Let's take a look at the cool inventions in science and technology.

Robot-teacher

    Some students in South Korea have new language instructors: the English-teaching robots. The robots help students practise speaking English. South Korea employs many foreigners to teach English. The robot-teachers can help to solve a shortage of English teachers. Can robots replace human teachers one day?

Superhero suit

    Have you ever dreamed of becoming a superhero? There's a real Iron Man suit, XOS 2. The suit provides the power to lift 200 pounds and break the wood easily. It was designed to help the military with heavy lifting. One person in the suit can do the work of three soldiers.

Hard-working robot

    The EMIEW2 robot is a perfect office helper. It can guide visitors to the places they want to go. The three-foot-tall robot can know different human voices and react to instructions. One day, it may work as a receptionist or a guard.

Vanuatu is an island nation in the South Pacific. It is one of the smallest countries in the world. But tor those who are interested in adventure and sport, there is a lot to do. Vanuatu's islands offer visitors two of the most exciting and dangerous activities in the world: volcano (火山) surfing and land diving.

    Volcano Surfing

    On Tanna Island, Mount Yasur rises 300 meters into the sky. Yasur is an active volcano, and it erupts (爆发) almost every day, sometimes several times a day. For centuries, people have climbed this mountain to visit the top. Recently, people have also started climbing Yasur to surf the volcano. In some ways, volcano surfing is like surfing in the sea, but in other ways it's very different. Volcano surfers try to escape the erupting volcano-without getting hit by flying rocks! It's last, fun and dangerous-the perfect extreme sport (极限运动).

    Land Diving

    Most people are familiar with bungee jumping, but do you know bungee jumping started on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu and is almost fifteen centuries old? The activity, first called land diving, is part of a religious ceremony (宗教仪式). A man ties tree vines(树藤) to his legs. He then jumps head-first from a high tower to touch the earth with the top of his head-without breaking the vine. Every spring, island natives (men only) still take Dart in this amazing activity.

    Twenty years ago, I drove a taxi for a living. One early morning, I went to pick up a passenger at 2:30 a. m. When I arrived to collect my passenger, I saw a small woman in her eighties standing before me. I took her suitcase to the car and then returned to help the woman. She took my arm and we walked slowly towards the car.

    She kept thanking me for my kindness. "It's nothing," I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way l would want my mother treated."

    "Oh, you're such a good man," she said. When we got into the taxi, she gave me an address, and then asked, "Could you drive me throughout the downtown (市中心)?"

    "It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly.

    "Oh, I'm in no hurry," she said. "I'm on my way to hospice (末期病人安养所). I don't have any family left. The doctor says I don't have very long time." I quietly shut off the meter (计价器). For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked, and the neighborhood where she had lived. Sometimes she asked me to slow down in front of a special building and she would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

    As the day broke, she suddenly said. "I'm tired. Let's go now."

    We drove in silence to the address she had given me.

    "How much shall I give you?" she asked.

    "Nothing," I answered.

    "You have to make a living," she said.

    "Oh, there are other passengers," I said.

    Almost without thinking, I bent down and gave her a hug. She held onto me tightly and said, "You gave an old woman a little moment of happiness."

    There was once a little grey planet mat was very sad. The people living there didn't look after it. They polluted me whole planet so much with rubbish that there were no plants or animals left.

    One day, a little boy was walking on the planet when he passed a cave (洞穴) and noticed a small red flower inside. The flower was very sick, almost dying, so the boy carefully dug up the flower with roots, soil and everything. Then he started looking for a place where he could look after it. He searched all over the planet, but everywhere was so polluted that there was no place the flower could possibly live in. Then he looked up at the sky and noticed the Moon. It seemed to the boy that maybe the plant could live there. So the little boy put on his astronaut suit, and climbed into a spaceship. He put the little red flower in the back, and they went to the Moon.

    Far away from all that pollution, and with the boy visiting it every day to take care of it, the flower started to grow. The flower was so well cared for that it soon germinated, giving birth to others, and these other flowers spread onto other flowers. Before long, the whole Moon was completely covered with flowers.

    That's why, whenever the little boy's flowers open up, for a few minutes the Moon turns red, like a warning light. Maybe it's telling us that if we don't look after our planet, the day will come when flowers will only be able to grow on the Moon.

    Kite surfing (风筝滑浪) is a kind of water sport. It began in the 1980s, but didn't get popular until the end of last century. It is also known as kite boarding, and in some European countries as fly surfing. Kite surfing works through wind power by using a large kite to pull a rider on the water at a high speed.

    At first, kite surfing was a difficult and dangerous sport. Now it is becoming easier and safer because of the safer kite design. For an able and strong person, kite surfing can be a very fun and extremely exciting sport, just like skating on the water with a feeling of flying. It has become more and more popular.

    Compared with other water sports, kite surfing is easier to learn. A beginner can understand how to operate the kite with 5-10 hours of training. And anybody aged from 13 to 65 can learn. It is not expensive to get me equipment for kite surfing, which costs $1,000 to $2,500. The fee for training lessons is from $200 to $500 for two or three hours. With the development of its equipment, kite surfing is becoming even safer. After some training, you can enjoy its excitement and challenging feeling.

    With the rising popularity of kite surfing, most major seaside cities have kite surfing clubs. In China, Xiamen is the only place that has the kite surfing club, which provides professional (专业的) kite surfing training and equipment.

    Working on losing weight? Then you probably want the results to be fast. Let me save you some time. You have healthier choices you can start on today—a healthy diet and enough exercise!

    "You can safely lose 3 or more pounds a week with a healthy diet and lots of exercise, "says weight loss consultant Dr Katherine.

    If you burn 500 more calories than you eat every day for a week, you could lose about 1-2 pounds. If you want to lose weight faster, you'll need to eat less and exercise more.

    For example, if you take in 1,050 to 1,200 calories a day, and exercise for one hour per day, you could 1ose 3-5 pounds in the first week.

    For healthy eating habits to help people lose weight, Dr Katherine recommends eating a diet that reduces starch (淀粉). Sugar and animal fat from meat and dairy foods should be added to your daily diet. For a fast weight loss, Dr Katherine also recommends focusing on fruits, vegetables, egg whites, soy products, chicken, fish, seafood, nonfat dairy foods, and meat with less than 10％ of fat.

    Here are more tips from Dawn Jackson, the writer of the book The Flexitarian Diet:

    Eat vegetables to help you feel full.

    Drink plenty of water.

    Get fast food out of your home.

    Stay busy—you may want to eat just when you're bored.

    Eat only from a plate, while seated at a table. No sitting in front of the fridge.

    Don't forget your meals.

    Keep a food journal. Write down everything you eat can also help you keep a healthy diet. The act of writing it down is about being responsible to yourself and is a very effective method for weight loss.

    Besides taking notes of what and when you ate, you might also want to note how you were feeling right before you ate it. Were you angry, sad, or bored? We often focus so much on foods and calories, but our feelings are a huge part of our eating habits. For example, people may eat much more than they need when they are angry. It can be a big help for losing weight if you can control your feelings before you start to eat.

    To write a great news story, you have to make sure it is correct, relevant(相关的)and flesh.

    For a start, all the information in a story must be correct. Not only the spelling and grammar, but also the facts.

    Any mistakes that appear in a story can get a newspaper into big trouble.

    For example, if a newspaper said that Yang Liwei was the first man to go into space, it would be wrong. He wasn't the first. The newspaper would probably lose lots of readers because of that mistake.

    A news story is not only correct, but also relevant to its readers. People are mostly interested in news that happens near to them. That is why you care more about what happens at your school than at American schools. It is also why newspapers in Beijing don't talk about much news in Shanghai or Hong Kong.

    Finally, news must always be fresh. When you pick up your evening newspaper, you want to read about news that happens that day. You don't want to read about news from last week!

    So, now you know what makes a good news story. Have a good look at our newspaper and see if it is full of good news. You can try writing a news story for our newspaper like a real reporter.

    Class Three had an interesting class meeting last week. Here is what four of them said.

D

    This is the time of a year when we think about giving and receiving presents; Do you want to give a hand? We give you a few organizations you might like to help.

Littleton Children's Home

    We don't want your money, but children's toys, books and clothes in good condition would be very welcome. We are also looking for friendly families who would take our children into their homes for a few hours or days and give them not only food but also love. You have so much, but will you share it?

    Phone Sister Thomas on 55671.

Street Food

    In winter, it's no fun being homeless. It's even worse if you're hungry. We give hot food to at least fifty people every night. It's hard work, but necessary. Can you come and help? If not, can you give a little money or buy some saucepans (炖锅)? We use a very old kitchen, and we really need some new saucepans. Money for new things would be the most welcome.

    Contact Street Food, c/o Mary's house Elming Way. Phone number: 27713.

B

Our school decides to organize (筹备) an English

Week to improve our English.