As the most wonderful tools for learning and teaching English, iPads appeal to more and more students who use them to access online resources in their classrooms. With the help of the thousands of education and language apps available in Apple's app store, students make effective use of the iPad to learn in an interactive environment. Given below is a list of some of the best iPad apps for learning and teaching English.

    Grammar Up

    Grammar is the heart of any language and, thus, the Grammar Up app is one of the most highly recommended apps for English Learners. This app is specifically designed for people who want to improve their grammar, vocabulary and word selection. It consists of more than 1800 multiple-choice questions grouped under twenty different grammar categories.

    Learn English The Fun Way

    "Learn English the fun way" is an amazing app for grammar and matching lessons in which English learners get to do simple exercises such as matching an animal or a short description of something to its picture.

    SpeakingPal

    Recommended as one of the best apps for English educators and learners, SpeakingPal allows users to record and compare their speech with a native English speaker. This amazing app combines video with automatic speech recognition software that tests your English speaking skills. You just have to speak with a video character and get immediate response on how well you said and pronounced all your English words. In short, this app basically understands and rates your speech.

    Wordflex Touch Dictionar

    Turn your word-meanings search into a fun experience with the Wordflex Touch Dictionary app! Developed exclusively for iPad in association with the Oxford University Press, the Wordflex Touch Dictionary app converts your word entries into attractive trees which you can move, drag, share and reorganize using touch gestures. This app is among the best as it also contains audio pronunciations both in UK and US English, which is a great benefit for English learners.

    iBooks

    iBooks is a complete book library for the iPad users. It includes the iBookstore and allows users to download and read books for free. It also allows users to save their favorite classics for free. The app features a beautiful bookshelf on which you can browse various books; tap a book to open and read it, and add notes to your favorite paragraphs in the book. You can also create your own texts and upload them into the app.

    Nothing good generally comes of a conversation that start with the words, "I think you should probably sit down before I tell you this.”

    And so it came to pass. Away for Christmas, we got a call from kind friends at home, our neighbour's house had caught fire while they were out. The fire didn't spread to our house but the smoke very much did.

    It's weeks of either throwing out, or sending away for specialist cleaning, every single thing into which smoke could have permeated(渗透)because the particles(微粒) are an ongoing health risk and washing isn't enough. Anything soft—sofas and carpets and children's teddy bears, clothes—is suspected. We will be seeing in the New Year in a decidedly minimalist fashion.

    What I didn't expect to feel, however, is this lucky. Friends and neighbours have come together with incredible generosity. We will never again underestimate the closeness of the village community in which we live, or the innate kindness that is most people's natural reaction to trouble, and are grateful to be reminded of so much that is good. But that's not the only thing I've learned. For in a sense, we have a chance to start again.

    The surprise on being forced to think about what might urgently need replacing is how short the list of essentials seems; how much we must have been hanging on to out of habit, and how much we have been conditioned to think was important.

    It's all too easily assumed that family history lives in tangible(有形的)things— old photographs, a dress bought decades ago for a night heavy with memories — but that's not quite right. These things were only reminders of what we already carry with us in head and heart.

    Walking through the house, sweeping up the broken glass, I realised that the answer to the old question of "What would you save in a fire? " is actually that nothing really matters but each other.

    When I was a child, our dining room had two kinds of chairs — two large ones with arm rests and four small ones without. The larger ones stood at the ends of the table, the smaller ones on the sides. Mom and Dad sat in the big chairs, except when one of us was away; then Mom would sit in one of the smaller chairs. Dad always sat at the end, at the "head" of the table. Sitting where he did, Dad was framed by the window through which the yard could be seen with its trees and grass. His chair was not just a place for him at table; it was a place in which he was situated against the yard and the trees. It was the holy(神圣的)and protected place that was his, and ours through him.

    After Dad retired, he and Mom moved out into a small flat. When thy came to visit me at their old house, Dad still sat at the end of the table though the table was no longer his but mine. Only with my marriage to Barbara, did I hear a voice questioning the arrangement. She requested, gently but firmly, that I sit at the head of the table in our home. I realized then that I was head of the family, but I also felt unwilling to introduce such a change. How would I feel sitting in that "head" place in my Dad's presence? And how would he handle it? I was to find out on the occasion of our youngest child's first birthday.

    Mom and Dad arrived for lunch, and went into the dining room. Dad moved toward his usual seat in front of the window. Before he could get around the side of the table, I took a deep breath and said, "Dad, this is going to be your place, next to Mom, on the side." He stopped, looked at me and then sat down. I felt sad, and angry at Barbara for pushing me to do this. It would have been easy to say, "My mistake, Dad. Sit where you always sit, " But I didn't.

    When he and Mom were seated, Barbara and I took our places. I don't know how Dad felt. I do know that, though removed from his usual place, he continued to share his best self with us, telling stories of his childhood and youth to the delight of his grandchildren. As I served the food, our lives experienced a change, which we continue to live with.

    It wasn't easy, but I sense that there is also something good in the change which has occurred. I am beginning to learn that "honoring one's father" is more than the question of which place to occupy at the dining table. It also means listening, wherever we sit and whatever positions we own, to the stories Dad longs to tell. We may then, during these magical moments, even be able to forget about whose chair is whose.

    Even a small increase in light activity such as washing dishes, or walking around the house might help prevent an early death among older adults, researchers say.

    "It is important for elderly people, who might not be able to do much moderate intensity（强度）activity, that just moving around and doing light intensity activity will have strong effects and is beneficial," said Ulf Ekelund, who led the research.

    Published in the BMJ, the latest research was based on a review of eight studies involving a total of more than 36,000 people with an average age of almost 63 years. Participants were followed for five to six years; 2,149 deaths were recorded. All of the studies involved monitoring the physical activity of individuals who had activity trackers, and the studies did not rely on self-reporting, which, the experts noted, could be unreliable.

    For each study participants were split into four equal-sized groups, based on the total amount of time spent actively, and the risk of death assessed, taking into account factors such as age, sex, body mass index, and socioeconomic status. This was then repeated for an amount of activity at different levels of intensity. The results were analyzed together to give an overview. The team found a greater amount of activity was linked to a lower risk of death. The results held for different intensities of activity. The team said the study supported the message "sit less and move more and more often".

    However, the study had limitations. It only looked at the situation for middle age and older adults, most of whom lived in the US or Europe, and some of the effect could be due to those people with a higher risk of death being less likely to be related to physical activity. Physical activity levels also were only measured over one period of time.

    Dr Gavin Sandercock, from the University of Essex, said the results suggested moving more brought bigger benefits than simply reducing the time of sitting, another factor measured in the study.

    "This study reinforces the important message that getting the least active people to do even just a little bit more physical activity can have important public health benefits," he said.

How to Avoid the Worst Cold-Weather Packing Mistakes

    Yes, you can definitely blame winter clothes for your overstuffed(塞得过满的)suitcase. After all, warm clothing takes up a lot more room than summer T-shirts and shorts. To make matters worse, you've got to pack for overheated restaurants and freezing outdoor conditions. . Here are some winter-packing mistakes we learned the hard way, and tips you need.

    Your shoes face a big challenge in the winter. They need to be: insulated, waterproof, and warm; provide great traction in case of ice; be able to withstand salt; and be comfortable to walk in. So, your sneakers aren't going to cut it. Just remember to wear your heavier snow boots on the plane; otherwise, they'll take up half your suitcase space.

    Packing the wrong materials

    . It absorbs moisture and sweat, which will make you cold and keep you freezing. You can replace cotton with wool, as wool is naturally odor-resistant and breathable.

    Leaving behind sunglasses

    Since you're not headed to the beach, you might forget to pack your sunglasses. The sun can shine brightly on freezing days too tough, so be able to pack yours. .

    Not bringing medicine

    Cold and flu cases rise during the winter, and while you definitely don't plan on getting sick while traveling, you should be prepared in case it does happen. Make sure you've packed medication for upset stomach, fever relief, body aches, and congestion, . Just get travel-sized versions of you go-to drugs.

A  But we're here to help

B. Choosing the right shoes

C. Wearing the wrong shoes

D. Cotton is a terrible choice for the winter

E. Better be a pair which is easy to pack and hard to break

F. You don't have to travel with the whole medicine chest though

G. Also throw some sunscreen in there as you can get sunburned in winter

I reach Lhakpa Sherpa's apartment at noon on a Sunday. She runs out of the front door, hugs me, and1me inside. The2apartment is dimly lit. The living room has a few chairs, and a wall of sports medals from her two daughters' gymnastic3.

    Lhakpa was the first Nepalese woman to climb up Everest(珠穆朗玛峰)and back 4, which she5in the spring of 2000. With nine summits(登顶),she holds the world record for6.

    During the interview, I'm7by her achievements - but also her8of resources. How is it that a woman with such9achievement and skill is without sponsorship, and must risk10to continue to climb the Himalayan mountains she loves?

    She currently works at Whole Foods washing dishes,11minimum wage. Unable to12or drive a car, she walks to work and13takes an Uber to training destinations. "Climbing is my14out of washing dishes," Lhakpa tells me. "It is also the way to make a better life for the15. Besides washing dishes, she is often16to inspire others, particularly women and single parents.

    Her17is to climb Everest again in May 2020, followed by K2, a mountain whose summit she once tried to reach but18because of bad weather. She knows this plan is ambitious,19not crazy.

    "Actually, all extreme20are crazy" she says. "But I want to show the world I can do it. I want to show women who look like me that they can do it, too."

    Whether you are someone who smiles a lot not, there is always room for improvement. Research (show) that when someone smiles, a number of feel-good neurotransmitters are released(释放)in the body and these are linked with lower heart rate, lower blood pressure, better sleep and (little) stress. It would appear that physical act of smiling makes our brain think we are happy — even if we are not and just like that, it brings about a physiological response that makes (we) feel better and more relaxed.

    I think we have experienced how infectious a smile can be and we (attract) by the energy of shiny happy people laughing. So while I appreciate there is not always something to smile about, I think that being able to smile at ourselves is a quality worth (develop). Even an internal smile or a case of faking it until you make it is most (definite) a good investment to develop a sense of (satisfy) from within.

    My new thing for the next month or so is to try and smile more often. Why don't you try that too and let me know you get on?

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧)）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：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

    The Chinese New Year festival, which is my most favourite time of year, lasted for 15 days. At midnight on New Year's Eve, every door and window in the house is opened to let the old year leaving. We eat dumplings and set off fireworks. Children were given little red envelopes with luckily money inside. In the last day we have the Lantern Festival, that we go out at night carrying paper lanterns. During the festival, they drop in at relatives' and friends' houses bringing gifts or red envelopes, and greeting one another with "Happy New Year". This is special way for us to express good wish to each other.

1）一道包饺子，跟你的家人共进晚餐；

2）询问合适时间等。

注意：1）词数100左右；

2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。