Wanting: I want nothing but music

    Wanting Qu, born and raised in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China, has become one of the most popular singers in China this year. During the past few months, her name and songs have spread quickly on the Internet, over the radio, and in almost every corner of China. You would be considered totally “out” if you have never heard of her song “Stay in My Song”.

    She is a girl full of courage. At only 16, Wanting left home and entered a Canadian school to study business, starting her life in a foreign country alone. Soon，she found that her true passion was music. She went on to get her degree(学位), but also tried her hand at songwriting. She did part-time jobs to keep on her study like many Chinese students who study in foreign countries, but never gave up her dream of being a musician. When the chance came, she bravely introduced herself to the CEO of Nettwerk and became the first Chinese singer-songwriter the company signed in 26 years.

    Wanting's music career started to take off in 2009 when she worked in Nettwerk. In 2011, after hearing the songs she wrote and recorded, the famous Chinese composer Zhang Yadong called her and would like to work with her.

    With all the successes she has achieved in China, Wanting is recording her first English album. She is ready to conquer(征服) the world.

    Mr and Mrs Green lived in a big city. Last summer, they went to a country for their holiday. They enjoyed it very much because it was a quiet, clean place.

    One day they went for a walk early in the morning and met an old man. He lived on a farm, and he was sitting in the warm sun in front of his house. Mr Green asked him. "Do you like to live in this quiet place?''

    The old man said, "Yes, I do."

    Mr Green said, "What are the good things about it?"

    The old man answered, "Well, the people here know each other. They often come and visit me, and I often go and visit them. And there are also lots of children here. "

    Mr Green said, "That's interesting. And what are the bad things?"

    The old man thought for a moment and then said,

"Well, the same things, really. ''

I am Sandy Brown. Tony, Mary and I are in the same class. They are brother and sister but they don't like the same food.

 Mary doesn't want to be fat. So, for breakfast, she only has an egg and a cup of milk. For lunch, she has some vegetables and rice with her friends. For dinner, she likes fruit salad. She likes ice- cream and hamburgers, but she doesn't eat them. She thinks they can make her fat.

 What about Tony? He likes sports very much and he plays volleyball well. He always has a big breakfast: two eggs, some milk and salad. For lunch, he likes chicken, a hamburger and some rice. After school, he plays volleyball with his classmates. So he is hungry in the evening. He likes some vegetables, two hamburgers and some fruit for dinner.

The World Health Organization (世卫组织) says air pollution makes seven million people lose their lives around the world each year. Even if (即使) polluted air does not kill people, it can make them very ill. 

However, breathing dirty air does more than hurt people's body. It can also affect (影响) their brain and their ability (能力) to think. 

A new study shows that air pollution can cause (引起) a"huge" reduction (降低) in our intel- ligence (智商). The researchers (研究者) reported that long- term exposure (暴露) to air pollution can affect a person's men tal abilities (智力的) in two areas: language (语言) and math. Xi Chen, the researcher of the Yale School of Public Health led the study. He and his team found that breathing pol- luted air can reduce a person's education (教育) level by about one year. 

Chen said that the affect usually is worse for those over 64 years of age, for men and for those with little or no education. "The older persons—— they are more affected. And we find, quite interestingly men are more affected than women. And people working outdoors are more affected than people working indoors. "

The researchers found that the influence of pollution on language ability is even more serious (严重) as people age, especially among men and the less educated. Why are a person's language skills more affected than math? There's an important part in our brain: white matter (脑及脊髓的白质). 

White matter is more connected (连接) with a person's language skills. Studies have shown that air pollution has a great affect on the white matter in the brain. 

Chen said that air pollution did affect the math skills just not as much as their language skills.