“Our aim is to take our art to the world and make people understand what it is to move,” said David Belle, the founder of parkour(跑酷).

    Do you love running? It is a good exercise, yet many people find it boring. But what if making your morning jog a creative one? Like jumping from walls and over gaps, and ground rolls? Just like the James Bond in the movie Casino Royale? Bond jumps down from a roof to a windowsill and then runs several blocks over obstacles on the way. It is just because of Bond's wonderful performances that the sport has become popular worldwide.

    Yes, that's parkour, an extreme street sport aimed at moving from one point to another as quickly as possible, getting over all the obstacles in the path using only the abilities of the human body. Parkour is considered an extreme sport. As its participants(参与者) dash around a city, they may jump over fences, run up walls and even move from roof top to roof top.

    Parkour can be just as exciting and charming as it sounds, but its participants see parkour much more than that.

    Overcoming all the obstacles on the course and in life is part of the philosophy(理念) behind parkour. This is the same as life. You must determine your destination, go straight, jump over all the barriers as if in parkour and never fall back from them in your life to reach the destination successfully. A parkour lover said, “I love parkour because its philosophy has become my life, my way to do everything.”

    Another philosophy we've learnt from parkour is freedom. It can be done by anyone, at any time, anywhere in the world. It is a kind of expression of trust in yourself. It is only a state of mind. It is when you trust yourself that you earn energy.

    Harvard researchers have created a tough, low-cost, biodegradable (可生物降解的) material inspired by insects' hard outer shells. The material's inventors say it has a number of possible uses and someday could provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic. The material, made from shrimp ('虾) shells and proteins produced from silk, is called "shrilk." It is thin, clear, flexible and strong.

    A major benefit of the material is its biodegradability. Plastic's toughness and flexibility represented a revolution in materials science during the 1950s and '60s. Decades later, however, plastic's very durability (耐用性) is raising questions about how appropriate it is for one-time products such as plastic bags, or short-lived consumer goods, used in the home for a few years and then cast into a landfill where they will degrade for centuries. What is the point of making something that lasts 1,000 years?

    Shrilk not only will degrade in a landfill, but its basic components are used as fertilizer(肥料), and so will enrich the soil.

    Shrilk has great potential, the inventors said. Materials from which it is made are plentiful in nature, found in everything ranging from shrimp shells, insect bodies to living plants. That makes shrilk low cost, and its mass production possible should it be used for products demanding a lot of material.

Work on shrilk is continuing in the lab. The inventors said the material becomes flexible when wet, so they're exploring ways to use it in wet environments. They're also developing simpler production processes, which could be used for non-medical products, like for computer cases and other products inside the home. They're even exploring combining it with other materials, like carbon fibers, to give it new properties.

How to Become Best Friends with Your Dormmates

    You have never shared a room with anyone and now you are scared and confused. But do you know that student years are one of the most exciting and memorable? When I was a student I met lots of great people and my best friend as well. Sharing a room with absolutely unknown person might be challenging at first, but it will be a priceless experience in your life. Check out several tips on how to become best friends you're your dormmates.

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    This is the essential rule of any good relationship. Make a list of the things that are/aren't allowed to both of you and stick to it. Decide on the studying time, cleaning and visiting hours. Not only will it make your routine easier, but can also help to avoid misunderstandings and quarrels. It's important to talk about male guests and overnight visitors. If needed, you may set some rules for your visitors. When I was a student, our room was frequently full of friends and visitors, but I tried not to turn it into the social center.

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    You will escape many fights if you start talking about the problem once you feel it's necessary. When you accumulate the little things, they grow bigger and chances are you will say a lot of unpleasant things you don't really mean. Your dormmates simply cannot know or notice some things. That's why negotiations are always the right thing to consider. My dormmate was always forgetting to take away her wet towel from the dresser and it was just unbearable. When she performed the same thing for several times, I explained that it was a bit irritating and an annoying bad habit. That's it.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Common memories and experience are the right things that pull people together. You are newcomers and you have no idea about the territory of the campus. So why not explore the campus together? Generally speaking, any activity you can share will be of advantage. You can become workout buddies or you may turn out to be the fans of the same band.

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    I really appreciate togetherness and I was always a good mixer, but sometimes even such an easy going person like me needs some personal space and me-time. You spend every minute together and you need to take a break once in a while. It's absolutely okay. Discuss this question with your dormmates well in advance so that you won't have any problems during the school year.

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    This tip will help you to get along with the dormmate and will help you go far in life as well. Your dormmates may be from other countries with different traditions, religion and views. Be careful with the stereotypes and prejudgment, your ideas about the subject may be superficial and incorrect. Most probably your overseas dormmates will need some help during the period of adaptation to the new surrounding and life style. Sharing a room with an international student is a unique chance to learn another culture and language. Don't miss it!

A. Discuss the issues at once.

B. Accept the need of private space.

C. Agree on some basic rules.

D. Respect and accept cultural differences.

E. Explore together.

F. Get to know each other better.

G. Share your cleaning work together

    No fight can end, and no friendship can move on, until everyone says these little words: I'm sorry. Sometimes, though, it can be difficult to say them. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    It is not about winning.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} When you start fighting with a friend, you may feel it is important that you “win” the fight by proving you're right and he is wrong, or by making him the first to apologize. In reality, you'll both lose if you let your fight ruin your friendship, and you'll both win if you find a way to heal it.

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    You may have heard the expression "His pride stood in the way." It is usually used to describe a person who is so determined to be "right" that he lets an opportunity for happiness pass him by forever. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Remember that as time goes by, we usually forget who was right and who was wrong in a disagreement, and only remember the sadness of losing a friend.

    Take the first step.

    Are you sick of fighting? Do you think this fight is just not important enough to ruin your friendship? {#blank#}5{#/blank#} You don't have to take full responsibility for starting the fight, or even say that your feelings were wrong. But you should find something you did or said that's worth apologizing for. If you say you're sorry, it's like an invitation for your friend to do the same. Once you've both said it, you'll both feel a million times better.

A. Stop thinking about your pride.

B. Then try to be the first to apologize.

C. Here are some things to keep in mind.

D. Don't let this happen to a friendship you care about.

E. It's about taking some responsibility for the argument.

F. There are some special moments when you shouldn't take the first step.

G. Friendships aren't like the Super Bowl, and there should never be the determination of a winner.

    Do you know that junk food isn't healthy? Of course you do! Do you eat it anyway? Of course you do! But a new study shows teaching adolescents about the ways food companies fool them into thinking junk food is cool can encourage kids to fight back—by eating healthier.

    The pull of junk food can be super-strong. It's designed to tasty; which makes eating well one of the great health challenges of our time. Everyone from doctors to the government has been trying to handle it. Yet we keep eating junk food.

    Professor Christopher Bryan says, "Food companies want you to want junk food." They spend millions of dollars coming up with new ways to^ promote junk food consumption. They hire scientists to make new junk food almost irresistible. They might do this, for example, by adding more sugar. Rats fed junk food for six weeks will even walk across a floor that gives them electric shocks just to get more of such food.

    Food ads often make unhealthy junk food seem healthy by featuring professional athletes, fit-looking pop stars and smiling, active teens. "We thought when the students learned this, it would matter to them," Bryan says. He worked with 8th graders at a Texas school. Half of them got a lesson Bryan created. It focused on the ways junk food is advertised, or marketed. A second group received lessons that focused on health. These lessons informed students junk food is had, and that foods like apples or carrots are a better choice. The students learned a bad diet can lead to major weight gain, and that being overweight puts people at risk for serious diseases. They also learned how eating well now can keep you healthy when you're older.

    After the lessons, the kids in both groups were asked how they felt about junk food. Most didn't have positive feelings about these unhealthy foods.

No one can believe that the over 6, 300-kilometre Great Wall might disappear some day. Believe it or not, the Great Wall is being destroyed by people. Less than 20 percent of the Great Wall built in the Ming Dynasty is still perfect, and about 80 percent is in danger. 

The Great Wall can be called "great" mostly because of its amazing length. If we do nothing to save the Great Wall, it will become wasteland rather than a historic site. The Great Wall is actually a series of walls built and rebuilt by different dynasties over the past 2, 000 years. It began in the Qin Dynasty, and lasted into the Ming Dynasty. The parts built before the Ming Dynasty have nearly disappeared. People are familiar with sections such as Badaling in Beijing and Jiayuguan Pass in Gansu, because they have been open to tourists for many years. But those sections far away from the public eyes have been almost forgotten. 

Few local people knew the 3-metre-high walls made of earth and stones beside them are part of the Great Wall. The lack of knowledge is considered as one of the main reasons behind humans. 

The bricks on the Great Wall are carried off by countryside people to build their houses. Rubbish is spread over the battlements. Those who destroyed and are destroying the Great Wall know its name, but don't know its cultural meaning. The local farmers not only carried off the body of the Great Wall but dug out the entire base. 

It is necessary to protect the Great Wall. First of all, the officials should be aware of the importance of the Great Wall. Young Chinese should know more about the nation's great civilisation and learn to love it.