Mandy Harvey is a 29-year-old singer from Florida. She lost most of her ability to hear when she was 18.

    Harvey became a singer in her teens. _________ But she decided to start singing after she learned how to feel a song's beat through the wooden floor of a stage or theater. She watches carefully to make sure her musical instruments are tuned correctly and she is singing in the correct pitch.

    Harvey is now a professional singer. But not many people in the United States had heard of her until Tuesday night. That changed when she appeared on the television show “America's Got Talent”The show has four judges who watch people perform and decide if they should continue in the competition.

    Harvey said, "I gave up singing after I lost my hearing. But I want to do more with my life than just give up." As she was singing, one camera cut away to capture images of people in the theater. Many were seen crying. At one point, everyone stood up and cheered. By Wednesday afternoon, a video of Harvey's performance had been played 46 million times.

    Why? Shortly after she finished singing, Simon Cowell, one of the judges, gave her a golden star into the air. That meant Harvey could move on to the final round of the talent competition. Cowell said," I've done this a long time, and that was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen and heard."

    Many people wrote online that Harvey's performance was encouraging, and they will not give up on anything they want to do, either.

    Long long ago, there was a small village in the mountains, and many people lived there. Mike was one of them. He was a middle-aged man. The people in the village always laughed at him. They liked to show visitors how stupid Mike was. They thought this was an amusing thing to do.

    One day, a visitor came to the village. "Watch this!" a villager said and called to Mike." Come and play a game, Mike." he shouted. Mike walked slowly towards him, with a silly smile on his face. "Look, Mike, "the villager said, "I have got something for you." He showed Mike a $1 coin and a much larger 50￠（美分） coin." Which one would you like？" he asked Mike, holding them both out. Mike immediately took the 50￠coin. The villager laughed." See how stupid he is!" he said," He always does that. How stupid he is!" He walked away, leaving Mike with the visitor.

    The visitor felt sorry for Mike." Mike, listen," he said," Although the 50￠ coin is bigger than the 1 coin, the 1 coin is worth much more. Twice as much." "I know that," Mike said," But the very first time I take the $1 coin, they will stop playing the game. "Mike went away and left the visitor in silence.

How can you remember a song for a long time? Why does your teacher use songs to teach you English? There is a scientific reason for this. 

Researchers (研究者) are studying the relationship between music and remembering a foreign language. "Singing could be a new way of learning, especially for a foreign language. The brain likes to remember things in a catchy (悦耳易记的) and relaxing way. For example, children can remember difficult words quickly when they are in a song," said Dr. Karen Ludke. If children find it difficult to learn foreign languages, this new way may help. On his blog (博客), Dr. Ludke wrote "A listen—and—repeat singing way can help to learn foreign languages and open the door for future research in this area."

Many language teachers know the importance of music and they often use it in teaching and learning. Hua Zhuying, a teacher at a Chinese language school in Washington DC, likes using songs in teaching Chinese. She said, "I use music all the time to teach children Chinese. For little kids usually we use English songs but teach them the Chinese lyrics. Not only does it work, but it is fun for children. Sometimes I think if I learned English that way when I was young, maybe I could speak English much better."

Our brain likes music in learning languages, especially for remembering. If you are still having problems in learning a language, why not try singing it out?

When I was a small boy, I used to ask my mum for help when I met 1 .

But she always said, "Do it yourself, dear."I would get so angry. I thought she was the 2 mother in the world!

One noon, a friend of mine phoned me, "Tom and I will 3 you this afternoon." I was worried a lot. My bedroom was a mess. So I asked my mother to help me clean it. But she said 4 , "Don't you remember I have told you many times to do your things all by yourself?" I had no choice (选择) but to clean my bedroom by myself 5 my friends would come soon. I tried my best to make my bedroom 6 . It was really hard to do everything all by myself, but I learned a lot. As time went by, I began to 7 my mother. Now I have realized that I shouldn't always 8 her. It is her "laziness" that has made me diligent(勤奋的).Just as my mum 9 says, "Work can make you clever and sunny!"

Thanks to my mother, I have learned to do many things all by myself. I will 10 the four words "Do it yourself, dear." forever. What a great mother I have!

Students at the primary school and junior high school in Shenzhen are having daily PE. Is it good?

 Buxin Primary School in Luohu District uses a"3+1+1" model —three regular(正规的)PE classes, one music-based exercise class, and one sports game class. That is, students have a total of five PE classes per week.

 One problem is the number of PE teachers is not enough to teach all the new classes. Teachers from other subjects even have to lead many of the PE classes. Liu Xunhua,a Chinese-language teacher at the school, has also taken on the role of a part-time PE teacher. Liu leads students in activities such as jumping ropes and jumping jacks.

 Another problem is that there is limited(有限的) space. "At most, there will be eight classes in PE at the same time," said Sun Shou-ping, director of the school's PE team. Longhua Foreign Languages School also makes full use of all spaces in the school. For example, students can practise running uphill and do jumping exercises on the steps. If there are too many PE classes at the same time, teachers can also take students to the public basketball court at the Luhuo park, which is just across the street from the school playground.

 Students truly welcome the new measure. However, there are also concerns. Both parents and teachers are afraid the reduced(减少的) learning time for other subjects may lead to bad grades.

Working for a big company in London on a salary (薪水)of over £100, 000, you might expect Grayden Reece-Smith to have a luxurious (奢侈)lifestyle, going on expensive holidays or driving a sports car around south London, where he lives. In fact, the 28-year-old leads a very different life from his colleagues. He gives away everything he earns over £42, 000–a number that he thought he could comfortably live on. 

Over the past five years, Reece-Smith has handed over more than £250, 000 to organizations such as International Care Ministries, which helps poor families in the Philippines, and the Against Malaria Foundation. He is part of a growing number of young people described as "influential altruists". Influential altruists donate regularly to a charity which they think will have a great impact(影响). Some change careers to make more money, which can then be given away. 

Reece-Smith considered working in the charity after graduating from university, but thought that he could make a bigger difference by donating a large part of his salary. He had volunteered as a teacher at a school in Tanzania, but then realized that earning and giving would be more effective. "The cost of my flights there could have paid the salaries of two teachers for an entire year, " he says. Instead, he could "stay at home, living a nice life and still make a huge difference in the world". 

He is not mean with money-last year he went to Cuba on holiday, and spent several thousand pounds on a new sofa. But his lifestyle isn't as luxurious as some of the people he works with. "I usually don't buy supermarket-branded food products, but I don't own a car. Other people on my salary might have a bigger house. Some of my colleagues have four-bedroom houses, but we only bought what we needed-a two-bedroom flat. £42, 000 is more than enough to live on and still save, " he says.