For parents in the Pacific Northwest, one constant fear is how safe their children will be at school if an earthquake strikes. Now, children at one school in the Stanwood-Camano School District in Washington State will get a warning ahead of time to take cover before the most sharp shaking begins.

Stanwood Elementary School is the first in the state to be able to send warnings over the loudspeaker before a large earthquake. The school has connected to the ShakeAlert early warning system, which is a system that gathers data from seismometers (地震仪) that can detect the earliest seismic (地震的) waves of an earthquake, sending warnings before the more powerful shaking hits.

Bill Steele, director of communications and outreach worker for the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network at the University of Washington, said the amount of warning students will get depends on where the earthquake happens.

“If it’s an earthquake on the Southern Whidbey Island Fault, it may only be a couple of seconds warning,” Steele said. “But if it’s an earthquake, say, on the Seattle Fault or the Cascadia Subduction Zone, you could have a warning of 20 or more seconds.”

Students across the state of Washington will practise earthquake safety this Thursday. Stanwood Elementary School will explain how it uses the public-address system to tell students to “drop, cover and hold on” after it receives a ShakeAlert.

“The main idea is to protect your head and get down so that you don’t get knocked over by the earthquake,” Steele said. “And then afterwards, teachers will decide whether they wish to make an orderly escape or not.”

“At least eight other school districts are exploring connecting to the ShakeAlert system,” Steele said. The earthquake warnings are not available to the general public now. Steele said the aim is to have that ready by October next year.

Tests and exams assess not only your subject knowledge, but also your ability to use the appointed time wisely.【小题1】

Do...

【小题2】Try to answer the questions that are worth a lot of points before those only worth a few points. This will allow you to spend more time on the higher point questions than the lower ones, which can provide a big increase for your final grade.

Move on when you’ve used up the time for a question. Sometimes it is hard to do it, especially if you are a perfectionist (完美主义者) or someone that likes to provide as many details as possible in your test responses. 【小题3】Otherwise, you may find at the end that a large number of questions are still unanswered.

Don’t...

Don’t allow yourself to get stuck on a question. You come across a question that you have no idea how to answer. Instead of moving on, you decide to sit there for 20 or 30 minutes annoyed over it.【小题4】However, setting a time limit for questions and sticking to that time limit can help you avoid this problem.

【小题5】When you’re taking a test, focus on the big picture. Your main goal is to answer all of the questions in the best way. Don’t spend amounts of time proofreading (校对) your work. It is the task that is best completed at the end if you have time left.

You’ve heard it many times: first impressions are lasting. When an important first impression ends up with failure, this warning can feel like a death sentence. 【小题1】 It won’t be easy, but it is possible to cheer up after leaving a bad first impression. Or you can even turn it into a good one.

Firstly, there is no need to blame yourself. Actually, everyone makes mistakes, and, at some point in their life, everyone says or does something they wish they hadn’t. 【小题2】

Honestly admitting the mistake and apologizing for it are the best choice. You can apologize in a formal language like, “I am sorry, but I didn’t mean to do that.” 【小题3】 Instead, you can send an email or a note.

What’s the most important is that you learn from your mistakes and avoid making them again. And make sure you won’t behave in a similar manner again. 【小题4】 Then it’s possible to make others trust you. After all, trust is the base of everything.

【小题5】 Some sort of harmless self-deprecating (自我贬低的) humor will work. But make sure you don’t go too far in laughing at your shortcomings. It can make your impression even worse.