Earth Day is an event celebrated on the 22nd of April each year. It is a day on which people take part in activities aiming at raising public attention about our mother planet and how to protect it.
1.
Below, we have listed 4 things you can do to make a better world for the future generations.
Leave your cars at home
Cars can be left at home this weekend. Travelling by public transport is a better choice.
2.
Be a little dirty
3.
Volunteer yourself
This is one of the best things you can do. It will do you good, too. Join other likeminded persons in a common task.
4.
Greenup your home
5.
Save energy by turning off all power whenever they are not in use. Besides, take out all the plugs from plug points even after turning them off.
Remember that every step counts. The future of our planet is in our hands!
A.If you have time, you can plant trees, clean a park or come up with the way you can protect Mother Earth.
B.We simply mean to say, don't take a bath too often. A day or two without a bath won't harm you, but it will do a lot of good for our planet.
C.You can celebrate Earth Day by showing your attention of environmental problems and letting others know what they can do. Even small actions can have great influence!
D.Turn off the lights when you leave your home. However, this is not something you should do just for a day or for only an hour on Earth Day.
E.Other greener choices are riding a bike and walking if you want a healthier life style and if your workplace is not far away from your home.
If your children are learning to read, it's wonderful! Whatever they're reading, they're probably superexcited readers! But the fact is, reading is a skill. 1.
◆ Create a comfortable reading space.
Choose a special place with right furnishings, blankets and pillows for your children and put a bookcase of your children's books. 2. If your children feel like they have got their own special place for reading, they will probably spend time in their little space with all their new favorite books.
◆ Set aside time to read together.
If you want your children to learn to love reading, set aside a few minutes every day to read together, no matter how busy you are. 3. Plan to go to bed a few minutes earlier each night so your children have the time to choose a book to read. Besides, reading aloud to your children can make them more willing to read on their own.
◆ Make the library and bookstore a special treat.
4. They may be excited about new clothes and toys, but not books! Try to use that excitement to help your children love to read. Making a special treat of spending some time at the library or bookstore can be the perfect way to get your children excited about reading. 5.
Word Bank
furnishings 装饰
A.Reading together is the perfect way to relax before bedtime.
B.Whether your kids are big readers or not, they are only children.
C.The special place may push your children to start to love reading.
D.Here are some useful ways to help make your children love reading!
E.Let them have fun around there and they can choose whatever excites them.
转眼你已经成长为一名即将步入高中的青少年，在你的生活中，一定充满了各种各样的欢乐。请根据以下要点和要求用英语写一篇短文。
1. 要点：1)使你快乐的事情是什么；
2)它为什么使你快乐；
3)你今后将怎样做。
2. 要求：1)文中不得出现真实姓名和学校名称；
2)词数100左右。
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English is an important subject in middle school. 1. only has twentysix letters but they can make lots of words. You can use the words to make English sentences. I think English is hard for me to learn, 2. I want to find some ways to improve it.
One day, I came across a foreign girl called Amy on the Internet. After we introduced each other, we became friends. I was not good 3. communicating in English so I only used simple words and sentences. I managed to make myself understood. She 4. kind and patient and we talked very happily.
Amy lives in New York. We speak English online twice a week. I've really improved a lot. Now I can read English newspaper and magazines 5. her help. She said she was proud of me.
I hope to visit her next year. I can't wait to meet her now.
If you are a beginner or teach adults at a beginner level, here are several tips to make starting to learn English easier.
1Exercise
Learning a foreign language is_____ going to the gym. Your muscles are strengthened if you _____ every day. It's the same with language: practice makes perfect. You may give 15 _____ of your time to English every day. You can listen to music, read a book, watch short movies on the Internet, _____ games on your smartphone, or meet up with native speakers for a language exchange.
2Not just words
Beginner students may feel most comfortable_____ they listen to single words and repeat them. But this is less _____ for adult learners. These adult learners will want to sound confident and fluent when talking to native _____. If you learn chunks of language, or phrases, it will be _____ to create sentences and sound natural when speaking.
3Go for it
Keep trying. Every time you start something new, you think you will probably _____ the new thing soon. But as the saying goes, “if you don't ______ succeed: try, try, try again.” To help you stay motivated, remember ______ you started learning English—your dream.
4Set goals
Setting goals about ______ a language can help. For example, if you want to go shopping for clothes in an Englishspeaking country, you will need to know ______ like “where are the changing rooms？” and “can I pay by credit card？” You had better ______ a diary in which you write what you'd like to learn for seven days. At the end of the week, check if you have achieved your ______．
Following these tips, you will become more confident and make great progress.
1.A.about B.from C.for D.like
2.A.run B.practise C.swim D.work
3.A.hours B.seconds C.parts D.minutes
4.A.play B.invent C.change D.find
5.A.when B.because C.if D.since
6.A.successful B.useful C.happy D.sad
7.A.tourists B.guests C.speakers D.bosses
8.A.harder B.cleverer C.happier D.easier
9.A.give up B.pick up C.talk about D.turn down
10.A.secondly B.firstly C.finally D.quickly
11.A.what B.that C.who D.why
12.A.learning B.writing C.translating D.reading
13.A.words B.pictures C.sentences D.signs
14.A.damage B.buy C.wash D.keep
15.A.goals B.dreams C.experiences D.feelings
While the start of a new school year is always exciting, this year was even more so for some students at White Cloud Primary School. They became the world's first kids to be taught by an electronic teacher. This electronic teacher is not a humanlike robot walking around the classroom. Instead, he is a computercreated head that appears, when needed, on students' computer or phone screens. His name is Bill.
Created by technology company Smart Machines, Bill is able to show humanlike behavior. He is designed to teach a special program about environmentalfriendly power created by the sun and wind. This program, started in 2005, used to be taught by human teachers.
Just like human teachers, Bill is able to immediately respond to the students' questions and opinions about the topic. Thanks to computer cameras, he is also able to see and react to students' physical actions. For example, if a student smiles at Bill, he responds by smiling back. This twoway exchange helps get the students' attention. More importantly, it allows the program developers to improve Bill's behavior and knowledge base when needed.
The program has been a great success, according to Smart Machines spokesman Robert Frost. Frost says, “What is interesting to me is the children's reaction to Bill. He really attracts their attention.” Frost thinks kids don't find the experience of being taught by smart machines as strange as older people because they have grown up in a time of computers and smart phones.
It is doubtful, however, that human educators will lose their jobs to Bill any time soon. For one, this talking head's knowledge base is not large. More importantly, even the smartest computer programs can't guess and react to all the unexpected situations that educators face daily. Bill's future might be as a “personal tutor”， providing kids with oneonone help for different subjects and topics.
1.What is Bill?
A.A humanlike robot.
B.A kind of computer game.
C.A computer recording tool.
D.A computercreated talking head.
2.How does the twoway exchange help the program developers?
A.It lets them correct students' mistakes.
B.It allows Bill to respond more quickly.
C.It helps them know how to improve Bill.
D.It helps them study students' body language.
3.What does the word “they” refer to (指的是)?
A.Kids. B.Older people.
C.Smart machines. D.Program developers.
4.What is Bill NOT good at doing?
A.Attracting students' attention.
B.Understanding students' body language.
C.Responding to students' questions.
D.Dealing with unexpected situations.
5.How might Bill be used in the future according to the last paragraph?
A.To work as human classroom teachers.
B.To encourage students' interest in computers.
C.To give students personal help with different subjects.
D.To watch over the behavior of the students in the classroom.
