1 . Kids and science seem to be made for each other!

The basic science is a combination of thought and experiment called the scientific method. It’s where you start with an idea, create a way to prove or disprove your idea, and show what you learned based on facts. Learning to follow this process helps you think logically (逻辑地) and carefully. These important thinking skills can be used in many areas of study. To give a child practice with these thinking skills is like giving vitamins to a developing mind.

One of the greatest things we can teach our children is to love learning. Learning science is a great way to do so. Children are easy to be interested in science. Because much of science is hands-on, it attracts most children. Nothing makes a child sit up and take notice like the “WOW!” of a great science showing.

Science opens doors to many subjects at school. Building love for science can be helpful in other areas of study. For example, one cannot love science for very long without becoming good at its language-math! So science encourages children to study math. An interest in science is an interest in how things were once understood compared to how they are understood now. Thus studying science lends itself easily to studying history. And after you do an experiment, you need to write a lab report. Therefore, writing becomes an important part of science.

Science is the basic thing for much of our life. The science of farming shows how our food is produced; biomedical science keeps us healthy; even our beds these days are designed according to scientific facts. We almost eat, sleep and breathe with the help of science! When we prepare the next generation of voters, creators and policy makers, it is important to make sure they are not only comfortable but also good at science.

As winter comes, hands and feet can easily get cold especially among women. Thick gloves can be one of the best     1     (option) yet some makes wearing them is not convenient, especially when people want to do something with     2     (they) hands.

However, this was not a problem for ancient Chinese people,     3     had a more exquisite (精美的) tool to keep their hands warm: hand warmers.

There is no accurate     4     (write) record regarding the origin of this tool, but there are some tales about its invention.

One folk story concerns an emperor of the Sui Dynasty who visited Jiangsu in the winter. Due     5     the bitter cold, the local official asked manufacturers     6     (design) a small warmer for the emperor that could be held in one's hands. Thus the hand warmer was created.

By the Song Dynasty, the tool was in widespread use. Techniques for producing the tool were     7     (wide) employed in the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. Many poems and books from this period recorded people     8     (use) hand warmers. A Dream of Red Mansions, the classic novel by Cao Xueqin in the Qing Dynasty, also featured a maid sending a hand warmer to the heroine Lin Daiyu in one chapter.

Zhang Mingqi, a veteran manufacturer of hand warmers, was considered     9     first-class craftsman in the Qing Dynasty. The tools that he produced     10     (bear) his surname, called Zhang-style hand warmers.