Thumbs Down to Texting (屈指发短信)

    Do you have a mobile phone? Do you send text messages to your friends and family?

    Text messaging or “texting” is becoming very popular. But, scientists have discovered that texting can give us problems with our hands. Be careful! Too much texting can cause swelling in our thumbs. Our thumbs were not made for pushing small buttons, over and over. Scientists call this problem RSI. We spoke to a doctor called Harriet Wilson, who treats many sick people with RSI. She says we need to see how much time we are spending in typing text messages. If we are spending more than 10-15 minutes at once, we could have problems in the future.

    As mobile phones develop, they are getting smaller with buttons closer together. Texting with a smaller phone is worse than using a larger phone with bigger buttons. Using a computer keyboard and playing video games can cause the same problem. So more and more people could find themselves with RSI. Among them, most are university students and teenagers, as they do not know the risks of spending so much time using computer, video games and mobile phones. If we don't do something about this, too many young people could grow up in terrible pain.

    When you wake up every day, once again to see this beautiful world, when your parents, teachers and friends give you help, will you know how to be grateful? And when you feel unlucky and make mistakes, will you still be thankful?

    Yu Dan, a professor at the Beijing Normal University, made a report about Gratitude Education（感恩教育）. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Nowadays, some teenagers only care about things outside. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}For example, they fight each other, use phones in class, be rude to their parents and teachers and so on. Most of them don't know love, respect and gratefulness.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}It is impossible for anyone to be lucky and successful all the time as long as he lives in the world. We should learn how to face failure or bad luck bravely and to try to deal with it. As we know, "Life is a mirror. When you smile in front of it, it will also smile and so will it when you cry to it. " {#blank#}4{#/blank#} If you always complain about everything, you may own nothing in the end.

    I think the teenagers should be grateful to life even when we are unsuccessful or unlucky. We have many reasons for being grateful. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} And it is also a way to sing for our life which comes just from our love and hope.

    If each of us has an attitude of being grateful, we'll lead a better and more beautiful life. So remember, being grateful forever.

A. It will affect Chinese people, especially the teenagers.

B. They don't care about others.

C. If you are grateful to life, it will bring you shining sunlight.

D. For example, being grateful is a way to communicate with adults.

E. They often behave badly.

F. Being grateful or thankful is very important.

G. Some students love and respect others.

    Every student spends lots of time studying and almost everyone would like their study to be more efficient (高效的). Here are two ways to help you manage your time better when studying.

Your study environment

    Watching TV while studying is a bad idea and makes your study ineffective (无效的). So you'd better turn off the TV while you're studying. Some students like listening to music while studying. Music is OK, but whether it helps or hurts depends on whether it can keep your mind at peace. Make sure that any music you listen to is actually helping you study, but not drawing your attention away. Good lighting and temperature are necessary, too. When it's too hot or too cold, it will be harder for you to give all your attention to what you are working on.

    Full attention for at least 40 minutes at a time

    One of the most important things you can do to study efficiently is to give all the attention to your study for at least 40 minutes at a time. Don't let anything else draw your attention away from the study during the period. Then have a rest and relax. Don't study for too long a time because your brain gets tired and it needs a rest.

    If you choose these ways, you will make an improvement in how you manage your time for study.

Every school has its rules. The rules are different. Here are some funny school rules in different countries.

Japanese rules

Most schools ask the students to wear uniforms, such as sports suits or skirts. In many Japanese schools, if the students don't tell their schools, they can't go to cinemas, leave home in the evening or play computer games.

Different shoes in the US

In some schools, the students must wear indoor shoes in school. So the students will not fall down, and they are safe on the floors. They can keep the schools clean, too. Students can't eat gum(口香糖), because it's hard to clean.

No strange hair in the UK

The students can't have strange hair in some British schools. But the students can wear certain hairstyles during the World Cup years.

Hello, I'm a Chinese girl. My name is Dong Lingling. My English name is Mary. Look! These are schoolbags. The first one is mine. It is blue and blue is my favorite color. A yellow pencil box, a white cup, and books are in my schoolbag. Look! A map is in it, too. It's a map of China. The next one is my friend Bill Green's. Our mothers are good friends, too. Bill's schoolbag is brown. It is very big. His mother Betty buys it for him. The letters"B" and"G" are on it. Two pens, two books, a baseball and two dictionaries are in it. Bill can't find his blue notebook in his schoolbag. The notebook is very important to him. He writes many things on it. He wants to find it now.

A big rock fell through the house of Ruth Hamilton, when she was sleeping. 

Luckily, she was not hurt. "I jumped out of bed and turned on the lights. I didn' t know what else to do, so I called 911, " Hamilton, from Canada, told CBC. It turns out that the rock is a meteorite(陨石). It came from the outer space! Hamilton said she would keep the rock. 

 So what is a meteorite? You may have seen shooting stars at night. They are flying rocks in space. Earth's gravity(重力) catches them and lets them fall. Most of them burn up in the sky. But some fall down on Earth. They are called meteorites. Every year, more than 30, 000 meteorites larger than a strawberry fall down on Earth, according to science website DK Find Out. 

UK's Natural History Museum says that"the chances(概率) of a meteorite falling are the same everywhere on the Earth. " This means most meteorites end up in the seas. Few people can see them. But still, we have collected 50, 000 meteorites around the world so far. 

 Following are more information about the meteorite:

●A meteorite will become less than 5% of its size when it falls down on Earth. 

●Every 180 years, a meteorite hits a human being, according to a 1985 study by Nature. 

 You may ask: can we touch a meteorite? Does it have radiation(辐射)? Don't worry. The radiation is not strong. Nothing will happen to your body.