Do you know time differences (时差)?

【小题1】 Li Lei has breakfast in the restaurant. At the same time, it’s eight o’clock in the morning in Japan and Anna is at school. In the USA , it’s seven o’clock in the evening. Jack is Bob’s friend. And Bob is at Jack’s home now. 【小题2】 It’s seven o’clock in the evening in Canada. 【小题3】 His mother wants to buy a new coat for him. Now it’s seven o’clock in the evening in Cuba, too. Maria is at home. 【小题4】 After dinner, she will play games with them. 【小题5】 Charlie is in bed (床). He goes to bed at ten o’clock in the evening every day.

The thought of cooking in the kitchen might get you nervous, but getting yourself familiar with cooking has great benefits. When you prepare for meals, you can learn important life skills (技能) and live a happier and healthier life.

It teaches you about healthy eating

Having a balanced diet is a key to keeping healthy. This is especially important for you, whose minds and bodies are still developing. One advantage (优势) of home-cooked meals over takeaway is that your parents can shop for the meal and cook with you. This teaches you what goes into a healthy meal and what isn’t necessary.

It gives you a happy time together

Cooking together is a great way to hang out with your parents and chat with them about their day. A weekly family cook-up can provide a great chance to check in with what’s going on and how everyone feels.

It helps you to take care of yourselves

When you need to fend for yourselves, it’ll be cheaper, healthier, easier and safer if you know how to cook at home. Knowing how to pick a potato or throw together a meal is a valuable life skill to learn. We’re not saying you will say goodbye to 2-minute noodles, but it doesn’t hurt to try.

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When you can shop for, prepare, cook and serve a meal all on your own, it gives you a sense of pride. It might not seem like a big deal, but these small things help you to be more confident. A teen who knows they can look after themselves will be ready to face any difficulty in life.

It keeps recipes (菜谱) in the family

Learning how to cook in your family is a great way to pass on the special family recipes. It provides a chance to talk about the history and culture of your family and gives you a chance to learn more about your family.

“Ugh, meat all again? I hate it!” Matt yelled. “The dinner is a disaster（灾难）again!”

Matt’s mom and dad looked at each other. Matt said things like this at least once a week all summer long.

“OK, Matt. We’re going to let you cook for us from now on. You can pick the meals and cook them, as long as they’re healthy,” Mom said.

“Great!” Matt jumped up happily.

That night, Matt and his dad tried to make a plan about the whole week’s meals. It was a lot more work than Matt thought, and almost every time he picked something out, his dad would tell him that someone in the family wouldn’t like it. “That’s an impossible task to please everyone!” Matt said, “but at least, the dinner won”t be a disaster.”

Finally, it was time for Matt to make his first meal. His parents were both in the kitchen to help him. “Wow, that’s a lot to do”, Matt thought. He was usually playing video games while his parents were making dinner.

It took almost two hours to make dinner. Matt was tired and hungry when he finished. He was also proud of himself—he made it!

“Ew, this rice tastes funny.” Sophia said. Matt took a little and tried. It did, but he had worked so hard! He felt like he might cry.

The next day, Matt started cooking at the same time. Again, he was tired and hungry when dinner was finally ready.

“I don’t like corn,” cried Sophia, “This dinner is a disaster!” Matt realized then how his parents must feel every time he complained（抱怨）about dinner.

“I’m sorry, Sophia. I’m sorry, Mom and Dad. I shouldn’t say the dinner was a disaster all the time.” Matt said with a lower head. “Well, Matt,” Mom and Dad said, “We’ll take back dinner responsibilities. You’ll have to do it when you’re grown up!” Matt felt a lot better. He happily finished his dinner and never complained again.