the article we know that crows are so thankful,
Scientists are preparing to produce the world’s first machine to clean up the largest area of ocean plastic. The system was first dreamed up by a teenage boy. Once it is produced, it will be carried by ship to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (太平洋垃圾带) between Hawaii and California. It is believed that there are 1.8 trillion (万亿) pieces of plastic. It was discovered in 1997. And this is humans’ first try to deal with it. Scientists believe the machine should be able to collect half of the rubbish in the patch, about 40,000 tons in five years. In the past few months, they have been busy making it come true with all kinds of work.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is more than twice the size of France, and has at least 79,000 tons of plastic, according to a research. Most of it is from the fishing gear (装备) given up by ships.
This kind of terrible waste kills more than 100,000 whales, dolphins and other sea animals each year. Many seabirds and other sea animals are being found dead with stomachs full of small pieces of plastic. They ate the plastic in the sea, thinking it was food. But then they died because they couldn’t eat the real food. They died of hunger in fact.
1.
2. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch was found
3. According to the scientists, the machine should be able to
4. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has at least 79,000 tons of plastic and most of it was from
5. If sea animals eat too much
China’s second female astronaut, Wang Yaping, has given the country’s first-ever video lecture from space. The whole lecture lasted about 40 minutes.
Speaking to students through a live video, from the Tiangong-I space laboratory. Ms. Wang used spinning tops (旋转的陀螺), a ball and some water to explain physics in zero-gravity (失重), with the help of a fellow astronaut.
Ms. Wang used different experiments to demonstrate (证明) the concepts (概念)of weight and mass (质量) in space. Towards the end of the class, Ms. Wang made a film (薄膜) of water using a metal ring. She then turned the film of water into a water ball by pouring more water onto it.
Around 330 primary and secondary school students watched the lecture from a special classroom in Beijing, where they could also ask Ms. Wang questions through a live video.
From time to time, the students greeted her lecture with warm applause (掌声). When answering a student’s question, Ms. Wang described what she could see in space.
“The stars we see are much brighter, but they do not twinkle (闪烁),” she said, “The sky we see isn’t blue, but black. And every day, we can see the sun rise 16 times because we circle the Earth every 90 minutes.”
About 60 million students and teachers around China also watched the lecture live on TV.
1. Wang’s lecture lasted2. Wang used different experiments to demonstrate the concepts of
3. Towards the end of the lecture, Wang Yaping made a film of water so as to
4. Wang described
5. The purpose of the passage is to encourage us to
How do you feel when you have to make a speech in front of your classmates? What about when you go to a birthday party? Do you get really shy? If you feel shy, don’t worry. You are not alone. Everyone has such feelings sometimes.
Shyness means feeling nervous or afraid. When people feel shy, they usually have red faces. They may talk in broken sentences. It’s normal when you go to a new place or meet strangers. In fact, everybody gets a little shy at times.
Some experts say shy people are great. They think that shy people are not only cleverer, but also better at working with others. They say that shy people think more and talk less. You see, being shy isn’t all bad.
Some great people in history were shy, too. But remember not to let good chances go by just because of being shy! When you grow up year by year, you’ll become brave enough to speak to anyone. But now, you need practice. If you have to sing a song at a party, just do it! There’s nothing to be afraid of!
Remember, though you’re shy, you are still confident. Come on, our shy friends!
1. If you feel shy, don’t worry because you are2. We know that shyness means feeling
3. Some experts say shy people are great because they think
4. If you want to become brave enough to speak to anyone, you need
5. The passage mainly tells us that everyone should be
9 . What is a supermarket? In the dictionary, a supermarket is a large self-service department store(无人售货商店). Some supermarkets have two floors. When you enter such a supermarket, an elevator(电梯)will take you to the second floor. Here you can buy things such as CDs, pens, clothes, TVs and refrigerators(冰箱). After you have collected the things you want to buy on the second floor, you can go downstairs(下楼)to the first floor where food and drinks are sold(售卖). You can also buy fresh fruit, vegetables and meat on this floor.
People like to go shopping in the supermarket. Here are some of the reasons.
First, the prices are reasonable(合理的). The prices are lower than in special shops and you can choose whatever you want, without going place to place.
Second, the service is excellent. You can walk around freely and no one will ask you “What can I do for you?” If you can’t find something, just ask a service person and he or she will tell you where it is at once.
Third, the quality(质量) is good. If you get home and find the food has gone bad, you can return it and they will say sorry and change it for you.
Nowadays many people don’t have much time to walk from one shop to another, so people choose to go to the supermarket in order to save time and money.
What’s more, if you don’t want to buy anything, you can just come and look around in the supermarket. It’s a good place to have a walk.
1. What is a supermarket?2. Can you buy fresh fruit, vegetables and meat in the supermarket?
3. How many reasons are given for going shopping in supermarkets?
4. When in a supermarket, do people have to buy something or can they just walk around and buy nothing?
5. What does the passage want to tell us?
The world we live in is full of amazing things. Do you know the following things?
★Chocolate tastes nice but it may make the little dog die.
★Our ears and nose become bigger when we grow up, but eyes keep the same after a person is born.
★You may think a bear walks slowly. In fact, it can run as fast as a horse.
★Most animals will die soon if they lose the head. But a cockroach (蟑螂) can live for nine or ten days when they have no head.
★Not all birds can fly. About forty kinds of birds can’t fly, like the penguin (企鹅) and the ostrich (鸵鸟).
Some amazing things in the world | |
| You can’t give them chocolate, because it can kill them. | |
Our eyes | Our eyes will keep |
Bears | They can run very |
Cockroaches | They can live for nine or ten days |
Birds | Most birds are good at |
