A blog by Sascha Marr, aged 14

My hobby is making shoes. I’ve always liked designing things. I remember drawing clothes and shoes when I was eight, and I made my first skirt aged nine. At eleven, I started making shoes, and I now spend my free time doing that.

I became interested in making shoes when my cousin told me about an online shoe-making course that he was doing. I immediately wanted to do one too. Mum booked(为……预约) me on a four-day course at the I Can Make Shoes school in London to see if I liked it, and then I did a ten-day course there in the summer holidays.

I loved the courses. On the longer one, I made four pairs of shoes! I couldn’t believe it. The teachers were excellent. That’s what was best about the classes. They made us work really hard but they wanted all their students to have fun, too.

I’ve made about 15 parts of shoes now. At the moment I’m making a pair of training shoes using an old pair of jeans, but I’ve used all kinds of different things before, from old leather(皮革) handbags to old cotton dresses!

Making shoes has changed my plans for the future. I know now that I want to be a designer, but not a shoe designer. I’ve decided I’ll do home design. I’ve designed lots of shoes and also some clothes, so I’d like to try something new.

What did people do to communicate in ancient times? Here are some very interesting answers to this question.

Alphorns(阿尔卑斯长号角) were once used to communicate in the mountains in Switzerland. They are very long and they are very heavy, too. So, alphorns are hard work to blow. Then why use them? Well, they make a loud sound which travels much further than the human voice. Herdsmen(牧民) used them to call cows in the distance for milking. At sunset, alphorns were also used to send a message down to villagers that all was well. These days, they’re mostly used as musical instruments.

The people of La Gomera, an island in Europe, have their own special way of sending messages from mountain to mountain. They use a whistled(口哨的) language called el silbo, which comes from their language Spanish. Whistling can be heard within five kilometers, which means it can be used across much greater distances than shouting. El silbo can be used for all kinds of messages, including greetings and announcements. El silbo is used a lot less than it used to be, but primary school students in La Gomera have to leave it.

Did you know it’s also possible to send messages without making a noise? This is called visual communication, and it includes the use of flags and even smoke. Long ago, soldiers along the Great Wall of China used smoke as a warning. If they noticed the enemy from their signal(信号) tower, they lit a smoky fire. When soldiers in other towers saw the smoke signal, they lit fires too. In this way, messages about the enemy’s arrival could travel as far as 800 km in just a few hours.

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Can anyone be an astronaut?

Of course not. You don’t have to have a science degree but most astronauts do. Most of them are pilots too. Life in a spaceship is hard so you must have a healthy body and mind. You need to be easy-going, patient, and helpful to spend so much time in a small space with other people.

What’s the training like?

People have to train for a year to learn how to stay healthy and safe. They practise space walking and living in zero gravity(重力). They train in difficult conditions to learn how to solve problems and to work in a team. Everyday tasks like eating, washing and sleeping can be difficult on a spaceship. There is no running water so you have to wash with wet tissues: it’s hard to enjoy the dry food that astronauts have to eat. And to sleep you must cover your eyes because the sun rises every 90 minutes on the International Space Station. You also have to tie yourself to something so you don’t fly away!

What health problems do astronauts have?

Life in zero gravity causes changes to our bodies. Bones and muscles(肌肉) become thin and weak so you must do a lot of exercise in space to stay fit and to help the heart move blood around your body. Astronauts often get backache because you grow in space— up to 8 centimeters! It’s also common to have headaches and to feel sick, especially at the beginning. You must have vitamins to take the place of fresh fruit and vegetables. But you don’t have to put on sun cream because space suits can protect your skin (皮肤).

Are you still interested?

So now you know. If you want to go to space, study hard, learn to fly and take care of your body and mind.

There are many different ways to solve a problem. One way is to be creative. People often think creative thinking is just for artists and designers, but this is not true. Dr. Edward de Bono, an expert in creative thinking and problem solving, has shown the world that using creativity to solve problems is very useful in business and in our communities, and will continue to be so in the future.

One example of creative thinking is the solution to a parking problem in a town center. In the areas close to stores, people can only park for 20 minutes. There are parking meters where people pay to park in these areas. However, the problem is that many people leave their cars there for longer than 20 minutes. Dr. Edward de Bono’s solution is to make a rule that all cars parked in these areas must keep their headlights on. Of course, drivers will want to return to their cars before their car batteries (蓄电池) die.

According to Dr. de Bono, people will need to use creative thinking more often in the future. To help people think more creatively, he designed the “Six Thinking Hats” system(系统). The system helps people think about a problem in different ways in order to find a solution. In the system, there are six imaginary hats of different colors. Each hat symbolizes a different way of thinking. For example, the white hat helps people consider the facts. The black hat is the most logical(有逻辑的) and helps people consider why a possible solution may not work. So, next time you have a problem in your community, think about it creatively, from different perspectives, and see what ideas you have.

Taking stress out of exams

Pre-exam stress is one of the biggest problems in students’ lives. It makes you feel bad and stops you from thinking clearly. So here are some tips to help you lower the streets of exams.

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The best way to deal with exam stress is to have a good study plan. Decide which subjects to study every day and how much time to spend on each one. And don’t wait until the last minute to study everything.

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When we don’t understand something, we feel stressed. It’s normal. But don’t worry about it, do something about it! Ask your teacher for help. You may find it hard to believe but all teachers want their students to do well in exams.

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Your body needs exercise for your brain to work better. So don’t study all the time. It can just make you more stressed. Do some sport, go to the gym or just go for a walk but get up and move!

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It’s important for your brain to rest so try to get eight hours’ sleep every night. Eat a healthy diet and avoid drinks with caffeine that can stop you from sleeping well.

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Finally, if you have followed all this advice and you still feel stressed, then don’t keep it a secret. Talk to someone, your mum or your dad, a friend or a teacher and tell them how you feel. We all need help sometimes.

Derek Rabelo was born in Brazil in 1992. His father called him Derek after a famous ________ star, Derek Ho. Derek’s father wanted Derek to become a surfer, too, but there was a ________: unluckily, Derek was born ________. His father’s dream to see his son surf seemed ________!

When Derek was 17, his father told him about his ________. From that moment, Derek tried his best to become a surfer. ________ went to the beach every day and started taking surfing ________ with a coach. Derek kept trying and ________, he learned to surf!

Derek explains that ________ he can’t see, he understands the noises that the waves make and he can ________ them when they are coming. He says every part of a wave makes a different noise, ________ he knows which direction to surf in.

In 2012, he flew to Hawaii to surf one of the most challenging and dangerous ________ in the world. Local surfers were very ________ to see the confident young man surf the huge wave with no problem ________.

A film producer decided to make a film about him. Beyond Sight tells Derek’s inspirational story and teaches us that nothing is impossible if you ________ yourself!

Old new medicines

What should you do if you have a headache? In modern times, people often take aspirin(阿司匹林). But is aspirin
36． (actual) a modern medicine?

More than 4,000 years ago, ancient Egyptians used dried leaves to treat pain. And in the fourth century B.C. a medicine made from tree bark(树皮)
37． (use) to treat fevers. In the nineteenth century, European scientists discovered that both medicines have the same chemical (化学物质). They used the chemical to make a modern medicine—aspirin. Today, it’s one of the world’s
38． (cheap) and most helpful medicines.

Some of the medicines we have today come
39． traditional Chinese medicine. In the third century B.C., some people
40． (begin) studying the human body. They tried many different ways to treat the patients and recorded
41． (they) results. For more than 2,000 years, doctors recorded
42． they found in books. These ancient books are still useful today. Tu Youyou, a Chinese medical researcher, found that in
43． past, people used a herb with yellow flowers to treat fevers. After studying it, she developed a medicine that saved millions of people from dying.

For
44． (century), Western medicine paid little attention to traditional Chinese medicine. But today, scientists are studying traditional treatments
45． (develop) new medicines.

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