With the summer holiday just around the corner, it seems like everybody is busy planning their vacations. Here are some tips that can helpyou enjoy your holiday without emptying your pocket:

Travel off-season

Go to your desired destination while the demand is low and takeadvantage of huge discounts. During the peak season, the hotel and flightprices increase quickly, and you'll likely spend more of your vacation timestanding in line due to the rush of tourists.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

      Websites can help you find discount hotel rooms. Look for placesthat do not charge extra for children if they use the existing bedding. Staywith the locals. If you and your family are going to stay for a longer period,renting a small apartment is a good choice.

Eat like a local

      Why eat at big chain restaurants when you can experiencesomething new?{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

During your family trip, try new food where the locals eat. Thiswill not just save money, but also provide you with a new and differentexperience. For smaller meals and snacks, avoid restaurants and try street foodor other takeout.

Don't hesitate to bargain

      Tourist- heavy places are known for overcharging for just abouteverything. Clothes, travel goodies, souvenirs, etc. are very expensive atthese places. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Bargain hard to get the best price.

Choose local transportation

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

      Instead, take buses, railways or subways, which are alwayscheaper. If you are planning to stay for a while, you can consider renting acar. Hiring a car is much easier than carrying your bags everywhere if you aremoving around a lot.

A. Save on hotels.

B. Surf the Internet while traveling.

C. Therefore, avoid buying anything there.

D. So it's best to find out when the off-season starts.

E. Planning your meals is another way to reduce your travelcosts.

F. For this reason, you shouldn't feel ashamed to ask forbargains.

G .As a tourist, avoid taking taxis whenever possible, sincethey are expensive.

    Every year, about 600 monkeys are invited to eat fruits and vegetables during an annual feast(盛宴)in Thailand. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}It is said that Rama once rewarded his friend Hanuman, the Monkey King, with some land. Organizers of the annual Monkey Buffet use more than 3,000 kg of fruits and vegetables to prepare for the feast.

    This event is held in England. Though it might sound very gentle, it is actually very dangerous. Running down a very steep hill behind a 7-pound wheel of cheese can be very dangerous. In fact, the police have attempted to ban the event, but participants have refused to carry out the ban. Men and their cheese wheels cannot be separated so easily.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Simple: the cheese is set rolling down the hill, and the racers run down the hill after the cheese. However, as the cheese can reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour, it rarely happens that someone catches the cheese. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    In this festival, grown men jump over newborns, with their parents' permission. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} This custom has been observed since 1620; any onlookers who seem to be in need of ＂cleaning＂ also get involved in the event.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} This Naked (裸的) Festival is held in dozens of places throughout Japan every year, usually in summer or winter. Hidden somewhere in these men is one fully naked man, and touching him is believed to bring good luck.

A. This event is very interesting.

B. Everybody takes an active part in it.

C. So what happens during a cheese roll?

D. The first to reach the bottom wins the cheese.

E. It is held in honor of Rama, the greatest of the Gods.

F. There is a Japanese festival where participants wear little clothing.

G. Wearing scary costumes, the Spanish men attempt to ＂clean＂ babies of evil (邪恶).

    I just counted how many foreign languages I've studied so far in my life and it's been twelve!

    I always follow my interests and find ways to put my language learning into things I'm already interested in. I like to read blogs(博客)in other languages.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. For the most part, bloggers tend to write the same way they speak, so I don't have to worry much about adopting strange terms that are only used in writing.

    Movies are also a really good tool, especially if you can find subtitles in the language you're learning.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}, they will still keep your brain listening and reading in the same language. Music is another way to start listening to things in your new language. Personally, I'm so bad at understanding lyrics(歌词)even in English, so this one doesn't really work for me, but I have friends who learn a language through lyrics. Games are of course also an excellent way of studying a new language. A lot of language learning computer programs include games. I'm super competitive and if I play any of them, I can be hooked for hours.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

    When the initial excitement of learning a new language begins to fade, it can be hard to stick with it. The hardest bit for me is when I'm comfortable enough with a language to understand most things and make myself understood. I'm actually stuck at this stage in Norwegian.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. Ideally I should sign up to take a big language exam. Each time I start getting self-satisfied, it's time to take a new course or sign up for online lessons, or take up some sort of challenge that will require me to level up my skills.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. The best language class I've ever taken was my beginner's Russian course at university where my professor never used any English. It got to the point where I would kind of just forget about English while in Russian class, which helped me to really immerse myself in the Russian language and do a whole lot with the limited Russian I had.

A. That's really uncomfortable

B. Whatever languages they're translated into

C.I also try to think in the language I'm learning

D. It's time well spent if I'm learning the language

E. Computer games always make me feel worn out

F. Though they don't always exactly match what's being said

G.I found them the perfect learning tool because they're usually written in oral language

    Having good study habits is key to success in college. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} To begin making the change, you need to get organized to study.

    Create a fixed study space. Find a quiet space in your room or somewhere on campus where you can focus. Studying in the same place every day makes your brain combine a certain environment with work. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Find a regular time for studying. If you study at the same time each day, your brain will be prepared for learning when you sit down. Review your schedule and see when you have free time. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} You can study during gaps between classes or in the evening after your classes are done for the day.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Make sure you have everything you need to study at your study space. If you're studying in a place in your home, keep things like your books, pencils, pens, and paper in that area. If you go out to study, you can take a book bag and keep all your studying materials stored there.

    Avoid distractions (干扰). When you prepare your study space, it's important to keep it away from distractions. Remove any technologies that will take your mind off your work, like your iPad. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Besides, keep other distracting materials such as outside reading, away from your study area.

Three simple keys to success

Being successful means different things to different people. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} My point is, the specifics involved in finding success can vary greatly, depending on your goal.

There are three basic components necessary for finding success, regardless of the specifics of your pursuit. And, since the desire for ownership is the driving force behind acquisition, I'll use the word OWN as my simple three-item method for success.

⒈ O-Opportunity: one of the most important components in finding success is being able to identify opportunity. It is to success what wind is to sailing. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Identifying opportunity is the first step; awareness sets your sails for success while your motivation provides the wind.

⒉ W-Wisdom: By definition, wisdom is the accurate application of knowledge. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}It requires clear understanding, great insight and good judgment. Once opportunity is identified, you must use all your inner resources to seize it and make the most of it. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Finding success when opportunity presents itself often means reaching out for help in areas where you have weakness.

⒊ N-Never give up: This might possibly be the most important for success. The key is to first break your goal down into workable parts so you don't feel pressured, and then to work each part at ease with both enthusiasm and purpose. It takes a lot of time, effort and determination to succeed. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Being successful demands doing well.

B. But wisdom involves more than just knowing.

C. You simply can't have one without the other.

D. Having this attitude keeps you moving in face of trouble and becomes the driving force.

E. Besides, wisdom means knowing your limitations.

F. You'll finally succeed if you follow these steps.

G. The road to success is being largely determined by what result you want to achieve.

My, what a big beak you have!

For humans, adapting to climate change will mostly be a matter of technology. More air conditioning, better-designed houses and bigger flood defenses may help to make the effects of a warmer world less harmful. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}In a paper published in Trends & Evolution, a team led by Sara Ryding, a PhD candidate at Deakin University, shows that is already. happening. Climate change is already changing the bodies of many animal species: bigger beaks (喙), limbs and ears.

In some species of Australian parrot, for instance, beak size has increased by between 4% and 10%since 1871. Another study, this time in North American dark-eyed juncos, another bird, found the same pattern.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

All that is perfectly consistent with evolutionary (进化) theory, "Allen's rule". Allen suggested it in 1877, holding that warm-blooded animals in hot places tend to have larger body parts than those in temperate (温带的) regions.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Being richly filled with blood vessels (血管), and not covered by feathers, beaks make an ideal place for birds to get rid of heat.

Ms. Ryding examined museum specimens (标本) to prove that climate change was the cause of an anatomical (解剖学的) changes. All sorts of other factors might have been driving the changes. Her team combined data from different species in different places. They have little in common apart from living on a warming planet.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

For now, at least, the increase is small, never much more than 10%{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Since any evolutionary adaptation comes with trade-offs (妥协), it is unclear how far the process might go.

A. Therefore, climate change is the most reasonable explanation.

B. That may change as warming accelerates (加速).

C. Animals will have to rely on changing their bodies or their behaviors.

D. It seems that the future world is going to be hotter than humans are used to.

E. Therefore, the negative effects of a warmer world are visible in these animals' bodies.

F. Such adaptations boost an animal's surface area relative to its body, helping it to release extra heat.

G. Similar trends are seen in mammals, with species of mice and bats evolving bigger ears, legs and wings.