On September 19, Alibaba went public (上市) on the New York Shock Exchange. It shows that Ma Yun does his business successfully. A short Chinese man seems(似乎) to be the tallest man in the world right now. Ma was an English teacher in the past. Now he becomes the richest man on the Chinese mainland.

    Ma was born in Hangzhou and grew up as a happy kid. At the age of twelve, he found that English was very interesting. Every morning he got up at 5 a.m., and then ran to a hotel near the West Lake. There he could communicate with foreign tourists in English. He did it for nine years.The experience(经验) made him become a fantastic English speaker and also opened his eyes to the wide world. In a 1995 trip to the US, he knew the Internet for the first time. Seeing the chance, Ma returned to China and set up a website without knowing much about computers. Four years later, Ma set up Alibaba in Hangzhou. People called him “Crazy Jack Ma”. But fifteen years later, Alibaba has developed into the world's largest e-commerce (电子商务) company.

    Have you ever been so worried about something that you have a headache or even can't sleep at night? Then you cannot pay enough attention during a test or to your study．If so, then you know that is stress．You are worried too much about something．The bad feelingin your mind can make you angry, sad, or scared, and can even give you a stomachache or a headache．

    However, some kind of stress is good． Excitement might happen when you are called to give a speech at school．You feel nervous but excited．This kind of stress can help you to get things well done．And you may do a better job in your test if the stress pushes you to prepare more beforehand．

    On the other hand, bad stress can last long if you are unable to come over your problems．You may not feel well, if your parents are having a quarrel, if a family member is badly ill, if you're doing poorly at school, or if anything else makes you unhappy．That kind of stress isn't going to help you．And it can actually let you do worse in your daily life．

    The best way to fight the stress is to have a balanced life．Make sure you get enough sleep and eat properly．Have some regular exercise．You should spend some time for fun．Get advice from your parents, teachers and friends．Soon after that, you'll probably get away with your stress．

    Is there a connection between music and language? According to recent studies, the answer is yes: {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Here, we look at two examples

    A recent study by researcher Kraus shows that playing a musical instrument can improve a person's hearing ability.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}The people in the first group were musicians, while those in the second group had no musical training. The musicians were able to hear the talking person more clearly.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Think about violinists in an orchestra (管弦乐团). When the violinists play with the group, they hear their own instrument and many others, too. But the violinists must listen closely to what they are playing, and pay no attention to the other sounds. In this way, musicians are able to focus on certain sounds, even in a room with lots of noise.

    Schlaug, a doctor at Harvard Medical School, works with stroke (中风) patients. Because of their illness, these people cannot say their names, addresses, or other information normally. However, they can still sing.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Why does this work? Schlaug isn't sure. Music seems to make different parts of the brain work, including the damaged (损坏的) parts. This might help patients to use that part of the brain again.

    Music improves concentration (注意力), memory, listening skills, and our overall language abilities.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Playing an instrument or singing can help us do better in school and keep our brain sharp (敏锐的) as we get older. Music is not only enjoyable, it's also good for us in many other ways.

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