There was once a king who had a great palace with a wonderful garden. In the garden, there lived all kinds of animals. All of them

enjoyed living there.

 There was only one thing in the garden that the king hated: an old tree in the center of the garden. It was so old and dry. This made

the king so angry that he finally asked some people to cut it down and turned the place into a swimming pool. However, after the tree was cut down, the animals left the garden. Without the animals, the garden was not so beautiful as before. The king was sad, but he didn't know what had happened.

 A young man went to the king, and said he could explain what had happened. “This was because you cut the old tree down,” said the young man. “There were thousands of moths (飞蛾)which lived in the tree. Birds needed the moths to eat and then they produced wastes for plants to grow. The plants then attracted many other animals to your garden. So your garden became very beautiful. But as you cut the tree down, the animals had to leave.

“Excellent!” said the king, “I'll make you rich and you will try to make my garden beautiful again.”

“I'm afraid it will take many years to finish. It will take many years for the natural balance(生态平衡) to get back again,” said the young man.

 The king was sad, but all he could do was just to wait.

    A little girl's interest in wanting to talk about Chinese food put her on a path to study the language.

    Isabelle first became interested in Chinese when she was 5. “We were at a Chinese restaurant . She was watching a man making noodles. She was so excited that she wanted to talk with him. Unfortunately, he didn't speak English. On the way home, she said she wanted to learn Chinese,” said Isabelle's father.

    “I totally fell in love with the language. It's so beautiful and unlike anything I've ever heard before,” said Isabelle, whose Chinese name is Bao Ling. she is now 12 and very good at Chinese, she can even watch movies and TV from China without subtitles. Some of her favorite Chinese cartoons are Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, Big Head Son and Small Head Dad, which are very popular in China.

    Isabelle studies at the Confucius Institute (孔子学院) near her home, the William & Mary Confucius Institute. “It is just the beginning of a fantastic ongoing adventure, all thanks to the Confucius Institute,” she said.

    The WMCI offers courses on many aspects (方面) of Chinese culture, from travel tips to calligraphy(书法), to tai chi, cooking and music. The first course that Isabelle took was a cooking class. She then tried tai chi and kung fu through the WMCI.

    Next year, through the WMCI, Isabelle will join the JNCLNCLIS (languagepolicy.org) to ask for more aid for language instruction in public schools.

    “I want to thank the Confucius Institute for sharing the wonderful language and culture of China to the world,” she said. “It has been a wonderful journey for all of us,” said her mother.

    There are many online food shopping sites. Things l{#blank#}1{#/blank#}CDs, books, and DVDs sell well online. But it is quite different to sell food online because people like to see food with their o{#blank#}2{#/blank#} eyes. It is very I {#blank#}3{#/blank#} for people to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. Customers like to c{#blank#}4{#/blank#} their food by its color. They also want to touch and smell it. Some people like going to the same shop to buy food with good quality. So if the food is always g{#blank#}5{#/blank#}, they will feel comfortable buying it online.

    Boxes of fruits and vegetables have been d{#blank#}6{#/blank#} to homes around Britain for a few years now. Dried or canned foods are almost the same all the time, but fresh things are not. For example, People may want to pick their own apples so they can take the o{#blank#}7{#/blank#} that look nice. Buying dried and canned food online is easier. A person can buy this kind of food on the Internet and then buy fruits and vegetables at a store or a market.

    Many of usdon't pay much attention to the importance of eye care. It is said that if youtake care of your body, then you can surely be healthy. That is why our eyesshould be given a lot of care. Natural eye care should be put in a number oneplace.

    There areseveral causes leading to poor eyesight like not enough food, genes (基因) and aging (老化). Televisions, computers and reading are also the causes of havingpoor eyesight. If you work in front of the computer, it is best to take a breakevery once in a while. Something dirty can cause redness and they will make youfeel uncomfortable. It is bad for your eyes too. If this happens, the best wayis to clean your eyes by using cold water. You must also try your best toprotect your eyes from harmful things. For example, sunglasses are not just forfashion but they can also serve as a great way to protect your eyesight fromultravioletrays.

    Eatinghealthy foods will do good to your eyesight. Remember that vitamins A, C and Eare good for eyes. Try to eat food groups that have these vitamins. And youshould do eye exercises because exercises protect your eyesight too. If aperson exercises regularly (定期地) and eats the right kind of food, his eyes will stay in goodcondition for a long time.

    All aboveare natural ways of eye care that help us keep healthy eyes. Being happy allthe time can be helpful to a person's eyesight too. In a word, eye care is veryimportant, no matter how old a person is.

Do you like writing by hand or with a keyboard?

A new brain research, led by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, shows that choosing handwriting over using a keyboard results in better learning and memory.

"When you write your shopping lists or notes by hand, you simply remember things better after some time."said Audrey van der Meer, author of the study.

The study was done using equipment(设备) to track(跟踪) and record brain wave activity. 12 young adults and 12 children took part in the study. Each person was asked to write by hand and type on a keyboard while wearing a special ca p with over 250 electrodes(电极). The sensors (传感器) in the electrodes picked up the electrical activity that took place in the brain. Each examination took 45 minutes per person.

The results show that the brain in both young adults and children is much more active when writing by hand than when typing on a keyboard. According to Van der Meer, plenty of senses become active by pressing a pen on paper, seeing the letters written and hearing the sound made while writing. These build connect ion between different parts of the brain, opening the brain up for learning.

Van der Meer believes that the results show the importance of children's learning to draw and write at an early age, especially at school."Learning to write by hand is a bit slower course, but it's important for children to experience the tiring step of learning to write by hand"she said,

The hand movements are good for us in many ways. "If you use a keyboard, you use the same movement for each letter. Writing by hand requires control of your fine motor(精细动作) skills and senses.It's important to put the brain in a learning state as often as possible."Van der Meer added."You might use a keyboard to write an article, but you should learn by hand during a class."