Entertain yourself on cold wet days

    Getting bored on cold wet days? Feeling there is nothing to do? TEENS will help you get rid of the boredom. Here are some fun ideas to get you active, both inside and outside.

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    Help your mom cook a dinner in the kitchen. Washing vegetables may be a good choice for you. You can also learn to make a simple meal, like egg-fried rice. When you eat a meal you have cooked, you'll feel very proud.

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    Choose an interesting story. Then invite your friends to perform it together. You can be the director and your friends can be actors. When you are ready, ask your family and your friends' family to enjoy the play.

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    Collect your family photos. Choose some special ones with your family and make a photo wall. It's a great chance to listen to family stories behind those photos. You can also DIY a photo album and keep the photos safe for a long time.

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    Do you want to be an inventor? Be creative about finding new uses for old objects. Try to invent something with your imagination. For example, you can make a garbage can or a storage box with cardboard. You can also find a problem at your home and create something to fix it.

    My friend, Dick, has a large police dog. Its name is Jack. Every Saturday afternoon Dick takes Jack for a long walk in the park. Jack likes these long walks very much.

    One Saturday afternoon, a young man came to visit my friend. He stayed a long time. He talked and talked. Soon it was time for my friend to take Jack for a walk. But the man was still there. Jack became very worried. He walked around the room several times and then sat down in front of the man and looked at him. But the man kept talking. Finally Jack couldn't stand it anymore. He went out of the room and came back a few minutes later. He sat down again in front of the man, but this time he held the man's hat in his mouth.

Street Markets Around the World

    There are many ways of shopping. You can shop by telephone, by post or through your home computer, but for many people, the most exciting way to shop is also the most traditional—at a street market. You can find markets anywhere in the world. Here are four of them:

    There are many "floating markets" in Asia; perhaps the most unusual(非同寻常) is in Thailand(泰国), at a place called Damned Saduak. It's open from six in the morning to the noon every day. People sell fresh fruit from their boats.

    Many Belgians(比利时人) say that the Grand Place is the most beautiful square in the world. It's the home of a colorful flower market. It's open every day except(除了) Monday. On Monday, instead of(替代) flowers, there's a wonderful bird market.

    One of the world's famous markets is in Mexico City(墨西哥城)—the Sonora Market. You can buy toys, birds, herbs(草本) and medicine. There're all kinds of things. It's open every day from early in the morning till late at night.

    In England, on Saturday and Sunday thousands of young people from all over London travel to the Camden Market—it's the place to go for street fashion, CDs and tapes. Many people also go there for fun.

    Helen Keller was a very bright and beautiful girl. When she was six months old, she could already say a few words. But before she was two years old, a serious illness visited her. She could not see or hear, and soon she could not talk. When she was six, her parents invited a teacher for her. She learned to read books for the blind people. She also learned to swim and ride a horse. After she grew up, she became a famous writer in America. Her first and most famous book is The Story of My Life. Her story has brought hope to many blind and deaf people. It encouraged them to live and work.

    Jeff is a hard-working farmer. He grows very good corn (玉米), and he often wins the corn competitions.

    One day, a newspaper reporter found that Jeff shared his seed (种子) corn with his neighbors.

    Why do you share your best seed corn with your neighbors? They also take part in the competitions, the reporter asked.

    Jeff answered, "Didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen (花粉) from the corn and blows it from field to field. If my neighbors grow bad corn, my corn will be bad, too. If I want to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.

    This is the truth about life. You can't improve your corn if your neighbors' corn doesn't improve.

    If you want to live well, you should help others to live well. If you want to be at peace, you should help others to be at peace. If you want to be happy, you should help others to get happiness. Your happiness and the happiness of others go together.

    The digital(数字的)age has come into our life. In the USA, some teachers think digital search tools(工具)have had a good influence on the American teenagers, but others don't think so. More than 2,000 high school teachers took s survey on the Internet.

    75 percent of the teachers agreed the Internet and digital search tools have had a "mostly good" use for their students' research habits and skills. But 87 percent thought that these technologies" make the students not have enough attention." And 64 percent said the technologies "do little to help them in courses."

    Judy Buchanan is a director of the National Writing Project. Ms. Buchanan says digital search tools are helping students learn more, and lean faster. Teachers really like these tools because they are ways to make some of learning very exciting. Young people enjoy using these tools. And the goal is to help them do creative work, and not just that kind of copyist(模仿者，抄写员).

    But one problem is that many students don't have a good understanding of how to use the digital knowledge well. In other words, they trust too much of the information. Judy Buchanan says these students have not developed the skills they need to tell whether the information on the Internet is good or bad.

    Another problem is something that might not seem like a problem at all, being able to quickly find information from the Internet. Teachers say the ability of their students to work hard to find out answers is becoming weaker. They say students depend too much on search tools and do not make enough use of printed books.

    Besides, many teachers are also worried about the problem that the Internet makes it easy for students to copy work done by others, instead of using their own abilities.

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