READY or not, the college application season has begun. There are two main kinds of early admissions programs: Early Action and Early Decision.

    Early Action is a great choice for the well-prepared student. Students apply early, and are allowed to apply under an Early Action program to as many colleges as they choose. The biggest advantage for students is that colleges let them know early – in most cases, before Jan 1. Roughly 15 percent of colleges and universities offer an Early Action option(选择). Oct 15 is now the first deadline for many colleges and universities. This movement toward earlier deadlines is especially popular in the Southeast, with many of the large public universities leading the way. North Carolina State University, the University of South Carolina and the University of Georgia all have an Oct 15 Early Action deadline.

    Early Decision is a promise that cannot be reversed. Students who are accepted must take back their other applications and should attend that school. Students are allowed to apply to just one school under an Early Decision program. Early Decision deadlines are in early November, with colleges letting students know by mid-December. Many students believe that they are more likely to be accepted if they apply for Early Decision, but it actually depends.

       In some cases there is big increase in students being accepted, and at other colleges it is not that big at all. Generally, the strongest students are applying early. Athletes and students with focused interests are encouraged to apply for Early Decision.

    If you are like most international students, you are probably comfortable reading and writing in English. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Below are some tips to help you to improve your conversational skills.

    Make friends with American students. Many international students end up making friends with a lot of—or only—other international students. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Hanging out with natives not only naturally pushes you to improve your spoken English, but also helps you pick up cultural and social information.

    Learn from American friends. Tell your American friends that you are trying to improve your listening and speaking skills, and would like them to help you. If you pronounce a word incorrectly, or misuse an idiom, you ask them to guide you. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Increase your knowledge. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} If you are familiar with the topics that are likely to be discussed in conversation, you have a much better chance of understanding people when they talk, and of being able to express yourself well.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} If you have to explain something to someone, you have a strong motivation to pronounce everything as well as you can, and find other ways to explain yourself. Finally, this becomes a good habit. Many people have asked me how I learned to speak English fluently, and I owe most of it to my years of being a math teacher in college for years.

A. It is bad for them to do that.

B. You will make progress this way.

C. Become a teacher at your school, if possible.

D. It's a win－win opportunity for international students.

E. Keep up with news and watch popular shows and movies.

F. Explaining everything in a different way matters.

G. However, you may have trouble in listening and speaking in the language.

    People often say you never get a second chance to make a first impression, and that's actually quite true.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}After all, making a good first impression is all about making others feel good when spending time with them. The following tips will help you make a positive impression every time.

    Dress appropriately

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}That means dressing up or putting on nice, clean, situation-appropriate clothes for social situations. It isn't difficult and it doesn't have to cost you much, either.

    Be aware of your body language

    Words express very little of what you say. Body language can tell someone a lot about your mood and confidence level.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Eye contact is an easy way to make others feel comfortable, important and special. Nervous body language can make others uncomfortable and anxious. Try to be aware of your body language when communicating with others.

    Respect the opinions of others

    Not everyone will have the same opinion with you, and friendly disagreements can be a gateway to a great conversation. Respect other people's right to have their own opinion. Respect the opinions of others even if you disagree with them. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    People love talking about themselves, but generally, you want to be careful of taking over the conversation. By listening carefully to what others are saying, you are not only making them feel important, but you can gather cues you need to keep the conversation going and bridge to new topics.

A. Be a careful listener.

B. Show an interest in every person you meet.

C. Smile especially when first meeting someone.

D. Make sure you look nice whenever you meet someone new.

E. Meeting new people and starting conversations is often challenging.

F. Others will want to be with you and help you make a good impression.

G. Don't force others to believe what you believe or to see things only as you see them.

4 Key Strategies for Running to Lose Weight

    As one of the most active exercises out there, running is an extremely efficient way to burn calories and lose weight. A 150-pound person will burn approximately 100 calories per mile when running. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    ①Healthy Eating is the First Step

    If you want to lose weight by running, keep in mind that you'll only lose pounds if you burn more calories than you consume. To lose a pound, you have to burn, through exercise or life functions, about 3500 calories. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Runners do have special nutrition needs, but the basic principles for healthy eating still apply. Try choosing smaller portions of high-fat and high-calorie foods and eating more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables.

    ②Follow a training schedule

    Sticking to a training schedule is a simple way to stay motivated to run. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} So it's much harder to postpone or skip workouts. Following a schedule can also help you avoid a running injury by not increasing your mileage too quickly.

    ③Run regularly

    If you don't want to follow a schedule, you still need to have some consistency with your running because you won't lose weight by running once a week. It's best to get some activity every day. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} If you find that your motivation to run is suffering, follow some necessary tips to get inspired.

    ④{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Incorporating speed work or interval training (running at a very fast speed for short intervals of time) into your running routine can also help your weight loss efforts. Speed work burns a great amount of calories in a short period of time. You'll also increase your muscle mass, causing you to burn more calories throughout the day.

    Scientists are attempting to extract (提取) cells from a 40,000-year-old horse in hope of using the sample to clone the extinct (灭绝的) species back into existence. The male baby horse was discovered in 2018 in permafrost (永冻土) in northeastern Siberia of Russia.

    A team of scientists from South Korea and Russia believes the young horse, called the Lenskaya or Lena horse, was about 20 days old when it died. The species of horse, now extinct, is between 30,000 and 40,000 years old. Thanks to the terrible coldness, the animal's tissue was preserved enough for the scientists to obtain samples.

    Semyon Grigoriev, head of the lab at the Mammoth (猛犸象) Museum of the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, said the horse was "well - preserved" and a "great find". There is no damage to the horse's body and even its hair is undamaged. The unfortunate animal, according to Gngo-riev, "could have drowned after falling into some kind of a natural trap."

    Hwang Woo-suk, a researcher from South Korea working on the project, said, "If researchers find a cell, they will do their best to clone the animal. If we get live cells from this ancient baby horse, it would be wonderful in terms of cloning."

    After that, they will make a cloned embryo (胚胎) and a female horse carry it as its mother. Hwang said modern-day horses are "very similar to the ancient one," so there would be no problem getting help from a modern-day female horse.

    The scientists are hoping the experiment on the baby horse will give them experience in progressing toward their ambitious goal-bringing back the extinct woolly mammoth.

    "If we manage to clone the horse-it will be the first step to cloning the mammoth." Hwang said.

We high school students do have some growing pains,but we can get rid of them correctly and{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (wise).Some of us are upset{#blank#}2{#/blank#} their body styles and looks.It's unnecessary and it's not important at all.We needn't care about it.It is one's inner beauty{#blank#}3{#/blank#} matters.Second,we sometimes seem to be{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(misunderstand) by our teachers,parents and classmates.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(face) with this,we can find a proper time to have{#blank#}6{#/blank#} heart-to-heart talk with them,{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(try) to remove the misunderstanding.Some of us have fewer friends.I think being open-minded and{#blank#}8{#/blank#}(friend) will do you good.Third,we may fall behind others,{#blank#}9{#/blank#} makes us stressed.Actually we can encourage ourselves to work efficiently,full of{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(determine).At last,some of us don't have much pocket money,so they feel unhappy.Isn't it strange?So long as we have some,that's enough.And we can learn how to spend money.