The kangaroo is the world's largest living marsupial (有袋动物). It was first found on the island of southwestern Australia. The animal was given its name by a famous English tourist in the 18th century.

    The kangaroo may be 7 feet(2.1m) tall when standing upright and the male can weigh as heavy as 200 pounds(90kg). The female (雌性) is smaller and lighter than the male. The kangaroo's head is small, but its ears are large, and its fore feet are really small. The animal has strong back legs and long tail.

    The kangaroo usually covers from 5 to 10 feet(1.5 to 3m) with each jump. The female is usually faster than the male. The mother kangaroo has a pouch (育儿袋) in its abdomen (腹部). The baby kangaroo grows up in the mother's pouch slowly.

    The kangaroo lives on grass and other plants. It is always moving from one place to another, lying down to sleep on the ground during the night. It likes to enjoy the warm sunshine. When it's in danger, it can use its back legs and strong tail to protect itself.

    Answer the following questions with No more than 6 words.

    Some people are afraid of answering the telephone call. Here are some tips to help you when you are answering the call.

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    Listening to someone speaking in a second language over the telephone can be very challenging because you cannot see the person you are trying to hear. You may not realize that your pronunciation isn't clear. So pay special attention to your pronunciation and speak as slowly as possible.

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    Don't pretend to understand everything you hear over the telephone. Don't be afraid to remind the person to slow down more than once.

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    Ask another student to practice talking on the phone with you. Try to talk for at least fifteen minutes. The most important thing about practicing telephone English is that you are not able to see others' mouths.

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    There are many ways to get free telephone English practice. After business hours, you can call and listen to recorded messages. Write down what you hear the first time, and then call back and check if your notes are right.

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    Many speakers make the mistake of being too direct on the telephone. Sometimes just one word such as could or may is necessary in order to sound polite. Take the time to learn how to answer the phone in a polite manner.

    Summer is a great time to get a new hobby. It's something that can start now and last all through the year. If you like music, think about some music lessons such as guitar or drum. You may think about joining in the music team for teens. You can also make some new friends there. Do you collect your favorite things? Now it's the time. There are many fun things to collect like postcards, especially sports cards. If you enjoy taking photos, you can choose the photography classes. And don't forget to share your wonderful pictures with your family members and friends. How about cooking? Try to read some books about cooking. Maybe you can cook with your morn. That will be great fun. If you are bored (无聊的) at home, bike-riding is also a hobby. Why not go bike-riding? You can get exercise as well as enjoy the beauty of nature. Maybe you have a nice summer.

Information Card

    Students generally find it difficult to prepare for a speaking test because they have nobody to practise    (A)    or correct their mistakes. But that doesn't mean you can't test yourself.

    Whether you're taking an end-of-course test or an official (官方 ) exam like PET or IELTS, there's one great tool you can use: your mobile phone. Nearly every smartphone these days has an inbuilt recording feature (内置录音功能) which you can use to test your speaking skills. You can record yourself speaking, play the recording back, and correct your own mistakes.

    I practised this way in Italian. I chose some speaking questions from PET and did the exercise three times. The first time, I made a few grammar mistakes and didn't speak for long enough. The second time was a bit better, and the third time was nearly perfect.

    All in all, I made a real improvement with my grammar, pronunciation and how long I spoke. Also, recording myself put me under the pressure (压力) I would experience during an important speaking test.

    Many students found this method    (B)   . Nelia, from Brazil, said that she could hear her mistakes when she listened to her voice. She was mainly using the wrong verb tense (时态) and using prepositions(介词) incorrectly. When she tried the exercise again, she got its right! Donghyeon, from South Korea, said that the exercise helped him to improve his English skills in general.

    CCTV reported that every year Chinese people throw away a lot of food which can feed 200 million people for a year.

    Do we have too much food? Of course not. According to the UN World Food Programmed, there were 900 million hungry people all over the world in 2013.

    About six million children die of hunger every year.

    So think about it. We should say no to people who waste food every day. An old saying goes," Every grain on the plate comes from hard work. "It tells us everybody must save food.

    Luckily a number of people have realized the importance of saving food.

    Li Hong, a waitress in a restaurant in Jiangsu, once lost her Job because she took some leftover(剩余的) food home for her son. But many people were by her side and criticized(批评) the waste of food.

    What should we do in our daily life to stop wasting food? We can do many things to prevent it from happening. Here are some tips:

    Don't order too much food in a restaurant. Only order as much as you can eat. If you can't eat all the food you order, take the rest of it home.

    Don't be too picky(挑别的) about food. Some food may not be tasty, but your body needs it.

    Don't keep too much food at home, especially for fruit and vegetables.

Differentweather makes people feel different. It influences health, intelligence andfeelings.

InAugust, it is very hot and wet in the northern part of the United States.People there have heart trouble and other kinds of health problems during thismonth. In the Northeast and the Middle West, it is very hot at some times andvery cold at other times. People in these states have more heart trouble afterthe weather changes in February or March.

Theweather can also influence intelligence. For example, in a scientific report,IQ of a group of students was very high when a very strong wind came, but afterthe wind, their IQ was 10% below. The wind can help people have moreintelligence. Very hot weather, on the other hand, can make it lower. Studentsin many schools of the United States often get worse on exams in the hot monthsof the year（July and August）.

Weatheralso has a strong influence on people's feelings. Winter may be a bad time forthin people. They usually feel cold during these months. They might feelunhappy during cold weather. But fat people may have a hard time in hot summer.

Low air pressure may make people forgetful. Research shows that people leave more bags on buses and in shops on low-pressure days. However, at about 18℃, people become healthier and stronger. People feel best at this temperature.

Areyou feeling tired, forgetful or unhappy today? It may be the weather's problem.