1 . Life is full of colors and different colors reflect different attitudes towards life.     1    

Do you love those warm colors, such as yellow, orange, or red? If you do, you are likely to be an optimist (乐观主义者), a leader and an active person who enjoys life, work and excitement. Do you prefer those cold colors such as gray and blue?     2     Is this true? Maybe. At least, this is what psychologists (心理学家) have told us, and they should know, since they have been seriously studying the meaning of color preference, as well as the effect that colors have on human beings’ lives. They tell us that we do choose our favorite colors as we grow up, and we are born with our love for special colors.

    3     A yellow room can make most people feel cheerful and relaxed while a dark green one makes you feel cold and afraid. And a red dress brings warmth and pleasure to the saddest winter day. Of course, the color black will probably make you feel depressed (沮丧的).

    4     It is a clear fact that students work better, harder and will make fewer mistakes when their notebooks and study tools are of these colors rather than black or gray.

    5     Just find your life color and enjoy your life!

2 . Do you know there are sounds produced by plants? Have you ever wondered what animals are talking about? With the development of AI, we may be able to understand their languages!

In Professor Karen Bakker’s new book, The Sounds of Life: How Digital Technology Is Bringing Us Closer to the Worlds of Animals and Plants, she talks about how AI and other technologies are helping us to translate and understand animals’ and plants’ words.

All around the animal world, there are sounds that we can hardly pick up and decipher (破译). Elephants, for example, talk with each other using infra-sound (次声), which cannot be heard by human ears. Coral (珊瑚) in the ocean also sends sound waves to lead baby coral to safer areas to grow. Baby coral “listens” for the sounds and finds its way to the right place. This is surprising as coral doesn’t have any ears! Scientists have placed machines into these environments to pick up the sounds humans cannot hear.

After the sounds are recorded, AI can study their meaning. For example, Isracli researchers used AI to translate bats’ (蝙蝠) 15,000 calls. They found that more than 60 percent were arguments about such things: food, ways of sleeping, getting into personal space, and unwanted courtship (求偶).

Technologies can not only understand the animals but communicate back to them. For example, bees use dances to communicate. So a research team in Germany put the bee language AI system into a robot bee. They asked the robot to create a set of dance moves to tell the bees where they can find their food.

Researchers said the technology could someday help disabled people to communicate. It might also help scientists understand how animals see the world.

3 . I grew up in a poor family. My dad died when I was three, leaving my mom with the job of raising nine kids. She had two jobs every day and she was a very hard worker. In order to make ends meet, she hardly ever rested.

My mom did all she could to support our family. Though we kids didn’t get what we wanted, we always got the things we needed. With my mom as my role model, I learned that hard work is the best way to get what you want.

While growing up, I never considered myself as a person in a difficult situation. I saw my life more as a card that had been dealt to me and I tried to make the most of it.

Of course, I dreamed about what I would be. At first, I wanted to be a soldier. Then I decided to be a driver. I even thought about being a footballer.

Surprising as it might seem, basketball wasn’t in my plans. I only started playing basketball on a team when I was in middle school. I loved to compete and worked hard to win.

For me, it paid off. I just let my success in basketball take its course, but I always put the effort in every day.

No matter what I did, some people expected me to fail, saying, “Karl can’t do it.” Instead of letting people like that get to me, I continued to prove (证明) them wrong. I tried my best to make my family proud.

While everyone else was looking up to popular sports stars, actors and musicians, my mom was my hero. She taught me that hard work pays off.

At the end of my life, I don’t want to be remembered as the kind of person who just sat on his bottom and said, “I’ve made it.” I don’t want to say that I get what I have now without putting in much effort. Sure there are days that I don’t feel like working hard…but I do it anyway. And that’s how I’m working toward becoming a successful basketball player.

4 . The weekend is coming. Will you join in some activities with your parents or friends? Here’s some advice for you.

5 . One day, a little boy comes to a store and says to the clerk (店员), “I want to buy twelve exercise books (练习簿) of six cents (美分) each and nine pencils of ten cents each. How much is that all?”

The clerk writes these numbers down on a piece of paper and thinks for a minute. Then she says, “One dollar 62 cents.” “If I give you ten dollars, how much money will I get back?” “You will get eight dollars 38 cents for change. Here you are. These are the things you want.”

“No, thank you. I don’t want to buy anything,” the boy looks at the piece of paper and says politely. “This is my math homework. Thank you very much. Can I take it away?”

6 . Healthy eating doesn’t just mean what you eat, but how you eat. Here is some advice (建议) about healthy eating.

Eat with other people. It can help you to see others’ healthy eating habits. If you usually eat with your parents, you will find that the food you eat is good and delicious.

Listen to your body. Ask yourself if you are really hungry. Have a glass of water. Sometimes you are just thirsty, and you need no food.

Eat breakfast. Breakfast is the most important (重要的) meal of the day. If you don’t have the habit of eating breakfast, you’ll be tired easily.

Eat healthy snacks (零食) like fruits, yogurt or cheese. We all need snacks sometimes. In fact, it’s a good idea to eat two healthy snacks between your three meals. This doesn’t mean that you can eat an ice cream for a meal.

Don’t eat dinner late. Eat dinner at least (至少) 3 hours before you go to bed.

How are you?     1     Let me tell you now.

In the morning, we have four classes. At 8:00, we have the first class. It is always math, English or Chinese.     2     Why? Because I love numbers very much. The second class begins at 9:00. After the class, we have a break (课间休息).     3     The next two classes are from 10:00 to 11:45. And then we have lunch in the school dining hall at 12: 00. I like to eat food there. In the afternoon, we always have P. E., art or music.     4     In the P. E. class, I can play sports. How interesting! Our classes finish at 4:00. Then we can go home.

    5     What about your school days?

Yours,

Zhao Wei

10 . All of us want to be healthy. To keep healthy, more and more people are doing sports.

Do you like sports? If yes, which is your favorite sport? Look at the ads and they may help you.