A recent study found people's lives are made shorter in North China. It is showed the life expectancy(平均寿命) had been cut down by 5.5 years there. Researchers（研究者）think that the heavy air pollution in China should be to blame(承担责任). It's really the truth. Our government has already done something. However, it doesn't seem to work so well.

    “Air pollution in China is doing harm to people's health. The harm is much more serious than we can imagine,” said Chen Yuyu of Beijing University, one of researchers of this study.

    Dirty air brings serious problems in North China. In January this year, the air pollution was worse than that in other places. That was caused by rising temperature and waste gas（气体）from coal heating（燃煤）.

    Chinese government should strongly fight with air pollution. They should think of more proper ways to deal with the problem. People should be encouraged to take buses, ride bicycles or walk, instead of driving cars. The factories that pollute heavily should be closed.

    “We need to improve our environment, although it might be expensive. Protecting our environment means protecting ourselves,” Li Hongbin, another researcher of the study said.

    Laughter is natural for people. We start to laugh at about four months of age. We start to laugh even1 we start to speak.

    Laughter connects us with others. We laugh more when we are with other people. It's difficult to pretend to laugh. Laughter is2. When people pretend to laugh, most people know it's not real.

   When do people laugh?

    Only 10 to 20 percent of laughter is about something3. Most laughter is about being friendly with other people. Most laughter says, "I don't want to4 with you. I want to be friendly with you." This kind of laughter brings people together.

    We often laugh when we feel nervous. In movies, there is often a joke at an exciting moment when everyone feels nervous. It is usually a(n)5 joke, but we laugh a lot. Our laughter helps us6.

   Why doesn't everyone laugh at the same joke?

    Not everyone has the same sense of7. Some people think a joke is funny, but other people don't think so. People have different ideas about what is funny.

    Our idea of what is funny changes with8. For young children, the world is new. They are interested in many things, so they laugh9. Teenagers often laugh to protect themselves. Adults laugh at themselves and other people with similar problems. They laugh at things that give them stress. Our10 for laughter change gradually.

Some cute, furry(毛茸茸的) animals have many fans online(在网上). Why do people like them so much?

Here are some clubs (俱乐部) for you to join in the coming winter holiday.

Ball Game Club

You can enjoy playing basketball, football, volleyball, tennis and table tennis here.

·Every day: 9:00 a.m. — 11:30 a.m.    2:30 pm. — 5:30 pm.

·Meet at the playground.

·Call us at 13550055000.

Kung Fu Club

You can meet friends from China. They can teach you how to play Kong Fit Come to join us!

·Saturday: 3:00 p.m. — 5:30 p.m.

·Have the lessons at Room 101

·Tel: 13535035000

Dancing Club

You can learn Chinese dance, Japanese dance and Indian dance.

Students from 8 to 18 years old can join our club. You can make many friends here.

·Monday to Friday: 8:30 a.m. — 11:00 a.m.    3:00 p.m. — 5:00 p.m.

·Room 201 for Chinese dance, Room 202 for Japanese dance, Room 203 for Indian dance

·Call at 1356565300

Riding Club

Have a good time with your friends on the bikes! Our club is really cool and interesting.

·Monday and Wednesday: 9:00 a.m. — 5:00 p.m.  Start from the club.

·Sunday: 8:00 a.m. — 6:00 p.m.  Start from the Sun Park

·Tel: 13563533500

 Morse code (密码) is a system of communication that uses dots (●), dashes(), and spaces to represent(代表) the letters and numbers. In Morse code, the letters used often (such as"E") got a simple code, while those letters not often used (such as"Q") got a longer and more eomplex code. For example, letter A is one dot and one dash, letter E is one dot, and letter I is two dots. While letter Q is two dashes, one dot and one dash, and letter Z is two dashes and two dots.

The first message using Morse code was sent by Samuel Morse, one of its inventors, to Alfred Vail on May 24th,

1844. The two men were nearly 65 kilometers away from each other at that time. From then on, the way to communicate with people in far places was changed.

 Morse code is a helpful way to communicate, even in difficult and noisy environments. It can be sent by sounds, light, or in other unexpected ways. Jeremiah Denton Jr. was a prisoner(犯人) of war between 1965 and 1973 As a high ranking officer, he was forced to take part in a TV interview on May 2nd, 

1966. During the broadcast(直播), Denton Jr. pretended (假装) to be blinded by the camera lights in order to blink(眨眼) a Morse code message to those people watching at home.

 Later, Morse code was replaced first by the telephone, then the fax machine, and finally by the Internet. But isn' t it fun to send a message in Morse code to your friends? Give it a try!