We always think that it's OK for us to leave our plants home during our vacation as plants won't scream like pets, right?

    A recent study done by a group of scientists at the Tel Aviv University has discovered that some plants will scream when they are under stress.

    The research was carried out on tomato plants and tobacco plants by cutting their stems (茎) and depriving (剥夺) them of water. A microphone was placed 10cm away from them. When their stems were cut, the plants started "screaming" between 20 and 100 kilohertz, and the scientists guess that this scream is probably meant to warn other plants nearby.

    When the tomato plants' stems were cut, 25 ultrasonic (超声的) pain sounds were recorded in an hour, and at the same time, 15 ultrasonic pain sounds were recorded from the tobacco plants. When they were deprived of water, the tomato plants recorded even more pain sounds with 35 pain sounds in an hour while the tobacco plants recorded about 11 pain sounds.

    The plants also acted differently to different kinds of stresses. For example, the tobacco plants gave out a stronger "scream" when they were deprived of water than when their stems were cut. But plants that were in no immediate (立刻的) danger gave out less than one ultrasonic sound per hour.

    The group of scientists said that plants are not as quiet as we had always thought, but in fact their voices are so high-pitched that we just can't hear them.

    Last year, another study has found out that plants feel pain when they are touched or hurt and they will give off a terrible smell.

Nowadays in school life, a lot of students develop a fear of tests. It's not because tests are something to be afraid of. Most students are afraid of tests mainly because they don't always think they are well—prepared and they don't have enough self—confidence. If you follow the advice below, it's not difficult to overcome your fear of tests.

People who know that they are not well—prepared are usually those who fear tests most. However, most students don't know when they are truly prepared for a test. As long as you know that you have studied well and long enough, you have reason to believe that you are well—prepared.

Be confident about yourself. Confidence before a test can bring about two results: either you fail the test and feel as if your confidence was unfounded (毫无根据的) or you could actually do well in the test because of your confidence. Some students find that they experience the first result. However, this is only because those students might not have followed the first advice mentioned above. As long as you have studied well, you will be more confident of your chance to succeed in a test. If you feel as if you have not studied hard enough, then you will not be as confident as you should be.

Ask your teacher in advance (提前) about the material that is going to be covered in the test. In this way, you will know what you should prepare for and you can get confidence in the test. But you have to be brave enough to ask. Most students do not ask unless their teacher gives the information first, so make sure that you ask.

You should know that tests are only telling if you have got the knowledge, not how good or bad your IQ is. So, even if you do badly in one test, you should know that there are other tests to come. As long as you think that there is another tomorrow, you can overcome your fear of a test. However, make sure that you are going to prepare well for the other tests.

Fear can be a problem in the process of achieving success. However, with the right attitude (态度) and preparations, you can overcome your fear of tests by using these suggestions.

    Cambodia (柬埔寨) is going to open the Angkor Wat temples (吴哥窟) at night to interest more tourists to the poor country.

    Tourism is an important foreign currency earner (外汇收入) for Cambodia. More than 1,000,000foreign people are going to visit it this year, and most of them are from South Korea, Japan and the United States. More than half of visitors will visit the Angkor Wat temples.

    Now visitors must walk out of Angkor Wat temples at sunset, but Cambodia is going to extend (延长) the visiting hours to as late as 8:30p. m.

    "We want visitors to see all views of the temples, even in the dark places where they may not see some of the sculptures and statues," Bun Narith said.

    But as hotels are more and more, people need lots of underground water. People say the uncontrolled pumping (无节制地抽水) of underground water is bad for the Earth under the temples.

    If you had billions of dollars, would you donate almost all of it to charity? Well, that's what Mark Zuckerburg, CEO and founder of Facebook, just said he would do.
    Zuckerburg and his wife Priscilla Chan promised to give 90% of their Facebook shares to society. Right now that is about $45 billion, and they plan to donate the money to things like science and education.
    Many billionaires have done similar things. Bill Gates, creator of Microsoft, made The Giving Pledge, an activity in which billionaires promise donate more than half of their wealth to charities. This started in 2010, and now 139 people from 15 countries joined it.
    But giving back and helping others isn't just for big billionaires. People like Zuckerberg, and Gates may have more to give, but people with less are doing it, too.
    Especially around the holidays, people want to do their part and give back to people who are less lucky than them. Schools may have food collections where people bring a few food items, and together they can make a big donation to places like homeless people's homes.
    People also host special events like concerts of runs to be creative while raising money. Regular people donate whatever they can to US charities like the United Way and the American Red Cross.
    Then these charities are able to help US communities in different ways like education, health and improving the lives of the poor. These individual donations come together to make a big difference.

Chopsticks are a pair of small equal-length sticks, usually made of wood, used for eating Asian food. Chopsticks are mainly used in China. And it is believed that the first chopsticks were developed in China. Chopsticks play an important role in Chinese food culture. Chinese chopsticks are usually 9 to 10 inches long. They are round on the eating end which means heaven (天), and the other end is square which means earth. The appearance of chopsticks said goodbye to those days when our Chinese ancestors(祖先)had to use their hands to eat.      

Besides, the use of chopsticks has also been a part of Chinese food culture. There are some taboos that you must pay great attention to when you use chopsticks. Firstly, don't use them to hit your bowl or plate. Secondly, never use them to point at others. Thirdly, don't put them in different food without taking something. Fourthly, don't cross the chopsticks on the table. And lastly, don't leave your chopsticks standing in the rice. Chinese people do this only when they honor (尊重) the dead.

Nowadays, chopsticks have many new usages. For example, you can buy a pair as a gift to your friends and relatives. In Chinese, it reads "筷子", which means having sons soon, so a newly-married couple will be very happy to accept it as their wedding gift.

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