When I was about twelve, I headed to a restaurant for dinner with my family. It was winter, and on that night, the wind was really blowing hard.
As my mom and I headed to the restaurant from our car, a girl about my age and her mother came up to us. They asked if we had any spare change. My mom right away asked where they lived. They pointed to an old car in a parking lot across the street. The girl said there were six of them living in that car.
My mom said she had something to do after handing the people a few dollars. She sent me inside the restaurant with my dad and my three siblings （兄弟姐妹）. But she didn't come. Later, I found out she had gone home and put all the food in our cupboards into a few bags. Then, she brought that food over to the car and handed the bags to the family. I wasn't there when that happened, but I can only imagine the joy it brought to those people.
A few days later, when I actually found out about what she had done, I asked her why she helped those people. She told me that they were not lucky. I remember the face of that girl who had asked us for change. She was the same age as me, yet we looked so different.
Here I stood, dressed in almost new clothes, headed to eat in a restaurant and then back home to the bedroom I shared with my younger sister. I remember thinking that the other girl didn't have any food to eat and she was heading back to a cold car shared with five other people.
After painting this picture in my mind, I understood why my mom had done what she did. I will never forget what she did that night, and how she taught me one of the best lessons I ever learned.
Seeing a volcano erupt is a wonderful experience, and you can really feel the heat by climbing to the summit (山顶) of Pacaya for a close-up view. There are guided tours every day up this highly active volcano from Antigua, giving travelers a chance to see Mother Nature at her most powerful.
Pacaya is an easy drive from Antigua, a beautiful city with many colorful houses along its old streets that are turned into art-works during its Holy Week Festival. No matter when you come to Antigua, you won't miss the Pacaya-tour companies.
But climbing Pacaya is no easy job: it is 2,560 metres high, and reaching the summit takes two to three hours of seemingly one-step-forward and two-step-back movements. As you climb, you hear the dull sounds of eruptions high above. Steaming, hot remains from recent eruptions begin to line the path as you near the active summit: the McKenney Cone (火山锥). Just as though you are going to walk over to the edge of the cone, the road turns to the left and up to the relative safety of the old, inactive summit.
Many tours are timed so that you arrive at the cone of the volcano in plenty of time for sunset and the full contrast between the erupting red lava and the darkening sky. On a good day the view from the summit is extremely exciting. The active mouth boils, sending red lava over its sides, and once in a while shoots hot streams up to 100 meters into the air. There is a strong bad smell in the air even if you take care to be upwind of the cone. As evening turns deeper into the night, the burning lava quietly falls down the side of the volcano. For you, too, it is time to get down.
Scientists have long said getting a good night's sleep is important to your health. The U. S. National Institute of Health says lack of sleep may even increase the risk of cognitive(认知) decline and Alzheimer's disease. Now, an American team of scientists reports that too much sleep might be similarly linked to such conditions.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine did the sleep study. The study examined 100 adults who had been under medical observation for cognitive ability, the ability to think, for an average of 4.5 years. The average age of the study subject was 75. Eighty-eight of the group had been identified as free of cognitive damage. Twelve subjects were judged very mildly damaged.
During the study, they were asked to complete several tests for signs of cognitive decline. The tests are combined into a cognitive score-the higher the score, the better. They also wore electroencephalography (EEG) devices for four to six nights to measure their brain activity during sleep.
Overall, cognitive scores declined for those who slept less than 4.5 hours or more than 6.5 hours per night -as measured by EEG(脑电图). But the scores stayed the same for those in the middle of the range.
Dr. Brendan Lacey is the director of the Washington University Sleep Medicine Center and led the research. He said, "Our study suggests that there is 'a sweet spot' for total sleep time for best cognitive performance. Short and long sleep times are associated with worse cognitive performance, perhaps due to insufficient sleep or poor sleep quality," Lacey added.
Greg Elder is a sleep researcher at Northumbria University in New Castle, Britain. He was surprised about the findings that sleeping longer than 6.5 hours was linked with cognitive decline. Elder wrote in The Conversation, "Each person's sleep needs are individual. If people feel rested, there is no need to change how they sleep." He also noted that it suggests that sleep quality may be the key, as opposed to simply total sleep time.
Before there was the written word, there was the language of dance. Dance expresses love and hate, joy and sorrow, life and death, and everything else in between.
. We dance from Florida to Alaska, from north to south and sea to sea. We dance at weddings, birthdays, office parties and just to fill the time.
"I love dancing," says Lester Bridges, the owner of a dance studio in Iowa. "I can't imagine doing anything else with my life." Bridges runs dance classes for all ages. "Teaching dancing is wonderful. . It's great to watch them. For many of them, it's a way of meeting people and having a social life. "
. "I can tell you about one young couple," says Bridges. "They're learning to do traditional dances. They arrive at the class in low spirits and they leave with a smile. "
So, do we dance in order to make ourselves feel better, calmer, healthier? Andrea Hillier says, "Dance, like the pattern of a beating heart, is life. Even after all these years, I want to get better and better. . I find it hard to stop! Dancing reminds me I'm alive. "
A. So why do we dance?
B. Dance in the U. S. is everywhere.
C. If you like dancing outdoors, come to America.
D. My older students say it makes them feel young.
E. I keep practicing even when I'm extremely tired.
F. Dancing seems to change their feeling completely.
G. They stayed up all night long singing and dancing
Mike was an 11-year-old boy. His father 1 as a carpenter and his mother was a homemaker. Although Mike's family wasn't a 2 one, they led a happy life.
Mike's 3 was coming up in a week. He asked his father to 4 him a bicycle, so that he could cycle to school instead of walking or 5 his father to drop him off. His father 6.
On his birthday, the boy woke up happily with his mother and father wishing him a happy birthday with smiles. Mike 7 that his father would gift him the bicycle. However, he was given a small gift wrapped nicely and was 8.
Inside, Mike saw a set of books, which was the 9 from his father. Although he was a little unhappy, he thanked his father.
Mike's father was rather 10 as he did not have enough money to buy a cycle. But he promised his son that he would buy him one soon.
After a week, while 11 on his way home from school, Mike saw a boy riding a cycle. Mike felt the cycle was too small for the 12 boy. Suddenly, the boy crashed into a post and 13 the cycle. Mike rushed to him and 14 him. He was a classmate of his called Sam.
Sam was 15 badly and there was no one near to help him except Mike. Mike helped Sam to sit in a corner and took his cycle and rushed to a nearby 16 to get help.
An ambulance came and carried Sam to the hospital. Mike then rushed to Sam's home and informed his parents.
Sam and his parents 17 Mike and Sam and Mike became close friends. Mike 18 Sam every day in hospital until he recovered.
Sam got a new cycle and he came to know that Mike didn't 19 a cycle. He gave his old cycle to Mike and with Mike's parents' permission, Mike 20 the gift from Sam.
Peru is a country the Pacific coast of South America. In the high plains area (be) Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world. It is a beautiful lake, boats can travel. Peru has wide (variety) of plants. It gained its (independent) from Spain in 1821. The capital of Peru is Lima, is in the north on the coast.
The ancient Inca capital, Cuzco, is a popular tourist destination. Cuzco is a (live) city where both Indian Spanish culture and art can (see). It is a wonderful place for you (visit).
增加：在缺词处加一个漏词符号（^），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线（），并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：每处错误及修改均仅限一词;
As we all know, walking is a good way of exercising and is beneficial of our health. It can not only reduce the risk of many kind of diseases but also builds up the bones. It's safe than many other ways of exercising, especially for the elderly and it's easy to do without consider rules. Beside, walking can also help us lose weight. What should we pay attention during the walk? First, we should wear loose clothes and good shoes so as that we can relax. Second, we should walk fast enough to cause us to breathe with difficult but still be able to talk. Third, it's huge important to walk with our arms moving freely. Most importantly, we should do it every day.
1）家庭 2）工作 3）业余生活
