Autistic (患自闭症的) children may learn better from robots than from human beings, according to a study at a school in Birmingham.   Two robots like humans, Max and Ben, have been helping teach autistic children at Topcliffe Primary School since March last year. The school is the first in the UK to try the new way.Ian Lowe, the head teacher, said, “The robots have no feelings, so autistic children find that they are less terrible than their teachers.” He added, “They are really cute-looking. Autistic children are hard to communicate with adults and other children, but for some reasons they like these robots. Some children are not able to communicate with others. But they come into school and start to communicate through the robots.”

    The robots are knee-high and move like children. The school is using them to teach phonics (声学) and play cards or memory and imitation (模仿) games with children from five to ten.Dr Guldberg said, “We do many different activities with the robots acting as a model for the children's behavior. It is amazing to see how interested and concentrated the children can be when they are working with the robots. It can be very difficult to get autistic children to concentrate.” He added, “If you can meet the needs of autistic children, you can meet the needs of all children. And you know, when people feel safe and interested, they learn much better.”

    What should you do if there's an earthquake at school? How can you protect yourself when you are caught in a stampede(踩踏)?March 28, 2016 provided you with a good chance to learn about safety.

    This day was called the National Day of Education on the Safety of Elementary and Middle School Students(NDESEMSS)(全国中小学生安全教育日). The theme of the day was to give students more knowledge about safety and make sure their lives are safe.

    A survey done by the China Youth and Children Research Center showed that school accidents kill more elementary and middle school students than anything else. The main accidents come from stampedes, earthquakes, fires and sports injuries(伤害).

    What can we do to keep ourselves safe? Staying calm is the first and most important rule when facing accidents. But different accidents have different self-protection advice.

    A stampede is possible anywhere. The larger a crowd gets, the more likely stampedes become. When students around you begin to push, stand still and try to hold onto something, or stay in a corner until the crowd leaves. If you fall down in a moving crowd, cover your head with both hands. Lean to(偏向) one side, curl up(蜷缩) your body and bend your legs.

    Earthquakes are common natural disasters(灾难). When you feel the ground shake, drop down, take cover under a desk and hold on. You should stay indoors until the shaking stops. If you are outdoors, don't stay near buildings, trees or power lines.

    When there's a fire, follow the teachers' instructions, leave the classroom quickly and use a piece of wet cloth to cover your mouth and nose so that you don't breathe in smoke.

    What's a spacewalk? Any time an astronaut gets out of a spacecraft(航天器) while in space, it is called a spacewalk. Astronauts go on spacewalks for many reasons. For example, experiments can be placed on the outside of a spacecraft. This lets scientists learn how being in space affects(影响) different things. By going on spacewalks, astronauts can also fix things instead of bringing them back to the earth to fix.

    When astronauts go on spacewalks, they wear spacesuits to keep themselves safe. Inside spacesuits, astronauts have the oxygen(氧气) they need to breathe and the water they need to drink. To keep the astronauts and the spacecraft safe, the astronauts must leave and go back to the spacecraft through a special door. When on a spacewalk, astronauts use safety  tethers to stay close to their spacecraft. Tethers are like ropes, connect the spacewalkers with the spacecraft. They keep astronauts from floating(漂浮) away into space. Another way astronauts stay safe during spacewalks is by wearing a SAFER. SAFER is worn like a backpack. It helps an astronaut move around in space.

    How do astronauts train for spacewalks? One way is by going for a swim. Floating in space is a lot like floating in water. Astronauts practice spacewalks underwater in a huge special swimming pool. For every one hour they will spend on a spacewalk, astronauts need to train seven hours in the pool. Another way astronauts practice for a spacewalk is by using virtual reality(虚拟现实). It looks and feels just like a spacewalk.

    Today, only three countries have finished spacewalks independently. They are Russia, the United States and China. The first person to go on a spacewalk in the world was Alexei Leonov from Russia. Zhai Zhigang is the first Chinese astronaut to go on a spacewalk. The world record of spacewalks is held by Russian astronaut Anatoly Solovyev. He has been on 16 spacewalks and spent more than 82 hours outside in space.

 When you want to buy something, do you buy it new or second-hand? These days, buying second-hand things is becoming more popular. 

 Many people have extra things to get rid of. In recent years, people have made more money and bought far more than they need, according to a speech by Wei Ying, founder of an online second-hand book-trading site. At the same time, more people are becoming interested in minimalism (极简主义). 

 Second-hand things are much cheaper than new ones, so people can save money. It's also good for the environment. In 2020, the mass of all man-made materials became greater than that of every living thing on Earth. Instead of making new things, it's a better choice to reuse old things. 

 People can even find some" extinct"(绝版的) things, or things that are no longer made. For example, some people like to buy vintage (复古的) things, including clothes and shoes. These things often go back 30 years or even more. But as long as they're in good condition, people can still use them. 

How can you remember a song for a long time? Why does your teacher use songs to teach you English? Do you know there is a scientific (科学的) reason for this?

Scientists are studying the relationship between music and remembering a foreign language. They found that remembering words in a song is the best way to remember even the most difficult language. 

"Singing could be a new way of learning a foreign language. The brain (大脑) likes to remember things in a catchy and relaxing way. For example, children can remember difficult words quickly when they are in a song," said Dr Lude. "If children find it difficult to learn foreign languages," Dr Lude wrote, "a listen- and- repeat (重复) singing method can support foreign language learning, 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 America, likes using songs to teach Chinese. " We usually use English songs but teach them the Chinese lyrics (歌词), so it's easy to start because they know the music, " she said. "Sometimes I think if I learnt English that way when I was young, maybe I could speak English much better than now."

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

Many people see ice cream as a Western food. However, this {#blank#}1{#/blank#} food actually came from China. In the Zhou Dynasty(朝代), Chinese people began to store winter ice to {#blank#}2{#/blank#} in summer. In the Song Dynasty, people started to make binglao-it just means"ice cream"{#blank#}3{#/blank#} English. It was a lot like modern ice cream. It is said that Emperor Huizong {#blank#}4{#/blank#} a stomachache after eating too much ice. In the Yuan Dynasty, Marco Polo tasted binglao and carried the idea all the way back to Europe. People there added heavy cream and created new tastes.

 Sometimes, totally different cultures have similar {#blank#}5{#/blank#} . Here are some examples. Iranians love a {#blank#}6{#/blank#} of flat bread, sangak. People in Shanxi, love stone pancakes(石头煎饼). These two look almost the same. People often compare roujiamo to the hamburger {#blank#}7{#/blank#} is a symbol of American food. Many people call {#blank#}8{#/blank#} the"Chinese hamburger". Pizza is from Italy and jianbing is from China. They are both round and {#blank#}9{#/blank#} with delicious food. Taco comes from Mexico {#blank#}10{#/blank#} the spring roll(春卷) comes from China. These two also look almost the same.

 Food is a bridge between cultures. It can help us know more about different food cultures in different countries.