As we all know, children are our future, and it's up to us to arm them with the tools to succeed. Sadly, today's children are sometimes being armed with more dangerous tools like weapons, drugs and gangs in the USA. Once a relatively peaceful environment, many schoolyards of today are becoming unsafe for both students and teachers.

    Home schools are available to give you choices. Home schooling provides top-quality education, flexibility and freedom to create your own schedule. At Sunny Home School we believe the choice should be yours.

    Thanks to modern technology, home schooling information is becoming readily available across the nation. A recent study by the ITBS (Iowa Tests of Basic Skills) and TAP (Tests of Achievement and Proficiency) shows us that students of home schools do particularly well when compared with the nationwide average. In every subject at every grade level, students of home schooling scored obviously higher than those in public and private schools.

    If you're new to home schooling, you may be asking yourself, “Will home schools really work for my children?”

Fact: A nationwide study using a random selection of 1,516 families found students of home schooling to be scoring, on average, at or above the 80^th percentile (百分位的第80位) in all areas, on standardized achievement test. (Note: The national average on standardized achievement test is the 50^th percentile.)

    Collectively, the staff at Sunny Home School brings 65 years of experience in home schooling curriculum. We've placed students in the top 2% of the nation in math and many are successfully moving on to college.

    One study found that of the home schooled students, 94% said home education prepared them to be independent persons.

    For more home schooling information, call us today toll free at (1800)542-8668.

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的四个选项 （A 、B 、C  和 D ）中，选出最佳选项。

    A recent announcement by scientists that they have successfully cloned the first human embryo(胚胎) has caused much debate and has shocked many people around the world. On the one hand, some scientists point out that if you clone an embryo, you can produce valuable tissues(组织) and organs that could be used to save human lives. On the other hand, many people, including some scientists, disagree and fear that if mankind interferes with (干涉) nature in this way, they may be on their way to producing a real-life Frankenstein's monster.

Cloning is producing an exact copy of a plant or an animal using its cells. The first mammal to be cloned successfully from an adult cell was Dolly—the sheep. She was born in 1996 and died in early 2003, at a much younger age than normal. When she was born, many people were angry because they thought cloning would create more diseases in the animal world. However, in general the scientists were praised for their wonderful scientific breakthrough.

    The Scottish scientist who created Dolly, Ian Wilmut, is shocked that some scientists are now considering cloning human beings. Although he researches cloning, he has never thought of creating copies of humans. Instead, he thinks the scientists should concentrate on creating new tissues and organs that could eventually be used to cure diseases like cancer. However, some people consider that cloning human embryos with the intention of destroying them shows no respect for human lives.

    While cloning human embryos is illegal in many countries, some scientists are already pushing ahead with the research so as to deliver a cloned human baby. Severino Antinori, an Italian doctor, is one of the leaders in this field of research. He has declared that he wants to be the first to clone a human being.

In China, scientists have focused their efforts on cloning animals, as well as stem cells to be used in medical research. China has succeeded in producing clones of cows and goats, and continues to research ways in which cloning can benefit mankind.

    “The world feels anxious and divided, and Facebook has a lot of work to do whether it's protecting our community from abuse and hate, defending against interference by nation states, or making sure that time spent on Facebook is well spent,” Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook in January.

    If the tech firm succeeded, Facebook would end 2018 on a much better path. But the cracks in Zuckerberg's social media empire only grew as scandals(丑闻)about data misuse, security and even Facebook's leadership piled up.

    The social network has faced criticism many times since launching 14 years ago, but the public uproar reached new heights in 2018. Facebook's missteps, even as it tried to fix its problems, were yet another reminder of what happens when a company grows rapidly with little oversight(监管). They also set the stage for another showdown between the tech powerhouse and lawmakers who have their own ideas on how to manage a platform used by 2.3 billion people every month.

    “I think there's just a general growing consensus from both parties in Congress that self-policing is not going to work,” Democratic senator Mark Warner of Virginia said in an interview. Facebook pointed to a series of notes Zuckerberg published this year outlining what the tech firm has done to combat(战斗，争论)election meddling(好干预的), as well as hate speech, misinformation and other offensive content. The social network pulled down more than 1.5 billion fake accounts, launched a database of political ads and announced the creation of a Supreme Court like independent body to oversee content appals.

    But in many ways, Zuckerberg fell short of his New Year's resolution(决议). UN investigators said Facebook played a role in spreading hate speech that fueled ethnic cleansing(清洗)in Myanmar. Media outlets found loopholes(漏洞)and errors in Facebook's political ads database. Users questioned whether they should delete Facebook after learning that Cambridge Analytical, a UK political consulting firm with ties to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, gathered data on as many as 87 million Facebook users without their permission.

    In short, Facebook's problems ballooned out of the company's control.

“They created a platform where sharing was mindlessly easy and interacting with each other required almost no forethought at all,” said Woodrow Hertzog, a law and computer science professor at Northeastern University. “As a result, there was massive sharing, including leaking of personal information that put lots of people at risk.”

    Alabama: Priester's Pecans

    Dessert in the South basically starts and ends with an ooey­gooey pecan (核桃) pie. Especially in Alabama, where the pecan is the official state nut. While there are plenty of farms that pick and package pecans, perhaps the most famous is Priester's, a family­run business that's been supplying Alabama with its favorite nuts for over seven decades.

    Alaska: Salmon jerky

    Forget beef jerky (肉干) ­ in Alaska, it's all about the salmon jerky. Home to five different species of the flavorful fish (king, red, pink, silver, and chum), the northernmost state produces nearly one­third of the wild salmon consumed around the world. Bonus: Salmon is one of the seven healthiest fish you can eat.

    Arizona: Saguaro cactus

    The largest cactus (仙人掌) in the United States, the saguaro cactus is found only in Arizona's Sonoran Desert. Living to be up to 200 years old, the cacti, whose flower is also the state's flower, are generally around 30 feet tall and can grow unlimited arms. Want to see for yourself? Visit one of these 10 outstanding desert escapes in America.

    California: Wine Guide

    It isn't called "Wine Country" for no reason. Northern California, specifically Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley, produce over 60,000 registered wine labels, making vino (酒类产品) the state's most valuable agricultural product. If you're looking for the most popular varietals (优质酿酒葡萄汁), the top two frequently planted grapes are chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon.

    Did you ever have to say "no" to somebody? Such as a classmate who asks to go to lunch with you? New research suggests that, at least socially, a rejection (拒绝) should not include an apology. In other words, saying you are sorry does not make the person being rejected feel any better. In fact, it might make the rejected person feel worse. That is surprising. Many people consider it to be good manners to say they are sorry when they turn down a request.

    Gili Freedman is doing some related research at Dartmouth College. For her research, she asked over 1,000 people to respond to different examples of social rejection. In one example, the researchers asked people for their reaction (反应）after a person named Taylor asked to join a co-worker who went out to lunch every Friday. And Taylor was told "no". But in some cases, the person rejecting Taylor offered an apology. In other cases, the people doing the rejection did not say they were sorry. People were asked how they would feel if they were being turned down, just as Taylor was. Most said they would be more hurt by a rejection with an apology than a rejection without an apology.

    Freedman said the reason is that apologies make people feel like they need to say that the rejection was okay— even when they felt like it was not okay. Rejection without an apology lets them express their feelings of disappointment, hurt or anger more easily. Freedman also said that an apology often makes the person doing the rejection feel better—even as it makes the person being rejected feel worse.

    Her research deals only with social communication. A business situation might be very different. "If a manager rejects a job interviewee or a boss must tell an employee that he or she is being fired from a job," Freedman said, "reactions to apologies may be different."

Summer reading

Finding Junie Kim

by Ellen Oh

Middle schooler Junie Kim is facing bullying (欺凌) at school, but she keeps quiet. Then, for a school project, Junie interviews her grandparents, who grew up in Korea during wartime in the 1950s. In their story of struggle, Junie finds the courage to speak up. The book will encourage any kid who has ever been in Junie's shoes.

Simon B. Rhymin'

by Dwayne Reed

Simon is starting fifth grade and wants everyone to call him Notorious D. O. G. because he wants to be a famous rapper (说唱歌手). But he's shy about using his voice to express his thoughts. When a teacher asks the class to give a talk, Simon must face his fears. Simon B. Rhymin' is a great book that will give confidence to readers who are going through similar struggles.

A Shot in the Arm!

by Don Brown

A Shot in the Arm! is a novel about the history of vaccines (疫苗). Readers learn how vaccines have been used throughout history to fight disease. The author also introduces people around the world who helped with the development of vaccines. A Shot in the Arm! is an exciting read that uses colorful drawings to pull the reader in.

The One Thing You'd Save

by Linda Sue Park

If your house were on fire, what one thing would you save? Writer Linda Sue Park explores different answers to this question in poems that show the different voices of a middle school class. Some choose baseball cards or toy animals. One picks a sweater that was passed down for generations. The book is illustrated (给……作插图) with black-and-white art. Readers of all ages will like this book. It helps you realize what matters most.