I'm a 34-year-old man, married, lived in a nice house, and have a successful career as an educational consultant. But my life was not always so great. I had a learning disability from an early age. I went to a special school where I got plenty of extra help. Still, I suffered the rest of my school days in public schools.

       My life improved remarkably when I discovered art. The art world gave me a chance to express myself without words. I went to a workshop and gradually got good at making things with clay(黏土). Here I learned my first important lesson: disabled as I was in language. I could still be smart and well express myself with clay. And my confidence came along.

I got my next lesson from rock climbing. It was a fun thing but I was scared from the start. I soon noticed it wasn't a talent thing; it was practice. So I did it more. After about five years of climbing, I found myself in Yosemite Valley on a big wall. I learned that if you fall in love with something and do it all the time, you will get better at it.

       Later I decided to apply my previous experience to learning how to read and write. Every day I practiced reading and writing, which I used to avoid as much as possible. After two hard years, I was literate.

       Having gone through the long process with art, rock climbing, and reading and writing, now I've got to a point in my life where I know I am smart enough to dive into an area that is totally unknown, hard, but interesting.

    Green is not always referring to the color. In some cases, it is the term used for being environmentally friendly. If you've been looking to replace your furniture, consider going green because environmentally friendly furniture offers many benefits. Here are a few tips to get you started on your hunt for the perfect eco-friendly furniture.

    First, environmentally friendly furniture isn't harmful to your health. Also its manufacturing process doesn't cause damage to the environment in any way. Besides, by purchasing eco-friendly products, you prevent deforestation and global warming to some extent in your own way. You do your part in protecting the environment. Environmentally friendly furniture is cost-effective as well.

    The materials that are used in furniture are what make them green. Materials can be good for the environment either because they are materials that are considered renewable resources or they are all natural. A lack of chemicals and toxins (毒素) in green furniture also means it is a better choice for the environment. It may be hard to imagine that a sofa or a table could actually be a green product but they really can be depending on what they're made of.

There are a lot of renewable sources that manufacturers could use when building the furniture, so you should be keeping an eye out for them. Bamboo can be an excellent replacement for wood and can also replace plastics and metals in some furnishing. Cotton is a sofa fabric that is safe for the environment and it can be replenished (补充) often. Hemp is also a renewable source that can be used for fabric and twine.

    Recycled materials also can be made into green furniture. Metals can be recovered and remade into new things such as frames and foundations for sofas. Recycled plastic can also be made into furniture such as tables and chairs. Touching up old furniture instead of buying new items is very cheap way to be green. Yard sales and second-hand stores sell furniture too and buying the used means new things won't be made, so no more damage has to happen to the earth.

    Therefore, when you want to hunt for the perfect environmentally friendly furniture, you should try to know the type of materials which are used in building the furniture.

    Why do we go to zoos? Millions of people around the world visit zoos each year, but the reason is hard to explain .{#blank#}1{#/blank#} But the animals they see in zoos are little like the toys, cartoons, and decorations that fill their homes. For such children, meeting with real animals can be confusing, even upsetting.

    The great interest that children have in animals today might lead one to suppose that this has always been the case. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}That was also when zoos became an important part of middle-class life.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}They lived together with our ancestors in a shared natural environment. In the Industrial Era, the human domination (支配)of animals could be seen in the popularity of real-looking animal toys. Children rode rocking-horses that had realistic features, and they slept with bears, tigers, and rabbits that looked and felt almost real. The Twentieth Century marked a further development--the change of animals into people.

    This was the age of Babar the Elephant, Hello Kitty, and the Lion King. Parents and children had previously wanted animals that looked like animals.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    In a zoo they hope to see the living breathing versions of their character friends. They find instead unfamiliar creatures who cannot speak, smile, or interact with them. For this reason, a visit to the zoo can be disappointing for children today.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Meeting real animals reminds us forcefully of the boundary between imagination and reality.

    When we visit animals in a zoo, perhaps we will recall our true relationship not only to animals but to the entire world.

A. Animals are the best friends of the human beings.

B. Most of children are looking forward to visiting zoos.

C. Perhaps that disappointment is the best gift a zoo can offer.

D. But now they want animals that look and act like humans

E. Yet, it was not until the Industrial Era that animals became part of childhood.

F. In prehistoric times, there had been no zoos, as animals were a real part of the human world.

G. Many of those visitors are children, whose lives are already surrounded by animals' images.

    Traveling is a very enjoyable experience as it provides an opportunity to see new things.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}The following article discusses the advantages of traveling.

    Traveling gives you the opportunity to disconnect from your regular life. People all have crazy schedules, work and a family to take care of, and traveling alone or with some friends can give you distance and perhaps even make you realize how important these people are to you.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Another great benefit is the relaxation you get.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}When you come back you feel energetic and you are happy to be back to your daily routine.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}They will create a bond that nothing can erase no matter what happens to the friendship. You can create photo albums and when you feel nostalgic (怀旧的) you can experience the trips again by looking at your pictures.

    It's never been this cheap to travel. With increasing oil prices the cheap travel era might be coming to an end.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}With the Internet and all the new technology, you can plan your trip exactly the way you want it. You can choose your budget, the duration of the trip and what you want to do.

A. It's nice to enjoy a stress-free time.

B. As the saying goes, you never know what you have until you lose it.

C. When traveling with friends or family it creates memories of a lifetime.

D. Going on a trip means that you are most likely going to spend time outside.

E. Discovering different values and ways to get by in life is really interesting.

F. However, there are still many budget airlines fighting for your dollar right now.

G. There are many benefits other than enjoying yourself that can be realized when you travel.

    If you're a gamer who's constantly glued to your phone, it could be time to ask for medical help.

On June 18, 2018, the World Health Organization（WHO）officially listed "gaming disorder" as a mental health condition. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

"Video gaming is like a non-financial kind of gambling（赌博）from a psychological point of view," Mark Griffiths, a professor from Nottingham Trent University in the UK, told the Associated Press（AP）. "Gamblers use money as a way of keeping score, while gamers use points."

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}"People need to understand this doesn't mean every child who spends hours in their room playing games is an addict, otherwise doctors are going to be flooded with requests for help," Joan Harvey, a spokeswoman for the British Psychological Society, told AP.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} For example, a 21-year-old Chinese woman surnamed Wu in Guangdong province went blind in one eye after playing the mobile game King of Glory for a whole day. "On days when I have no work, I usually get up at 6 am, eat breakfast and play until 4 pm," she told the South China Morning Post. "Then I'll eat something, have a nap（小睡）and play until 1 am."

    Wu isn't alone. According to a study published by China Youth Daily, about one in five young Chinese people play online video games for at least four to five hours per day. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} In April, the Ministry of Education issued a notice asking Chinese schools and parents to prevent students from becoming addicted to the Internet and games.

    Other countries have also taken action. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Meanwhile, in Japan, some mobile phones have a special mode for children that lets their parents control what games they can download and how long they can play.

A. This means it's now on the same list as other mental illnesses.

B. Thankfully, measures have been taken to deal with the problem.

C. We often see people around us playing games on their mobile phones.

D. In South Korea, children are forbidden to play video games after midnight.

E. WHO's main work is to improve the mental health of individuals and society.

F. But if you lose control over your gaming habits, you'll face serious problems.

G. However, it doesn't matter if you play your favorite game now and then.

Decoding the young brain

    There was a funny experiment to see how a young child would answer a specific question compared to an adult. After the adult had spent some time speaking with the child, he asked the child, “What do you think about me？” The child answered, “You talk too much.” When the adult performed the same experiment with another adult, the reply to the same question was, “I think you're a very interesting person.” Even if the adult felt the same way as the child, his brain allowed him to take a moment，consider the question, and come up with an answer. He could have been annoyed, but his answer didn't reflect it because he was being polite.

    The secret lies in the science of the developing brain. The child's honest answer was reflected in the fact that his brain wasn't equipped to filter(过滤) information before answering the question. As a result, he was honest, but he said something that may have been hurtful. However, the child did not intentionally hurt the adult; it's just the way his brain works. As a child grows into adolescence and then into adulthood, that changes.

    The human brain is made up of billions of neurons(神经元). In order for our body to execute a command, like getting up from a chair and walking to the other room, the neurons in the brain have to communicate with each other. They also help us employ our senses like taste and touch and help us remember things.

    When the neurons send messages, perhaps one sensation(感觉) the person feels is excitement about eating a cookie because it is so delicious. Later, if that person smells a cookie or hears someone talking about a cookie, it can spark the electrical signals that call up the memory of eating the delicious cookie. In an adult, he or she may remember that eating too many cookies can have consequences, like weight gain. But because the younger brain is more impulsive(冲动的), the desire to feel the pleasure of the sweet treat outweighs the consequences.

    That is because when a child is young, his brain is “wired” in such a way that he seeks pleasure and is more willing to take risks than an adult. This affects his decision-making process and it is why younger people tend to be more impulsive. Sometimes parents have to tell their children over and over again before the child remembers that something is dangerous or risky. How many times have we heard a parent say, “I tell her this all the time, but she never listens！”

    To conclude, what we know about the young brain is that children are more likely than adults to be impulsive. It isn't always necessarily because they are being naughty; it may very well be because of their brains. So the next time you ask a child what he really thinks of you, be prepared for any kind of answer.