One of the most popular vacation destinations for young families is the home of relatives. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}  Here are some tips for making sure you are invited back again.

    Be considerate

    Every family has their own way of doing things. Keep these things in mind when you're visiting.

    If your host family are early to bed and early to rise, don't keep them up talking until one o'clock in the morning.

    If your host family gets angry about kids running wild, either plan to keep a close eye on your kids or plan to stay somewhere else. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} 

    Offer to help out

    Playing host to a family with children can be quite a challenge. Make sure you help lighten the load.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Offer to help with cooking and cleanup. Make your beds and run to the store for milk. Better yet, don't ask. Just start working.

    Help pay for food

    This may not apply, if you're visiting parents and they insist on paying for everything and they can afford it. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}  Use your judgment when it comes to parents. However, if you're visiting cousins, it will be a great help to them if you buy your  share of the food.

    Show your appreciation

    No matter whom you are visiting, make sure you let them know you appreciate their hospitality(盛情招待). {#blank#}5{#/blank#}  Or leave some fresh flowers when you leave. If you don't have enough money, write them a letter, letting them know how much fun you had and how much you appreciate them.

A．Don't expect your hosts to supply your every need.

B．Offer to take them out to dinner on your last night in town.

C．Make sure you don't leave your things behind while visiting a family.

D．In that case you may hurt your parents if you insist on paying for food.

E．Try not to disturb someone who is in the middle of exams.

F．Staying with relatives is a great way to save money while getting away from home for a while.

G．Having a talk with your children about expected behavior while visiting is always a good idea.

    We may be only three weeks into December, but artist Jonnie Hartman has been in the holiday spirit for months, designing and building the Grand America Holiday Window Stroll.

The goal with each window stroll is to create playful and uplifting displays (展示), according to Hartman. "I really try to do something lighthearted, something whimsical, that is, something everyone can connect with and maybe not see every day in the real world," Hartman said.

    She designs all of the window displays by hand, starting with pencil sketches, then illustrating the designs on her computer and sending parts of the drawings to be printed. From there, Hartman works with a team of five people to build the displays, creating, sewing and embellishing (润色) many elements by hand.

    However, a challenge Hartman has faced over the years as she has designed the displays is making sure all of the measurements are right for elements to fit inside the windows.

"When I was in college, I was an art major, and I thought, 'I don't need math. I will never use it. I'm an artist,' and guess what, it's the most important thing that I use, ''Hartman said. "If I don't get that right, then the windows don't fit, the pieces don't come together and it just doesn't work out."

    The holiday window stroll gives Hartman a unique opportunity to hear feedback from those who observe her creations, which is something she doesn't always get to experience with her other artworks. She said it's fun to hear people's reactions as they go through the holiday window stroll.

"It just makes me happy that I can kind of set the tone for people's holiday season and just maybe bring a smile to their face," Hartman said.

    Perhaps you have heard a lot about the Internet, but what is it, do you know? The Internet is a network. It uses the telephone to join millions of computers together around the world.

    Maybe that doesn't sound very interesting. But when you've joined to the Internet, there are lots and lots of things you can do. You can send E-mails to your friends, and they can get them in a few seconds. You can also do with all kinds of information on the World Wide Web (WWW).

    There are many different kinds of computers now. They all can be joined to the Internet. Most of them are small machines sitting on people's desks at home, but there are still many others in schools, offices or large companies. These computers are owned by people and companies, but no one really owns the Internet itself.

    There are lots of places for you to go into the Internet. For example, your school may have the Internet. You can use it during lessons or free time. Libraries often have computers joined to the Internet. You are welcome to use it at only time.

    Thanks to the Internet, the world is becoming smaller and smaller. It is possible for you to work at home with a computer in front in the future, getting and sending the information you need. You can buy or sell whatever you want by the Internet. But do you know 98% of the information on the Internet is in English? So what will English be like tomorrow?

    You often can choose a private setting when you browse(浏览) the internet. But be forewarned: It may not afford nearly as much privacy as you expect. That's the finding of a new study.

    Major web browsers, such as Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari, often a private-browsing option. It's sometimes referred to as “incognito.” This option lets you surf the Internet browser and saves a record into its history of each page that you visited. And what sites you visit won't affect the suggestions your browser makes the next time you're filling out an online form.

Many people believe—incorrectly— that the incognito setting protects them more broadly. Most believe it even after reading a web browser's explanation of the incognito mode.

    For instance, a new study had 460 people read web browsers' descriptions of private browsing. Each person read one of 13 descriptions. Then the participants answered questions about how private they thought their browsing would be while using this tool. The volunteers didn't understand the incognito mode. This was true no matter which browser explanation they had read. The researchers reported their findings on April 26 at the 2018 World Wide Web Conference in Lyon, France.

    More than half of the volunteers thought that if they logged into a Google account through a private window, Google wouldn't keep a record of their search history. Not true. And about one in every four participants thought private browsing hid their device's IP address. That's wrong, too.

    Blase Ur was one of the study's authors. He's an expert in computer security and privacy in Illinois at the University of Chicago. Companies could clear up this confusion by giving better explanations of the incognito mode, his team says. For example, the browsers should avoid vague（模糊).The web browser Opera, for instance, promises users that “your secrets are safe.” Nope Firefox encourages users to “browse like no one's watching.” In fact, someone might be. (If you'd like to know more about the research information, please click here.)

    However exciting space exploration sounds, there's a necessary and important point about it that needs to be considered: food supplies. Right now, astronauts typically rely on dry food in airtight bags and cans, since there are strict weight limits on items taken into space. Foods that we take for granted, such as fresh fruits and vegetables, are out of the question for space explorers.

    For those who've made an effort to try to grow food during space flights, they've faced many difficulties, including the absence of gravity, and a lack of soil, air and humidity (湿度). However, growing food to add and minimize (最小化) the food that must be carried to space will be increasingly important on long-duration flights into space. Great efforts have been made to explore the concept (idea) of space farming. Recently, a team led by Federico Maggi at the University of Sydney in Australia have worked out how plants can absorb nutrients from human urine (尿), as was reported by New Scientist on March 27.

    After over 20 years of experiments, the results suggested that human urine could supply three to four out of the six nutrients that plants need. The researchers also found out that urine-fertilized plants produce no harmful by-products, such as carbon dioxide or ammonia.

    According to New Scientist, human urine is 95 percent water, with the other 5 percent made from nutrients which are harmful to the human body but not to plants. The advantage of this urine-fueled life support system is obvious: By recycling liquid waste and producing food, an efficient cycle will be created.

    And most importantly, said New Scientist，the duration of space flights will be greatly extended to “20 years of flight”, meaning we may be soon sending astronauts on flights to Mars, or even beyond.

Enjoyable Family Picnics

    Going for a picnic is great at any age. It can either be a simple lunch in the park or a family barbecue at the beach. Whether with little kids or just as a romantic afternoon date, picnics can be fun and relaxing. Just remember to prepare.

    Check the weather forecast.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Picnics are never much fun when it gets too hot or starts to rain. If it is likely to rain, but you still make up your mind to go, think about bringing umbrellas.

    Pick a location suitable for your family's needs. Different locations are for different types of picnics.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Choose one with a playground for them, and perhaps some bathrooms nearby. Do you want a quiet afternoon to read, or a park with a big field to play soccer on？

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Food is the most important part of a picnic, so don't forget it! Remember to bring any utensils (器皿) you might need, as well as napkins and a garbage bag to clean up afterwards. Bring some books, balls or anything else that could be fun. Finally, don't forget your camera.

    Other ideas. If it gets hot in the afternoon, why not try a morning picnic to enjoy the songs of birds in the fresh morning air？{#blank#}4{#/blank#} It can be fun to have a picnic in your backyard. If you're going on a hike, pack a lunch and turn it into a picnic. But remember to bring extra water!

    Remember to prepare, and you'll soon be enjoying picnics wherever you are. But keep in mind that not everything always go as planned.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. What to bring.

B. Do you have little kids？

C. Just learn to laugh and enjoy it anyway.

D. Another idea is to stay at home.

E. Not everybody likes eating outside.

F. It may seem obvious but it's often forgotten.

G. Do you need big trees to keep the heat off on a sunny day?