We always think that it's OK for us to leave our plants home during our vacation as plants won't scream like pets, right?

    A recent study done by a group of scientists at the Tel Aviv University has discovered that some plants will scream when they are under stress.

    The research was carried out on tomato plants and tobacco plants by cutting their stems (茎) and depriving (剥夺) them of water. A microphone was placed 10cm away from them. When their stems were cut, the plants started "screaming" between 20 and 100 kilohertz, and the scientists guess that this scream is probably meant to warn other plants nearby.

    When the tomato plants' stems were cut, 25 ultrasonic (超声的) pain sounds were recorded in an hour, and at the same time, 15 ultrasonic pain sounds were recorded from the tobacco plants. When they were deprived of water, the tomato plants recorded even more pain sounds with 35 pain sounds in an hour while the tobacco plants recorded about 11 pain sounds.

    The plants also acted differently to different kinds of stresses. For example, the tobacco plants gave out a stronger "scream" when they were deprived of water than when their stems were cut. But plants that were in no immediate (立刻的) danger gave out less than one ultrasonic sound per hour.

    The group of scientists said that plants are not as quiet as we had always thought, but in fact their voices are so high-pitched that we just can't hear them.

    Last year, another study has found out that plants feel pain when they are touched or hurt and they will give off a terrible smell.

Do You Want to Be a Writer?

Here are some tips on becoming a writer.

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Most writers read whatever books they can find because they love to lose themselves in them. They like the sounds of language and the way that reading a good description can feel as satisfying as a baseball game or eating a banana split.

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It's easy to forget a good idea if you do not write it down immediately. If you get in the habit of carrying a notebook with you everywhere you go, you can write down anything you want to remember. When you are talking to friends in the cafe or waiting for the bus, something might spark an idea for a character or scene in a story.

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Nearly all writers agree that writers must write. It doesn't matter if you feel like you have nothing to say; the important thing is that you write every single day. Sometimes, you need to give yourself permission to write things which won't be your best work.

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Do you have any friends who enjoy writing? Think about starting a writing group with other people who have similar interests. It helps to have the support of other writers. You will also receive valuable feedback, or suggestions, about how to make you work better.

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If you decide that you would like to send your work for publication, make sure to do your research. If you are sending your writing to a magazine, look through old ones. Does it seem like your writing fits in with the other stories or articles? That's the homework for you after writing.

 "Have you ever heard that it's impossible to fold a piece of paper more than seven times? Actually, it is just a popular myth. 

The myth refers to folding a piece of paper in half many times in any direction. The paper is folded in half. Try it for yourself with a piece of notebook paper. ____ But when you make the fifth and sixth folds, you'll notice that it's increasingly hard to fold the paper. Why does it happen? Because the number of the layers (层) of paper doubles with each fold. For example, after the sixth fold, you're left with 64 layers of paper. If you have strong hands, you may be able to make that seventh fold. If you start with a piece of paper that is 0.01 centimeters thick, it'll be as thick as a notebook after seven folds. And it would seem impossible to make more folds. At this point, you may be thinking that the paper-folding myth doesn't sound much like a myth.

However, in 2002, a high school student named Britney Gallivan proved the idea wrong. Britney successfully folded a 1.20-meter-long roll of toilet paper 12 times (note that she used single-direction folding). She also developed a math rule. This is convenient. It allows you to find out the maximum (最大的) number of possible folds based on paper thickness, paper length, and direction of folding.

Since Britney's success, many people have managed to fold a single piece of paper more than 7 times. Students even folded a piece of toilet paper a total of thirteen times. The toilet paper they used was about 4,000 meters long!

任务二: 请根据任务一的图画写出4个句子介绍教室里的物品和它们的位置关系。

提示词: blackboard（黑板），eraser（黑板擦）

Bangkok, the capital of Thailand (泰国), is also the biggest city in Thailand. Bangkok is a 1 place to shop for jewelry (珠宝) and clothes. They are beautiful but not expensive.

The people in Bangkok are very 2 . If you eat in a restaurant, the waiters will always smile at you. The food is very delicious, 3 it is a little hot (辛辣的) You can also enjoy 4 food there because lots of Chinese people live in Bangkok. In Bangkok, you can also 5 American food. The weather in Bangkok 6 a lot from June to September. July is the 7 season in Bangkok. If you come in this month, you must take an umbrella 8 you. If you come from October to February of the next year, you will 9 very cool there. Bangkok is a very interesting place 10 .