There have always been a lot of commonly believed but false (虚假的) ideas about being fat and doing exercise. Some people believe that they can’t help putting an weight as they get older, while others hold that if they stop exercising, their muscles (肌肉) will turn into fat. Here are some more myths (神话).

I’ll never lose weight--I come from a fat family

Wrong! While we canˈt change the body type we are born with, we can’t blame our genes (基因) for making us fat. There’s plenty of evidence that fatness runs in families, and the main reason is that they share the same habit of eating too much and exercise too little.

I am fat because I burn calories slowly

Wrong! Fatness is not caused by a slow metabolism (新陈代谢). In fact, although fat people consume (消耗) more energy than slim people, they also fail to realize how much they eat. Keeping a diary can help you work out your daily food intake more accurately (精确地).

Exercise is boring

Wrong! Anything will become boring if you do it again and again. The key is to develop a balanced and varied (各种的) program that’s fun as well as progressive (不断进步的). If you enjoy a Sunday walk, take a different mute. If you do yoga (瑜伽), try a tai chi class.

No pain, no gain

Wrong! Exercise is not meant to hurt. Indeed, pain is your body telling you something’s wrong, and continuing to exercise could lead to serious injury (伤害). You may experience mild discomfort as you begin to exercise regularly, but this is your body adapting to the positive changes in your lifestyle and the aches should disappear quickly. If they donˈt, rest and ask for medical advice.

     Scientists have learned a lot about the kinds of food people need. They say that there are some kinds of food that people should eat every day. They are green and yellow vegetables of all kinds; citrus（柑橘）fruits and tomatoes; potatoes and other fruits and vegetables; meat of all kinds, fish and eggs; milk and foods made from milk; bread or cereal(谷类), rice is also in this kind of food; butter, or something like butter.

     People in different countries and different places of the world eat different kinds of things. Foods are cooked and eaten in many different kinds of ways. People in different countries eat at different times of the day. In some places people eat once or twice a day. In other countries people eat three or four times a day. Scientists say that none of the differences is really important. It doesn’t matter whether foods are eaten raw(未加工的) or cooked, canned(灌装的) or frozen(冷冻的). It doesn’t matter if a person eats dinner at 4 o’clock in the afternoon or at eleven o’clock at night. The important thing is what you eat every day.

     There are two problems, then, in feeding the large number of people on the earth. The first is to find some ways to feed the world’s population so that no one is hungry. The second is to make sure that people everywhere have the right kinds of food to make them grow to be strong and healthy.

   In all the world’s cultures, people sing, play instruments, and celebrate with music. It plays such an important role in our lives that whole fields work hard at its study, including one looking at the biology of music. Experts are finding that because of the way our brains process (处理) music, learning to play an instrument or just listening to music can have a wide range of benefits (益处).

Music education has received a lot of attention. Learning to play an instrument can help children improve math, science, and language skills. One study in Canada tracked (跟踪) children’s IQ scores for nine months, discovering that children who studied music had the biggest test score improvements. The secret may lie in the way reading music and playing notes uses several areas of the brain, increasing our ability to learn school subjects.

Music is also used for medical purposes, such as the treatment of diseases which affect (影响)  memory. Scientists explain that one area near the forehead connects music with memories. That’s why an old song can remind you of something that happened years ago. For patients suffering from diseases, listening to music can help unlock buried memories by building up musical pathways to memories.

Studies of the music-brain connection often concentrate (集中) on classical music, since it activates (激活) both the left and right sides of brains. One study found that brain activity was the highest during the short breaks between the movements of a piece of music. During each break, the person’s brain predicted what would come next, while organizing what he had just heard. This process is similar to the way our brain organizes information. It may explain why classical music can help improve memory. Some people even take the music-brain connection to another level by listening to personalized “brain music”, which can help a person concentrate and prepare for a difficult task.

    It’s amazing how attuned our brains are to music. Some scientists even think we’re born with the ability to learn music, just as we all have the skills to learn languages. After all, children without any training often make up songs while playing. With the evidence of music’s benefits pouring in, it’s no wonder some countries make music study a part of their education system. People are realizing that music is more than just a form of entertainment.

There is a zoo near my home. I often go there to  (1)  the animals. There are many kinds of animals  (2)   it. They’re tigers, elephants, giraffes, koalas and so on（等等）.   (3)   are very scary. I don’t like  (4)  . I like elephants because they’re smart. They can help people  (5)   much work. Giraffes are beautiful. They eat leaves  (6)   the trees. They don’t eat  (7)  . Koalas are my favorite. They are very cute and interesting. They’re from  (8)  . They also eat leaves,  (9)  they don’t eat meat. They sleep during the day and  (10)  up at night.

    Do you like animals? Do you often go to the zoo? What animals do you like? Well, can you write and tell me about them?

In 2001 the United Kingdom was hit again by foot-and-mouth disease the first time since the 1960s causing a national crisis. However much of the panic and confusion was spread largely as a result of ignorance of the disease.

 Foot-and-mouth is a highly contagious （传染性的） disease found  in Africa  South America  Asia  the Middle East and parts of Europe. It affects cloven-footed （偶蹄） domestic animals such as cows  pigs  sheep and goats  as well as wild animals like rats and deer and zoo animals such as elephants. Horses  however  cannot contract （感染） the disease.

 It is very rare for humans to catch  the disease. Indeed only one case  has been recorded in Great Britain and that was in 1967.  

 Foot-and-mouth disease is insidious （潜伏的） and can  be spread by direct or indirect contact with infected animal. The disease can be spread in the wind  and can also be spread by people  equipment or vehicles which have been in contact with the disease.

 Although the authorities do not really know where this latest outbreak of the disease originated  it can enter a country in frozen meat imported from other countries where the disease is common. Unlike Mad Cow Disease （BSE） and the human equivalent CJD  foot-and-mouth has no implications （牵连） for the human food chain. Any meat  milk  cheese  and other dairy products can be consumed quite safely.

 It seems that the only way to contain the disease is to kill infected animals. There is no cure for the disease  and although adult animals normally recover in 2~3 weeks   they  sadly remain carriers of the virus （病毒） for up to two years.

 From the time the disease was first reported to the time the epidemic （流行） was officially declared over  one and a half million and more domestic animals were slaughtered （屠宰） and  large areas of the countryside were closed to the public. These areas included  parks  woods and forests  and various leisure attraction  in the countryside.  

Many people tend do(倾向于) remember events that never happened, according to new research led by Dr. Kimberley Wade from the University of Warwick.

In a study on false(虚假的) memories, Dr. Wade shows his findings. He says if we are told about a completely fictitious(虚构的) event from our lives, and repeatedly imagine that event happening, almost half of us will accept that it did happen.

Over 400 participants(参与者) in this study had fictitious event suggested to them. And it was found that around 50% of the participants believed, to some degree, that they had experienced those events. Participants in this study came to remember false events, such as playing a trick on a teacher, or creating trouble at a family wedding and so on.

30% of the participants appeared to "remember" the event. They accepted the suggested event, and could describe how the event happened and even what the event was like. Another 23% showed signs that they accepted the suggested event and believed it really happened.

Dr. Wade says that it can be very difficult to decide when a person is recalling(回想) real past events even in a controlled research environment. And it is harder in real-life situations.

Dr. Wade says something about the importance of this study: "We know that many factors(因素) influence the creation of false beliefs and memories, such as asking a person to repeatedly imagine a false event or to view photos to "jog" their memory. But we don't fully understand how all these factors influence each other. The finding that many people tend to develop false beliefs is important. We know from other research that changed beliefs can influence people's behavior and attitudes."

Scientists have been using the results of such studies for 20 years to figure out how people can come to remember completely false experiences.

People like dolphins because they are both lovely and clever．They have an  (1)  IQ （智商）．

Dolphins can ‘talk’．Scientists try to ‘talk' with dolphins，and the results make them   (2)  ．They find that dolphins   (3)  understand them so well．

  (4)  animals enjoy playing，but dolphins like to make their games different．On a beautiful day in 1997，scientists on a beach   (5)  a little dog going into the sea．They were surprised to see the dolphins come up to the dog and then start

throwing（扔） it into the air．The dog   (6)  the ‘game' and kept playing with the dolphins for over an hour．

Dolphins live in a very different world from   (7)  ，but they are very good at our ‘IQ tests（测试）'．For example， a dolphin jumps  (8)   the water when he hears a whistle noise（哨声）．He does this because he will get a fish   (9)   an award．

There is   (10)   much to learn about these lovely friends．