It can be really hard to learn a language well without living in a country full of native speakers! You have to find something interesting! Here's the solution: TV Series.
Game of Thrones
You should really start watching it. The language is beautiful and easy to understand. Drama, love and good characters mark the show and there are actors from all around the world. You won't know what's going to happen at the ending. This is a must-see!
Sherlock
A British masterpiece. Is there any language learner who has not heard of Sherlock Holmes and his friend John Watson? The writers placed the stories into London in the 21st century, so it's basically a modern version of the original stories. Here you have everything that an English language learner could wish for: British accents, good acting, long and interesting conversations with a lot of humour.
Friends
Everybody knows Friends, which couldn't be missed off of this list. With many different accents to be heard and lots of dialects, this is the perfect show for English learners. The plot is relatively simple to understand. Six friends battle with tough jobs, complicated relationships and life in Manhattan, New York. In parts of the show there are also British accents to listen to and learn.
How I Met Your Mother
It is one of the most successful situation comedies in the United States, attracting the audience all around the world. Ifs about the life of five friends that live in New York, focusing on their work and their favorite free time activity: sitting in their favorite bar. You get to know many modern American expressions and can enjoy a lot of dialects that make the show even more interesting.
At the age of 17 years 64 days, Mack Rutherford has become the youngest person to fly around the world alone! Mack's journey around the world lasted five months and he flew across 52 countries in total. His record-breaking flight began in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, on 23 March, 2022. He was 16 years old when he took off and celebrated his 17th birthday by himself in his plane.
Mack faced many challenges during his adventure. Because of his small-sized aircraft, he had to land whenever the weather got too rough. However, at some points he literally (确实地) couldn't land, such as when flying non-stop for 10 hours over an ocean. At other points, he faced extremely hot weather, such as in Dubai. In Sudan, a country in Africa, Mack also faced sandstorms which made it hard for him to see where he was going. Mack battled strong winds and pouring rain during his flight, but he never stopped smiling, joking and updating his flowers on his social media account along the way, and managed to expertly pilot his plane to safety.
And if Mack's surname "Rutherford" sounds familiar, it's because his elder sister Zara also flew around the world earlier this year, and still holds the female version of the record! The Rutherford siblings (兄弟姐妹) were inspired by their parents to become pilots. "I have known for certain I wanted to fly since I was eleven," Mack said, "My dad Sam is a professional ferry pilot, my mum Beatrice is a recreational private pilot."
Mack hopes to inspire young people to begin working towards their own goals, "No matter what background you have, I believe it is never too early to work towards your dreams and you shouldn't limit yourself by others' expectations." With both feet firmly back on the ground now, it's time for Mack to turn his attention towards catching up on his schoolwork!
It's time to put down the phone and look away from Instagram (一款照片分享应用程序): Researchers found that people who look at pictures of food are less likely to enjoy the next meal they eat.
Ryan Elder and Jeff Larson of Brigham Young University asked 232 people to look at photos of food and rate them. The researchers divided the participants into two groups-one group looked at 60 photos of desserts, while the other examined 60 photos of sally foods. Participants (参加者) ranked each photo based on how attractive the food looked. Afterward both groups enjoyed a snack of salted peanuts. The group that looked at pictures of salty foods liked the peanuts less than the group who looked at desserts, even though no one saw photos of peanuts.
"If you want to enjoy your meal, avoid looking at too many pictures of food," Larson said. "Even I felt a little sick to my stomach during the study after looking at all the sweet pictures we had."
The researchers believe that food doesn't taste as good after viewing all those photos because looking at many photos makes people feel as if they have already experienced the sensation (感觉) of eating. Whatever someone eats after looking at photos doesn't seem as good as what she saw.
"In a way, you're becoming tired of that taste without even eating the food," said Elder. "It's sensory boredom-you've kind of moved on. You don't want that taste experience anymore."
But there is some good news: People need to look at a lot of food photos to experience sensory boredom. So if you want to enjoy your next brunch, play it safe and stay away from your foodie friend's photo albums.
Children may not be putting coins in piggy banks for much longer. With the move towards a cashless society, pocket money is going digital.
To reflect "the change", many mobile budgeting (预算) apps for children have appeared worldwide, such as GoHenry, Osper and Gimi. These apps offer a simple money management service to children, often for a monthly fee paid by the parents. Parents can add money to children's accounts, set limits and monitor transactions (交易). Children can choose to save their money or spend it using a prepaid card.
These apps aim to teach young children financial concepts (概念), such as budgeting, interest rates and income. For example, the Swedish app Gimi — 1.2 million users globally — has virtual savings jars where children can deposit money. Parents can pay children interest as they save. There is also a prepaid card that is currently available in Sweden only, but is expected to be launched elsewhere in Europe.
Philip Haglund, CEO of Gimi, believes the app can teach children responsible spending habits. "You don't become better at money management just because you have a degree in economics. It's more about the attitude and the relationship you have with parents' money when you're 6 to 12 years old," he says.
But Catherine Winter, Managing Director of Financial Capability at The London Institute of Banking &Finance, warns people that while digital tools can help, there needs to be a more organized approach to financial education. The area should "have regular, designed classroom time and ideally should be taught as an independent subject", she says. "Children would then have the right understanding to get the most out of both the apps and their money."
D
Children can get the most out of their money with the apps.
Learning a language doesn't happen in a day. To get to the point when you can communicate with native speakers, you should pay attention to the following top tips given by successful language learners.
•Study a little bit every day but efficiently
When you organize to learn a lot of vocabulary or study several grammar patterns that are pretty challenging, your mind can't take all of them simultaneously (同时地). Therefore, it is better to start with little steps and learn a little bit every day. It is often more efficient to learn 10 new words every day instead of learning 100 new words in a day.
•Don't be afraid of making mistakes
No one likes making mistakes. It affects your confidence and you are embarrassed (尴尬的) especially if there are more people around you. But when you learn a foreign language, making mistakes is something quite normal and expected. If you make mistakes, it isn't the end of the world. Try to learn from your mistakes. Look at them as a learning tool that helps you never make those mistakes again.
• Track Your Progress
Checking weekly or monthly progress against your language goals is highly-recommended. You might track the sentence structures learned, the phrases memorized, or the lectures followed. Being aware of your progress can help you see how much your efforts pay off. This strategy will keep you motivated (受到激励的) to continue learning.
You, just like them, one day can be proud of yourself and your achievements in language learning.
A. Make them useful experience.
B. Try hard, and you will finally succeed.
C. It takes a lot of time, organization, and effort.
D. You won't remember all the 100 words, after all.
E. It is not only challenging, but also full of fun when you enjoy it.
F. You can also treat yourself with a small gift when you reach a new level.
G. The previous tips are from successful language learners who gladly shared them with you.
An ordinary trip turned dramatic (激动人心的) for 18-year-old Justin Gavin, and extremely fortunate for a young family. Walking down the street, he saw something that made him1. A small SUV drove past him, and it was 2in flames (火焰). His heart beat fast,3when he saw children inside the car.
Drivers were honking (按喇叭) and getting out of their cars to get the4of the woman driver. However, it quickly became5that she could not stop the car.
The officials had already received several calls about a car on fire with a woman and children6inside. However, without an officer on site, Gavin immediately went into action.
He ran after the car down the street to help the family7from the burning car. "I'm yelling ‘Stop the car! Your car is on fire!" he said. Gavin finally8the car when it came to a full stop. Without9, he helped the mother out of the driver's10first. And then with the flames11, he pulled three children out of the back seat. The flames quickly flooded the12moments later.
Gavin said, "It's kind of13because I didn't know whether I was able to get everyone out14. Luckily, I did it." Afterwards the mother credited the15with saving her family.
Zhoukoudian is a small village lying about 50 kilometers to the southwest of Beijing City. In the 1920s, archaeologists discovered some prehistoric human bones there, which changed people's view of China's history. They came from unknown species of man, and were the first evidence of human life in China thousands of years ago. The remains were three(tooth)!
In 1929, a complete skull(颅骨)(dig) out. Eventually, archaeologists found almost 200 items, including 6 skulls. These discoveries proved the(exist) of a human species who lived in the area between 700, 000 and 200, 000 years ago. Four sitesPeking Man and their relatives lived were discovered on the northern face of Longgushan.
Zhoukoudian was listeda World Heritage Site in December 1987. It has not only given(we) important information about prehistoric Asian societies, but also provided amazing evidence about the process of evolution. Today, parts of the caves have been badly destroyed by rain. Some areas are almost(complete) covered in weeds, causing serious damage. Also, pollution(cause) by the nearby factories has contributed to the problem.This is a very serious matter. The Chinese Academy of Sciences is doing all it can(raise) public awareness of it.
