Money Matters

    Parents should help their children understand money. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} So you may start talking about money when your child shows an interest in buying things, candy or toys, for example.

    1 The basic function of money

    Begin explaining the basic function of money by showing how people trade money for goods or services. It is important to show your child how money is traded for the things he wants to have. If he wants to have a toy, give him the money and let him hand the money to the cashier(收银员). {#blank#}2{#/blank#} When your child grows a bit older and understands the basic function of money, you can start explaining more complex ways of using money.

    2 Money lessons

    Approach money lessons with openness and honesty. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} If you must say no to a child's request to spend money, explain, — You have enough toy trucks for now. Or, if the request is for many different things, say, — You have to make a choice between this toy and that toy.

    3 {#blank#}4{#/blank#} 

    Begin at the grocery store. Pick out two similar brands of a product — a name-brand butter and a generic (无商标产品), for example. You can show your child how to make choices between different brands of a product so that you can save money. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} If he chooses the cheaper brand, allow him to make another purchase with the money saved. Later, you may explain how the more expensive choice leaves less money for other purchases.

A. Wise decisions.

B. The value of money.

C. Permit the child to choose between them.

D. Tell your child why he can — or cannot — have certain things.

E. Ask yourself what things that cost money are most important to you

F. Talk about how the money bought the thing after you leave the toy store.

G. The best time to teach a child anything about money is when he shows an interest.

    In the digital age, copying someone else's words is easy, but getting caught copying is even easier. When Melania Trump recently spoke at the Republican convention, she used some of the same words that Michelle Obama had used at the Democratic convention in 2008. Within hours, news spread around the world with the claim that Melania Trump had plagiarized Michelle Obama's speech. Students and teachers at universities in the U. S. and elsewhere were shocked.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    What is plagiarism?

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}That person could also be called a "literary thief' or a" plagiarist'.

    Why is plagiarism a serious problem?

    It's our own worst fear, to have that thing that we created stolen from us, and it's the same as our words. That thing that we created is essential to who we are.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Academics are especially aware of the nature of plagiarism because their work is essentially the creation of ideas and putting them into words.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    One of the possible punishments for' plagiarism at U. S. universities is dismissal from the school. Students may fail a course or be given a letter of censure(谴责)that stays on their school record, Professors or researchers who plagiarize may damage or end their careers.

    Plagiarism is easy to find

    Before the digital age we live in, plagiarizing was harder. You had to write out the words you copied. But now anything can be copied and pasted. In the past, teachers would have to work hard to prove that work was copied.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}The plagiarism checking software programs used by many students and universities include Turnitin, Grammarly, Duplichecker, and Ithenticate. Nobody is going to get away with it.

A. How to avoid plagiarism

B. Consequences of plagiarism

C. Stealing our words is as serious as if stealing our child.

D. Nowadays, some software programs will help you avoid plagiarism

E. Plagiarism is to copy someone else's written work without giving them credit.

F. But nowadays, all you have to do is run a paper through a plagiarism detection software.

G. They learn from their early years in school that copying another writers words is wrong.

    About ten percent of spending on primary and secondary education in the United States comes from the federal government{#blank#}1{#/blank#} States have been required to show progress through yearly testing.

    But states say testing tells only part of the story about efforts by schools and students to improve. So the Obama administration has eased the limits in states in measuring performance.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} This new measurement tool is called the Colorado Growth Model. The ideas is to show academic growth, not just achievement on tests. It combines test scores, family income levels, school size, the ethnicity of the student and many other factors.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The graph shows a school's average score on standardized tests as well as its academic growth.

    On average, students enter sixth grade at WEST Denver Prep performing below grade level{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    The new assessment(评价) method shows that, each year, the average West Denver Prep student learns more math than ninety-four percent of all the students in Colorado{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Josh Smith says perhaps the most important thing they should learn is to believe in themselves.

A. The results from schools across the state are shown online on a graph.

B. Reading and writing scores also show growth.

C. For ten years now, federal law has tied this spending to student performance.

D. Therefore, the government feels it a great pressure.

E. But three years later, most are outperforming other students across the state.

F. However, the limits don't work at all.

G. The western state of Colorado, for example, has a new assessment method.

    Do you have the experience of digging out your suitcase, deciding what to bring and being afraid that you've forgotten something? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Hope they can transform the way you pack.

Keep a Basket Handy

    Do you wait until the last minute to pack? Keep a basket in your bedroom, living room, or bath room that you can use to throw in items you need to pack as you come across them. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Besides, you can just put the contents of the basket into your suitcase if you are in a hurry to leave for the airport.

Buy Wrinkle-free Clothing

    You won't need to worry about carefully packing your items of clothing if they're made from wrinkle-free materials.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} They'll still look fresh and bright when you are in them at your destination.

Keep Old Packing Lists

    Chances are that you end up taking trips that require you to pack similar items. Keep old packing lists from former vacations to the beach, ski resort, and city - that way, you'll always have a list of at least the basics.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}So you don't need to waste your effort to remember where you left your hand-written packing lists.

Schedule a Packing Time

    Time can slip away from you before a trip — you may be caught up at work, at home, or be occupied with other responsibilities of daily life. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}That way, you will not need to do your packing frantically（狂乱地）from the last minute to 1 o'clock on the day you leave.

A. Buy necessary stuff when you arrive.

B. That's why I've distilled（提炼）the art of packing down to some essential trips.

C. Just roll them up or put them at the bottom of the suitcase.

D. Determine a night well in advance of departure to pack.

E. Rolling your clothes is the best way to save space for the suitcase.

F. The best way to do this is to save them on your computer.

G. This makes you less likely to forget the stuff.

    You'd think the human race would have understood sleeping very well by now, but many of us are still sleeping poorly. Part of the problem is that we have wrong information and beliefs about this important health need. Let's set the facts straight. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    ⒈More sleep is better for you.

    There could be such a thing as too much sleep. The amount of sleep we need varies by person and also changes as we age. Harvard researchers found that a lot of sleep (9 hours or more) is linked with poor sleep quality. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Aim for better sleep.

    ⒉{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Alcohol can help most people fall asleep. However, it also can cause you to wake up more during the night, decreasing your sleep quality. Consider drinking non-alcoholic drink before bed instead.

    ⒊If you wake up in the middle of the night, lie in bed until you eventually fall back asleep.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}We all hope to quickly fall back asleep. So we tend to stay in bed hoping it'll happen at any minute now. If that doesn't happen, though, within 15 minutes, most experts recommend getting out of bed to do something that occupies our bodies and brains without overstimulating us. Try not to check the clock either.

    ⒋You can catch up on sleep on weekends.

    When we lose sleep during the week, we accumulate a kind of sleep ＂debt＂. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Not so fast. This might actually make you sleepier the next week. Instead of waking up later on the weekends, you'd better go to sleep earlier or perhaps take a nap in the afternoon.

A. Alcohol helps you sleep.

B. Here are some things you might have been told about sleeping but aren't completely true.

C. Everyone should get 7—8 hours of sleep per night.

D. So don't aim for more sleep — even on the weekends.

E. Waking up in the middle of the night is the pits (烦心事), but it happens to all of us.

F. You'll have a better day and perhaps sleep better at night.

G. Can you pay that debt back by sleeping on Saturday or Sunday?

    The most universal facial expression is the smile --its function is to show happiness and put people at ease. A smile says, "I like you. You make me happy."

    That's why dogs make such a hit. They are so glad to see us that they almost jump out of their skins. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    A baby's smile has the same effect. Have you ever been in a doctor's, waiting room and looked around at all the sad faces waiting impatiently to be seen? There were six or seven patients waiting when a young woman came in with a nine-month-old baby. She sat down next to a gentleman who was more than a little impatient about the long wait for service. The baby just looked up at him with that great big smile that is so characteristic of babies,{#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Soon he struck up a conversation with the woman about her baby and his grand-children and then the entire reception room joined in, and the boredom and tension were changed into a pleasant and enjoyable experience {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Telephone companies throughout the US have a program called "phone power" which is offered to employees who use the telephone for selling their services or products. In this program they suggest that you smile when talking on the phone. Your "smile" comes through in your voice.

    You don't feel like smiling? {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. If you are alone, force yourself to whistle or hum a tune or sing. Act as if you were already happy, and that will tend to make you happy.

    Your smile is a messenger of your goodwill.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}.To someone who has seen a dozen people frown or turn their faces away, your smile is like the sun breaking through the clouds Especially when someone is under pressure from his bosses, his customers, his teachers or parents or children, a smile can help him realize that all is not hopeless that there is joy in the world.

A. He smiled back at the baby

B. Your smile brightens the lives of all who see it

C. Smile gets much easier with practice

D. So, naturally, we are glad to see them

E. Well, force yourself to smile

F. We should give others a real smile, a smile that comes from within

G. The effect of a smile is powerful, even when it is unseen