Every Sunday from November through April, a group of men and women run shouting into the freezing waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New York City. Are they crazy? Maybe. Do they have a great time? Definitely.

The Coney Island Polar Bear Club was（16）______ in 1903 by Bernarr Macfadden. He believed that a regular dip in cold water had big health（17）______. He proclaimed this theory while in the（18）______ water as onlookers were shocked. Now every Sunday, men and women still flock to the Polar Bear Club’s（19）______  outings as a way to “chill”. Water temperatures（20）______ from about 60°F to about 33°F. Add to the windchill factor, and you will have one frosty（21）______!

Swimming with the Coney Island Polar Bear Club takes some（22）______. First, you should go to the clinic to have a check by your（23）______ before swimming in cold water to make sure you’re in（24）______ physical health. Next, you’ll need a bathing suit and a warm towel. Most members（25）______ wear special boots that protect their（26）______ from rocks and other sharp objects on the beach. The boots also help keep their feet（27）______ in the freezing water. 

Once you’re ready to go, it’s just a matter of gathering the（28）______ to make that big leap. Plenty of people end up at the water’s edge and（29）______ cowardly at the last second. If you’re sure you want the Polar Bear（30）______, you might want to bring a friend who won’t let you leave until you’ve taken the jump into the freezing water!

From massive beasts to tiny creepy-crawlies, the following creatures have a reputation for being killers—and they are！But their death tolls are not nearly as high as you might think.

Sharks

For decades, Hollywood blockbusters have portrayed sharks as toothy killing machines with a taste for human flesh. But shark attacks, and fatalities, in particular,  are probably much rarer than you think. Some species of sharks, like the whale shark, don’t pose a threat to humans at all, despite looking pretty menacing. Even the species of sharks responsible for the most attacks on humans(bull sharks, tiger sharks, and white sharks) don’t actively seek to eat humans. They prefer the taste of fish and seals and can actually find humans difficult to digest. One average, sharks are responsible for six human deaths a year. That’s notably fewer than some much less maligned creatures, including hippopotamuses, elephants, and cows (yes, cows)! Find out some more animals that you didn’t realize were more dangerous than sharks.

Bears

“Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” While the Cowardly Lion is the gentle giant who befriends Dorothy’s gang in the film The Wizard of Oz, bears are actually the least deadly of the three animals from this famous scene. It can be challenge to get a precise estimate of how many humans lions and tigers kill per year, but it’s always quite a bit higher than bears’ statistics. Estimates of human deaths by lions and tigers can range from 50 to 100, highest in countries such as Tanzania and India. Combined, brown and black bears only kill an average of one to three humans a year in their native United States and Canada.

Spiders

Don’t get us wrong—black widow spiders are deadly. But many types of spiders—even some of the biggest and scariest-looking ones—don’t often bite and certainly can’t kill you. Spider bites cause an average of seven human deaths per year in the United States. That’s fewer than the number caused by significantly less feared creatures like ants, bees, and, believe it or not, freshwater snails. (They carry a deadly disease called schistosomiasis) And even those creepy-crawlies’ death tolls pale in comparison to the animals that kills the most humans every year.

Mountain lions

These big cats—which you might also call cougars or pumas—are native to North America and are the subject of cautionary tales for many a hiker. Despite that, there are only 25 human deaths by mountain lions on record, period, since 1890. That’s an average of one every five years. If they do a attack, it’s most likely the result of extreme circumstances like sickness or starvation. While they have been known to kill pets, deer, and livestock, mountain lions probably shouldn’t be high on humans’ list of animals to be afraid of. On the other hand, some animals look innocent but are actually dangerous.

At a Dal.komm Coffee shop in Seoul, a robot takes orders from you through a mobile app or a touch screen and then makes fresh coffee. The robot can make up to 14 drinks at a time. Choi Eun Jin thinks the process is fun and easy. The 30-year-old office worker said, “The area is crowded with office workers and local residents during lunchtime. So it’s good to have a robot like this... so you can get your coffee more easily.”

Coffee is just one of the many industries that use automated services in this technologically forward-thinking nation. Others include restaurants, food stores, banks and manufacturers. The development comes as many Koreans, especially the young, are struggling to find work.

South Korea has been an early adopter of automation. It had the highest percentage of robots to human workers in the world in 2017. The International Federation of Robotics says South Korea has 710 robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers. The international average is 85 robots per 10,000 employees.

Even with the job losses, South Korea’s businesses are replacing employees with automation and young people are welcoming the change. Lee Sang Jin said, “Currently, Millennials—those who were born after 1980—are prime consumers. This generation tends to not like meeting other people, so they favor technology that enables people to minimize face-to-face interactions”. At the recently opened LAB101 store, customers can open the door with their credit cards 24 hours a day. Once inside, they can try on jeans and pay for the purchase without having to deal with an employee.

Back at Dal.komm Coffee, a robot can make about 300 cups a day at the cost of $2 to $3. “Personally, I prefer the human coffee maker,” said Lee Sang Jin. He added that the robot cannot make drinks as well as a human. “I like weak coffee, but the robot is unable to control the strength of the coffee well,” Lee said.

Cruz Genet, 11, and Anthony Skopick, 10, couldn’t agree. Were the birds out on the ice ducks or geese? There was only one way to find out. So on a chilly January evening last year, the two friends ventured onto the frozen pond near their homes in Frankfort, Illinois, to get a better look. First, they tossed a rock onto the ice to test it, Cruz told NBC 5 Chicago. “Then we stepped on it” . Convinced the ice would hold their weight, Anthony took a few steps, then...he crashed through the seemingly frozen surface. “There was no sound, no crack,” he told NBC5 Chicago. “I just fell through instantly.”

Cruz rushed to help his panicked friend. The pond swallowed him too. Cruz managed to lift himself out of the freezing water and onto a more solid section. He then cautiously worked his way toward Anthony. But the ice didn’t hold, and he fell in again. This time, he couldn’t get out. The boys were up to their necks in icy water and quickly losing feeling in their limbs. Any chance of their freeing themselves was slipping away. Cruz was sure he was going to die.

Anthony’s older sister had seen the boys fall through the ice and started screaming for help.

John Lavin, a neighbor driving nearby on his way to the grocery store, heard her. He quickly pulled over. Seeing the boys, he grabbed a nearby buoy, kicked off his shoes, and ran into the freezing water. Lavin made his way to Cruz and Anthony and hauled them back to land. They were taken to the hospital, where doctors discovered that their five-minute stay in the water had lowered their body temperature nearly ten degrees.

Fortunately, the boys have fully recovered, though they are still a little awestruck by their fearless neighbor. “Just to think,” says Cruz, “if he wasn’t there, I could have died.”

教学片段: ( 操练环节课堂实录)

T: Boys and girls, we’ll have a party this weekend. We should prepare some nice food for the party. But I don't know what your favorite food is. Can you help me?

Ss: Yes.

T: Please ask your classmates in groups: What’s your favorite food? Why? Then finish this survey.

(学生活动过程中，教师通过巡视、倾听、观察及时了解各小组活动开展情况，并适时提供帮助)

调查结束后，各组长汇报本组调查结果:

S1: In our group, Tom’s favorite food is ... because it’s .

S2: In our group, Chen Jie’s favorite food is .... because it’s