Things You Didn't Know About Stephen Hawking

    Even if you don't keep a close eye on new developments in physics, you've probably heard of the famous physicist Stephen Hawking.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    These days, we know Hawking as a brilliant mind whose theories are difficult for a nonscientific mind to grasp. This is why it may come as a shock to learn that Hawking was a slacker when it came to his school studies.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}With a little more effort, he brought those grades up to about average, but not much better. However, from an early age he was interested in how things worked. He has talked about how he was known to take apart clocks and radios. However, he admits he wasn't very good at putting them back together so they could work again.

    Stephen Hawking took a liking to mathematics from an early age, and he would have liked to have majored in it.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}He hoped Stephen would instead study medicine.

    But, for all his interest in science, Stephen didn't care for biology. He has said that he found it to be “too inexact, too descriptive (叙述的)”{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

One problem, however, was that Oxford didn't have mathematics as a major. The result was that Stephen would attend Oxford and major in physics. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}That's why he chose to study universe.

A. His father wanted to send him to Oxford.

B. His father, Frank, however, had different ideas.

C. Actually, he focused on the bigger questions.

D. He would have rather devoted his mind to more precise concepts.

E. In fact, when he was 9, his grades ranked among the worst in his class.

F. However, there're many interesting facts you might not know about him.

G. Both his teachers and peers seemed to understand that they had a future genius.

    What is the easiest way to stay warm in the super cold?{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. At least that is what Santa Claus told me.

    During Christmas, Dennis and I went to Finland. We brought back some tips for keeping warm in a cold temperature.

    ⒈There layers(层)work wonders.

    Start with the base layer, which sits right on your skin: choose something that can absorb sweat{#blank#}2{#/blank#}A sweater is a good choice. The most important layer is the outer clothes, which should be waterproof(防水的)and windproof.

    ⒉{#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

    You lose heat from every millimeter of uncovered skin, which was the biggest lesson I learned on this trip. My whole body was well covered. But I missed one sport: my face. So it often felt like the wind was going to blow my nose off.

    ⒊Exercise, don't just stand still.

    When it's cold, exercising may be the last thing you feel like doing, but be smart.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}and you will feel the difference. When we first got to Finland, we were freezing. But after a couple of minutes jumping around, we felt less cold.

    ⒋If you have a heater

    You may want to turn it all the way up, but it's best to keep it at between 18 and 20 degrees{#blank#}5{#/blank#}but not create a huge difference between inside and outside.

A. Grow a crazy beard.

B. The key is what your layer is

C. Cover every bit of your skin

D. That will keep you comfortable

E. Take a walk, faster than your normal speed

F. Don't forget to keep your hands and feet warm, too

G. The middle layer keeps your body heat from getting away

    The ability to stay positive is one of the most important skills for us. Why is this? The reason is that we will spend most of our lives setting and trying to achieve goals. Everyone has dreams. Everyone wants to know deep down inside that they were put here to do something great. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The second you set a goal, difficulties will begin to appear to stand in your way. Most people let these challenges rob them of the life they really want.

    If you want to achieve greatness, if you want to experience the best life possible, then be prepared to get knocked down over and over. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} This explains why there are so many people who have stopped trying to reach their dreams.

    So how do you remain positive regardless of what type of challenge you are facing? It all comes down to how you choose to respond to any situation as well as what you decide to focus on. No matter how bad your situation is, you can always find something good in it.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    If you keep focusing on how bad you have it, how are things supposed to get any better? {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Of course it is. If this is true, why even bother thinking positively? That is because if you do, you have a chance to make things better. If you don't, things will usually get a lot worse.

    Realize that challenges are a part of life.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} It's what makes reaching a goal worth it. If you were able to get everything you wanted without even trying, the victory wouldn't taste as sweet.

A.Everyone will have to go through them.

B.Staying positive can be beneficial in many ways.

C.Staying positive during situations like this is not easy.

D.You can do things like reading positive books or listening to positive songs.

E.Is it possible to be positive and still have your circumstances get even worse?

F.However, the problem is that life is tough.

G.So what you can do is start focusing on what is good.

Test-taking tips

    Do you sweat, check your pencil, and feel butterflies in your stomach as your teacher hands out the test paper? A lot of people feel anxious when it is time to take a test. Here are some tips for taking tests:

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Your memory recall will be much better if you have had enough rest. In a scientific study, people who got enough sleep before taking a math test did better than those who stayed up all night studying.

    Read the test through first. Once you have the test paper in front of you, read over the entire test, checking out how long it is and all the parts that you are expected to complete.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}If something seems unclear before you start, do not worry: ask the teacher.

    Focus on addressing each question individually. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Instead, answer the best way you can or skip over the question and come back to it after you have answered other questions.

    Relax. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Of course you cannot get up and move around in the middle of a test, but you can wiggle your fingers and toes, take four or five deep breaths. As we all know, it can be easy to forget things we know well. During a test, if you forget something and start to get nervous, it suddenly becomes much more difficult to remember.

    Finished already? Although most teachers will let you hand your test paper in early, it is usually a good idea to spend any extra time checking over your work. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} On the other hand, if you have 5 minutes until the bell rings and you are still writing, end up whatever you are working on without panic.

A. This will allow you to decide how much time you have for each section

B. Be sure you have studied properly

C. Get enough sleep the night before the test

D. As the teacher hands out the test paper, be sure you know what is expected of you

E. As you take the test, if you do not know an answer, do not worry about it

F. You can also add details that you may not have thought you'd have time for

G. If you are so nervous that you blank out, you might need a mini-break

    A global cyberattack, which is considered the biggest cyberattack ever, is spreading quickly and widely.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    What the attack does

    Cyber bad guys have spread ransomware(勒索软件), known as WannaCry, to computers around the world. It locks down all the files on an infected computer. The hackers then demand $300 in order to release control of the files.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    How it happened

    WannaCry takes advantage of a vulnerability(弱点) in Microsoft Windows. Microsoft released a security patch for the vulnerabilities in Marclf. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Playing with fire finally caught up with the victims.

    Microsoft requires Windows 10 customers to automatically update their computers, but some people with older PCs disabled automatic updates.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    The attack has been found in 150 countries, affecting 200,000 computers, according to Europol, the European law enforcement agency. FedEx, Nissan, and the United Kingdom's National Health Service were among the victims. In the U.K., hospitals were crippled by the cyberattack, which forced operations to be canceled and ambulances to be diverted.

    Who is vulnerable

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Microsoft said it had taken the "highly unusual step" of releasing a patch for computers running older operating systems including Windows XP, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2003. So even people with older computers should update them.

    Apple's Mac computers were not targeted by this ransomware attack. Bad guys generally target Windows far more than Apple's operating system because there are vastly more computers running Windows around the world.

A. When it will be solved

B. How widespread the damage is

C. That's why it's called ransomware.

D. The hackers remain anonymous for now.

E. Here is a super-simple explanation of what's going on.

F. Anyone who hasn't updated their windows PC recently is easy to attack.

G. But many corporations don't automatically update their systems.

    Today's students are surrounded by information. The ability to figure out exactly why authors write ­ and not accept every opinion as fact ­ is a key skill. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The following strategies teach them how to figure out why authors really write.

    Start with why. "Why did the author write this piece?" is the key question asked to identify author's purpose. To help students expand their understanding of "why," post various types of nonfiction (an advertisement, opinion article, news article, etc.) around your classroom and have students quickly identify a purpose for each. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Talk about structure. Authors use different structures for different purposes. For example, one author may use time order to explain an event, while another author uses compare and contrast to put that event into context.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Often when authors write, they're trying to get readers to feel a certain way. Perhaps the author of an article about whale conservation wants readers to feel sad about the difficult situation of whales. Or the author of a letter may want to make the recipient feel better about a situation. After students read a text, stop and ask: How do you feel? And how did the author get you to feel this way?

    Connect it to students' own writing. It doesn't have to be said that writing and reading go hand in hand. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} When students are asked to write about a topic that they think everyone should know about, to explain a procedure or to share a personal memory, they'll become more conscious of how authors approach writing.

    Observe how purpose changes within a text. Author's purpose is often studied through the text as a whole, but authors have different reasons for writing within texts as well. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Then, they may launch into a list of facts that make the reader feel discouraged about the situation. And finally, they may conclude with an appeal. Take a short article and break it apart, identifying the different purposes so that students see how author's purpose changes as they read.

A. Get to the heart.

B. Identify the topic.

C. The readers may get more advanced in their work with informational text.

D. For example, an author may include a funny anecdote (轶事) to draw the reader in.

E. In particular, they'll need to figure out author's purpose and draw their own conclusions.

F. Expand students' awareness of why people write by having them write for different purposes.

G. Or keep a running Author's Purpose board with a list of the various reasons that authors write.