At 18, many American young people go off on their own. They go away to college or find full-time jobs, and they often pay for their own apartments. Some get married and start families. This independence（独立) is learned from childhood.
     From an early age, American children learn to do things by themselves. Children as young as 2 begin to put away their toys and dress themselves. At 3, many children do simple chores like setting the table.
     Using money in the right way is also taught early. As soon as a child understands the value of money, he or she receives a weekly allowance. This is used for things the child wants, like toys or treats. The child can spend or save it, usually with little help or advice from parents. If the child wants more money, it must be earned by doing extra chores.
     Children are taught early in life to think for themselves. They are allowed to make some decisions and make mistakes. Failure often teaches more than success.

    On New Year's Eve(前夕), people in Italy throw"(扔)out all the old things. So there ate chairs, beds, clothes and plates in the streets. In Spain, New Year comes more quietly. Everyone holds a bag of grapes.  When twelve o'clock comes, people start eating the grapes.

    In Japan, people eat noodles on New Year's Eve. This food is said to bring long life. Early the next morning, some families climb Mount Fuji. There they watch the first sunrise(日出) of New Year.

Many of us spent our childhoods dreaming of becoming astronauts. However, only a few would make it. But does that mean you'll never get the chance to work in space? Not necessarily.

In fact, some of the space jobs are not only for astronauts and they all sound just cool. One of the most interesting space jobs is "chief sniffer(嗅探员)". NASA has already had a sniffer named George Aldrich.

Using your nose at work might sound a little strange, but the job is actually important. A spaceship is of small size and high temperature, which makes smells inside stronger. And once a spaceship is sent, astronauts have no ways to run away from unpleasant smells. More importantly, smelling objects can help find things that could be harmful to astronauts' health.

Another job, the "space tour guide", may seem a little ahead of its time — after all, there aren't any tourists there. But now, many companies are starting to provide space trips and some rich space lovers have ordered the tours. It may not be long before space becomes one of the top travel destinations(目的地).

Being a space tour guide needs rich knowledge to help passengers get the most out of their journey. Space tour guides also need to be excellent storytellers so that passengers can experience the true beauty of the space travel.

Astronauts often spend long time in space with the same group of people, so a "space psychologist (心理学家)" is also needed to help astronauts overcome bad feelings. "We're crossing the boundaries(界限) between science fiction and reality,"s aid Rohit Talwar, director of the US company Fast Future Research, "Things we've seen in movies are now becoming reality!"

Did you know that vocabulary is more important than grammar? If you have good vocabulary, you can communicate successfully, even if the grammar is not completely perfect.

However, one common problem is learning new words and then forgetting them. So when you want to use a new word in a conversation, you can't remember it at that moment. Does this often happen to you? The reason for this difficulty is that most students try to learn vocabulary by studying lists and dictionaries and remembering the words. But it may not work if you don5t have a very good memory.

The best way to learn vocabulary and remember the words well, is to learn new words and use them at once.

You can do this with a very simple exercise. Every time you learn a new word, for example, from an English lesson or an article, write it down in your vocabulary notebook. Writing is more active than just reading a definition. You should write the word, the definition in English or translation, one example sentence from the article or dictionary and one example sentence that you create.

Imagine you just learn the word "generous", write in your vocabulary notebook: generous (adjective), definition—giving or willing to give freely. Example one, from the article: Thanks for paying for my dinner, you're very generous. Example two, my example: My brother is generous because he volunteers at the animal shelter on weekends. It's best if your example sentences are true to your life, because this creates a personal connection with the new word. The next day, read your vocabulary notebook again and try to add one more example sentence using the new word. It's helpful for you to remember it. These two simple steps—writing the word and using it at once—help you remember and use new words.

Do you have a vocabulary notebook? If not, start now.

Collecting scrapbooking (剪贴簿) is a kind of hobby. It is popular for more than 500 years. Some people call it a friendship book. They keep pictures, letters, poems and other things they want. Today people collect many things in scrapbooks. Some people have funny collections, like pictures of the world's most ugly dogs. Other people may collect stories about the bad weather. 

To start your scrapbooking, first, you should decide what to collect. Start with just one idea. Next, you need a book with paper, scissors and glue. Then use the scissors to cut out the pictures or stories. At last use the glue to stick them to the background paper. 

Scrapbooking is so popular these days. I think people want to record their family history and show it to other people. When I was a boy, I always saved bits of paper, things like movie tickets and holiday postcards. I made my first scrapbook for my grandfather ten years ago when he died. When I sat at his desk, I found some wonderful things like my grandfather's birthday cards and photos in the past, then I put them in the scrapbook. After that, I made two more scrapbooks for my brother and me with beautiful collections. I want to keep those happy and beautiful memories (记忆). That's the real meaning of scrapbooking.