When you are learning English, you find it not clever to put an English sentence, word for word, into your own language. Take the sentence "How do you do?" for example. If you look up each word in the dictionary, one at a time, what is your translation? It must be a wrong sentence in your own language.

    Languages don't just have different sounds; they are different in many ways. It's important to master the rules for the word order in the study of English, too. If the speaker puts words in a wrong order, the listener can't understand the speaker's sentence easily. Sometimes when the order of words in an English sentence is changed, the meaning of the sentence changes. But sometimes when the order is changed, the meaning of the sentence doesn't change. Let's see the difference between the two pairs of sentences.

    "She only likes apples." "Only she likes apples." "I have seen the movie already." "I have already seen the movie."

    When you are learning English, you must do your best to get the spirit of the language and use it as the English speaker does.

Welcome to London! Now let me tell you something about this wonderful city. London, the capital of the United Kingdom, is the biggest city in Western Europe with over 7 million people. It sits by the River Thames. London has a history of more than 2,000 years. People all over the world are familiar with the city's red double-decker（双层的）buses and black taxis.

People

    The British Empire used to rule around the world, so many people from around the world moved to London. They have brought with them their own languages and cultures. More than 300 different languages are spoken in London.

Culture

    London is known for its museums. One important museum is British Museum. It is the oldest public museum in the world. There are two main art museums in London: the National Gallery and the Tate Gallery. Besides, London is also home to arts, such as theatre and music. The Globe Theatre, which was popular in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, was opened for performances of William Shakespeare's Central London.

Tourist attractions

    London has many wonderful places to visit. For example, the well-known Clock Tower, a 320-foot-high tower, was called the Big Ben. Another famous London building is Buckingham Palace. The members of royal（皇家的）family of England live there. Besides, Hyde Park is the largest open area in central London.

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As you start a new term, you might feel a bit worried or nervous. These feelings aren't fun to have. But would your favourite superhero have these same feelings?

Scientists have been studying what they call the "Batman Effect (效 应)" in children. They've found that if kids pretend (假装) to be a strong person — such as a superhero like Batman — they won't feel so nervous and will be able to focus(集中) on their work.

For example, if you feel nervous during an exam, try to imagine that you are Batman. You may find that you can remove the stress from this situation and feel more confident. This can help you fight off bad feelings and focus on your task, just like a superhero would. Pretending to be powerful makes us feel powerful, and that goes on to how we act in real life.

But you don't have to believe in superheroes for this to work. Anyone you admire (仰慕) can encourage you to get through hard times, or remind you of how you should act in certain situations. Movie stars, famous painters, even our own parents — anyone can be our "Batman".

As for me, I would like to choose Mr Rogers, He was a TV host who was always kind, helpful and patient when dealing with other people. I try to act the same way towards other people just like Mr Rogers.

People use languages to communicate. Any language has its ways to express people's minds. One of the ways in common is the use of idioms. An idiom is a group of words. It has a special meaning that is different from the usual meaning. For example, under the weather is an idiom meaning ill. So when people say "I'm under the weather", they are saying that they're not feeling well. Another example, in all weathers means in all kinds of weather. So, "There are homeless people sleeping on the streets in all weathers" tells us that homeless people sleep on the streets no matter whether it is cold or hot.

Different languages may have different ways to make idioms. For people who are learning a foreign language, idioms could cause misunderstandings and bring them endless problems. On the other hand if things are done right, idioms can also be a fun way of looking into a new culture and understanding how the people think and talk.

Metaphor（比喻）is often used in idioms. Let's read the following two examples:

▪Example 1: It makes my blood（血液）boil（煮沸）when my brother breaks my computer.

▪Example 2: The night was dark and quiet; my blood ran cold when I heard a strange noise outside on a dark night.

In neither situation above, can our blood reach the point so high or so low in temperature. However, with the situations the two sentences created, it is not difficult to understand the  ▲  feeling in the first example and very afraid in the second.

Of course, not all idioms are this easy to understand. When we come to idioms of a foreign language, a good dictionary of idioms is always suggested.

New York City （NYC） is a great place to visit for adults and kids. But it's not cheap. Check out our top four free places to visit.