Learning English is challenging because of the various rules and exceptions to the rules. The best way to learn English is to hear it spoken and repeat the words as you hear them. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}You will learn how to make English a daily part of your life in order to learn to speak it quickly.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Ask a friend to help you write letters of English alphabet on index cards. You should write a letter on each card. Practise the letters by mixing up the cards and saying the letters. You can ask your friend to help you pronounce the letters and quiz you on your knowledge.

    Make your own videos in English. If you have a video camera, you can tape yourself speaking English and practice along with your own video. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Watch your videos daily, and repeat what is being said.

    Get a private tutor. A professional English instructor can give you one-on-one instruction that will help you understand the rules of English. Your instructor can teach you how to write and speak English.  {#blank#}4{#/blank#} You can also inquire at your local community college.

    Watch movies with English subtitles. When watching a movie in your native language, use the English subtitles so you will understand the connection between your language and English.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} You will make mistakes, and that is OK. You need to practice English as much as possible in order to quickly learn to speak the language fluently.

    In many countries, schools have long summer holidays, with shorter holidays in between. However, a new report suggests shortening school holidays to stop children forgetting what they have learnt during the long summer break. Instead of three school terms, it says, there should be five eight-week terms. And there should be just four weeks off in the summer, with a two-week break between the other terms.

    Sonia Montero has two children at primary school and works full-time. She supports the idea. “The kids,” she says, “have much longer holidays than me and I can't afford to take several weeks off work, so I need someone to take care of them. But nobody wants the work in the summer months — they all have holidays of their own.”

    Not surprisingly, some young people disagree. Student Jason Panos says “It's a stupid idea. I would hate staying at school in the summer. It's unfair, too. The people who suggest this had long school holidays when they were young, but now they want to stop us enjoying the summer. The kids in Spain and America have much longer holidays than here, but they don't forget everything they've learnt in a few months.”

    Nadia Salib agrees. “Sure,” she says, “the first week at school after the summer is never easy, but you soon get back into it. The real problem round here is that kids get bored after so many weeks out of school, and then some of them start causing trouble. But the answer is to give them something to do, not make everyone stay in school longer.”

    How Did the Ancient Chinese Keep Food Warm in Winter?

    Facilities like electric rice cookers, microwaves, and electric kettles, make it easy for people to keep food warm and enjoy a comfortable winter. So how did Chinese people in ancient times keep food warm in winter without these? In fact, ancient Chinese people used their own methods of heat preservation as early as the Shang and Zhou Dynasties.

    ☆ “Wen Ding”, ancient rice cooker

    One of the major functions of an electric rice cooker is to keep food warm. The “Wen Ding”, an ancient cooking container, served the same purpose, but instead of using electric energy, the ancient cooking container preserved heat by burning fuels like charcoal.

    The “Wen Ding” unearthed in Nanjing in 1989 is thought to be the oldest of its kind discovered in China, dating back to the Stone Age. The craftsmanship of making the “Wen Ding” was developed in the Bronze Age. The bronze Ding from the Shang and Zhou Dynasties took on different shapes and structures.

    ☆ “Ran Lu”, ancient small hot pot

    The “Ran Lu” is a small size cooking vessel (器皿) made of bronze, which can be divided into three parts. A charcoal stove forms the main structure, with a bottom tray to hold charcoal ashes, and a movable cup at the top. Some experts have concluded that the vessel's structure suggests it may have been used as a small hot pot and that these vessels became popular in the Warring States Period (475—221 B.C.).

    ☆ Bronze You, ancient kettle

    The Bronze You was one of the most common wine containers during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. The Bronze You can also be used to warm wine. For example, the Bronze You with beast mask design, unearthed in Jiangxi Province, has an opening where charcoal could be placed. Just as people today can't do without an electric kettle, the Bronze You allowed people to enjoy a hot drink.

    ☆ Bronze Yan, ancient steamer

    Although the “Wen Ding” was effective at keeping food warm, the ancient Chinese people later found that its burning process produced pollution. As a result, the Bronze Yan made with a two-tier structure and used to steam rice and other grains. After the Eastern Han Dynasty (25A.D.-220A.D.), further improvements to the Bronze Yan led to the modern-day steamer.

    Rent control, like all other government-mandated（强制执行的）PRICE CONTROL,is a law placing a maximum price, or a "rent ceiling," on what landlords may charge tenants（房客）.It is a program designed to stop rents from rising rapidly and is used mainly in large urban areas where there are more people than housing. In cities with rent control, the city government sets the maximum rent that a landlord can charge for an apartment. Supporters of rent control argue that it protects people who are living in the apartments. Their rent cannot increase; therefore, they are not in danger of losing their homes. However, almost all the critics conclude that rent control is destructive. They say after a long time, rent control may have negative effects.

    In a 1990 survey of 464 people published in the May 1992 issue of the American Economic Review,93% of US respondents agreed that a ceiling on rents reduces the quantity and quality of apartments available. Landlords are too cautious (perhaps too smart) to put their faith in rental apartments because they know that the rental-controlled apartments cannot increase their profits. Therefore, they invest in other businesses where they can increase their profits. They do not invest in new buildings which would also be rent-controlled. As a result, new apartments are not built. Many people who need apartments cannot find any.

    Some theorists argue that the minimum wage law can cause problems in the same way. The federal government sets the minimum that an employer must pay workers. The minimum helps people who generally look for unskilled, low-paying jobs. However, if the minimum is high, employers may hire fewer workers. They will replace workers with machinery. The price, which is the wage that employers must pay, increases. Therefore, other things being equal, the number of workers that employers want decreases. Thus, critics claim, an increase in the minimum wage may cause unemployment. Some poor people may find themselves without jobs instead of with jobs at the minimum wage.

    Supporters of the minimum wage say that it helps people keep their dignity, Because of the law, workers cannot sell their services for less than the minimum. Furthermore, employers cannot force workers to accept jobs at unfair wages.But the supporters make a big error. They fail to realize that it is possible for such a law to increase wages beyond the value of what the workers contributes.

    Economic theories predict the results of economic decisions such as decisions about farm production, rent control, and the minimum wage. The predictions may be correct only if "other things are equal". Economists do not agree on some of the predictions. They also do not agree on the value of different decisions. Some economists support a particular decision while others criticize it. Economists do agree, however, that there are no simple answers to economic questions.

    In the story of “The crow and the Pitcher” from Aesop's Fables, a thisty crow (乌鸦)drops stones into a narrow jar to raise the low level of water inside so he can take a drink.

    Now scientists have evidence to back up that story. Crows actually do understand how to make water displacement (移位) work to their advantage, experiments show. The results suggest that the birds are, at least in some aspects, as smart as first-graders.

    Researchers, led by Sarah Jelbert at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, presented six crows with tubes filled with water. Inside the tubes, a worm or piece of meat on a piece of wood was floating, just out of reach of the crow. In front of the tubes, the researchers arranged several rubber erasers that would sink, and some plastic objects that would float. The crows found out that they could drop the erasers into the tubes in order to raise the water level and get their snack.

    However, the birds handled awkwardly in experiments in which they could choose to drop objects in either a wide tube or a narrow one to get a snack, the researchers said. Dropping objects into narrow tube would lift the water level by a greater amount and put the treat within reach after just two drops; while it took around seven drops to raise the snack to the same level in the wide tube. The crows obviously didn't realize this, and most of them went for the wide tube first.

    Previous studies showed that chimps and human children can solve similar tasks. In a 2011 study, chimps and kids found out that they could put water into a tube to reach a peanut that was floating in a small amount of water at the bottom.

    Some people shy away from traveling alone while a few welcome it. So, what is it that makes traveling alone an attractive choice?

    First of all, the travel plan and all the decisions you make are yours alone. You don't need to worry about any other person or group. In other words, there are no arguments. Actually, you can be completely selfish.

    Traveling alone is also a great confidence builder. Yes, at times it can feel a bit lonely, but that is just one of many problems you will have to solve yourself, along with making your own preparations and setting your own goals.

    Besides, have you noticed that when you're on your own, people are more willing to start a conversation with you? Interestingly, people tend to keep a distance from couples and groups. However, the lone (独自的) traveler looks ready to connect with their fellow human beings and more likely to get into pleasant conversation about their trips.

    Here are two more exciting reasons why you should consider traveling alone. You will find you learn the language faster when you don't have someone else talking to you in your own language all the time. You are forced to communicate in the foreign language when you travel alone in a country that doesn't speak your native language. In addition, when you're on your own, you're free to meet someone who might turn out to be very important in your life.

    Of course, there may be things stopping you: You fear the unknown, or you have friends who may be upset by your decision to take off by yourself. You will have to make them believe the value of traveling done and allay any fears they might have, but with the technology at our fingertips, you can include them in the adventure.