Many expressions(表达方式) we use in American English come from movies and books. Today we will learn some expressions from Lewis Carol's famous book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This book is better known as Alice in Wonderland.

    The story is about a young girl falling for a long time down a rabbit hole. When she finally lands, she finds herself in a strange world. In this strange world are some of the most popular characters in children's books. Many of the expressions from the book have found their way into American English.

    The first character Alice meets is the White Rabbit. The White Rabbit is not a usual rabbit. Alice chases (追赶) after him, and that is where her adventures begin.

    In English, "chasing a white rabbit" means to chase an impossible dream. "Following the white rabbit" means you are in the middle of an unusual situation. This situation often challenges your thinking and changes your life. Like "chasing a white rabbit", "falling down the rabbit hole" means we get interested in something else and lose ideas about time.

    Later in the story, Alice is the guest at a tea party— a crazy tea party! There she meets the March Hare. The hare seems to be truly crazy. To be "mad as a March hare" means that someone is completely mad or crazy.

Using expressions from popular books can add special flavor(味道). And when used properly, they also show you have a deeper understanding of the English language.

    We had an awful school trip last week. Some students were late. Then we waited half an hour for the school bus, but it didn't arrive. Finally, our teacher took us to take the subway. It took over an hour. Then we walked a long way. When we arrived at the zoo, it was already 12:00. We were all tired and hungry. We wanted to see pandas, but there weren't any. There were some really smart dolphin（海豚）,but we didn't see the show because we arrived too late. We forgot our cameras, so we couldn't take any photos. Then it started to rain, and no one had an umbrella. We didn't see many animals because of the rain. So we went for lunch. We ate hamburgers. My friends also had some ice-cream. But I didn't have any, because I don't like it. I wanted French fries, but there weren't any in the shop. They were sold out! Finally we went back to school. We were wet, tired and stressed out. I didn't enjoy my school trip at all.

    It may be difficult to start high school. Thinking about making new friends might make you feel nervous.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}You are going to school with a group of students of your age. Here are several suggestions for you to follow.

    Forget your fear and just talk to someone. It's easier said than done. But try to take a deep breath and find your voice. Don't be afraid to approach (接近) people.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Sit in the middle of the classroom with as many new friends around you as possible.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Take part in after-class activities that interest you. Try to make friends in the clubs. If you don't join anything, you will be just going to class and then going home. Being in a club makes you more social.

    Stay clean. No one likes a bad smell that could knock someone over. Shower every day, brush your teeth and wash your hair.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Be respectful (尊重的) of people's differences.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}And everyone believes in different things. It is a good thing to have different friends with different opinions because you can each share your own.

For many children, their birthday is their favorite day. They like spending it with their parents and friends. All parents want to hold (举办) wonderful birthday parties for their children.

Last Saturday was Tom's fourth birthday. His mother, Mrs. Green, helped him to invite six friends to their house. She held a very nice party for Tom.

Mrs. Green prepared for the party for a long time. She thought about their ages, the activities, the time, the food, the cake and the gifts. She said,"Don't let the party last(持续) too long. For children's party, 90 minutes or two hours is enough. "At the party, Mrs.Green chose a nice cake for the children. She also prepared some gifts for them. They were very happy.

Sometimes when the rain falls hard and fast on you, it might hurt a little. But what happens when it hits a mosquito(蚊子)?

In 2012, David Hu, a scientist at Georgia Tech, became interested in this problem and decided to do a research. He used a high- speed camera so that he could watch the mosquitoes in very slow motion and find out what they' re doing when they' re out in the rain.

What he found is that when a raindrop falls on a mosquito, it's like when a bus hits a person. Besides, the little insect(昆虫) is hit by a raindrop about once every 20 seconds. So why don't we see many dead mosquitoes after it rains?

A mosquito is as big as a raindrop, but it is much lighter—0.002g only. This saves its life in raindrop hits. Because the mosquito is so light, when it is hit by a raindrop, it won't experience a force that is strong enough to kill it.

The study also found that when a mosquito is hit by a raindrop, the insect is pushed by the raindrop and falls together with it. But the mosquito doesn't get wet easily because it is covered with hairs which keep off water. After dropping about 6 cm, it will roll off the raindrop and fly away.

However, this trick isn't always successful. If the mosquito flies too low when it is hit by the raindrop, it won't have time to fly off. Then it will hit the ground and meet its death.

Charity Book Sale

Location: Shiguang Bookstore

Time: From August 1st to August 7th, 2024

All money from the sale will be given away to the Children's Home.