The Greens got a rather unhappy surprise when they tried to fly from Cardiff to Lanzarote last weekend. Because of a had mistake at the airline check-in desk, the Greens got on the wrong flight(航班) and ended up in Ankara. So how did the mix-up happen？
It was five o' clock on Sunday morning when Charlie and Kate Green arrived at Cardiff airport with their nine-year-old daughter Tina. They checked in properly for their fight to Lanzarote, but the check-in attendant(服务员) made a mistake with their boarding passes and also sent them to the wrong boarding gate. Unluckily, it was so curly and the Greens were feeling so tired that they didn't notice any thing wrong. What was worse, there weren't any announcements in the boarding gate area.
When the Greens finally got on the plane, Charlie and Kate Green fell asleep at once, though there were interesting films, magazines, newspapers and music for them to choose to spend the boring time. Little Tina took out a history book about Rome and read. Two hours later, she fell asleep too. They didn't wake up until six hours later, when the plane was landing. Suddenly, the flight attendant said. "Welcome to Ankara!" The Greens couldn't believe it and little Tina was quite unhappy, The family had to get off the plane and then pay 10 for a tourist visa(签证). In the end, they decided to get back home, living at 5:00 p.m. on the same day.
Students in Kenya are returning for their third term. They begin their school year in January and it is broken up into three terms. In Kenya, in the past, students were not required to attend school and the education was not free, either.
I taught math, English and physics at Chamasiri Secondary School while I was a teacher in Kenya. This school had four classrooms ﹣one for each grade, Form 1, Form 2, Form 3 and Form 4. They are the equivalent(对等) to our 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grades. Teachers traveled from classroom to classroom instead of the students going from room to room. The Form I class had 60 students, Form 2 had 45, Form 3 had 30, and Form 4 about 12 students. The class sizes became smaller as the grades continued on. Why did this happn? Many families were very poor and could not afford the school fees(学费).
Most countryside schools in Kenya did not have a lot of money. As a result, there were very few textbooks for the students to use. I had seven math texts for my Form 2 class and 14 for the Form I class. Anything the students needed to know was put up on the blackboard and the students copied it down into their notebooks. The notebooks became the students' textbooks.
Kenyan students study ten different subject areas. Some of the students spend over an hour running home. They do chores at home and hopefully manage to find some time to study before it gets dark. Most families do not have electricity and may not even have candies for their children to study by.
Luckily, Kenyan education has been becoming better and better in the past few years. I'm sure it will have a good future.
Last weekend, I took Lucy to a park, where she discovered a track with large bumps(凸块)and sharp tums. At first, I thought Lucy was able to ride her bike along the track, but she quickly found that her bike was too low to the ground and kept getting stuck on top of the bump.
Lucy looked at me with fear because she was still a biking newbie. I tried to encourage her too, but really, I was thinking﹣this is going to be a disaster. Not because I thought she would get hurt. More because I thought she wouldn't be able to pick up enough speed to balance, then get really discouraged, and give up quickly. I imagined her throwing her bicycle to the ground and then crying all the way home.
But I was only half right. Lucy did have a lot of trouble riding the bike. She couldn't find her balance. She fell many times. At one point, she almost started crying because younger kids were getting angry that she was slowing everyone else down. But she did not give up. She kept picking herself up and trying again. She even took the bike off the track and into the main park to practice pushing off and picking up speed on a flat ground. When she felt more confident, she came back. Then she did it over and over again until she finally reached her goal of going around the whole track without falling once. Then she didn't want to leave and everyone was cheering her on.
This was not a day that ended in a disaster. It was a day when Lucy learned that perseverance pays off.
a. Lucy fell and got up lots of times.
b. Lucy picked up speed on a flat ground.
C. Lucy found her bike was too low for the bumps.
d. Lucy rode her bike around the whole track without falling once.
|
Dear Dr. Green, My relationship with my mother is worse and worse now. It seems she's never tired of talking. She talks here and there, day and night. More seriously, I feel like we don't have much in common. She doesn't always understand what I'm trying to say. What should I do? Yours, Jim |
Dear Jim, I know how you feel. It's not easy being your age. And it's not easy being a mother, either. It's common for kids to have trouble talking with parents, and talkative mothers are not new to teenagers. But remember, she's nagging (唠叨) you because she just wants what's best for you. Talking is her way to show love and care. And she also wants to know more about you. After a day's work, she's tired, too. But she will never be tired of caring about you. Kids should learn to understand and care about parents. In my opinion, it's helpful to share school life with her. Then, you talk and she listens. Doing some housework together with her is another good way for you two to know each other better. And if possible, often tell her your feelings about the things around you. Always keep in mind: be polite and patient. Yours, Dr. Green |
If you look at the top of your phone, you'll usually see a little symbol that says 3G or 4G. The "G" stands for the "generation" (代) of your mobile network. But the symbols will become things of the past after 5G networks fully arrive.
On March 30, Shanghai vice-mayor Wu Qing made the first 5G video call on a Huawei Mate X Smartphone. Shanghai has also become the first city in China to start testing 5G networks.
About 100 times faster than 4G networks, 5G will let people download and upload data(数据) faster than ever before. But 5G won't just bring faster mobile internet. People can use it for many other things as well.
For example, 5G will help to make self-driving cars safer. Today's self-driving test cars have one problem-lag(延迟). When the car "sees" an obstacle(障碍物), it sends this information to a data center and receives instructions, However, it will be some time before it sends and receives this information. With this kind of lag, the cars might crash because they don't receive instructions in time. With 5G, this lag will be greatly lowered, making the cars safer.
5G could also be used to power the internet of things (IoT), that is, a large online network that connects all things and people. Fast internet speeds will be the key to developing this technology.
The IoT could be used in a lot of ways. For example, with IoT, your refrigerator could automatically (自动地) place an order online for eggs when it finds that there are no eggs left inside.
Few students like homework, but it is an important part of middle school life in the UK.
The UK has these rules for homework: Grades7and 8 (ages 11 to 13): 45 to 90 minutes per day; Grade 9 (ages 14 to 15):1 to 2 hours a day.
Today, many homework tasks are done on a computer. For example, preparing reports, using the Internet or doing online tasks. So schools are usually open before and after normal hours. In this way, students without computers or the Internet at home can use the schools' facilities(设备).
Sometimes, students are given extended learning tasks. That means they need to do more research and analysis(分析).But however big a task is, teachers always give feedback反馈）to help students find the areas where they can improve.
Some schools send students home with home diaries. They advise parents to check on their
Children's progress. Sadly, not every parent takes much interest. In a survey of 1,000 students aged 11 to 18, over 10 percent said that they did not have space at home to do homework. Almost 15 percent said their families did not support them enough.
Recently I had a trip to Sydney with my parents. We visited the Wildlife Park.
The Wildlife Park has lots of different animals. Some are native(当地的) to Australis and can only be found there. There are more than 500 animals there, including kangaroos, koalas(考拉)and crocodiles(鳄鱼). They are kept in their natural environment. I like the Wildlife Park better than a zoo. In zoos, most of the animals are in cages(笼子).
We first spent some time with the kangaroos. We could touch and feel them. It was very exciting to be so close to them. There were koalas there too. They looked very cuddly(令人想拥抱的). Although we couldn't carry koalas, I could take a photo with one. It is a wonderful souvenir(纪念品) of my holiday in Sydney.
The Wildlife Park has plenty of freshwater crocodiles and saltwater crocodiles. Some of them are very big and scary(吓人的)with huge teeth! I did not want to get too close to them.
There was also a bird show. The keepers(饲养员)showed us different species(种类)of birds. I saw an old parrot(鹦鹉). It could "talk" and made a great impression on me.
I enjoy the trip very much. There was so much to see.
Have you ever seen rows of different cars parked on a big playground, with their boots(汽车后备箱) open? The boots are packed with things like books, pictures, kid's toys. This is a car boot sale. It is popular in the UK.
If you have lots of things and have nowhere to put them, and don't want to throw them away, why not try a car boot sale? Go to a car boot sale and you may be excited about what you find.
You can find almost anything at a car boot sale, from beds, tables to necklaces and ring….
Most of the things are second-hand, so they are usually low-priced. I like to hunt for books. I was pretty proud when I bought four books from the Harry Potter. Series and they cost me just over ¥2.
Here is a little tip that not everybody knows; When it's nearly the end of the sale(they usually finish in the early afternoon), many sellers cut the prices because they want to throw away things. Quite often you'll find "all for 10p", "Buy one and get one free" and "Take it away!" It's clear that they just want to throw those things away.
However, there may not be much good stuff(物品)left in the end—the things people really want are sole quickly. So, as they say, the early bird catches the worm!
DIY which means Do It Yourself, is quite popular in UK. Lots of stores and supermarkets sell DIY things. TV programs show people how to DIY.
English people like DIY. There is a saying in UK —"An Englishman's home is his castle". Huge numbers of people spend their holidays making their homes beautiful "castles". If there is anything that needs fixing around their homes, such as painting the walls or putting in a new shower, they will do the jobs themselves. They share DIY experience with their friends. More and more people have discovered the joy of DIY. Sometimes people also DIY for saving money. With the economy becoming worse at present, many people cannot afford a big house. They are looking at how they can make their house better with less money. It is not surprising that DIY is so popular.
DIY can be difficult. There is a huge market for DIY furniture. People need to get together pieces of furniture with a few basic tools. However, people often find it not easy to build a piece of furniture because they can't understand the instructions. Sometimes the instructions are very simple but the furniture itself is difficult to build. One thing is for sure, though most DIY projects are started with the best ideas, many of them may not get finished. DIY can also be dangerous. For example, anything electrical should be done by a professional worker. Unluckily, many people don't care about this warming and put themselves in danger. It is reported that in just one year over 230,000 people were hurt while doing DIY in UK, including 41,000 who fell off ladders.
Therefore, DIY can bring us fun and help us save money, but it is not always as easy as it is thought to be if we bite off more than we can chew. Maybe factories should make products that are easier and safer for us to DIY. All in all, it is a very good and suitable thing for many people.
B
When was the last time you gave or received a hug? Do your parents hug you before you go to school? In Western countries, it is quite common to greet close friends or relatives with a hug.
You might hug your teammates after winning a basketball game. If one of your friends is having a bad day, you can hug them to cheer them up. Friends who haven't seen each other for a long time will usually hug each other when meeting.
Of course, people in different countries have different opinions when it comes to hugging. After coming to China, I've noticed that people are generally more reluctant (不情愿的) to hug than they are in my home country, the US.
My Chinese friends told me that hugging is considered to be very intimate (亲密的) in their culture. It usually only happens between people who are really close to each other, like couples. Chinese people don't usually hug in public, either.
But people's attitudes (态度) towards hugging can also change. I remember watching a video story about a “hugging party” that was held in Shanghai. A local artist held the party, inviting strangers and asking them to hug each other.
The Chinese participants (参与者) clearly looked uncomfortable. However, after the party, several of them changed their minds. They decided that hugging doesn't have to be awkward (尴尬的) and can actually be quite nice. So next time you see your mom or dad, give them a hug –see how it makes you feel.
C
Last week, I visited my friend Pete in his new home, where he lives with his wife and daughter. Pete used to spend his holidays traveling around the world – visiting the pyramids in Egypt or scuba diving (水肺潜水) in the Caribbean. Nowadays, he prefers to spend his holidays and weekends making his house look more beautiful. Like hundreds of thousands of other British people, he's found the joy of DIY (do it yourself) home repairs. This means that if there's anything that needs fixing around the house, he will try to do the job himself.
Pete showed me his new kitchen, which he put together himself, and his newly-painted walls. I asked him where he got the idea to do these things. He told me that his favourite source (来源) of ideas is a DIY program on TV.
This got me thinking about how popular DIY programs are in the UK. Each main channel (频道) has at least one home or garden makeover show. There are even channels totally on the subject.
I suppose it's not really surprising that DIY programs are so popular. There are two common sayings in Britain – “an Englishman's home is his castle (城堡)” and “there's no place like home” – which show how important our houses are to us. With the social changes of the last ten years or so, many people can't afford to buy bigger houses. So they are looking at how they can make their house better without spending a lot of money. DIY, clearly, is the perfect choice.
