Taking good notes is a time-saving skill that will help you to become a better student in several ways {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.Second, your notes are excellent materials to refer to when you are studying for a test. Third, note-taking offers variety to your study time and helps you to hold your interest.

    You will want to take notes during classroom discussions and while reading a textbook or doing research for a report. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Whenever or however you take notes, keep in mind that note-taking is a selective process. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    The following methods may work best for you.

●Read the text quickly to find the main facts and ideas in it.

●Carefully read the text and watch for words that can show main points and

supporting facts.

● Write your notes in your own words.

●{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

● Note any questions or ideas you may have about what was said or written.

    As you take notes, you may want to use your own shorthand(速记). When you do, be sure that you understand your symbols(符号) and that you use them all the time. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A．Use words, not complete sentences.

B．There are three practical note-taking methods.

C．You must write your notes on separate paper.

D．Otherwise, you may not be able to read your notes late

E. you will also want to develop your own method for taking notes.

F. That means you must first decide what is important enough to include in your notes.

G. First, the simple act of writing something down makes it easier for you to understand and remember it.

    Have your parents ever inspected your room to see if you cleaned it properly? Imagine having your entire houses, garage, and yard inspected at any time -- with no warning. Inspections were a regular part of lighthouse (灯塔) living, and a keeper's reputation depended on results. A few times each year, an inspector arrived to look over the entire light station. The inspections were supposed to be a surprise, but keeper sometimes had advance notice.

    Once lighthouses had telephones, keepers would call each other to warn that the inspector was approaching. After boats began flying special flags noting the inspector aboard, the keeper's family made it a game to see who could notice the boat first. As soon as someone spotted the boat, everyone would do last-minute tidying and change into fancy clothes. The keeper then scurried to put on his dress uniform and cap. Children of keepers remember inspectors wearing white gloves to run their fingers over door frames and windowsills looking for dust.

    Despite the serious nature of inspections, they resulted in some funny moments. Betty Byrnes remembered when her mother did not have time to wash all the dishes before an inspection. At the time, people did not have dishwashers in their homes. In an effort to clean up quickly, Mrs. Byrnes tossed all the dishes into a big bread pan, covered them with a cloth and stuck them in the oven. If the inspector opened the oven door, it would look like bread was baking. he never did.

    One day, Glenn Furst's mother put oil on the kitchen floor just before the inspector entered their house. Like floor wax, the oil made the floors shiny and helped protect the wood. This time, though, she used a little too much oil. When the inspector extended his hand to greet Glenn's mother, he slipped on the freshly oiled surface. "He came across that floor waving his arms like a young bird attempting its first flight," Glenn late wrote. After he steadied himself, he shook Glenn's mother's hand, and the inspection continued as though nothing had happened.

    The world has lost one of its brightest stars. British physicist Stephen dies on March 14, at the age of 76.

    Hawking is probably the world's most famous scientists after Albert Einstein. He is an expert on black holes. He has devoted his whole life to digging into the beginning (and the end) of the universe. “My goal is simple,” Hawking once said. “It is to completely understand the universe, why it is as it is and why it is there at all.”

    Hawking's achievements are even greater if you think about his disability. When he was 21, Hawking caught a bad illness that slowly stopped him form moving or talking. For a period of time, he had no way to communicate except by blinking（眨眼）. Later he sat on a wheelchair with a computer by his side. To communicate, he moved two fingers to control the computer's mouse. He selected his words from the screen, which were then spoken by a voice synthesizer（音响合成器）.

    “I have had the disease for most of my life,” Hawking once said. “Yet it has not stopped me from being successful at my work.”

    Though Hawking was a disabled man, he made great achievements. He received many awards and prizes for his work during his lifetime. This included winning the Albert Einstein Award, which stands for the highest achievement in theoretical physics.

    Despite the fact that he's no longer with us, his legacy will surely live on. As Sajid Javid, a UK government minister, put it, “A brief history on Earth; an eternity in the stars.”

    Want a wonderful travel in London? Don't miss the following!

    The Guards Museum

    The Guards Museum was created as an educational tool for the newest intake of the Guards and includes exhibits of uniform for the five Roval regiments (团) dating from the Civil War, with details of the nature and origin of their ceremonial duties right up to their contemporary role. To anyone interested in these world-famous soldiers this London tourist attraction is a must-see.

    Telephone: 020 7414 3428

    Toy theatre

    Toy theatre (or paper theatre) was most popular in the 1800s, and consists of paper theatres, some with an extraordinary level of detail, allowing children to stage their own productions at home, usually with cut-out sheets of figures for the scenery, props (道具) and various characters in the play.

    Telephone: 020-7967-1066

    Charles Dickens Museum

    The Charles Dickens Museum, an author's house museum at Doughty Street, is a celebration of one of the greatest novelists in British history. The museum exhibits over 100, 000 items from personal items to artworks (艺术品) from some of his books. It is said that Dickens wrote 3 of his most famous stories while living here, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby and The Pickwick Papers. The building is the writer's only surviving London house and we can get to know what life in the household would have been like.

    Telephone: 020-7405-2127

    Foundling Museum

    The Foundling Museum was originally one of the first houses in London for abandoned children and housed over 27, 000 children before its closure (关闭). Since then this London attraction has transformed (转化) itself into one special London museum with a large collection of artworks and social history relating to the children taken in and the terrible social problems that led to children being abandoned by their parents.

    Telephone: 020-7841-3600

    There is a cry of anger, and a tennis racket crashes to the ground. Jake, age 7, has just lost another match and is now in tears beside the court. His sister Sally, just one year older, looks at her mother and rolls her eyes: it is hard to enjoy winning when this keeps happening. It is not an unusual situation, and it is one reason why many people argue that competition is bad for children. However, the truth is that competitive games are a valuable preparation for adult life.

    Games with winners and losers give children the chance to experience life's ups and downs. Take Jake, for example. Even though he is unhappy now, he will probably be smiling and laughing with his sister in a few minutes, just like the last time this happened. Gradually, he will learn that the world does not end when you lose a game. Eventually, he may even be able to lose with a smile on his face. This is an important lesson. Not everything in life goes the way you would like, and it is important to know how to handle disappointment when it occurs.

    Children who participate in competitive games develop qualities that allow them to succeed in the complex world of adult life. For example, one of the missions of the Youth Olympic Games is to inspire young people to adopt the Olympic values, which include striving, determination and optimism. Competition creates a desire to do better. Children have to learn to succeed in a competitive atmosphere in order to take advantage of opportunities in the future. Although it is possible to win by chance occasionally, people who win and keep winning work very hard to achieve their success.

    On the negative side, there are those who will say that competition actually encourages some values, which does happen. It is common to see sports competition in which the desire to win has replaced the desire to have fun. You may even see very young children playing violently—like the superstars they see on TV. While the bad behavior of young athletes is troubling, the problem is not the competition itself. In reality, the blame lies with the professional players who are bad role models for these children. In fact, a recent study of young athletes by the school of Physical Health Education at the University of Wyoming showed an improvement in mood after exercise, athletes were less depressed or tense.

    Of course, there are parents who argue that children of Jake's age are too young to handle the pain of losing. But whether we like it or not, adult life is very competitive, and keeping children away from competition does them more harm than good. If children do not learn how to compete, they will be defeated by people who can. It is an unfortunate fact of life: whether ten or a hundred people want the same job, there can be only one winner. Wouldn't you want your child to be that person?

When I was about twelve, I headed to a restaurant for dinner with my family. It was winter, and on that night the wind was really blowing hard. 

As my mum and I headed to the restaurant from our car, a girl about my age and her mother came up to us. They asked if we had any spare change(零钱). My mum right away asked where they lived. They pointed to an old car in a parking lot across the street. The girl said there were six of them living in that car. 

My mum said she had something to do after handing the people a few dollars. She sent me inside the restaurant with my dad and my three siblings(兄弟姐妹). But she didn't come. Later, I found out she had gone home and put all the food in our cupboards into a few bags. Then, she brought that food over to the car and handed the bags to the family. I wasn't there when that happened, but I can only imagine the joy it brought to those people. A few days later, when I actually found out about what she had done, I asked her why she helped those people. She told me that they were not lucky. I remembered the face of that girl who had asked us for change. She was the same age as me, yet we looked so different. 

Here I stood, dressed in almost new clothes, headed to eat in a restaurant and then went back home to the bedroom I shared with my younger sister. I remembered thinking the other girl didn't have any food to eat and that she was heading back to a cold car shared with five other people. 

After painting this picture in my mind, I understood why my mum had done what she did. I will never forget what she did that night, and how she taught me one of the best lessons I have ever learned.