Volunteering means working for free to help someone else. Mrs. Obama says volunteering is very important. "It should be part of everyone's life," she says.
Many teens agree. They say that helping others feels great and makes a difference. These days, more teens volunteer than work for pay. Teens clean up parks, walk dogs at animal shelters, visit the elderly, and more.
Some cities, including Seattle, Chicago, and Washington D.C., require high school students to volunteer. Students must volunteer in order to graduate. The student volunteers learn new skills and help their communities.
Many parents subscribe to the idea, saying volunteering helps teens build job skills. But most teens don't want to be forced to volunteer. They say they are busy. And they say volunteering is only fun if it's a choice.
Read both sides of the debate and decide.
Pros:
1）Volunteering can help teens get into college or get a job;
2）Many cities and towns need help. Volunteers can help keep important programs going;
3）Not all teens will volunteer if it isn't required. Students are demanded to have this record for graduation, and get ready for adult life.
Cons:
1）Most teens are already very busy with classes, homework, jobs, and sports. Forcing them to do more isn't fair;
2）It should be up to each person. Helping doesn't feel good if you must do it;
3）Finding a volunteer job isn't always easy. Students shouldn't be kept from graduating because of something they can't control.
Parties and social gatherings no longer excite us the same way they once did. This is not due to a lack of desire to socialize, but the smartphone.
At parties, people focus more on their smartphones than on their drinks. According to a recent study from International Data Corporation, over half of all Americans have a smartphone and reach it the moment they wake up, keeping it in hand all day. In addition, too many people are using smartphones while driving, and as a result, they get into car crashes. 34 percent of teens admit to text while driving, and they confirm that texting messages is the major interruption while driving. People's attachment (依恋) to their smartphones is unbelievably becoming more important than the lives of themselves and others.
Just as drivers dismiss the importance of focusing while on the road, many people also fail to recognize the significance of human interaction. When with their friends, some people pointlessly (无谓地) check or send messages in the presence of their friends, which means that their friends are less important. In addition, relying on our smartphones to make friends does not give us the same advantages as making new friends in the real world. Facetoface conversations will give us the chance to improve our communication skills in the long run.
As many people risk their lives and the lives of people around them just to send a text or mindlessly check their messages, smartphones are in many ways more dangerous to people. The technology shows the achievement weaken the value of communication. Not only is the smartphone affecting our desire to interact face to face, but it is also lowering people's ability to communicate.
When Gitanjali Rao was 11, she invented equipment that quickly detects(检测) lead in water. She became the youngest ever winner of the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge.
In 2016, the news was full of stories about dangerous drinking water in Flint, Michigan. The water had too much lead in it. Lead is a metal that can cause health problems when people eat or drink it.
There was home test equipment that could detect lead in water. But these tests didn't work very well. They took too long and often gave wrong results. Gitanjali wondered if she could create a test that was quick, easy, and right.
One day, Gitanjali read a news story about using carbon nanotubes(纳米管) to test for poison in the air. The nanotubes were coated with a chemical that stuck to the poison. When the poison stuck, it changed the way electricity flowed through the tubes. Scientists could measure the electric flow to see how much poison was in the air. Gitanjali wondered if she could use the same way to detect lead in water.
She e-mailed a chemistry teacher at her local school. They didn't have a fancy lab, but it was good enough for Gitanjali to test whether her detector could sense lead at all. They started by testing clean water. The electricity meter jumped all over the place. Gitanjali learned how to adjust it. Next they added tiny spoons of lead. After many, many tries—her detector worked.
Then Gitanjali made a phone app so users could use the results instantly on their phones. She entered her idea in a big national competition. When she was picked for the semi-finals, she was assigned an advisor to help her work on her equipment. And—she won!
Gitanjali's next goal is to sell her equipment in stores and make versions that test for different kinds of pollution. She is also very interested in genetics(遗传学).
Easy Ways to Keep Your Brain Sharp
Everyone is forgetful, but as we age, we start to feel like our brains are slowing down a bit—and that can be a very annoying thing. Read on for some techniques worth trying.
1
People who regularly made plans and looked forward to upcoming events had a 50 percent reduced chance of Alzheimer's disease (早老性痴呆症), according to a recent study. Something as simple as setting a goal to have a weekly coffee date with a friend will do. There's evidence that people who have a purpose in life or who are working on long or short-term goals appear to do better. In other words, keep your brain looking forward.
2 Go for a walk.
Mildly raised glucose (葡萄糖) levels can harm the area of the brain that helps you form memories and physical activity can help get blood glucose down to normal levels. In fact, exercise produces chemicals that are good for your brain.
3 Learn something new.
Take a Spanish class online, join a drawing club, or learn to play cards. A study found that mental stimulation (刺激) limits the weakening effects of aging on memory and the mind. But the best thing for your brain is when you learn something new and are physically active at the same time. or go dancing with your friends.
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A. Focus on the future. B. This can be especially harmful to the aged. C. It should be something like learning gardening. D. So take a few minutes each day to do some reading. E. But don't worry if your schedule isn't filled with life-changing events. F. Luckily, research shows there is a lot you can do to avoid those moments. G. In other words, when you take care of your body, you take care of your brain. |
A professor was teaching his class. All the students were listening to his1with great interest. But there was one student whose2of mind showed he was in a bad mood.
The professor took notice of this student on the first day but did not say anything. But when this3for a week, he asked. "You are4in spirits all the time. What is the matter? Have some trouble?"
"Sir, that..." the student said."... something has happened in my past,5which I remain troubled. I don't know what to do."
The professor was a(n)6good person. He called the student at his house in the evening.
When the student7the professor's house, he was greeted with a8welcome. The professor went to the kitchen and started making lemonade for his student. He9put more salt in the lemonade.
10the student had a taste of it, his mouth became sour. 11this, the professor asked, "Did you not like the lemonade?"
"No, sir, this is not the12. Just a little more salt in the drink," the student said." Now it's useless. I will throw it away." The professor13his hand to get the glass of drink from the student. But the student refused, saying, "No, sir. If you add more 14, the taste will be fine."
Upon hearing this, the professor became serious and said," You are right. That's what I want to15. Just as salt cannot be taken out of the lemonade, those bad experiences also cannot16 life. Adding more sugar can change the taste of lemonade. In a(n) 17way, sweetness has to be dissolved(溶解）in life to forget bad experiences, I want you to take the sweetness in your life into18 now."
To his relief, the student 19 him and decided from then on he would not be troubled by the20.
The British spend a lot of their free time watching and playing sport. One of the (popular) sports of all is, of course, football or soccer. Every four years lots of different countries play in the World Cup, which English won in 1966, TV was still in black and white! The game was at Wembley Stadium in London and the Queen was there to present the trophy. Apart from (watch) the big matches played by professionals, many people enjoy playing football with (they) friends in local parks. Coaches are always looking for possible future stars for both men's and (woman) teams.
Rugby is another sport that is very popular in the UK. It is also played (wide) across the world. In rugby players need (protect) from other players. It can be a very physical game. The game is very popular all over Britain and Six Nations Tournaments is played England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy. Rugby (play) in many schools today.
There are a lot of marathon races all over the UK and London marathon attracts over 40, 000 runners. Sponsor runs raise millions of pounds for charities every year and also help thousands of people run for fun.
在同事们的帮助下，她成功的把梦想变成了现实。
加拿大的这个男孩没有放弃。 他下定决心要帮其他孩子获得干净的水。
你对社会所做的贡献，我们非常感激。
我觉得，这个女孩比班里其他孩子，对情绪更加的敏感。
很多慈善机构经常给残疾人提供临时救助，包括社会上人们捐赠的食物和钱。
我们如何机智和灵活的应对所有困难呢？
他渴望成功，所以他设置了目标并且一直坚持。
这种新药的发现，对遭受心脏问题的人具有重要意义。
据报道，这场事故有3人死亡，5人受伤。
实验中，按照正确的程序很重要，这能保证安全。
1）写信意图；
2）活动时间和地点；
3）活动目的和内容。
注意：1）词数80左右；
2）可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯；
3）开头和结尾已给出,但不计入总词数。
参考词汇:科技小发明 technology gadgets
Dear David,
Looking forward to your reply and expecting your coming.
Yours,
Li Hua
For many years, I had a recurring(反复出现的) dream. I was a little girl again, rushing about, trying to get ready for school.
"Hurry, you'll be late for school," my mother called to me.
"I am hurrying, Mom! What did I do with my books?"
Deep inside I knew where the dream came from. It was about some unfinished business in my life. As a kid, I loved everything about school. I loved books, teachers, tests and homework. Most of all I longed to someday march down the aisle(通道) to receive my diploma. That seemed more appealing even than getting married.
But at 15, I had to drop out because my parents couldn't afford my tuition(学费). My hope of getting a diploma was dead, or so I thought. Pretty soon, I married and had three children, and I thought: "There goes my diploma."
Even so, I wanted my children to be educated. But Linda, our youngest child, had juvenile arthritis(幼年型关节炎) in her hands and knees, which made it impossible for her to function in a normal classroom. I felt really sorry for her and I didn't want her to live her life with regret. I didn't give up hope of her being back to school in some way.
One day, I saw an ad in the newspaper for evening courses. "That's the answer," I said to myself. Linda always felt better in the evening, so I would just sign her up for night school.
Linda was busy filling out enrollment(入学) forms when the secretary said: "Mrs. Schantz, why don't you come back to school?"
I laughed, "There's no way! I'm 55!" But he persisted, and before I knew what I had done, I was enrolled for classes in English and crafts. "This is only an experiment," I warned him, but he just smiled. So, I told myself to try for just a semester and to see if it would work. Anyway, my dream was still there in my heart.
Paragraph 1:
It was exciting to go to school again but it was no game.
Paragraph 2:
Linda and I saw each other through all these years.
