Don't you just love ice skating every winter?I am sure that since winter is approaching,your skates are set to come out,just waiting to be used.Impress your friends with your new trick on how to ice-skate backwards with the help of these tips.

Stand Straight

    The first thing that you need to do is,stand straight.If you feel that you are falling backwards,just put your chin up and slightly bend your knees.

Confidence is What You Need

    The most important step while learning how to skate backwards,is having enough confidence in what you are doing.How can you achieve this?By practice.Just practice rolling backwards down a gentle slope everyday or just by pushing off from a wall or something of that sort.But before you do that,make sure that the place where you are practicing is free from any kind of debris（碎片）because otherwise,you could land up in the hospital due to some accident.While going backwards,just get used to the feeling of moving backwards.One of the important ice skating tips and techniques is that if you feel that you are losing your balance,then scissor（做剪式运动）your skates.Keep practicing this till you are confident about it.

Maintain Speed

    Confident now?Great!Now the next step is to maintain your speed.While rolling in a straight line with one skate, with the other try sculling（划桨）,that is,keep pushing yourself backwards with an outwards stroke（滑动）.Make sure that you put most of your weight on the skate which is moving straight and not the one with which you are sculling.Now,try the same thing using the other foot.Again keep doing this till you are confident enough.

Increase Your Speed Now

    Once you are confident that you can scull with either foot,the next thing that you have to do is increase your speed.Try some of your own tricks now.Scull with either foot or with both at the same time. 

Scull and Be Aware

    While you keep one foot straight,keep sculling with the other.You can do that with both feet at the same time. Concentrate on what you are doing but don't get so absorbed,that you don't see where you are going.If you are not watching your back,you might bang（碰撞）against something or someone.

    There are two main types of non­verbal communication. Body language is the first. Body language is body movements that depend on a person's attitude or feelings. Body language includes the way people walk，how they stand，and their facial features. In other words，any kind of meaning is shown by a person's attitude or body movements. For example，when a boy is sad he may drop his head and walk slowly. Or，if a girl is happy，she might run and jump or stand up straight and put her hands in the air. People don't have to say anything to show how they feel about things. The colour of people's skin may even show how they feel. For example，if people with light coloured skin get embarrassed，their skin may turn red，or if they are worried，they might get pale. Body language can be voluntary(主动的) or involuntary(无意识的)．An interesting fact is that blind children will smile when happy even though they have never seen a smile.

    The next main type of non­verbal communication is gestures. Gestures are communications like facial expressions，hand signals，eye gazing，and body postures. Examples include smiles，handshakes，waving，and raising certain fingers to say something. For instance，if you saw a friend at a noisy carnival，you might smile and wave at your friend. You might also point at the Ferris wheel if you wanted to meet your friend there. You could do all of these things without saying a word. Another great example is in baseball when the catcher signals to the pitcher the kind of pitch to use for the batter that is up.

    It was New Year's Eve. Everyone in the city was getting ready for the three-day celebration, including the gardener of the king's garden.

    There was a large group of monkeys living in the garden. They always followed the advice of their leader, the monkey king.

    The gardener wanted to celebrate the New Year's holiday, just like everybody else, so he decided to hand over his duties to the monkeys.

    He went to the monkey king and said, "My honorable friend, would you do a little favor for me? New Year is coming. I wish to celebrate it. So I must be away for three days. Here in this lovely garden. There are plenty of fruits and berries and nuts to eat. You and your subjects may come and eat as much as you wish. In return, please water the young trees and plants while I'm gone."

The monkey king replied, "Don't worry, my friend! We will do a terrific job! Have a good time!"

    The gardener showed the monkeys where the buckets were kept. Feeling confident, he left to celebrate the holiday. The monkeys called after him, "Happy New Year!"

    The next day, the monkeys filled up the buckets, and began watering the young trees and plants. Then the king of the monkeys addressed them,"It is not good to waste water. Therefore, pull up each young tree or plant before watering. Inspect（检查）it to see how long the roots（根）are. Then give more water to the ones with long roots, and less water to the ones with short roots. That way we will not waste water, and the gardener will be pleased!"

    Without a second thought, the other monkeys followed their king's orders.

    Meanwhile, a wise man was walking by the garden. He saw the monkeys pulling up all the lovely young trees and plants, measuring their roots, and carefully pouring water into the holes in the ground. He said, "Oh foolish monkeys, what do you think you're doing to the king's beautiful garden?"

    They answered, "We are watering the trees and plants, without wasting water! We were commanded to do so by our king."

    The man said, "If this is the wisdom of the wisest among you — the king — what are the rest of you like? Intending to do a worthwhile deed, your foolishness turns it into disaster!"

    Canada is a very large country. It is the second largest country in the world. By contrast(比较)it has a very small population. There are only about 29 million people (by the year 1996) there. Most Canadians are of British or French origin, and French is an official language of Canada as well as English. About 45% of the people are of British origin, that is, they or their parents or grandparent, etc., come from Britain. Nearly 30% are of French origin. Most of the French-Canadians live in the province of Quebec.

    Over the years, people have come to live in Canada from many countries in the world. They are from most European countries and also from China, besides other Asian countries.

    However, Canada was not an empty country when the Europeans began to arrive. Canadian Indians lived along the coast, by the rivers and lakes and in forests. Today there are only about 350,000 Indians in the whole country, with their own languages. In the far north live the Inuit. There are only 27,000 Canadian-Inuit. Their life is hard in such a harsh climate.

    There was great excitement on the planet of Venus (金星) this week. For the first time Venusian scientists managed to land a satellite on the planet Earth, and it has been sending back signals as well as photographs.

    The satellite was directed into an area known as Manhattan (曼哈顿). Because of excellent weather conditions and extremely strong signals, Venusian scientists were able to get valuable information about the feasibility of a manned flying saucer (飞碟) landing on Earth. A press conference was held at the Venus Institute of Technology.

“We have come to the conclusion, based on last week's satellite landing,” Professor Zog said, “that there is no life on Earth."

    “How do you know this?” the science reporter of the Venus Evening News asked.

    "For one thing, Earth's surface in the area of Manhattan consists of solid concrete (混泥土) and nothing can grow there. For another, the atmosphere is filled with carbon monoxide (一氧化碳) and other deadly gases and nobody could possibly breathe this air and survive.”

    “Are there any other sources of danger that you have discovered in your studies?”

    “Take a look at this photo. You see this dark black cloud staying over the surface of Earth? We don't know what it is made of, but it could give us a lot of trouble and we shall have to make further tests before we send a Venus Being there. Over here you will notice what seems to be a river, but the satellite findings indicates it is polluted and the water is unfit to drink.”

    “Sir, what are all those tiny black spots on the photographs?”

    “We're not certain. They seem to be metal objects that moves along certain roads. They give out gases, make noise and keep crashing into each other.”

    “Professor Zog, why are we spending billions and billions of Zilches to land a flying saucer on Earth when there is no life there?”

    “Because if we Venusians can learn to breathe in the Earth atmosphere, then we can live anywhere.”

    Are you interested in country music? I like it very much! It will take me away for a while after I am tired. The guitars and songs will take me to mountains and fields. Country music usually talks of everyday life and feelings. It's the spirit of America, easy to understand, slow and simple. Country music developed in the Southern United States. It was the folk music of American countryside. Many of songs tell about the lives of farmers. They talk about love, crops or death.

    The life of the countryside can be hard, so the words in country music are often sad. At first, people played the music only at family parties. But it became more popular later. In the 1920s, people played country songs on the radio, and they made them into records. When people in the countryside moved to towns and cities to look for work, they took their music with them. Country music continued to change and became popular across America. John Denver was one of America's most famous country singers in the 1970s. His song "Take Me home, Country Roads" is well-known and people still play it today.