Beep! Beep! Beep!

Do you know what to do if the fire alarm goes off in the middle of the night?   

First, crawl to your bedroom door. Crawling is safer, since smoke rises.

Feel the door with the back of your hand. If it feels cold, open the door. Look around. Find the closest door to outside, and crawl outside. Go to the meeting place your family picked, and wait for them to meet you.

What happens if the door feels hot?   

Do not open the door! Crawl to get a blanket, then crawl to your bedroom window. Open the window and let most of the blanket hang outside. Close the window to hold the blanket in place. Firefighters will see the blanket and know to come and get you. Stay under your window so they can find you easily.

Firefighters might look scary（吓人的）, but they are there to help. They have to yell, because they have masks on, so it is hard to hear them. Do not be afraid of the firefighters. They will keep you safe.

It is important to have a plan in place with your family in case the fire alarm goes off so that you all stay safe!

WC, toilet, lavatory, bathroom, restroom, john—English has many words for the little room we all have to go to every day. 【小题1】

In Britain, the most commonly used words are “toilet” and “bathroom”. “WC”, which stands for “water closet”, and “lavatory”, are also used. A public toilet is a “public convenience”. You used to see the words “Ladies” and “Gentlemen” above the entries to public toilets. 【小题2】

In the US, you will get where you need to go if you ask where the “bathroom” is. If you’re in a shopping mall, you should ask for directions to the “restroom”. Americans also use the word “john”. 【小题3】

Australians say “loo”. It is also quite popular in the UK. 【小题4】 New Zealanders use the word “bog”, and South Africans “want (to) go to the bathroom”.

【小题5】 Well, it’s from the French “toilette”—to wash yourself.

People from English-speaking countries also use some witty (智慧的) words. For example, “throne (王座)” to describe the toilet and “throne room” for the bathroom.

Honesty is a good thing. But does Mother Nature agree? Animals can’t talk, but can they lie in other ways?

Animal experts may not call it lying, but they do agree that many animals, from birds to chimpanzees (黑猩猩), behave dishonestly to fool other animals. Why? Dishonesty often helps them survive.

Many kinds of birds are very successful at fooling other animals. For example, a bird called the plover sometimes pretends to be hurt in order to protect its young. When a predator (猎食动物) gets close to its nest, the plover leads the predator away from the nest. How? It pretends to have a broken wing. The predator follows the “hurt” adult, leaving the baby birds safe in the nest.

Another kind of bird, the scrub jay, hides its food so it always has something to eat. Scrub jays are also thieves. They watch where others hide their food and steal it. But clever scrub jays seem to know when a thief is watching them. So they go back later, dig the food, and hide it again somewhere else.

Chimpanzees, or chimps, can also be sneaky. After a fight, the losing chimp will give its hand to the other. When the winning chimp puts out its hand, too, the chimps are friendly again. But an animal expert once saw a losing chimp take the winner’s hand and start fighting again.

Chimps are sneaky in other ways, too. When chimps find food that they love, such as bananas, it is natural for them to cry out. Then other chimps come running. But some clever chimps learn to cry very softly when they find food. That way, other chimps don’t hear them, and they don’t need to share their food.

As children, many of us learn the saying “You can’t fool Mother Nature.” But maybe you can’t trust her, either.