Campers Gene and Marie Marsden took pride in being good citizens when in the wild. While driving miles to the Green River Lakes area, they taught their children what they had learned in the bear safety handbook put out by the Bridger-Teton Forest Service.

    Mr. and Mrs. Marsden did their best to keep a tidy camp. As the handbook had said to hang all food at least ten feet off the ground and four feet out from the trees, they did that and locked their food in their trailer(拖车) at night. It was already dark when they went to bed, but they perused the campsite with flashlights, making sure nothing was left out. Following the bear book's advice, they slept a hundred yards from where they cooked their food, and kept the car near their tents, separated from the trailer, which they left up at the other camp.

    The Marsdens liked having their dog Spike on guard. But on the first night, Spike would not stop barking. When Marie Marsden pulled the tent open and shone her flashlight, she saw a young bear.

    They all piled into the car and drove quickly down the path, calling out of the window to Spike and abandoning the trailer. They drove to a pay phone and called a Fish and Game Department guard, who identified the bear by the white ring of the fur the Marsdens had seen around his neck. The authorities informed the Marsdens that the bear was a young male that they'd been keeping an eye on.

    The next morning, the Marsdens heard helicopters circling over the mountain and wondered if it might have something to do with the bear.

    After spending the night in the public campground, they drove back to their site. Wandering the area in search of clues, Marie came to a stop below a tall tree. She slapped her head and shouted, “Oh no!”

    “What is it?” Gene asked.

    Marie pointed at the ground where Spike's dog food bowl lay upside down. A week after their return home, the Marsdens read the headline in their local paper. “Bear Killed in Wind Rivers.” According to the article, the Fish and Game Department had shot the young bear because, having been rewarded for invading(侵入) a human campsite, it would likely to do so again.

    The Marsdens knew they had been lucky in the encounter, yet much to their shame and sadness, they also knew that the bear had not.

    Many of us mistakenly believe that it's wrong to think we have any good qualities. We may spend a lot of time blaming ourselves for our negative qualities, thinking that self criticism is the key to improving our performance. However, a constant focus on our supposed shortcomings can stop our efforts to make friends with other people. How can we believe that others could like us if we believe our inner being is flawed (有缺陷)?

    If someone seems to dislike you, the reason for that dislike might have little or nothing to do with you. The person who doesn't like you might be fearful, or shallow, or busy or shy. Perhaps you and that person are simply a mismatch for each other at this particular time.

    Don't take yourself out of the game by deciding that your flaws are bigger than your good qualities. In fact, some of the very qualities you consider to be flaws may be irresistible to someone else. For all the factors that might cause one person to reject you, there are at least as many factors that will work in your favor with someone else.

    You might be thirty pounds over your ideal weight, but you may have a wonderful laugh and a real enthusiasm for life. There are many people who don't mind your extra pounds. You may drive a shabby car, but you might be a great dancer and a loyal friend. There are people out there looking for loyalty, or fun, or sweetness, or wisdom, and the package it comes in is not important. If you are worried that you are not beautiful enough to attract friends, keep in mind that not everyone is looking for physical beauty in their friends. You can decide to feel inferior (自卑) because you don't have much money and you don't drive a nice car. You can believe that this is the reason that you don't have many friends in your life. On the other hand, if you are very wealthy you may be suspicious that everyone is after your money and that nobody really likes you as a person.

    The point is that you can focus on just about anything and believe it's the reason you do not have friends and cannot make any.

    Were dinosaurs (恐龙) warm-blooded or cold-blooded? According to a new study, scientists have found that they were somewhere in the middle. This new study shows that dinosaurs were very different from most of today's animals that are either warm or cold-blooded.

    “I think we were all surprised by this,” said Felisa Smith from the University of New Mexico. “The idea certainly took some getting used to.”

    A study by a team of scientists led by John M. Grady of the university studied many different kinds of dinosaurs in their research. They looked at growth rate (比率), body temperature and body size of different kinds of dinosaurs.

    How are warm-blooded animals different from cold-blooded animals? Warm-blooded animals like humans can control their body temperature. They eat a lot, and burn calories (卡路里) quickly. They have a more active lifestyle than cold-blooded animals. While cold-blooded animals such as snakes do not control their body temperature. Instead, they must use sunlight to keep warm, and they move much more slowly. Cold-blooded animals do not need to eat very much. Their bodies slow down in colder temperatures.

    Besides dinosaurs, there are other animals that are not completely warm-blooded or cold-blooded, such as great white sharks.

    You have probably heard the saying,"When life gives you lemons,make lemonade."Since lemons are considered bitter and lemonade is considered sweet,the saying tells you to make the best out of a bad situation.

    Unfortunately,when something bad happens,it's not uncommon for most people to talk about it to anyone who'll listen,and complain about life,"Why me?"That's like getting a bag of lemons,putting them down,and thinking, "Lemons taste bad!I'd rather have chocolate!"If you don't make anything with the lemons,they will go bad.But what if you did something with them?What if you made lemonade?Isn't it possible to do something similar with a bad situation?

    Here's an example.Let's say you're about to go to the movies,but you discover you have a flat tire（瘪胎）.You consider this a terrible thing. After all,you are really looking forward to spending some time with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone.Now you're all stressed out,hating the tire,the car,and your life.But what if you called AAA,got your tire fixed or got caught up on things that you'd been meaning to do?What if you did some reading,or had coffee with a friend instead?A negative experience can be turned into something positive.Almost anything can work itself out into something better.You can't change what has happened,right?So make the best of it.I'm not saying it will be easy. The easy thing to do is complain about your bad situation and not consider what it could be turned into.

    Next time when some unfortunate things happen,stop and think,"How can I turn this around?How can I make it a positive experience?You needn't fear difficulties.As long as you keep on changing it,you will see the benefits（好处）at last.

    We offer some kinds of courses. Each course has been designed to help students according to their needs.

    Course 1: High School ESL

    Why not make the most of your time studying in Australia with the help from TIES? We have High School ESL classes each week specifically designed for international students. Tuesday to Friday: 10:00 am to 12:00 am, $25 per hour.

    Course 2: One on One

    If you are interested in some One on One lessons with TIES teachers, we can design a course to meet your needs. One on One lessons can improve your English language skills more quickly and help students who want to take TOEFL. Tuesday to Friday: 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm, $ 80 per hour.

    Course 3: General English

    General English is designed to develop students' basic communication skills in speaking and pronunciation, reading, listening, writing, grammar and vocabulary. Tuesday to Friday: 9:00 am to 11:00 am, $ 288 per week.

    Course 4: Night Classes

    Do you want to improve your English and get the best possible results in your GRE test? We have two night classes each week designed to meet your needs. Tuesday and Thursday evenings: 8:30 pm to 10:30 pm, $60 per day.

    You probably know the basics of how comparatives(比较级) and superlatives(最高级) work in the English language. When comparing something, you often add an "-er" to the end of the comparative adjective. The general rule is that one-syllable(音节) words get the suffix(后缀), and polysyllabic words get "more" or "most." That is, unless the two-syllable word ends in a "y"; if that's the case, you will add the suffixes and change the "y" to an "i".

    But what about the word "fun"? This simple adjective only has one syllable, so you'd think you'd add suffixes on it to create superlatives. But if you were to say "I think Magic Kingdom is a funner park than Epcot." or "Disney World was the funnest vacation ever!" you might get some strange looks. It doesn't sound quite right. But…why? "Fun" is one syllable, so why do we choose "more fun" as the comparative—especially considering that the similar word "funny," which has more syllables than "fun," uses the suffixes with no problem?

    Well, the problem comes from the fact that the word "fun" was not originally an adjective. Until the early 19th century, it was mostly just a noun, and it gained its meaning as "amusement" in the 18th century. But as early as the 1800s, people began using it as an adjective, the way we'd describe "a fun time" or "a fun place" today.

    Basically, language is still developing. Grammarians have mostly come around to the use of "fun" as an adjective (though some dictionaries still call it informal). There was (and remains) an agreement of "Fine, you can use ‘fun' as an adjective…but, like, it's not really one, so it can't follow the rules of real adjectives." So they also agree that the answer to "is funner a word?" is yes. If you want to consider "fun," as an adjective, then "funner" is indeed a word, as is "funnest". But this doesn't mean that "more fun" and "most fun" are incorrect, though; in fact, in formal writing, you'll probably still want to use those instead of "funner" and "funnest."

    The English language is chock-full of uncertain grammar rules; there's no need to insist that a word breaks the common rules of language just because we didn't used to use it in a way we do now.