1 . Making travel a surprise

Most people plan their vacations well in advance, including where they are going.     1    .

Earlier this year, mystery box purchases surged (激增) among young American people. Usually, travelers buy a mystery box at a low price—usually 100 or 200 dollars—and then receive several destination options to choose from.     2    .

A citizen named Carrie is eager to go on a mystery box trip, stating that travelling alone usually costs too much and that too many people don’t know where to go. ”However, the mystery box directly offers me a few destinations, which is wonderful and cheap,“ Carrie said.

Gary, 16, has turned his eagerness to go on a mystery box trip into a reality.     3    . With its reputation of super Internet-famous places, Gary had a change of his opinion after seeing Austin himself. “My biggest discovery is that Austin is a city full of contrasts,” Gary said. “You can see skyscrapers and old houses in old alleys (巷子) in the same view.”

    4    . For example, Eureka, despite its scenic views, previously received few visitors due to a lack of promotion. But after it was included as a mystery box travel destination, Eureka has since got lots of attention.

    5     because they can meet with many problems after purchasing one, such as poor travel times and sudden flight cancellations (取消). Robert from Department of Tourism Management of University of Washington suggested that visitors should choose reliable platforms and sign contracts to guarantee their trip rights.

4 . There are different regional accents across the UK, and a number of regions have several different dialects-that is, they have their own unique vocabulary and grammatical phrases. There are many different accents native to London, because it is not just where a person is born in the UK that decides their accent. Language and accents also differ across class and level of education. Therefore, the recent rise of a new accent coined at the end of the 20th century, “Multicultural London English.” Other factors are also important in the invention of new accents and ways of speaking. These include the influence of people from different racial(种族的) backgrounds and different age groups, too.

The word “yoof’ is a slang spelling of “youth”. Some people consider “yoof” to be a negative term, since its pronunciation is easier and lazier than youth. Other people see the term as positive, because it describes how young people are creating their own language, concepts and identity. By using words that their parents don’t understand, children can talk about things that their parents might not agree with. In this way, young people are starting to find freedom, independence and self-expression. They are creating a “yoof culture”. A few features(特点)of the yoof style of language are as follows:

· instead of “think”, “the”, “that”, “what” and “because”, yoof will say “fink”, “da”, “dat”, “wot” and “coz”.

· instead of using a variety of tag questions like “., isn’t it?” or “... don’t they?”, yoof will use the all-purpose “innit” (e.g. “It’s hot, innit! ”or “You can dance really well, innit!”)

· instead of “I don’t care!”, yoof will say “Whatever!”.

Certain groups of society feel threatened by “yoof culture” or by the British working classes having more social freedom. As a result, a negative term now commonly used in the UK is “chav”.It is an insult(辱骂)and is meant to describe someone who is uneducated and anti-social (e.g. “He’s a chav!” ). A young person who wears a jacket with a hood-after all, it is often cold and rains a lot in the UK-is sometimes called a ‘hoodie’. It is a negative term again and suggests that the young person is interested in committing a crime(犯罪).

Learners of English often feel that the best test of their English is how well they can talk to a native speaker, but perhaps they should worry less about this. In fact, when we think about ‘international English’, there is no such thing as a native or non-native speaker. The UK no longer owns the English language.

6 . While telling others your zodiac sign (星座), you are being evaluated (评估). Evaluations are being made about your luck, your personality, future development and how you will do in a given year. So what is the Chinese zodiac, exactly? It’s a 12-year cycle labeled (标记) with animals, starting with a Rat and ending with a Pig. For example, if you were born in 2004, you are a Monkey.

The Chinese believe some animals are luckier than the others, such as the Dragon. Unlike in Western tradition, the Chinese Dragon stands for power, strength and wealth. It’s everyone’s dream to have a Dragon baby. Ma Yun’s parents must have been very proud. And they are not the only ones. In 2012, the Year of the Dragon, the birthrate in China increased by about 5%. That means another one million more babies. With a traditional preference for baby boys, the boy-girl ratio that year was 120 to 100. When those Dragon boys grow up, they will face much more serious competition in love and job markets.

According to the BBC and Chinese government reports, January 2015 saw a peak of cesarean sections (剖腹产术高峰). Why? That was the last month for the Year of the Horse. It’s not because they like horses so much, it’s because they try to avoid having unlucky Goat babies.

Tiger is another unwelcome animal, because of its dangerous and unstable (不稳定的) personality. Many Chinese places saw a considerable decline of birthrate during those years.

Perhaps one should consider zodiac in a different way, as those Tiger and Goat babies will face much less competition. Maybe they are the lucky ones. I went through the Forbes top 300 richest people in the world, and it’s interesting to see the most unwelcome two animals, the Goat and Tiger, are at the top of the list, even higher than the Dragon. So maybe we should consider that it’s much better to have less competition.

The Special Olympics Unified Sports was a natural development of the Special Olympics — a program     1     shows what a safe sports organization should be. The Special Olympics began as a day camp     2     (create) in 1963. Eunice Kennedy Shriver formed Camp Shriver     3     children with disabilities. Shriver’s Camp encouraged many universities and organizations     4     (host) similar events.

Research by Dr. James N. Oliver and Dr. Frank Hayden showed that there is a connection between persons with disabilities’ physical activity,     5     (happy), and academic performance (学业表现). This helped the establishment (建立) of the Special Olympics. The organization partners with more     6     172 countries across the world and has provided more than five million people with year-round training and     7     (activity) through 32 Olympic-style sports.

The first Special Olympics took place in July 1968 at Soldier Field in Chicago.     8     third rendition (表演) of the games in 1972 saw 10 different nations send athletes to the games. In 1977, the first winter Special Olympics     9     (hold) in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

The Special Olympics     10     (jump) to the international stage when the United Nations declared (宣布) 1986 as “The Year of the Special Olympics.” Austria held the first international Special Olympics in 1993. The summer games went worldwide in Dublin, Ireland in 2003.

10 . This Is the Way Learning Center

The staff, parents and children enrolled (招收) at This Is the Way Learning Center are one big family. We take the health and safety of our family very seriously. This Is the Way Learning Center is committed to maintaining a safe environment for your children. We are following all safety rules. Should you have any questions regarding the processes in place please call our center. We will be happy to answer your questions.

This Is the Way Learning Center cares for and educates children aged 6 weeks and up. We are enrolling for all programs (Preschool and Nursery School) in addition to basic childcare. There will be no enrollment fees and registration fees. We are devoted to the future of your child and creating a lifetime love of learning at every age and stage. What can be more precious or important than the early developmental and learning years of our children?

This Is the Way Learning Center is located across the street from Henry Barnard School at 18 Shaker Road. It is conveniently located just minutes from 91 North and South, in the town of Enfield.

• 6:30 am through 5:30 pm

• Monday through Friday

• Closed only on major holidays.

• Children through kindergarten

• School age

• All-day, all-year daycare

• Homelike setting

• Age-appropriate play areas

• Child-friendly curriculum

• Computer education

• Trained and experienced teachers

You may email us at requests@thisisthewaylc.com or call us at 860-253-0010 to ask your questions and request a free brochure.