I came to study in the United States a year ago .Yet I did not know the real American society until I was injured in a car accident because after the accident I had to see a doctor and go to court.

    After the accident, my roommate called a doctor for me. I was very grateful and determined to repay him one day. But the next day, he asked me to pay him $200 for what he had done. I was astonished. He had good reason to charge me, he said. And if I wanted to collect money from the person who was responsible for my injury, I'd have to have a good lawyer. And only a good doctor can help me get a good lawyer .Now that he had helped me find a good doctor, it was only fair that I should pay him.

    But every day I went to see the doctor, I had to wait about 50 minutes. He would see two or three patients at the same time, and often stop treating one so as to see another. Yet he charged me $115 each time .The final examination report consisted of ten lines, and it cost me $215.

    My lawyer was all smiles the first time we met. But after that he avoided seeing me at all. He knew very well the other party was responsible for the accident, yet he hardly did anything. He simply waited to collect his money. He was so irresponsible that I decided to dismiss him. And he made me pay him $770.

    Now I had to act as my own lawyer. Due to my inexperience, I told the insurance company the date I was leaving America. Knowing that, they played for time...and I left without getting a cent.

    Every year gray whales swim a 10,000 miles round-trip, from the cold waters near Alaska, down the coast of North America to the warn waters near Mexico, and back again. It is one of the longest migrations (迁徙) of any mammal (哺乳动物).

    All day, all summer long, in the cold waters near Alaska, gray whales eat and eat.

    Instead of teeth, gray whales have baleen (鲸须) they use to get food from ocean water. They get big mouthfuls of muck (淤泥) from the ocean floor, then push that muck right back out through their baleen. The mucky water flows through, but tiny animals get trapped in the baleen and licked up.

    When the water starts to freeze, the whales begin their long trip south. They swim night and day, without stopping to eat or rest. During the long journey, migrating whales may push their heads out of the water to see where they are.

    Two months later, the whales reach Mexico. Babies are born here in warm, shallow (浅的) waters called lagoons (濒海湖). Ocean lagoons have no food for the adults, but the babies are safer here than in the open seas. All winter the babies grow big and strong.

In spring first the dads and teenagers leave the lagoons, then the moms with babies. Migrating gray whales swim close to shore, especially moms with babies. The ice is melting up (融化) north, and it's time for the hungry whales to make the long journey back to their summer feeding grounds.

    Do students learn as much when they read digitally as they do in print? Investigators have been trying to determine whether students do as well when reading an assigned text on a digital screen as on paper.

    A number of researchers have sought to measure learning by asking people to read a passage of text, either in print or on a digital device, and then testing for comprehension.

    Most studies have found that participants scored about the same when reading in each medium, though a few have indicated that students performed better on tests when they read in print.

    Since in standardized testing, reading passages and answering questions afterwards may tell us little about any deeper level of understanding, some researchers are beginning to pose more subtle questions.

    When people were asked to read d story in print or on a digital device and then to reconstruct the plot development, the answer is: Print yielded better results. When people were asked to read by choosing how much time to spend on each platform, the researchers found that participants devoted less time to reading the passage on screen and performed less well on the following comprehension test.

    So, how does the learning question relate to educational goals?

To become skilled in critical thinking, students need to be able to handle text. The text may be long, complex or both. To make sense of it, students cannot skim, rush ahead or continually get distracted. So, does reading in print versus on screen build critical thinking skills?

    When asked in which medium they felt they concentrated better, 92 percent replied “print”. For long academic reading, 86 percent favored print Participants were also reported to be more likely to reread academic materials if they were in print

    What's more, a number of students indicated they believed print was a better medium for learning. By contrast, in talking about digital screens, students noted “danger of distraction” and “no concentration”.

    Evidently, it's not too hard to tell that a pattern did emerge: Print stood out as the medium for doing serious work.

    Before a new type of airplane goes into service, every part of it is tested again and again. But there are two tests that are more important than all the others.

    The first is called the "tank test". A modem airplane must fly very high in the sky. Air must be pumped into the plane so that the passengers can breathe. The metal structure (结构)of the plane has to be very strong for this reason. When the plane is filled with air, the air presses against the skin of the plane inside. The pressure (压力) on a small window is like a huge foot that is trying to get out. If a small part of the plane were to fail, the plane would explode in the sky. To test the structure of the plane, the plane is lowered into a huge tank or container of water. Then it is filled with air. Vne pressure inside the plane is greater than it ever will be when it is high up in the air. Finally, there is an explosion. This does not cause so much damage inside the water tank as it would anywhere else. Engineers can discover which part of the plane has broken. Then that part is made stronger.

    The most dangerous test happens when the new plane is going through test flights in the air. The test pilot must find out exactly what happens when the engines (发动机) are all shut off at once. The plane begins to fall like a stone. It is the pilot's job to find out how he can get control of the plane again. These two tests are examples of how planes are made safe before they ever carry passengers.

    Whenever we see a button on a doorbell or on a remote, we may press it. This is true in most cases. But some buttons are actually fake(假的), like the "close" button on an elevator.

    Many people are in the habit of pressing the "close" button because they don't have the patience to wait for the elevator doors to shut. But according to experts, the buttons are a complete trick—the doors will not close any faster however hard you press.

    It started in the 1990s when the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, making sure that all elevators stayed open long enough so that people with disabilities could enter. Only firefighters and maintenance workers(维修工) can use the buttons to speed up the door-closing process if they have a code or special keys. But to normal elevator riders, the buttons aren't completely useless.

    According to psychologists, fake buttons can actually make you feel better by offering you a sense of control. Experts have showed that a lot of buttons that don't do anything exist in our lives for this same purpose. For example, pedestrian crosswalk buttons don't live up to their names. Pressing them used to help make the traffic signals change faster, but that was before computer-controlled traffic signals were introduced.

    But psychologists found it interesting that even when people are aware of these little "white lies". They still continue to push fake buttons because as long as the doors eventually close, it is considered to be worth the effort.

    That habit is here to stay, John Kounios, a psychology professor at Drexel University in the US, told The New York Times. "After all, I've got nothing else to do while waiting. So why not try the chance?"

    Stephen Hawking was a famous physicist. He was born in 1942. He died at his home on March 14h, 2018 in Cambridge, Britain.
    As one of the well-known physicists on space and time in the world, Hawking devoted his whole life to discovering the secrets of the universe, and he is called the King of the Universe. Since he was 21 years old, Hawking had been badly ill, but he didn't give up his hope of living. He went on to study at Cambridge University after graduating from Oxford University. In 1965, he got a doctor's degree. Then he worked as a professor at Cambridge University.

    Hawking was known for his work with black holes. He also wrote several popular science books. Although he didn't live as freely as others, he still felt he was happy and he was thankful to life. When Hawking was invited to China, he made speeches in some famous universities.

    From Stephen Hawking's whole life, we learn that no matter how bad life is, we should not lose hope. As he once said," Life is not fair, you just have to do the best you can in your own situation."