In her new book, “The Smartest Kids in the World,” Amanda Ripley, an investigative journalist, tells the story of Tom, a high-school student from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, who decides to spend his senior year in Warsaw, Poland. Poland is a surprising educational success story: in the past decade, the country raised students' test scores from significantly below average to well above it. Polish kids have now outscored(超过……分数) American kids in math and science, even though Poland spends, on average, less than half as much per student as the United States does. One of the most striking differences between the high school Tom attended in Gettysburg and the one he ends up at in Warsaw is that the latter has no football team, or, for that matter, teams of any kind.

    That American high schools waste more time and money on sports than on math is an old complaint. This is not a matter of how any given student who plays sports does in school, but of the culture and its priorities. This December, when the latest Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) results are announced, it's safe to predict that American high-school students will once again display their limited skills in math and reading, outscored not just by students in Poland but also by students in places like South Korea, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Singapore, and Japan. Meanwhile, they will have played some very exciting football games, which will have been breathlessly written up in their hometown papers.

    Why does this situation continue? Well, for one thing, kids like it. And for another, according to Ripley, parents seem to like the arrangement, too. She describes a tour she took of a school in Washington D.C., which costs thirty thousand dollars a year. The tour leader—a mother with three children in the school—was asked about the school's flaws(瑕疵). When she said that the math program was weak, none of the parents taking the tour reacted. When she said that the football program was weak, the parents suddenly became concerned. “Really?” one of them asked worriedly, “What do you mean?”

    One of the ironies(讽刺) of the situation is that sports reveal what is possible. American kids' performance on the field shows just how well they can do when expectations are high. It's too bad that their test scores show the same thing.

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    Cheating can happen in a lot of different ways. When people cheat, it's not fair to other people, like the kids who studied for the test or who were the true winners of a game.

Many people like the action of cheating. It makes difficult things seem easy, like getting all the right answers on the test. But it doesn't solve the problem of not knowing the material and it won't help on the next test — unless the person cheats again.

    Some people lose respect for cheaters and think less of them. The cheaters themselves may feel bad because they know they are not really earning that good grade. And, if they get caught cheating, they will be in trouble at school, and maybe at home, too.

    Some kids cheat because they're busy or lazy and they want to get good grades without spending the time studying. Other kids might feel like they can't pass the test without cheating. Even when there seems to be a “good reason” for cheating, cheating isn't a good idea.

    If you were sick or upset about something the night before and couldn't study, it would be better to talk with the teacher about this. And if you don't have enough time to study for a test because of swim practice, you need to talk with your parents about how to balance swimming and school.

    A kid who thinks cheating is the only way to pass a test needs to talk with the teacher and his or her parents so they can find some solutions together. Talking about these problems and working them out will feel better than cheating.

     Books at Amazon :Best sellers of the month—Feb, 2018

    Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi—February 6, 2018

    Hardcover :$15.91Audio CD :$29.99

    An extraordinary novel. Freshwater explores the amazing experience of having another self. It centers around a young Nigerian woman, Ada, who develops separate selves within her as a result of being born “with one foot on the other side.” Freshwater is a sharp call of a rare way of experiencing the world, one that shows how we all construct our identities.

    Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur—February 16 , 2018

    Hardcover: $ 18. 00 Paperback: $ 8.99 Audio CD :$8.99

    A collection of poetry and prose (散文)about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse(虐待), love , loss, and femininity (女性). It is split into four chapters ，and each chapter serves a different purpose. Deals with a different pain. Heals a different heartache. Milk and Honey takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them because there is sweetness everywhere;if you are just willing to look.
     Educated by Tara Westover—February 13, 2018

    Hardcover: $ 16.80 Paperback: $ 28.00 Audio book: $6.00 Audio CD :$8.99

    An unforgettable biography about a young girl who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University. Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty, and of the sadness that comes from severing one's closest ties.

    Force of Nature by Jane Harper—February 20, 2018

    Hardcover: $17.10 Paperback: $ 23.41 Audio book:Free Audio CD :$ 34. 15

    An attractive novel from the author of the Sunday Times top 10 best seller. Five women go on a hike. Only four return. When five colleagues are forced to go on a corporate retreat in the wilderness , they reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking down the muddy path. But one of the women doesn't come out of the woods. And each of her companions tells a slightly different story about what happened.

    We don't know how different our future will be in the future. We can only try to imagine it.

    At first we think about human relationship. In the year 2050, we will use computers almost every day. We will be making new friends through the Internet—even our husbands or wives will be met in this way. It will be much faster and easier for us. On the other hand, our relationships with people won't be as important as they are today—we will feel a little lonely.

    Computers will also help us in many other activities in 2050.For example, they will be used by the children at school to make their learning easier. In addition, there will be much more other machines which will play a similar role as computers, like robots which will do the housework for us.

    Spending holidays will also be completely different. Traveling to other planets or to the moon will be available for everyone. Means of transport will, of course, change, too. We will be using solar­powered cars, which will be much more environmentally friendly.

    We could expect that the faster technological progress would lead to a more polluted environment. But it isn't true. We will pay more attention to protecting the environment. And, scientists will probably find cures for many dangerous diseases, like cancer or AIDS. Therefore, our surroundings as well as health will be in better condition.

    Although we can't predict the exact changes which will be made in the world, we often think about them. We worry about our and our children's future; we have expectations, hopes as well as fears. But I think we should be rather optimistic about our future. We should be happy and believe good things will happen.

    When we are young we are taught that it's wrong to lie and we should always tell the truth. Unfortunately, most children lie even if they're told not to. Research carried out at the Institute of Child Study at Toronto University has shown that this might not be such a bad thing. Apparently (显然地), children who tell lies when they're two years old have a good chance of becoming successful adults (成年人).

    According to the research, at the age of two, 20 percent of children lie. At the age of three, 50 percent lie, and at four almost 90 percent lie. By the age of 12 almost every child tells lies.

    Lying needs much brain work. And the better the lie is, the more work the brain has to do. By training the brain early, researchers believe children will be able to think more clearly when they are adults.

    Recent research, carried out by the Science Museum in London, has shown some interesting facts about the way we lie as adults. According to the research, the average British man tells three lies every day, that's over 1,000 lies a year. However, the average woman apparently only lies twice a day.

    Most people think women are better liars (说谎者) than men although in fact they tell fewer lies. Popular women's lies include 'Nothing's wrong, I'm fine', 'I don't know where it is, I haven't touched it', and 'It wasn't that expensive'.

    Some people say you can lie as long as it's a white lie. A white lie is a lie told to avoid hurting someone's feelings. One of the most common lies for both men and women is 'It's just what I've always wanted', said after opening a present from their partner.

    Angus, Doris, Gabriel and Kamil are some of the 21 names that have been chosen to be given to storms in the UK in the 2016/17 season.

    The Met Office, the UK's national weather service, decided to give storms boys' and girls' names in 2015 in the same way as they did in America.

    The Met Office hopes that naming big storms will mean people are more aware (意识到) of them and how dangerous they can be. Derrick Ryall, from the Met Office, said, "We have seen how naming storms elsewhere in the world raises people's awareness of storms before they break."

    In the past, the same UK storm could be given different names by different organisations. "We noticed that many organisations during the last couple of winters, when we have had bad storms, started giving names to them. Think back to the St Jude's Day storm in 2013, and the so­called Hurricane Bawbag in Scotland in 2011. But it led to confusion (混乱)," a Met Office spokeswoman said.

    According to the Met Office, there is a name for each letter of the whole alphabet (字母表), except for Q, U, X, Y and Z. That is the same as the naming tradition used in America. And not all storms will be big enough to get names — only those expected to cause great damage.

    If there are more than 21 storms in a year, the Met Office will start again with another name beginning with "A". However, according to Met Office spokeswoman Lindsay Mears, "It's unlikely we would get through the whole alphabet in one season. We had 14 storms in the very bad winter of 2013/14, and if the naming system had been in operation then we wouldn't have used the whole alphabet."