Last year, I was on a plane with my friend, waiting for it to take off. The pilot's voice was heard throughout the plane: “Sorry for the delay, ladies and gentlemen. Our engines don't work. We are going to jump-start them. Once we get them going, we'll get up in the air and see what happens.”

    That was all he said. “See what happens? Shouldn't we have had a better plan than that?” At that point, I could only laugh nervously. One woman started crying: “Oh, no! We are going to crash!” There are sighs of desperation and anxiety, and we hadn't even taken off yet.

    The pilot even seemed unhappy. He told us one engine was working double time, and his plan was to get up in the air and see what happens! Then we did. We got up in the air, and what happened? Nothing. We arrived in Norfolk, and no sooner had the wheels touched down than applause burst out as everyone on the airplane breathed a sigh of relief.

    All too often, people stop achieving their goals just because they don't have a guaranteed result. But success will never be guaranteed. The best thing that you can do is to just get up in the air, and see what happens.

    If your aim is to build a business, then get up in the air and see what happens! Don't give yourself all the reasons why you can't. Do not wait until you have everything you need. You never will.

    If your goal is to start a friendship, say “Hello”, get up in the air and see what happens! The results could be very rewarding. If your goal is to learn a new skill, get up in the air and see what happens! It might not be as difficult as you think. It could be fun!

    One night in February 1962, John H. Glenn. Jr., flew over Australia. The man in the Mercury(水星) capsule（宇宙飞行容器）was alone, but friendly voices reached him by radio. On the dark land 100 miles below, he saw a sprinkling of light. They marked the city of Perth, where people had turned on their lights as a greeting to him.

    In Friendship7, Glenn radioed, “ The lights show up very well. Thank for everybody for turning them on.” His capsule raced on to the east.

    During his three orbits of the earth, Glenn could always reach one of eighteen tracking stations. Some of them were on ship at sea. Others were in the United States.

    Many of the stations had been built with the help of other countries.These countries allowed Americans to bring in radio equipment and set it up. Without the help of such lands as Nigeria（尼日利亚）, Zanzibar（尚巴西，坦桑尼亚领土的一部分）, and Mexico, there would have been breaks in the worldwide radio network.

    John H. Glenn. Jr., was the first America to orbit the earth. For his flight, the tracking network（跟踪网络） covered 60,000 route miles. Five hundred men worked in the stations along the route. Since his flight, the network has grown. Today, it covers more than 100,000 route miles and has about one hundred stations. One-third of these stations are outside of the United States.

    English is an excellent language to learn, whether it's for business, travel or personal reasons. Here are some important ways to improve your spoken English.

    When you have time to speak, just try your best to practice. Don't wait until you “feel more comfortable” speaking in English, so start speaking English today. You'll be surprised at how quickly your language skills improve. Find a native English speaker who is willing to spend some time speaking English with you—you may be able to offer them a language exchange, where they spend 30 minutes speaking English with you and you spend 30 minutes speaking your native language with them.

    Even if you have a good knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary, native English speakers may find it's very difficult to understand if you don't work on your pronunciation. Correct , clear pronunciation is necessary if you really want to improve your English. Listen closely to how native English speakers pronounce certain words and sounds and do your best to copy them.

    The wider your vocabulary and the more English phrases you learn, the easier speaking English will become. Once you have learned a new word or phrase, you should make an effort to use it in a sentence—this is the best way to keep it in mind. You should also start a notebook of phrases that English speakers use all the time.

    Another great way to add some more English conversation into your weekly practice is to sign up for a class of discussion group. Attending an English class is a great way to pay attention to some of the more formal aspects of speaking English. A class will teach you the correct way of speaking. Attending a discussion group is a more informal and relaxed way of learning English, where the emphasis(重点) is more on communication and relationship building than on speaking “correct” English.

    Life is full of funny moments, and not just for humans.

    Over the years, studies by various groups have suggested that monkeys, dogs and even rats love a good laugh. People, meanwhile, have been laughing since before they could talk.

    Jaak Panksepp, a professor at Bowling Green State University, US, said he would not be surprised if positive feelings could be produced in some animals. Dolphins, for example, have long attracted animal researchers because of the complex (复杂的) ways in which they communicate: a rich variety of sounds of different rhythms. A decade ago, researchers studying dolphins at the Kolmarden Wildlife Park in Sweden noticed a set of sounds the dolphins made during play-fighting. They concluded that the purpose of the sound was to suggest that the situation was pleasant and to prevent it from a real fight.

    Panksepp has even seen evidence of joy in crayfish (小龙虾). When given small amounts of drugs such as cocaine (可卡因) in a certain place, they appear to connect that location with pleasure. “Given the chance, they will always return to that place, perhaps in the hope of getting more,” he says. Panksepp wasn't sure it equals the same happiness that humans get from cocaine, but said it “could be in the same evolutionary category”.

    More studies are needed to really understand animals' laughter. Strangely enough, the answers may help with our own desires for cures for mental illnesses. Panksepp's experiments may soon lead to a new antidepressant (抗抑郁) drug that works by using the pathways in the brain behind positive feelings and joy. Perhaps pleasure and laughter in the animal world will help solve the depression in our own species one day.

    I've written this article and you're reading it. So we are members of the same club. We're both literate—we can read and write. And we both probably feel that literacy is essential to our lives. But millions of people all over the world are illiterate. Even in industrialized Western countries, such as the UK and the USA, approximately 20% of the population have "low literacy levels". But what exactly does that mean?

    My parents both left school at 14. They could read and write, but except for a quick look at the daily newspaper, reading and writing didn't play a big part in their lives. There were very few books in the house. My mother was amazed because the woman who lived next door always wrote a list of what she needed before she went to the supermarket. Why couldn't she remember? We laughed about that for weeks. Our family didn't write lists! And when I was only 14 years old my father gave me an important letter that he'd written to the bank and asked me to check it for grammar and spelling mistakes. And there were quite a lot. He never usually wrote letters or postcards or even Christmas cards. So when he had to write he wasn't comfortable or confident. Does that mean that my father had a "low level of literacy"? I don't think so.

    There are lots of different definitions of literacy. Some experts define it as having the reading and writing skills that you need to be independent in your everyday life. So, for example, if you can read instructions, write a cheque, fill in a form, —anything that you need to do in everyday life—then you are "functionally literate".

    Other people say that you are illiterate if you think that you are illiterate. In other words, if you feel that you can't read or write as well as you would like to.

    If you live in a society where most people are literate then you will feel ashamed or embarrassed and avoid situations in which you have to read or write. The father of a friend of mine finally admitted to his family that he couldn't read when he was 45 years old. He bought the newspaper every day and pretended to read it—and believe it or not, his family had no idea.

    We often forget that writing is a recent invention. Many years ago, the word "literate" meant being able to communicate well in speaking, in other words what we now call "articulate". Story telling was an important activity in the past and still is today in some societies. Reading was often a cooperative activity—someone would read aloud to a group, often from a religious text such as the Koran or the Bible.

    Only a hundred years ago, in the United States, you were considered to be literate if you could sign your name to a piece of paper. It was an important skill. You were not allowed to vote if you couldn't sign the voting register, so literacy was connected with political rights, and many people were excluded from the democratic process.

    Nowadays we see reading and writing as being connected, but that wasn't so in the past. Many people could read, but not write. Writing was a skilled profession. If you needed something written then you paid an expert to write it for you.

    And of course, rich and important people have always employed people to write things for them. Important company bosses dictated letters to their secretaries or personal assistants. And now with new computer software you can dictate directly to your computer.

    Being illiterate can have a big effect on people's lives. For example, a study in the UK showed that people who write and spell badly are seen as careless, immature and unreliable, and often unintelligent. So it is more difficult for them to find jobs, even when reading and writing are not necessary for the work.

    World-wide statistics show that literacy problems are associated with poverty and a lack of political power. More women than men are illiterate. Illiterate people have worse health, bigger families and are more likely to go to prison. So literacy campaigns must be a good thing. But don't forget that an illiterate person, or someone with a low level of literacy, isn't necessarily stupid or ignorant—and may not be unhappy at all. Knowledge and wisdom isn't only found in writing.

There are various reasons why people compose poetry.The distinctive characteristics of poetry often include economical use of words,{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(describe) and vivid language,integrated imagery,literary devices and{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(arrange) of words,lines,rhymes,and rhythm.Poets use many different forms of poetry to express{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(they).Now I'll introduce some simpler forms to you.

Nursery rhymes are{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(usual) the traditional poems or folk songs.The language of nursery rhymes is{#blank#}5{#/blank#} the point and has a storyline.Nursery rhymes have a strong rhythm,and often repeat the same words.Therefore,children enjoy them.They are easy{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(learn) and recite.Children learn about language by playing with the words in nursery rhymes.

The list poem contains a list of things,people,ideas,or descriptions that develop a particular theme.It has a flexible line length and repeated phrases{#blank#}7{#/blank#} give both a pattern and a rhythm to the poem.

The cinquain is made up of five lines.The poet can convey{#blank#}8{#/blank#} strong picture or a certain mood in just a few words.

Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry that{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(consist) of 17 syllables.It has a format of three lines,{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(contain) 5,7,and 5 syllables respectively.Haiku is easy to write and can give a clear picture and create a special feeling using very few words.

English speakers also enjoy poems from China.A lot of Tang poetry has been translated into English.