浙江省2021年中考英语真题分类汇编：阅读理解

My name is Ryan and last summer my family and I went to an island for our summer vacation. There were so many fun and interesting things to do on the island, but my favorite was fishing. Every day, my mom, my dad, my younger brother Derek and I went to the beach. We took our little fishing boat with us. Mom didn't like fishing, so she stayed on the beach and read a book.

One morning, while we were fishing, we heard a loud noise. "What was that?" I asked. "Oh, don't worry, Ryan. It might be a turtle（海龟）swimming under the boat, "said Dad, Derek and I looked around the boat, but we couldn't see anything. Then we heard a different noise, which sounded like an animal. "Look, Dad, there it is!" shouted Derek. It was a sea turtle and it couldn't swim well. "Let's go closer and see what's wrong with it, "Dad said.

When we got closer, we saw that there was a piece of plastic（塑料）around the turtle's legs. "Let's help it, "I said. So Dad jumped into the water, swam to the turtle and brought it back to the boat. "There you go, little turtle; now you can swim to your family, "Dad said as he cut the plastic off. Then Derek and I put it back in the water. "I know! We should make a sign about not throwing rubbish into the sea, and put it in the sand on the beach, "I said. "I'll help, too, "said Derek. "Great idea, boys. If we don't all do something to stop sea pollution, these sea animals will die. "

Flamenco is very popular in southern Spain. It begins with guitar music and clapping（击掌）and then dancers join the performance. Sometimes a woman dances alone and sometimes she dances with a man. The woman always wears a long, colorful dress. She moves her arms and hands slowly but her feet move in fast difficult steps. The man often wears black. Both dancers click their shoes on the floor when they dance around each other.

Cossack dances are from Russia and Ukraine. They are very energetic — some are more like gymnastics than dancing! Dancers have to be very fit because they jump very high and kick their legs up and down. They often jump over swords（剑）, The movements are similar to traditional Cossack activities, for example, sword fighting and getting on and off horses.

Limbo dancing is first from West Africa but today it is an important part of celebrations in the Caribbean. Young people have to dance under a pole（杆）. The pole is often on fire and the dancer mustn't touch it! After a successful "limbo", they put the pole lower and do it again. Some dancers can dance under a pole just twenty centimeters off the ground!

Mask（面具）dances are important for the Dogon people in Mali. Each village makes different masks. They are often huge and colorful. There are masks of people, monsters or local animals like crocodiles and monkeys. Mask dancers are always men and they dance to the sound of drums for hours after the death of a person in the village. Today, Dogon villagers also perform the dances for tourists.

When do children start to talk? If you ask a group of parents when this happened, most will say "around twelve months of age". They will probably even remember what the children said. Many parents keep a diary of their child's "first words"

We can never predict what a first word is going to be. Often it's the name for "mummy" or "daddy", but it could just as easily be the word for an animal or a favorite toy. Everything depends on what has most caught the child's attention. But one thing is certain: after the first word, others come quickly. By 18 months, most children have learned about 50 words. By two, the total has risen to around 200.

Early words are actually one-word sentences. One of the first features（特征）of language a child learns well is to control the rise and fall of the voice to make the difference between stating and questioning. In English, daddy with a high rising tone（声调）means "is that daddy?" Daddy with a high falling tone means "There's daddy". Of course, only very basic meanings can be communicated using tones alone. So it soon becomes necessary to learn some grammar.

In English, grammar means learning to put words in different orders. Children have to see that mummy push is different from push mummy. They start practising such changes at around 18 months. By two, they have learned the basic patterns of word order, and we hear them saying such things as man kick ball and where daddy go.

What are the parents doing all his time? They're acting as teachers and they always have an active role to play in their child's language learning.

Bruce Kelley. a reporter interviewed people and asked. "What are some of the highlights (最精彩的部分) of your life so far? Here are some of her answers.

Marianne Carus, who started Cricker (蟋蟀) magazine in1973 and served as Editor-in-Chief (总主编) until 2012, died on March 3 at the age of 92 this year.

Marianne believed that "only the best of the best is good enough for the young. "In Cicket, children would find wonderful stories with beautiful art, and be encouraged by ideas in the humanities and sciences. Marianne looked for stories from around the world to awaken admiration for different peoples and cultures. Most important, Cricker would never talk down to children.

Marianne knew that children were filled with fun, and she wanted Cricket to be, too — "humor from the heart that makes you laugh out loud. "And so. she named her literary magazines after a funny group of bugs (虫子) , such as Lady bung and Spider.

Over the years. Cricket has been read by millions of children and given many writers and artists their start Marianne kept a special box of "love letters" to the magazine. She treasured these letters from Cricket readers, including long-ago readers. They told her that their interest in reading had begun with Cricket.

  ▲  She considered other names, such as Troubadour or Taliesin, the singers and storytellers of old who traveled from one place to another to share their songs and stories. Then. one night, she was reading Isaac Bashevi Singer's memoir (回忆录) A Day of Pleasure. about his childhood in Warsaw. In it he wrote∶There was a stove in Shosha's apartment behind which there lived a cricket. It chirped the nights through all winter long I imagined the cricket was telling a story that would never end. "That's exactly what Marianne wanted her children's magazine to do—to tell stories that would never end! So the name Cricker became her best choice.

Thank you for everything, Marianne. May the stories, and the laughter, never end!

The Youth Climate Summit (气候峰会) a week-long festival of climate action for primary and middle schools in the UK, starts on 9 November. It aims to create a fairer, more environmental world and make promises that will help the planet. Climate change is the long-term changes in the world's weather patterns that are mostly caused by human activity. "Unlike world leaders, "say the summit's organizers. "young people are refusing to let it drop off the plan. "

Each day has a topic, which includes food and fashion, looking at how humans harm the environment and how to save the planet. Organizations are leading some on line activities. For example, the Marine Conservation Society is hosting meetings on protecting sea fish. Separately, the environmental organization Greenpeace is running a workshop on how to turn worn-out clothing into something new and wearable.

The summit will finish on 13 November, when youth ambassadors (大使) wants schools to stop paper waste. Max, another 16-year-old ambassador wants schools to organize more trips and activities that get students outside to experience the beauty of nature. As part of the summit, hundreds of schools across the country are signing up to the Let's Go Zero activity, aiming to become carbon-zero (零碳的) by 2030.

Carbon-zero schools are ones that promise to stop emitting carbon in seven areas, including where they get their food and how they use water and recycle their waste. The activity is run by Ashden, a charity working towards climate solutions. Ashden hopes that schools will be able to help each other by sharing ideas and methods. It is also calling on the Government to back the promise. Head over to transform-our-world. org where you can find out more.

If we want to grow as people, we can't just depend on our own evaluation (评价) of how we're doing. We also need to know what other people think about our performance. Receiving feedback (反馈) from others can help us see the larger picture and show us a way forward to success. However, someone has to give that feedback, and sometimes, that someone will be you. How should you deal with this?

First things first—if you notice a situation in which some feedback would be helpful, give it as soon as you can. If you wait until the matter disappears from the person's mind. they might not understand what you're trying to tell them. Take the person to a safe, comfortable place and offer your advice in private.

When you're giving feedback, it's important to keep in mind that no one likes to be told they're doing a bad job. Make sure you give an equal (相等的) amount of good feedback to balance out (平衡) anything bad. Like the saying goes, "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

All good feedback shares something in common. First, it should help achieve a goal. It's less useful to tell your friends that their dish tastes "interesting" than it is to suggest adding a little salt. Feedback should also look toward the future. You can't change what's already happened, but you can prevent it from happening again. Tell your friends they should take more notes in class instead of talking about how they should have studied harder for the big history exam they failed.

Finally, don't think your suggestion is the only correct way to deal with a situation. You might even end up with some feedback on your feedback. Don't take it personally--it can only help you give better advice next time

Do video games do harm to our children? Today, many children spend a lot of their free time playing games on the Internet. In the UK, 99%of kids aged8 to 15 play video games every week. This information tells us that the benefits and dangers of video games must be carefully considered.

For many people, video games are fun. They have bright lights, funny cartoons and exciting stories. Everywhere you look, you can see children playing these games. They play on buses and trains, in restaurants and even at school.

Video games are educational too. They make kids think in a creative way and they have to move their hands and eyes quickly. This can improve the way that a child's brain works. What's more, video games make children use their imagination. The player has to do many creative things, like drawing, telling stories and building things. Video games are also a good way to teach children about technology because they can learn how computers and other devices work while they play.

However, a recent study suggests that video games can also be bad for children. First, children can download many games for free. This means that parents often don't know if their children are playing violent or scary games. Second, many children spend too much time playing games on computers and this can lead to health problems. Third, if children spend too much time playing games instead of doing homework, they can have problems at school and get bad grades. Finally, video games can affect children's social skills. If children spend too much time playing video games by themselves, they might not learn how to play with their friends.

In conclusion, it seems clear that video games have some advantages and some disadvantages. It is up to parents to know what games their children are playing and how much time they spend on them. Parents should also make sure their children get enough exercise and spend time with other children.

Did you have cercal (麦片)for breakfast this morning? I you did, you're not alone. Lots of people eat cercal for breakfast every day. In fact, cereal is popular all over the world. I all started with one man, Will Keith Kellogg.

Will was born on April 7, 1860, in Battle Creek, Michigan. His first job was as a stock boy at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. A sanitarium is a special kind of place that is a little like a hospital. A sanitarium is meant for people who are ill for a long time or who are getting over a serious illness. Will had other jobs as he got older. But when he grew up, he became a manager of the sanitarium. His brother, John, was the chief doctor there.

One big problem at the sanitarium was the patients' diets. The patients needed healthy diets, but it was also important for the food to taste good. Will was trying to find a good food choice to take the place of the bread, but it wasn't going very well. Then, by accident will found something even better. He left some wheat to cook too long. When it was rolled out, it formed large, thin flakes. He asked his brother to serve it to the patients, and they loved it! In fact, they liked it so much that they wanted breakfast flakes sent to them even after they left the sanitarium. So Will started a new business in 1884: selling packaged breakfast flakes. Before long, Kellogg's breakfast cereal was popular in other countries, too. Today, there are many kinds of breakfast cereals. But it all started with one man and one idea.

Will did more than just create breakfast flakes. His company made a lot of money. But he always shared it with others generously. He used much of his money to help children. He also used his money to help in several other charities (慈善机构). Will Kdllogg died in 1951. But his most famous invention is as popular as ever.

There are about 1.5 million kinds of living things on Earth, but how many do you see every day? You often see the big colourful animals, like birds, rabbits, and fish. But look more closely. Can you see the small ones, too? Insects (昆虫) make up 80 percent of all the world's living kinds. Look on the ground. Imagine you could look under the ground, too. Many small living things with one cell live there. Life is everywhere around us, in every cubic foot (a foot= 12 inches).

David Littschwager is a photographer who wanted to find out how many living things lived in one cubic foot. So he madea12-inch cube with a green metal frame. And then he put it in five habitats (栖息地). He chose a tropical rainforest (Costa Rica), a coral reef (Pacific Ocean), the Table Mountain (South Africa), a freshwater river(USA), and a small park(New York). Three weeks were spent at each place. He watched, counted, and took photos of everything down to I millimeter in size—that crawled (爬) or flew into the cube.

The results were amazing. Liittschwager found both common and rare living things. He discovered many new living kinds, like a strange transparent octopus that is the size of a fingernail! In total, more than a thousand living things were photographed. Liittchwager said the One Cubic Foot experience was like "finding treasure". David Liittschwager also found that the highest biodiversity (生物多样性) in the reef was in the skeleton coral (珊瑚遗骨). These skeleton coral are suitable for sea living things of all sizes to grow. Although the coral reef had the widest range of biodiversity, all the other habitats were full of life. Even the city park!

Have you ever entered a tropical rainforest（热带雨林）?Rainforests make up only a small part of the Earth's surface, about six percent, but there are more kinds of trees than any other area in the whole world.

Tropical rainforests are in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Australia, and on the Pacific islands. The largest tropical rainforest is the Amazon （亚马逊）Rainforest in South America, which covers 1.2 billion acres, or almost five million square kilometres. The second largest rainforest is in Western Africa.

Rainforests provide us with many things. In fact, the Amazon Rainforest is the "lungs of our planet" because it produces 20% of the world's oxygen（氧气）. One fifth of the world's fresh water is also found in the Amazon Rainforest. Furthermore, one half of the world's species of animals, plants and insects live in the Earth's rainforests. 80% of the food we eat first grew in the rainforest. 25%of the drugs we take when we are sick are made of plants that grow only in rainforests. Some of these drugs are even used to fight and cure cancer.

There are four different levels of trees in a rainforest. The forest floor is the lowest layer full of animal life and receives the least amount of light. The under storey is the dark, cool environment under the leaves but over the ground. The canopy layer is the upper parts of most of the trees. The emergent layer contains a small number of very tall trees.

These different parts of a rainforest exist together to create an ecosystem for many animals, plants and human beings.

Jason and his father were going to the grocery store by car to pick up some apples. It had been an unusual day. The sky was dark but there were few clouds. As they drove up the street, there started to be a rumbling （隆隆的） sound heard across the ground.

Jason's father immediately realized that a tornado （龙卷风） was coming. He stopped the car and told Jason to get out immediately. Jason and his father got out of the car and made their way to the closest building. By this time the wind was blowing harder, and it was hard to see or hear. Debris was falling all over the place. Jason couldn't see his dad anymore. He also realized that he wasn't getting to the building fast enough. He was afraid he would be picked up by the wind and thrown into the air.

As he made his way towards the building, he noticed a field to his right. He could see an irrigation ditch（灌溉渠）. In a panic, he scrambled （爬） to the ditch and lay flat on the ground. More debris and objects flew overhead. His heart was beating hard, and he was nervous. He had never been in a tornado before.

After a while, the winds died down and the loud roaring sound was gone. Jason slowly lifted his head and nervously looked around. What he saw was a great mess. Jason could hardly recognize the buildings in front of him because of all the damage.

He stood up and with shaky legs walked to the building. Once there, he pushed the door open and went inside. It was a public building owned by the city. It was empty, but Jason could hear noises further inside. He walked into the large room and saw his dad. He ran across the room and gave him a big hug.

"Jason! How are you? I've been worried sick about you!" said his father. "I couldn't find you anywhere!"

Jason breathed a sigh of a relief（松了一口气）and sat down. He did have a story to tell!

Have you ever bought something and then changed your mind? For Alison Jenson, 15, this used to happen several times a week. Alison was a shopaholic. She just couldn't stop shopping and she loved special offers.

Alison's bedroom is full of stuff. "I've been to every shop in Birmingham, I think, "says Alison. She picks up some earrings. The labels are still on them. "These were half price, "she says. "I've never won them. "Alison's problem wasn't just jewellery. She also bought a lot of clothes, though not many shoes, because they were usually too expensive. She has also bought lots of other small things — like 20 new covers for her phone. She hasn't used any of them.

According to experts, we all feel excited after we buy something new. For shopaholics, it's a little different. Soon after they buy something, they think they've made a mistake and start to feel unhappy. So they buy themselves something else to feel happier.

Psychologists （心理学家）first described the problems of shopaholics in 1915. However, there was very little research on the subject until recently. Now, doctors think thousands of people suffer from the problem, and the situation is getting worse. There are also more teenage shopaholics now, although most young people don't have enough money to go shopping very regularly.

Alison knew she had a problem. "I often bought something every day. Usually it was something small, but I just needed to buy it, "she says. "I spent money that I got for my birthday, and when I was short of cash, I borrowed money from friends or my parents. When I couldn't go shopping, I felt anxious. Then one day, my parents just looked at all the stuff in my room and said, This is crazy! 'I knew they were right. "I needed some big changes in my life.

Alison now gets help with her problem and feels she has changed. She no longer thinks she's a shopaholic. "When I want to buy something in a shop, I ask myself two questions, "she says. "Do I need it? Can I afford it? The answer to both questions is usually 'no', so I walk away. It's great!"

It's been 100 years since the actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin produced the film The Kid, which many consider to be his greatest one.

Like all films at the time, The Kid was made in black and white and was silent(made without any sound, not even the characters talking). The story is about the relationship between" the Tramp", played by Chaplin, and his adopted (领养的) child, played by Jackie Coogan. The pair develop a partnership where the six-year-old boy breaks windows and runs away, so that Chaplin's character can offer his services as a window fixer.

Although the film is a comedy, it also has some tragedy, reflecting Chaplin's own life. He started testing actors for the role of The Kid just a few days after his baby son had died. Chaplin was known for being hard to please, and it is said that if he could, he would have played every role in every one of his films. When Chaplin visited a theatre, a dancer brought his son, Jackie Coogan, on stage, and Chaplin knew he had his co-star（联袂主演者）. Chaplin later wrote, "All children in some form have talents; the trick is to bring it out in them. With Jackie it was easy. "

Like the Kid in the film, Chaplin and his brother Sydney grew up very poor. They lived in London and were raised by their mother. When Chaplin was 10 years old, his mum became too ill to look after her sons, so they had to take care of themselves. He later wrote that the film sets in The Kid were based (基于) on the places where he and Sydney had lived with their mother as children. "Perhaps that's why the film had some truth, "he said.

Dmitry Doronin, a doctoral student from Russia, is keen (热衷的) to share his experience in rural villages in Zhejiang with his 1.4 million followers online.

Since Dmitry started to live in the countryside last August, the 32-year-old has created hundreds of video clips that record the relaxing lifestyle in Hengzhang village, Lishui city. "The rice is grown in the fields together with fish, which helps to increase local agricultural (农业的) products, "said Dmitry, while introducing products from Hengzhang village on the popular Chinese short-video platform Douyin. Besides filming videos, Dmitry also enjoys working with farmers in the fields, doing activities such as planting vegetables and feeding chickens.

Living in a village provides him with unique experiences, he says, quite different from busy life in big cities, such as Shanghai, where he studies. And he has been a pleasant surprise to the villagers as well. Villager Bao Mingyue, 76, says, "To our surprise, the young Russian not only knows how to cook Chinese food but is interested in working in the fields."

Because of the outbreak of COVID-19, the sales of local agricultural products had dropped rapidly, so Dmitry volunteered to help sell the products in his videos. In a few months, 10,000 kilograms of oranges, 4, 000 kilograms of dried sweet potatoes and 300 kilograms of honey had been sold.

"Thanks to his videos, it seems that more tourists have come to visit our village, "says 72-year-old Pan Xianyu, who is very pleased to see the great changes in her hometown. Dmitry loves his country life. "In the countryside, you can immerse (沉浸) yourself in the traditional way of life and understand this country better, "he says.

According to Dmitry, some Russians' opinions about China are still out of date, although China has progressed greatly. "I would like to become a people-to-people envoy (使者) of friendship between the two countries by using the Internet, "he says.

Visiting outer space is still a far dream for anyone who isn't an astronaut, but a day trip to the stars is already open for people to order!

A new company (公司), Space Perspective, is planning tests with passengers. It has big plans to run up to 500 flights from different places across the USA by 2024. If successful, reaching the outer side of space could be as easy as flying abroad in a few years' time. The plan will be for spacemen and up to eight passengers to travel in Neptune, a capsule (太空舱) tied to a balloon the size of a football field.

They will move slowly upwards right to the side of space, 30 km away from the Earth. There, space tourists will be able to look back at the Earth and out to dark space and the sight of millions of stars. Although the price is yet to be fixed, the expensive flight, which will take six hours, is likely to cost over ￡100, 000. Because the capsule remains within the Earth's atmosphere (大气层), no special clothing or training are needed. It means that older people or those with health problems will be included.

One problem may be the method of landing back on the Earth. The balloon moves back down from space until it falls down in the sea. Passengers, spacemen, capsule and balloon are then gotten back by ship.

Now Neptune faces competition from the Stratollite, a balloon being developed by a company called World View Enterprises, while the super-rich Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are all pouring money into developing business space flying machines. The advantage of the balloon is that it will be cheaper than a space plane or rocket.

Space travel may soon be a reality (现实), but how visitors get there is still a very open question.

Every year, tens of thousands of kids aged 3 to 13 become Junior Rangers in different national parks across America. At Yosemite alone» more than 20,000 kids take part in the Yosemite Junior Ranger Program. If you want to be a Junior Ranger, you need to learn about the natural and cultural history. and make a promise to be a national park protector.

Here Is How YOU Can Become a Junior Ranger!

Earn yourself an official Junior Ranger Badge! You could become a Yosemite's Junior Ranger today by completing the following steps:

●Buy your Junior Ranger Handbook in the nearest Visitor Center.

●Complete the pages in the handbook.

●Pick up rubbish.

●Attend a Guided Program.

●Return your completed handbook and a bag of rubbish to the Visitor Center.

●Make your official Junior Ranger Promise at a ceremony.

●Get your official Junior Ranger Badge.

After you become a Junior Ranger, you are encouraged to share your ranger stories with your friends, teachers and families.

Lima, the capital of Peru, is located in the central coastal part of the country, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. With a population of more than 9 million, Lima is one of the largest cities and the only capital in South America that faces the ocean.

Lima has a long history. The lost Inca civilization, is thought to be a mystery. There are many museums, where you can learn: how the ancient American Indians founded the Inca Empire and built Machu Picchu, a famous ancient city in the Andes Mountains; what happened in 1532 and why over 90% of Peruvians speak Spanish. Visiting the historic center, a World Heritage Site, you may find you are communicating with both the past and the present.

Lima is also a place where you can find the lifestyles and fashions, created by its people and culture. You will see Peruvian clothes, dances, and taste their delicious foods and drinks. You can see buildings in different styles, enjoy the fantastic sunset over the ancient ruins, climb the mountains, fly over the ocean, or sit in the restaurants and bars to experience Peruvians' relaxing life.

You may have heard "It never rains in Lima. " In fact, the special geographic feature makes it not as dry as it is said to be and it is warm all year round. Though it seldom rains in summer, it sometimes drizzles on early winter mornings. The drizzle and the wet air "water" the ground, which makes the crops and the plants grow. Moreover, modern technology helps to bring water from the snow and ice on the top of the Andes (over 6,000m high) for the city to use. People there never waste water.

Lima is such an amazing city that it is worth a visit.

Most viruses can be found and killed by our immune system as soon as they enter our bodies. However, some viruses, for example, the coronavirus, are sneaky. They are difficult to recognize and find. These viruses can cause deadly diseases, like COVID-19. Human-to-human transmission can easily occur, and pandemic will therefore break out. Vaccination is by now a simple, safe and effective way to protect us from the diseases.

   ▲   Vaccines are something that "looks" exactly the same as the viruses, mainly made from the viruses that are weakened or killed. They will not make us really ill. They only stimulate and activate * our immune system to work, telling it something harmful is coming in. The immune system will know what the "viruses" look like, and send B cells(lymphocytes) or antibodies to find and kill them. Meanwhile B cells will remember them for the next kill. A vaccine may also give us passive immunity by providing B cells taken from an animal or a human to play the same role.

Scientists have developed more than 180 vaccines to fight against COVID-19. The technical approaches of these vaccines can be a little different, but their aims are the same.

Take the inactivated vaccine as an example. In an inactivated vaccine, the coronaviruses are already killed or made into the ones unable to produce more new viruses. When the immune system "sees" them, it will try to kill them. The question is: without enough these viruses• how can B cells remember them? That's why we need to take the vaccine more than one time. Though this vaccine is safe, it might not be as effective as it is expected to be.

The live-attenuated vaccine is different. In this vaccine, the viruses are weakened, but they are alive. They can produce enough new viruses to train the immune system to kill and remember them, so people only need to take the vaccine once. The live-attenuated vaccine is considered the most effective, but there is a worry: what might happen once these viruses wake up?

Therefore, although vaccination is by now one of the best ways to protect us from COVID-19, it can be better.

Newspapers are dying. Electronic devices like mobile phones pads, TVs and car radios can all be the killers. Most people believe in the long run, there is no reason• no practical reason for newspapers to survive. No matter what we do may only buy time.

Can anything save newspapers? I decided to have a try.

Many years ago, Bonnier, a Swedish publisher, set a newspaper in the former Soviet countries. After a few years, they had more newspapers in central and eastern Europe. However, these newspapers were run by a group of inexperienced people, and they didn't have enough money. In many places there were not even art directors.

I got a position in Bonnier's newspaper as an art director.

It was very difficult at first. I was really disappointed until one day, in London, when I saw performance by Cirque du Soleil. "These guys took some run-down entertainment, and put it to the highest possible level of performance art." Inspiration lighted me up, "Why can't we do the same with the newspapers. We started to redesign the newspapers, one by one.

We used our imagination. We treated the whole newspaper as one piece, one composition — like music.

Music has a rhythm, has ups and downs. Design is responsible for this experience. Flipping through pages was readers' experience, and I was responsible for this experience.

The front page became my personal channel to talk to the readers. My approach was simple and direct. I wanted to show my understanding of art, and of reality. I wanted to make posters, not newspapers. Not even magazines: posters.

We had determination, and we kept on trying. We experimented with type, with illustration, and with photos. We kept asking: Why do we do it? What's our goal?

Design was not only about the front page. It was a part of the process. To be good was not enough. The process we made was about improving the product completely.

We adjusted the content accordingly. We improved everything to what our readers thought it should be and how they liked reading it. We kept improving, and we had fun.

Soon in Poland , our pages were named "Covers of the Year" three times in a row. One year later, this newspaper, in the same country, they named it the "World's Best-Designed Newspaper". Two years later, the same award came to Estonia. The circulation of the newspapers kept going up. They became more and more popular.

Someone may think we are buying time, but our newspapers are alive, and growing.

The world is full of amazing nature, buildings, technology and discoveries. Some are man-made and others happen naturally.

For as long as we can remember, one of the most popular ways parents use to punish their children has been the "time out".

It seems that it is a good idea: the child sits on his own to reflect (反思) on what he has done. Then, when the time is up, he will apologize and learn from the mistake.

However, just because it's something that's been done for years, that doesn't mean it is the right thing to do. In fact, very often, children don't sit nicely and think about what they've done. Instead, they need to be told a few (or many) times to go back to their places and stay quiet. They're not reflecting on why they are in the "time out" at all. More likely than not, they're probably just really angry, and 'so' are the parents. In the end, both the parents and the children make each other unhappy, or even angry.

What can parents do to change this situation? You may have already heard of things like peaceful parenting (育儿) and gentle parenting. These focus on the relationship between parent and child through building trust and love. So, instead of starting a "time out", try something called "time in". A "time in" needs both parent and child to stay close until both get calm. After that, the parent, and child can discuss what happened and solve the problem together. If the child can make changes, everyone can then move on.

As we all know, punishment and violence (暴力) seldom work and will never teach the children what the right way to act is. A "time in" can be the great time for the children to learn through mistakes, Kids learn how to build their emotional and social skills through difficult situations. So, instead of punishing them for acting their age, we can use chances to teach and guide them to a place of learning.

A "time in" may take more time, but it does work.

①Animal behavior (行为) is an interesting and attractive study. Scientists research the ways animals use to look for food. They study how animals protect themselves from their predators, and which animals kill other animals for food. All of this helps us understand how useful animals can be.

②Each country or culture raises some animals for food. In the United States, people mainly eat meat from cows, chickens and pigs. In other countries, people might raise sheep or buffalo for meat. These differences come in part from weather and other environmental conditions, People around the world eat all kinds of fish and shellfish from oceans and rivers. In some countries, people don't always choose some animal groups, such as dogs, for food while in other countries such animals may become people's favorite food.

③ In West Africa, animals provide humans with more than food. They have been helping people do daily work for thousands of years. Horses, oxen, and other work animals pull heavy things. Elephants; camels; and other animals carry people and things from place to place. Carrier pigeons (信鸽) have been used to send messages.

④People also receive health benefits' (利益) from animals. For example, dogs and cats can help calm people down. This is helpful for people fighting illnesses. Animals can also reduce stress, helping people to draw their attention to learning new information, such as reading. When people are walking their dogs or horses, it encourages exercise.

⑤Animals and humans share space on Earth, so keeping a healthy relationship with animals, around us is in our best interest.

The sound from Miranda's alarm, clock（闹钟）would not stop. Miranda reached over. and stopped the noise ringing in her room. The action brought her, a few minutes of peace and quietness.

On a usual day, Miranda jumped out of bed even before the alarm clock could ring. She did not. mind getting up early. She loved morning because she could, complete her two-mile run before most of her family members got up. She ran every morning so that she would realize her dream of being the best runner in the school. However, this morning was different. She would go and find out whether the pain in her leg was something that could be easily treated or would stop her. from doing something she loved most: running with the school track team.

As the alarm clock rang out again,      ▲      . She cut off the annoying (讨厌的) noise and rose from her bed. She could hear the sound from the kitchen where her mother was making her favourite breakfast of pancakes and bacon. Her mother always made her favourites whenever Miranda was facing a problem or in a bad situation, but she'd never faced anything like this before.

Sighing (叹气) deeply in the quiet room, she tried to stand up. She could feel the pain in her right leg. It was serious but not unbearable. Surely, Miranda thought, it would not be as bad as she had imagined.

She shook her head to clear her thought and got ready to join her mother. As she walked into the kitchen, her mother gave her a big smile. Immediately, Miranda felt comforted. If nothing else, she at least knew one thing was certain. She was not alone in this and that would make all the differences, no matter what the day would bring.

The first emperor of China, Qin Shihuang, completed a huge number of projects during his rule. Between 221 and 210 B. C. , he started the building of the Great Wall. The emperor also ordered the building of a huge army of life-sized terracotta soldiers (士兵). These, he hoped, would protect his tomb after his death.

Lost in Time

The soldiers in Xi'an's terracotta museum are today light brown, but they weren't always. They began as an army of red, blue, yellow, green, white, and purple. Sadly, most of the colors did not last to the present day. After being exposed (暴露) to air during digging, the coating under the paint began to fall off. The paint disappeared in less time than it takes to boil an egg, taking away with it important pieces of history.

New Technology

Now new technology is starting to show the army's true colors. Archeologists (考古学家) have recently discovered an area with more than a hundred soldiers. Many of these still have their painted features, including black hair, pink faces, and black or brown eyes. Chinese and German researchers have developed a chemical liquid (液体) to help save the soldiers' colors. After finding a soldier or another art piece, archeologists put the liquid on it. They then cover it in plastic.

Back to Life

Archeologists are also finding colors in the dirt around the soldiers. It's important not to do anything with the dirt, so the colors won't be lost. "We are treating the dirt as an art piece, "says Rong Bo, the museum's leading archeologist. The next challenge, says Rong Bo, is to find a way to use the colors onto the army-again. Once that happens, artists can bring Emperor Qin's army back to its full, bright colors.

Why is it that the people you meet when backpacking (背包旅行) seem to be more interesting and outgoing than your friends at home? That's my experience, anyway. Very often, you'll meet people that are fun to travel with and worth getting to know. I've spent time with people of many countries and have found out some interesting things about their cultures. It's a great way to learn more about the world.

It's often easy to make new friends while you're traveling, and you'll be able to hang around with them for a few days, until one of you leaves for the next exciting place. Relationships of this kind are shorter but can be just as strong as friendships back home, because you do so much together in that short time. I often find I like to share things about myself that I'd never say to my close friends. It is safe, I think, because we probably won't meet again, except online.

One thing that's important when you're backpacking is to make sure you carry only basic needs, so your backpack isn't too heavy. I travel" "light" these days. One good tip someone gave me is to take old clothes and just throw them away when you move on, instead of washing and waiting for things to dry. Many hostels (小旅社) don't provide shampoo and shower gel. You can get mini bottles in supermarkets.

I've discovered that many backpackers visit little places other tourists don't go to, and by using local shops and guest houses, they help those places with much-needed financial (经济上的) support. Most small guest houses allow you to stay for unlimited time, so you can spend as long as you like exploring the local area. Backpackers are also kinder to the environment, because they use trains and buses rather than cars. So, what are you waiting for? (By Andy Robinson)

Masa walked slowly towards the house, stopping now and then to cut off dead leaves or fading flowers. There were few weeds (杂草). Yuki had spent many hours of her two-week visit weeding in the garden. Masa wondered if Yuki had spent so much of her time outside because she wanted to avoid talking to her.

But Yuki must have wanted very much to see us, Masa told herself. She had visited in the last weeks of June, as soon as her college was out for the summer.

She said she wanted to stay longer but couldn't because she had to work. Besides, she needed to use the studio at her college for photography and she had to go to the library to read,

"Why do you have to go to college to study art?" Masa asked her. "All the great artists didn't go to college."

Yuki shook her head. "That was a different time. It's hard to explain. "

"I was thinking you could live with us all year round and still be an artist. This is a nice quiet place to live. "

"I don't know. How would I support myself here?" "You can always give lessons." Masa said.

"But I don't want to spend a long time looking at kids' drawings."

"What will you do after you graduate, anyway? Will you become a teacher somewhere else then?"

"Grandma, I don't know." Yuki sighed.

"What is the use of going to college if you don't know what you're going there for?" "Maybe I'm going because I don't know. I just want to study art now. I don't want to think that far ahead. "

The minute Masa was going to point out that this was too careless a way to live, Yuki suddenly stood up and put on her straw hat.

"I'm going to the garden to weed your flowerbed", she said, "Let me know if there's something else I can do"

On Yuki's visit, Masa felt strained when they talked, and she was sure Yuki also felt it. But Yuki was never rude or irritable (易怒的). Even when they disagreed, her face was always full of patience.

Takeover Day

Want to be a football coach, a policeman or a musician? If you could do any job for a day, what would it be? Takeover Day offers young people this chance.

Ludwick Marishane, a South African, was with his friends in Limpopo when they started talking about inventing something to put on your skin(皮肤) so you don't have to take a bath. Ludwick thought that this was a great idea. He did some research on the Internet, and he found some surprising facts.

About 2,500,000,000 people around the world haven't got clcan water. This is a huge problcm because dirty water can create illnesses. One of them is trachoma:8, 000, 000 people all over the world get trachoma every year. They wash their faces with dirty water, get ill and go blind. To stop trachoma, people don't have to receive expensive medical care. They have to wash their faces with clean water. That's it.

Ludwick started thinking, He wanted to make something to help people in parts of the world where it's difficult to find clean water. He did more research on the Internet, and he did more thinking. Ludwick had a plan. He wanted to make a gel(凝胶) for people to put on their skin so they don't have to take a bath. When he was at university, he never stopped thinking about his invention. He started to talk to other people about it, and three years later the dream came true. He made the gel and called it "DryBath".

Ludwick is the winner of lots of prizes. People call him "one of the brightest young men in the world". He is happy about his success. DryBath is helping people to be healthy. And DryBath also helps to save water. That's important in many parts of the world, where it's difficult to find clean water, Now he wants to invent other things and also wants to help other young people to become inventors.

The natural world is colorful with humans, plants and animals showing different colors. Human skin can be many different colors and it changes with the sun, our feelings or ourhealth for example. This is because of pigments(色素)，which reflect light and make what the eye secs as colors, So. when we fecl excited or angry, our heart can send more blood to the face and the pigments in the skin become red. This is why we have the expression that someone "sces red"when they are angry.

Plants also have pigments. Color is important for them to live on. The bright colors of flowers catch the attention of insects(昆虫), which then carry their pollen(花粉) from one flower to another. Bees can see colors we cannot, and they follow these to the inside of the flower. Without bees visiting flowers in this way, many plants would die out.

Animals also use color for their own need. They protect themselves with different colors so as not to be seen by predators. The snowshoe hare for example, a type of wild rabbit, changes color with seasons for this reason. During summer ir is a brown color, and in winter it is white so that it can hide in the snow. However, some animals use color as a warning to make predators stay away. Bright colors such as yellow and red are often used in this way. Nature, however, is very clever, and predators also use colors to attract(吸引) the animals they feed on.

So, we can see that there may be many different reasons and uses for colors in the natural world. Some uses of color in nature remain unknown, but one thing is for sure, color not only makes our planet beautiful but it is also necessary for our planet to live on.

You may study differently from your friends, but your study habits are not wrong!

Kelly and Maria are best friends with a lot in common. They love doing things together, such as going to movics and concerts, shopping, or just sitting at a small cafe. Since they take a lot of the same school subjects, they would love to study together, but they find this impossible. Their working styles are so completely different that they can't be in the same room while they are studying!

Kelly would like to study in a clean, open space, while Maria works best with books, papers and other things around her. Kelly prefers to study in a totally silent room, but Maria loves to play music or even have the TV on. Kelly can sit for hours without moving, and often gets all her homework done in one sitting. Maria, however, is always getting up, and says that she thinks best when she's on the move.

You might be asking yourself which way of studying gets better results? Many people believe that a silent, tidy setting(环境）is the way to go,     ▲   Some research has even shown that outside noise and untidiness help some people focus(聚焦）their attention, because it makes them form a"wall"in their mind around what they are doing and improves their focus.

So, if you're a student who chooses to study while sitting at a table in a busy shopping center, don't worry about it. If you work in total silence, that's OK, too. Judging from Kelly's and Maria's study habits, the best way to study is the way that works for you. In their very different ways, both of them do well in school, and both finish their work within the required time as well.

Think of space! What comes to mind? No, I'm not talking about planets or aliens. I'm talking about the space we live in! The world is full of different spaces. We can think about spaces in three different ways:  public spaces, private spaces and personal spaces.

We should respect(尊重) all spaces. We should respect public spaces. We can't leave a mess or take anything that doesn't belong to us. It's important to leave no trace(痕迹) in public spaces. We should respect private spaces by asking for permission before entering. And we should respect personal spaces by finding out how much space a friend or classmate needs to feel comfortable. Respecting all spaces helps make us better people. It also helps keep our community safe and fun,

Is there something in your community that could be changed? Is there a person in your neighborhood who could offer help? If you're hoping for someone to make a difference, that someone could be you!

Volunteering your time is a great way to make a difference in your community. And you'll feel good about doing something that helps people or improves the places around you.

This past summer, my friends and I noticed how messy our neighborhood park was. We wanted it to be different. We worked without parents and teachers to clean up the park. We had a great time making the park even better than before, and now the whole neighborhood is able to share and enjoy it again.

Maybe cleaning up a park isn't your choice, though. No problem! You can turn anything that matters to you into a volunteer project. Do you like playing chess, reading, or spending time with your pet? You can volunteer to do what you love to do. For example, you could help at an old people's center, simply by talking or playing games with them to make their days better, If you're great at math or English, you could volunteer to be a homework helper at your school. You're always needed to walk dogs or play with cats. Or you can collect things for hopeless people, such as soap and toothbrushes.

You see, there is something for everyone. Whatever you do as a volunteer, your time will be enjoyed and that always feels good. Kids everywhere are making a difference by volunteering. You can, too!

Everybody enjoys acts of kindness. But can you explain why? Some people think kindness is something out of love and care, while others believe it is just a tool that we use to become more popular, But research shows that being kind can activate(激活) an area of the brain called Striatum. Research also shows that kindness improves people's mood(情绪), But why and how does it happen? Here are a number of different ways.

Being kind can make someone smile. If you see yourself smile in a situation, people around may be smiling, too. This is specially true for your close friends and family. A kind act makes someone what is sad feel better. It can also make ourselves feel good. So why not set off that chain(链条) of good feelings to people around?

Secondly, being kind starts or develops a social connection with others. Kid acts like buying someone a present make friendships stronger. Research has shown that spending money on others may help you get a stronger feeling of happiness than spending it on yourself. Similarly, charities(慈善) also open up new circles of people to connect with someone on the other side of the world.

In another recent research, even children in their first year of secondary school know how being kind makes them feel happy. If one person is kind, he or she makes others in the group kind. It also lifts everyone's spirits. Imagine that you make cakes for the office and it makes others do it each month. Then you're getting cakes a lot more days than providing them.

The story doesn't end here. Being kind may improve your mood, but research has also shown that if you're in a good mood, you can act much more kindly. This makes it a wonderful two-way relationship, doesn't it?

I came to the United States from Africa to live with my uncle Jim in Maryland. One year later, I lost my sight because of a serious illness.

Jim told me not to go out. He worried I would get lost or hit by a car. But I was dogged. I told him I'd pay attention. I believed I'd succeed. I must succeed. I must put my will into action. I dreamed of being a broadcaster.

Then a neighbor told me that a pubic library in Washington D. C. was offering a free course, specially designed for blind people. This was an important chance for me.

But how would I map my way? I knew that the American singer Ray Charles, also blind, got around on his own without a cane(手杖). His secret was to count steps. But I couldn't seem to do that way. Instead I developed my imagination, sensing the layout (布局) of places I visited and taking notes of landmarks in my mind.

A first, I would have to stop to imagine and map a new space in my mind. The next time I visited that place, I'd use that to find the way. Today, I am used to doing it. But I've still lost my way many times. I'd have to swallow my pride to ask for help, not thinking what others think or say about me.

Sometimes I'd be down and I'd consider giving up. Perhaps my uncle was right. Maybe I'd stay home and wait until someone came to help. On those days when I lost my way, I'd go to bed with a bad feeling   ▲   . I had a strong wish to beat blindness and be successful, and that was usually enough to get me out of bed the next day and try again.

Along the way I learned to be patient with myself and realized that asking for help didn't diminish(贬低) me in any way. I've got three academic degrees so far.

Today, I'm a reporter and broadcaster. I've achieved my dream.

Yes, I've lost my way many times一 and found it again. Yes, I've come close to being hit by a car but never been hit by one. When people ask, "Aren't you afraid to be out alone?" the answer to me is clear: I would face danger and find happiness instead of staying home and being unhappy.