3 . There are many customs and traditions connected to yearly celebrations which are part of Britain’s folklore (民俗). Lughnasadh is a celebration at the beginning of August.     1     The doll is saved until the following spring when it is put back into the earth with new seeds. People believe that the doll contains the spirit of the corn and will bring a good harvest. Christmas too is full of ancient customs. The traditions of lighting a fire and decorating the home with an evergreen have their roots in times. The fire is to keep away evil spirits and fill the home with light and the evergreen is valued because it is a sign that life continued during those cold, dark days.

    2     The roots of Morris dancing, for example, are not known. This is a dance in which men(and sometimes women)dressed in white dance together. Some people think the dance may be from pre-Christmas times, and others say it was introduced into Britain in the late 15th century and that it comes from Moorish dancing. In any case, it is interesting to see that Morris dancing is not a dying tradition.     3    

Although these customs have been passed down to us from forgotten generations, they themselves have not been forgotten and continue to play a part in our modern lives.     4     This month people all over Britain shall be preparing their homes for the ancient celebration we now call Christmas, lighting fires and putting up Christmas trees, just as their great-great-grandfathers once did.

4 . When you’re climbing up a hill or playing sports, your back is all wet and so is your face. Why? Because you are sweating.     1    When your body gets hotter than that, your brain doesn’t like it. It wants your body to stay cool and comfortable. So the part of your brain that controls temperature sends a message to your body, telling it to sweat. Then sweat glands(腺)in your skin start making sweat.

    2    They are all called pores(毛孔)academically. When the sweat hits the air, the air makes it turn from a liquid to a vapor. As the sweat leaves off your skin you cool down.

Sweat is great cooling system. If you’re sweating a lot on a hot day or after playing hard, you could be losing too much water through your skin. Then you need to put liquid back in your body by drinking plenty of water so you won’t get dehydrated(脱水的).

Sweat isn’t just wet—it can be kind of stinky, too.     3    It’s the bacteria that live on your skin that mix with the sweat and give it a unpleasant smell. And when you reach adolescence, special hormones affect the glands in your armpits(腋窝)—these glands make sweat that can really smell. Luckily, regular washing with soap and water can usually keep stinky sweat under control.

So don’t feel sorry about a little sweat—it’s totally normal and everybody sweats. Sometimes too much sweating can be a sign that there is something wrong in the body, but this is rare in kids.     4    

5 . Symptoms of Culture Shock and Their Stages

Like any new experience, there’s a feeling of euphoria (兴高采烈) when you first arrive in a new country and you’re in awe of the differences you see and experience.     1    During this stage, you still feel close to everything familiar back home.

The Distress Stage

Everything you’re experiencing no longer feels new; in fact, it’s starting to feel like a thick wall that’s preventing you from experiencing things. You feel confused, alone, and realize that the familiar support systems are not easily available.

Re-integration Stage

During this stage, you start refusing to accept the differences you meet.     2    You start to idealize life “back home“ and compare your current culture to what is familiar. You dislike the culture, the language and the food. You throw it as inferior. You may even develop some prejudices (偏见) towards the new culture. Don’t worry. This is normal. You’re adjusting.

Autonomy Stage

This is the first stage of acceptance. It’s the emergence stage when you start to rise above the clouds and finally begin to feel like yourself again. You start to accept the differences and feel like you can begin to live with them.     3    You no longer feel isolated and instead; you’re able to look at the world around you and appreciate where you are.

Independence Stage

    4    You embrace the new culture and see everything in a new, yet realistic light. You feel comfortable, confident, and able to make decisions based on your preferences. You no longer feel alone and isolated. You appreciate both the differences and similarities of your new culture. You start to feel at home.

6 . Britain has a population of over 66 million.     1    About 80% of the population live in England, with over 8 million in the capital. The rest are distributed in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

    2    These people settled in England and drove the native Celtic people (凯尔特人) to the mountainous areas of Wales and Scotland. Their language became the official language of the country.

Most people in Wales and Scotland are descendants of the Celtic people who were the earliest known inhabitants of Britain.     3    

Besides the early groups from Europe, Britain has a considerable number of Italians, Greeks, Australians and New Zealanders who have settled in the country as permanent residents. In addition, there is a large number of immigrants from Africa and Asia. Most of them come from the former colonies of the British Empire, such as India, Pakistan, Bangladesh (孟加拉国), the Caribbean Islands and a number of African countries. All these immigrants have made Britain one of the most culturally diverse countries in Europe. In London, for instance it is estimated that more than 300 languages and dialects are spoken.

English is a member of the Indo-European family of languages (印欧语系). This broad family includes most of the European languages spoken today.     4    This group began as a common language about 3,000 years ago and was later split into three distinct subgroups: East Germanic, North Germanic and West Germanic. English evolved from the West Germanic group. The development of the English language can be divided into three periods: Old English, Middle English and Modern English.

9 . Looking around your classroom, you know which students struggle to manage their emotions.

The thing is, if we want to change children’s behavior, the first thing we have to change is our own. When a student misbehaves, having a plan of action can make all the difference. The FLIP IT strategy from the Devereux Center for Resilient Children is a four-step sequence that you can use to help your students learn about their feelings, gain self-control and reduce challenging behavior. Here’s how it works:

F: Feelings

    1    The first part of FLIP IT is to name and acknowledge the student’s feelings. For example, when your student Jon takes one look at the assignment you handed out and pushes the papers off his desk, crosses his arms over his chest and slumps in his chair, you can approach him and whisper, “I can see that you’re frustrated right now...”

TIP: Rather than asking children “why” they did something, ask “what” questions. Often, kids don’t know the why behind their behavior.

L: Limits

Limits set the expectations for students, communicate that you care, and provide boundaries for problem solving. After you’ve acknowledged a student’s feelings, remind him of the limit.     2    In the previous example, you would name a limit around how to handle frustration with classwork: “We take a break if we’re frustrated” or “We raise our hand and ask for help if the work feels like too much.”

TIP: When naming a limit, phrase it in terms of what students can or should do, rather than what they shouldn’t do.

I: Inquiries

Once you have gained a child’s attention, named the feeling and reminded him of the limit, it’s time to problem-solve. That’s where inquiries, questions and statements that help students think of solutions come in.     3    

TIP: Tone is important during FLIP IT. Keep it positive, engaging and solvable.

P: Prompt

Prompts are an opportunity to provide the student with possibilities that they may not have come up with yet. These creative cues, clues and suggestions engage children in the process.     4    

TIP: Offer prompts with enthusiasm so the solution feels like an opportunity, not a chore.

10 . Prefixes are important clues for you to determine an unknown word. Since pre- means “before”, the word “prefix” is literally “to fasten before”, that is, “to place or attach before”.     1    A prefix consists of a letter or a group of letters placed before a root or word to change its meaning. For example, “disunion” means “separation”. The prefix dis-, meaning “opposite of”, changes the meaning of “union” from positive to negative.

The most common prefixes are divided according to their meanings into four groups: negative prefixes, amount prefixes, placement and direction prefixes, and degree and size prefixes.

Probably you know the meanings of these words: unafraid, unbelief, uncertain, undecided and uneducated, as they share the common prefix un-which means “not, opposite”.     2    Prefixes like un- and mal- that serve to give a negative meaning to a word or to reverse and undo an action are called negative prefixes. In other words, a negative prefix makes the meaning of a word negative or opposite.

    3    Unlike prefixes, which are placed before a root or word and change its meaning, suffixes are added to the end of a root or word and less likely to change its meaning than to show its grammatical use within a sentence. They change nouns into verbs, verbs into nouns, nouns into adjectives and so on. Notice how adding different suffixes to a word changes the way it acts(but not its basic meaning)in the following sentences.

1. Jane’s motivation in doing well is to make money.

2. Money is a major motivator in Jane’s career.

3. Jane’s boss gave her a raise to motivate her to do an even better job.

In each of the above sentences the italicized word has the same basic meaning of “causing someone to do something”.     4    

The common suffixes are generally classified into three groups: noun suffixes, verb suffixes, and adverb suffixes.