My high school life has been filled with many ups and downs, whether it was social or academic. Even though my current high school was not my first choice, I never regretted attending Southside High School. “Since you have chosen it, then it is the best for you,” said my parents.

    Up until the junior year I did not realize my capabilities (能力) as a student. Being in the IB Program, I was told that my junior year would be the toughest in all the years of high school. With this “little” piece of information, I walked into my junior year, scared of my grades. As weeks went by, I started to believe that the junior year was not as hard as everyone had said, but I was wrong. My grades were rapidly declining(下降) and by the end of the first term I had five Cs in seven of my classes! I could not believe it — I did not want to believe it. I tried my best to get my grades up myself without any help from anyone, but my pride just made my grades worse. And I had to miss out on one of the most important speech and debate competitions all year: States. I was heartbroken. I realized that I could not survive my junior year on my own, so I had to get help fast.

    Once I got a tutor, my grades went from Cs, Ds, and even some Fs, to nothing but As and Bs. I slowly started to gain my confidence back in all of my classes and even myself. By the time the third and fourth quarter came around, I had been on the honor roll twice, and I was receiving awards from speeches and debates, tennis and school.

    Southside has taught me to always keep my head up and never give up on myself no matter what life throws at me. I am proud to be a Southside Tiger.

    More and more people like bicycling and it is no surprise. It is fun, healthy and good for the environment. Maybe that's why there are 1.4 billion bicycles and only 400 million cars on roads worldwide today. Bikes can take you almost anywhere, and there is no oil cost!

    Get on a bicycle and ride around your neighbourhood. You may discover something new all around you. Stopping and getting off a bike is easier than stopping and getting out of your car.

    You can bike to work and benefit (受益) from the enjoyable exercise without polluting  the environment. You don't even have to ride all the way. Folding (折叠) bikes work well for people who ride the train. Just fold the bike and take it with you. You can do the same on an airplane. A folding bike can be packed in a suitcase. You can also take a common bike with you when you fly. But be sure to look for information by getting on airline websites. Not all airlines are bicycle-friendly to travellers.

Health Benefits of Bicycling:

    It helps to prevent heart diseases.

    Bicycling helps to control your weight.

    A 15-minute bike ride to and from work three times a week burns off five kilos of fat in a year.

    Bicycling can improve your mood (心情).

    Exercise like bicycling has been shown to make people feel better, more relaxed and self-confident.

    Bicycling is healthier than driving.

    In many big cities, a lot of old people keep birds, cats, dogs and other animals in their houses. These animals are friendly to the old people and never leave them. So the old people love them and see them as their good friends or families.

    It's not difficult to keep these lovely animals at home. But you have to take them to animal hospitals to give them needles (注射), so they won't get ill or they will make people ill. Now there are lots of animal food stores here and there. People can buy good animal food for their animals there. Old people can buy animal food on the phone or on the Internet. But it's a little more expensive.

    Sometimes it's kind of dirty and dangerous to keep animals. They sometimes look dirty and smell terrible and can be dangerous. For example, an old woman in Shanghai lost her life on the street for her pet dog.

    Maybe old people in big cities have many reasons to keep these nice and clever animals. They may feel lonely when their children leave. And these pets can be their great helpers. They are their good friends and help them in many things.

    The Allendale Cultural Center has expanded its arts program to include classes for young adults. Director Leah Martin announced Monday that beginning in September, three new classes will be offered to the Allendale community. The course titles will be Yoga(瑜伽) for Teenagers; Hip Hop Dance: Learning the Latest Moves; and Creative Journaling for Teens: Discovering the Writer Within. The latter course will not be held at the Allendale Cultural Center but instead will meet at the Allendale Public Library.

    Staff member Tricia Cousins will teach the yoga and hip hop classes. Ms. Cousins is a skilled choreographer(舞蹈指导) as well as an experienced dance educator. She is a Master of Arts in dance education from Teachers College, Columbia University. The journaling class will be taught by Betsy Milford. Ms. Milford is the head librarian at the Allendale Public Library as well as a columnist(专栏作家) for the professional journal Library Focus.

    The courses are part of the Allendale Cultural Center's Project Teen, which was organized by Leah Martin, Director of the Cultural Center. According to Martin, this project is a direct result of her efforts to make the center a more necessary part of the Allendale community. Over the last several years, the number of people who have visited the cultural center for classes or events has steadily declined. Project Teen is primarily funded by the McGee Arts Foundation, an organization devoted to bringing arts programs to young adults. The other members of Project Teen are two students at Allendale's Brookdale High School and three adults with backgrounds in education and the arts.

    The creative journaling class will be cosponsored by Brookdale High School, and students who complete the class will be given the opportunity to publish one of their journal works in Pulse, Brookdale's student literary magazine. Students who complete the hip hop class will be qualified to participate in the Allendale Review, an annual concert sponsored by the cultural center that features local actors, musicians, and dancers.

    All classes are scheduled to begin immediately after school, and transportation will be available from Brookdale High School to the Allendale Cultural Center and the Allendale Public Library. For more information about Project Teen, contact the cultural center's programming office at 988­0099 or drop by the office after June 1 to pick up a fall course catalog. The office is located on the third floor of the Allendale Town Hall.

    Top 4 Amusement Parks in the World

    It's summertime! That means parents have extra time to spend with their children, and what better way to engage in classic fun with family and friends than to visit an amusement park? Take a look at these fun choices — perfect summer trip ideas to fit every budget(预算).

    Cedar Point

    Tickets: $280 for adults, $120 for children

    Praising itself as the roller coaster capital of the world, Cedar Point's 18 coasters will ensure you're riding all day. Reader Alicia Goettemoeller describes the park as a “paradise for excited thrillers” while reader Nick Schuyler says it is “built for grown-up kids.”

    Knoebels

    Tickets: $120 for adults, $10 for children

    This old-fashioned amusement park is a must for your old memory games as well as money saving - admittance and parking are free of charge. Reader Tracy Ginsburg Maier says “a family of 4 can enjoy special offer to eat, swim and ride all day for $100” at Knoebels.

    Kings Island

    Tickets: $340 for adults, $160 for children

    Kings Island is one of the most visited theme parks in the US, with more than 3 million visitors per year. The park is especially known for its family-friendly attractions, such as Snoopy Island. Tickets to the main park also include admission to the nearby water park, Boomerang Bay.

    Dells Water Parks

    Tickets: $140 for adults, $80 for children

    Wisconsin Dells is a water park with dozens of indoor and outdoor water parks to spread around in. One of them, Noah's Ark, is the largest outdoor water park in the US. Many are open year-round and no charge for children under five.

    In the famous fairy tale, Snow White eats the Queen's apple and falls victim to a curse(诅咒);in Shakespeare's novel, Romeo drinks the poison and dies; some ancient Chinese emperors took pellets(药丸)that contained mercury(水银), believing that it would make them immortal, but they died afterward.

    Poison(毒药) has long been an important ingredient in literature and history, and it seems to always be associated with evil, danger and death. But how much do you really know about poison?

    An exhibition, The Power of Poison, opened last month at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, intended to give the audience a more vivid understanding of poison.

    The museum tour starts in a rainforest setting, where you can see live examples of some of the most poisonous animals: caterpillars(毛毛虫), frogs and spiders. Golden poison frogs, for instance, aren't much bigger than a coin, but their skin is covered with a poison that can cut off the signaling power of your nerves, and a single frog has enough venom to kill 10 grown humans.

    "Poisons can be bad for some things," Michael Novacek, senior vice president of the museum, told NBC News. "Yet they can also be good for others."

    A poisonous chemical found in the yew tree is effective against cancer, which is what led to the invention of a cancer-fighting drug called Taxol.

    The benefits from natural poisons are not limited to just medicine. Believe it or not, many substances(物质)that we regularly ingest(摄入)-chili, coffee and chocolate-owe their special flavors or stimulating(提神的)effects to chemicals that plants make to poison insects.