Exploit your parking space

    An unused parking space or garage can make money. If you live near a city center or an airport, you could make anything up to￡200 or￡300 a week. Put an advertisement for free on Letpark or Atmyhousepark

Rent a room

    Spare room? Not only will a lodger（房客）earn you an income, but also, thank to the government-backed "rent a room" program, you won't have to pay any tax on the first￡4500 you make per year. Try advertising your room on Roomspare or Roommateeasy.

Make money during special events

    Don't want a full-time lodger? Then rent on a short-term basis. If you live in the capital, renting a room out during the Olympics or other big events could bring in money. Grashpadder can advertise your space.

Live on set

    Renting your home out as a "film set" could earn you hundreds of pounds a day, depending on the film production company and how long your home is needed. A quick search on the Internet will bring up dozens of online companies that allow you to register your home for free—but you will be charged if your home gets picked.

Use your roof

    You need the right kind of roof, but some energy companies pay the cost of fixing solar equipment (around￡14,000),and let you use the energy produced for nothing. In return, they get paid for unused energy fed back into the National Grid. However, you have to sign a 25-year agreement with the supplier, which could prevent you from changing the roof.

根据短文内容，请将单词填写在题号对应的横线上。

    I know what you're thinking: pizza (比萨饼)? For breakfast? But the truth is that you can have last night's leftovers in the a. m. if you want to.

    I know lots of women who skip breakfast (不吃早餐), and they have a ton of different excuses for doing it. Some say they don't have time, others think they're “saving” calories (卡路里), still others just don't like breakfast food.

But the bottom line is that eating in the morning is very important when you're trying to lose weight. “Eating just about anything from 300 to 400 calories would be better than nothing at all,” says Katherine Brooking, R, D, who developed the super-easy eating plan for this year's “SELF CHALLENGE”. And even pizza can be healthy if it's loaded with vegetables, and you stick to one small piece.

    Breakfast is one meal I never miss, and the same goes for most weight loss success stories. Research shows that eating breakfast keeps you from overeating later in the day. Researchers at the University of Southern California found that breakfast skippers have a bigger chance of gaining weight than those who regularly have a morning meal.

    So eat something in the morning, anything. I know plenty of friends who end up having no breakfast altogether, and have just coffee or orange juice. I say, try heating up last night's leftovers-it may sound crazy, but if it works for you, do it! I find if I tell myself, “You can always cat it tomorrow,” I put away the leftovers instead of eating more that night. Try it...you may save yourself some pre-bedtime calories. And watch your body gain the fat-burning effects.

    Rescue officials in Poland are working quickly to clear one of the country's highways. The roadway is covered with a sticky brown material. It is blocking cars from both directions.

    What is causing the mess? Milk chocolate. The problems began early Wednesday, after a huge truck carrying many tons of liquid chocolate overturned. Chocolate spilled out. It spread across six driveways of Poland's A2 highway.

    The liquid chocolate solidified（凝固）as it cooled, causing even more difficulties. The accident happened near the western Polish town of Slupca. Bogdan Kowalski is with the fire fighters of Slupca. He told the Associated Press that “the cooling chocolate is worse than snow”.

    Videos published on social media showed rescuers and cleaners were trying to move the sticky brown mess with a bulldozer（推土机）.

    The private Polish broadcaster TVN24 reported that the driver of the truck was taken to a hospital with a broken arm. The accident happened in the morning when there was little traffic. Nobody else was harmed.

    The sticky situation became a hot topic on social media. Some people offered to help the clean-up workers by eating the chocolate themselves.

    Marlene Kukawa is a media officer for Slupea police. She told the New York Times that rescue workers needed to remove the truck from the highway first. “The cleanup”, she said at the time, “will take a few hours or more.” She added that accidents are rare in this part of the A2 highway. And, she told the New York Times, she is sure the area has never experienced something quite like a huge chocolate spill.

Confucius Institute

    The Confucius Institute at the University of Minnesota offers several short classes on Chinese language and culture.

    Class Fees

    The cost of classes is $225 ($170 for Chinese Rehab)

    Class Calendar

    The Confucius Institute follows the University of Minnesota semester schedule. The Confucius Institute classes start a few weeks after the start of the University semester and last for ten class sessions. Classes are not held on University holidays.

    The upcoming class sessions will be:

    Spring 2018:  February 1- April 7

    Summer 2018: June 13- August 25

    Tentative class calendar:

    The schedule may change due to teacher availability.

    Class Cancellations

    Any class not meeting minimum enrollment by four business days before the class start date will be cancelled and you will be contacted. If we must cancel a class due to insufficient enrollment or any other circumstance beyond our control, we will offer a full refund or issue credit towards another class.

    Contact Information

    The Confucius Institute is located within the University International Center on the east bank of the Twin Cities campus. The University International Center is located in the Keeler Apartment building. Enter at the corner of 17th Avenue S.E. and 4th Street through the doors located near the     “University International Center” sign.

    Office hours

    The office is generally open Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. until 4: 30 p.m.

The office is closed daily from12:.00 noon until 1: 00 p. m. and is closed on all University holidays.

    Office Address

    160 University International Center, 331-17th Ave. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55414

    Phone: 612625-5080

    Fax: 612-625-5158

    Email: confucius@umn.edu

    When Randy Heiss went hiking behind his Patagonia, Ariz. farm, the last thing he expected to find was a Christmas list from a little girl across the US-Mexico border. "I found this balloon on my morning walk near Patagonia on Sunday. Attached to it was a piece of paper with the Christmas wishes from a little girl," Heiss wrote on his Facebook page.

    When he brought the list home to his wife, who speaks fluent Spanish, they determined that the little girl had asked for Enchantimals toys, clothes, art supplies and various other gifts. That's when Heiss set out to make the little girl's Christmas dreams come true. Heiss said he had attempted to send Christmas letters to Santa Claus via balloon when he was a kid but never received a response.

    Heiss sent a Facebook message on Wednesday to XENY, a radio station in Nogales, to see if it could help him track down the girl or her family. He later received a response from the station, which had determined the author of the letter was an 8-year-old girl named Dayami, and the station wanted to set up a meeting between the two on Thursday. "It just changed my entire day," Heiss told the Washington Post. "Instead of going back to my office in Bisbee, I went with my wife to Walmart."

    The couple bought almost everything on Dayami's list. They also brought a few gifts for Dayami's little sister, Ximena. They told the children they were " ayudantes de Santa," or Santa's helpers.

    Heiss, 60, said the experience was very healing for him and his wife. Nine years ago, the couple's only son died. "Being around children at Christmas time has been absent in our lives," Heiss said. We now have friends for life. For a day, that border fence with its concertina wire melted away.

    Fifty years ago I had a young family of three boys. My husband Johnny and I left them with a friend while we made a rare trip to the cinema in Liverpool.

    It was dark and pouring with rain but with the headlights shining on the road  we saw something ahead of us. Johnny pulled to a stop and I jumped out, ran to the grass edge and grabbed a small, wet, and frightened creature. I wrapped it safely in my woollen hat and insisted that my husband turn back and head for home. We thought it was a baby rabbit because it had long ears and was grayish-brown in colour. Once home, we filled a box with torn-up newspaper and a warm towel. We named our new animal Bobsy as we had no idea of its sex.

    Sadly though, on the third day with us, it caught its back foot in a door and we quickly realised it was broken. We rushed to the vet (兽医), who said, "It's only a rabbit, I'll put it to sleep." Our response was a very determined, "No way !"We found another vet and told that she was a baby hare. We were told we should continue to keep her in her box for a week and her foot would heal.

    After her recovery, Bobsy learnt to use the kitty litter tray. She would comb her long ears with her front paws. The local paper heard about this and came to our house to take her photo and write a story about her. We had her for seven wonderful years before we moved to New Zealand and we will never forget her.