Take Action for a Better World: Volunteers Needed

    Six months' preparation in Denmark: Africa studies, team work combined with social work with risk group teenagers.

    Six months' community work in Malawi in People to People Projects: Child Aid, HIV / AIDS. Fights and Teacher Training.

    Qualifications: 18 years, hard-working and social engagement.

    Please contact us by e-mail: takeaction@ betterworld.com.

    Part-time work with Exchange Students

    YOUTH International is a non-profit high school foreign exchange students organization. We welcome teenagers from over 80 countries worldwide and provide host families. The community Representative(社区代表) is a part-time position designed for people with a strong desire to do something rewarding in the community and earn some extra money.

    Applicants best suited for this work should enjoy teenagers, have a strong interest in cross-cultural communication and feel comfortable networking. Full training and support will be provided through branch offices throughout the US. Positions available in most states.

If interested, please email staff@youth.org or call 888—123—9872.

    International Summer Job

    Hi, I'm an ESL student in China. I'm 20, quiet and polite, and I speak reasonable English. I'm looking for a summer job in an English-speaking country. I can teach Chinese or do house and garden work and cook Chinese dishes. Can anybody offer me a job? I don't need to earn much, just enough in two months ( July --August) to pay for my return ticket to China. My goal is to improve my English and see a bit more of the world. My email is: ram3462@ hotmail.com.

    Call for Native Speaker of English

    I am looking for native speakers of English to join in an experiment. This experiment is carried out over the Internet. You don't need any specific knowledge other than understanding and speaking English at a native level. The first task will take you around 15 minutes. After this task, you can decide whether you want to continue the experiment. The tasks involve reading texts and designing questions and answers.

    If you are willing to help me, then please email us: club3864@ hotmail.com

    Thomas Edison was one of ten said to be the greatest genius of his age. There are only a few men in all of the history, who have changed the lives of other men as much as the inventor of the first useful electric light. But Edison could never be happy only because someone said he was a genius. “There is no such thing as genius,” Edison said. He said that what people called genius was mostly hard work.

    But Edison was a dreamer as well as a worker. From his earliest days as a child he wondered about the secrets of nature. Nature, he often said, is full of secrets. He tried to understand them; then, he tried to learn what could usefully be done with them.

    Edison enjoyed thinking. He knew that most people will do almost anything instead of the difficult work of thinking, especially if they do not think very often. But he knew, too, that thinking can give men enjoyment and pleasure.

    Edison could not understand how anyone could be uninterested in life. As he loved to think, he also loved to work. On the day he became 75 years old, someone asked him what ideas he had about life. “Work,” he answered. “Discovering the secrets of nature and using them to make men happier.” He said he had enough inventions in his mind to give him another 100 years of work.

    Suppose you work in a big firm and find English very important for your job because you often deal with foreign businessmen. Now you are looking for a place where you can improve your English, especially your spoken English. Here are some advertisements(广告) about English language training from newspapers. You may find the information you need.

    Global English Centre

    General English in all four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

    3-month (700 yuan), 6-month (1, 200 yuan) and one-year (2, 000 yuan) courses.

    Choice of morning or evening classes, 3 hours per day. Mon.~Fri.

    Experienced college English teachers.

    Close to city centre and bus stops.

    Tel: 67605272

    Add: 105 Zhongshan Road, 100082

    Modern Language School

    Special courses in English for business, travel, banking, hotel management and office skills.

    Small classes (12~16 students) on Sat. & Sun. from 2:00~5:00 p.m.

    Native English teachers from Canada and USA.

    Language lab and computers supplied.

    3-month course: 1,050 yuan; 6-month course: 1,850 yuan.

    Write or phone: Modern Language School, 675 Park Road, 100056

    Tel: 67353019

    The 21^st Century English Training Centre

    We specialize in effective teaching at all levels.

    We offer morning or afternoon classes, both of which last three months and a half at a cost of 800 yuan.

    We also have a six-week TOEFL preparation class during winter and summer holidays.

    Entrance exams: June 1 and Dec. 1.

    Only 15-minute walk from city centre.

    Call 67801642 for more information.

    The International House of English

    Three/Six-month English courses for students of all levels at a very low cost: 60 yuan for 12 hours per week, convenient (方便的) class hours:

    9:00~12:00 a.m. and 2:00~5:00 p.m.

    A four-month evening programme for developing speaking skills (same cost as day classes).

    Well-trained Chinese and foreign teachers with experience in teaching English as a second foreign language.

    Free sightseeing and social activities.

    Very close to the Central Park.

    For further information call 674322308.

    Plants are boring. They just sit there photosynthesizing (光合作用) while animals have all the fun. Right? Not so much. A new study has found that there is a long history of interactions between ants and plants. The ant and plant co-evolution (协同进化) started with ants feeding on plants and plants evolving ant-friendly features.

    Plants make a number of different structures that are specific for ant use. Some plants have evolved features that persuade ants into defending them from attack from other insects and even mаmmаlѕ. Тhеѕе іnсludе hollow thorns that аntѕ will live іnѕіdе, or ехtra nесtаr (琼浆) оn lеаvеѕ or stems for the ants to eat. Some ants will just cheat and take the nectar and run, but some will stick around and attack anything that tries to hurt the plant. Other plants get ants to help them move their seeds around, by providing them with rich food packets attached to the seeds. The ant will pick up the seed and carry it away, eat the food packet, and leave the seed—often in a nutrient-rich area where it'll grow better, and since it's farther away from its parent, they won't have to compete for resources.

    But scientists weren't sure how the evolutionary relationship between ants and plants got started. If evolution is an arms race between species developing ways to make use of their neighbors, then scientists wanted to know whether plants or ants fired the first shot. It was a chicken-and-egg question, whether things started with ants developing behaviors to take advantage of plants, or plants evolving structures to take advantage of ants.

    The history of ants and plants evolving together goes back to the time of the dinosaurs, and it's not easy to tell from fossils who fired the first shot. However, it is a question of little significance. Scientists say their study maters because it provides a look at how these widespread and complex interactions evolved.

    In our annual Readers' Choice Awards survey, we asked our readers to rate their favorite cities in the world for arts and culture. These cities are centers of music and dance, museums, and theaters. Here are four of them where you can find inspiration in the arts, starting with the top spot.

    Rome, Italy

    At its peak, the Roman Empire extended over nearly two million square miles of land across Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa. Today, that history is on display everywhere. The city's main attractions are famous not because of tourist advertisements, but because they are really so impressive. No wonder it's known as the Eternal City: You could spend forever here and find new artistic and cultural treasures every day.

    Paris, France

    Hemingway famously called Paris "a moveable feast", but wherever you go while in the city, there is always something to see, hear, taste or feel. With some 150 museums, Paris doubles as an art history class, offering the very best of the discipline across centuries and styles.

    London, United Kingdom

    London is inspiration and setting for the rise of Shakespeare, Dickens, Orwell and Eliot and the breeding ground for all those iconic (标志性的) bands: The Kinks, The Clash and The Stones. London is also Banksy's favorite canvas, home to more than 1,000 galleries, and the kind of place where you can spend a whole day in a single museum and still be ready for more when it opens the next morning.

    Vienna, Austria

    As we all know, Western music would be unrecognizable without Austria's capital, which nurtured many famous musicians. It's also the site of the Vienna Secession, a revolutionary art movement founded in 1897 by Gustav Klimt. Visitors today can see the fruits of all that creativity in the city's 100 – odd museums.

Nobody says high school and college are easy. Studying is difficult, as is memorizing information for a test. Fortunately, there are books that can help to make dealing with school easier.

Unlimited Memory by Kevin Horsley

Do you have trouble remembering everything you're studying? Feel like you have too much on your plate? Unlimited Memory by Kevin Horsley may be for you. It's a bestseller in memory improvement. This book has strategies to help you learn faster while also teaching you to become more productive. Of course, having a good memory comes in handy outside of the classroom as well. Really, this is a great book for life in general.

Student ^fs Guide to Writing College Papers by Kate L. Turabian

Many students reach college and find that essay writing in college is very different from that in high school. Whether this is the case for you or you just want to improve your writing skills, you'll want to check out Student's Guide to Writing College Papers. It's available on Kindle or in hardback or paperback forms. Right now, this one is its fourth edition. The book covers writing your actual paper, citing sources(引用来源), and style. Even English majors can find a lot of helpful tips in this book.

On Course by Skip Downing

It is another book you'll want to check out. In its eighth edition, the book provides you with self-assessment tools to help you identify what you need to change for academic success. It contains guided journal entries（分录）to help you with responsibility, self-management, self-awareness, learning and self-esteem.

How to Become a Straight A Student by Cal Newport

The book will teach you different approaches and strategies to help you score better but spend less time on studying, with a focus on studying smarter, not harder. It's available on Kindle and in audiobook(有声读物)and paperback forms.