Parents often think that time spent with their kids will gradually decrease in adolescence. But a new study suggests that while teens try to avoid spending a lot of time together with their parents, private parent-child meetings may actually increase in their early adolescent years. And that may raise a teenager's self-esteem (自尊) and social confidence, especially if it is the time that spent with Dad, the researchers added. The researchers created a long-term study in which they invited families in 16 school districts in central Pennsylvania to participate. In each family, a teenager, a younger sibling (兄弟姐妹), their mother and their father were interviewed at home and then asked about their activities and self-worth five times over a period of seven years.

    The study authors were surprised to discover that when fathers spent more time alone with their teenagers, the kids reported they felt better about themselves. Something about the father's role in the family seemed to improve self-esteem among the teenagers in the study, said study co-author Susan McHale, a professor of human development at Pennsylvania State University.

    “Time with Dad often involves joking, teasing, and other playful interactions. Fathers, compared to mothers, were more involved in leisure activities and had more peer-like interactions with their children, which is crucial for youth social development,” the study showed. But Marta Flaum, a psychologist in Chappaqua, New York, said, “How these findings reflect the real world is a real question. The sample in the study is so small and so unrepresentative of most families in the country today that I'm not sure how much we can generalize from it. In my community in Westchester County, I don't see parents and teenagers spend much time together at all. Parents are often working so hard and have less time to be together with their kids.”

    However, Flaum encourages parents to make time for their kids no matter how much work they have to do. “Research like this reminds us of how important it is. The time we have with them is so short,” she said.

Dream in Heart

    On the first day of school our professor introduced a new classmate—a wrinkled little old lady—to us. Her name was Rose, and she was eighty-seven years old.

    After class Rose and I walked to the Student Union Building and shared a chocolate milk-shake. She told me she always dreamed of having a college education and now she was getting one. We became instant friends. Every day for the following months, we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always attracted, listening to this “time machine” as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

    Rose became famous and easily made friends wherever she went. She tended to be highly motivated, responsible, and deeply involved in class participation. In spare time she had someone hang out or go to bars with. She even participated in some form of athletic activity. She said that extra-curricular activities can form a vital part of her experience, creating unique chances for friendship and learning.

    At the end of the term we invited Rose to speak at our football meal. A little embarrassed, she leaned into the microphone and simply said, “I'm sorry I'm so nervous.” As we laughed, she cleared her throat and began, “We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you're nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year, you will turn twenty. If I'm eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year, I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. It's non-optional but that doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the chance in change. In this way the elderly don't have regrets for what they did, but rather for things they did not do.” Rose concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose”. She challenged us to study the words of the song and lived them out in daily lives.

    At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in honor of the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

    Limiting kids' recreational(消遣的) screen time to less than two hours a day, along with enough sleep and physical activity, is associated with improved cognition(认知), according to a study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health.

    The study included about 4,500 US children aged 8 to 11 and measured their habits against the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Children and Youth. It found that 51% of the children got the recommended(建议) nine to eleven hours of uninterrupted sleep per night, 37% met the recreational screen time limit of two hours or less per day, while 18% met the physical activity recommendation of at least 60 minutes of accumulated physical activity a day. Only 5% of the children in the study met all three recommendations; 30% met none at all.

    The researchers found that as each recommendation was met by a participant, there was a positive association with global cognition, which includes memory, attention, processing speed and language. Those who met all three had the most "superior" global cognition, followed by those meeting the sleep and screen time recommendation and finally the screen time recommendation alone, according to the study.

    Other organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics have guidelines in place to help with the management of children's screen time. The organization suggests putting realistic rules or limits in place for how long your children are on their screens, knowing who they are talking to and what they are doing. The amount of recommended screen time depends on the age of the child. Besides, parents should also make sure to encourage physical activity and have bedroom rules such as creating "tech-free zones".

Russia's Soyuz spacecraft, which has been transporting all astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) since 2011, typically carries a crew of three. However, the MS-14 capsule launched (发射) from a Russian spaceport in southern Kazakhstan on August 22, 2019, had just one passenger—a human-like robot named Skybot F-850.

The robot is the latest version of Russia's FEDOR robots, which were initially designed to help with search and rescue efforts. Skybot is good at many human skills, including driving a car, having short conversations, and even telling jokes. But since it lacks some special sills, the spacecraft to the ISS was piloted from the ground by scientists from Russia's space Agency. Roscosmos.

The six-foot-tall, 350-pound robot had another important task while on board. Without risking the lives of human astronauts, it helped Roscosmos researchers test the safety and flight experience of the new Soyuz-2.1, a carrier rocket, which carried the spacecraft into orbit. The feedback (反馈) will be important in determining if the rocket is safe to transport future human crews to space.

Though the launch into orbit went smoothly, Skybot's arrival at the ISS was delayed by three days, from August 24 to August 27. The delay didn't seem to bother the robot, which announced its arrival, "Sorry about the delay. Met with traffic. Ready to work now."

Skybot's two-week task is largely a test to measure its ability to work effectively in microgravity, and includes simple tasks like using tools. If all goes well, Russia hopes to send more advanced versions of the FEDOR robots to help astronauts with special tasks.

Earlier this year, the US space agency launched two little robots called Astrobees to help astronauts with daily chores, like finding lost pieces of equipment. Meanwhile, the European Space Agency's social AI-powered CIMON spent a year assisting astronauts, before returning to Earth on August 27, 2019.

    If you're a first­time language learner, you know that emotional(情感的) ups and downs are a normal situation. When you understand a concept or begin to comprehend the language, you may experience feelings of excitement. However, those are often followed by moments of disappointment and discouragement, during which you might feel as if you will never master the concepts and attain the ability to understand and communicate effectively. ．

    Learn vocabulary effectively

    Vocabulary is the most important part of communication. The more words you know, the more you can say and understand. The absolute best way to learn vocabulary is through the use of flash cards that you make by yourself. Purchase a set of 3×5 index cards(索引卡片) and cut them in half. . As you learn more information about each word, e. g. plural forms of nouns and principle parts of verbs, you can add these to the cards.

    Research shows that language students learn more effectively and acquire more when they study frequently for shorter periods of time than if they study infrequently for extended periods of time. . This means doing a few homework exercises each day rather than doing all homework exercises the night before they are due.

    Practice language actively

    . Say vocabulary words out loud, read passages in the text aloud, do pronunciation activities orally and not just mentally. Write out the answers to activities rather than gliding through them in your mind. Read aloud entire sentences in an activity rather than just reading a fill­in response. Transferring

language from your mind to your mouth is a skill that requires a great deal of practice.

A．Break study time into smaller periods

B．Then use flash cards as a learning tool

C．Try to study each day，and several times a day

D．The time­tested approaches are effective in your learning

E．Write a word on the front and its English definition on the back

F．Whenever possible，speak the language aloud rather than reciting silently to yourself

G．Below are some approaches that will relieve your potential frustration and help you succeed in language learning

    "You have two ears and one mouth. Remember to listen more and speak less." That was the advice I 1 from a communications expert before, which got me thinking about listening. It's not 2 that most of us are good at. Even those of us who write for a living and are supposed to 3 how to do an interview and listen, often get it wrong and miss the rule: "Don't interrupt or try to 4 other people's sentences" and the rule: "Focus fully on the person speaking 5 focusing on your next comment."

    I found this out recently after following that communications expert's 6. I was part of a group lobbying (游说) politicians about the importance of old buildings and main streets. One gentleman 7 a very large district made up of small towns complained that the main street was too 8 and there wasn't enough parking and there was no 9 to widen the roads, which is exactly what our organization 10 for. We want walkable streets, not parking spaces. Instead of arguing the point, I just 11 for a change and let him talk. Before our time was up he was 12 how his son is a carpenter restoring a church, and how 13 building preservation was to him and his family. Had I not 14practiced listening, we might have left his office earlier.

    It has taken me a very long time to learn how to 15. I might have been more 16had I listened more. Now that I write and teach, I have 17 often about how important hearing is to our connection with others, and what a 18 my hearing has made in my life. 19, hearing is different from listening, and, interestingly, there isn't any hardware that can help you listen; you just have to sit down, shut up and 20 it.

    Spring Festival, also (call) Chinese New Year, is one of the traditional festivals in China. It has long history and is very (importance) for Chinese people. The coming of Spring Festival means the old year comes to an end and the new year begins. Before Spring Festival, people clean (they) houses and decorate doors and windows with paper-cuts. New Year's Eve, family members get together and have a big dinner to celebrate the festival by (eat) dumplings.

    Not only adults like Spring festival also children like it very much. Because on that day, children can wear new clothes and watch dragon and lion dances on the street. More importantly, they can (give) lucky money by grandparents, parents and other relatives. Besides these traditional (active), people in recent years have preferred to travel around during the seven-day holiday, may bring more fun to the whole family.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

    Living without an aim is like sailing without compass. If there is no aim, we will get lose. Last term, I couldn't accept the truth which I failed in my math examination. I decided to give it up, so I skipped from classes frequently. Considered my case, my teacher offered me several detailed approach and advised me to set a short-term goal to improve my math. Finally, I work harder than ever and made great progress in her math. In my opinion, success lies in a series of goals. However, we should remember to make our targets clearly and try our best to realize our dreams.

其内容如下：1）活动时间：7月10日到7月30日；地点：红星中学。

      2）活动内容：

学习日常汉语，可与当地人交流；

举办各种晚会，了解中国历史和中国传统文化，例如节日等；

参观博物馆，长城等。

      3）活动意义。

注意：1）词数100左右；

      2）可适当增加细节，以使内容充实，行文连贯；

      3）开头已给出，不计入总词数。

Dear Mark,

    I feel delighted to get your email,

Yours,

Li Hua