At 18, many American young people go off on their own. They go away to college or find full-time jobs, and they often pay for their own apartments. Some get married and start families. This independence（独立) is learned from childhood.
     From an early age, American children learn to do things by themselves. Children as young as 2 begin to put away their toys and dress themselves. At 3, many children do simple chores like setting the table.
     Using money in the right way is also taught early. As soon as a child understands the value of money, he or she receives a weekly allowance. This is used for things the child wants, like toys or treats. The child can spend or save it, usually with little help or advice from parents. If the child wants more money, it must be earned by doing extra chores.
     Children are taught early in life to think for themselves. They are allowed to make some decisions and make mistakes. Failure often teaches more than success.

     Shenzhen's fast development has made it become China's most crowded city!  Here are about 15 million people living on its 1,991 square kilometers. On each square kilometer averagely(平均地) live 7, 500 people. It is 1, 080 more than that in Hong Kong, and nearly 800 more than that in Guangzhou.

    Besides, Shenzhen owns 2 million local vehicles, and about 300, 000 vehicles from other places also run on the local roads every day. The total length of the city's roads is 6, 041 kilometers. It means each resident only owns 0. 58 meters of road!

    As a result, the city is facing serious environment and resource(能源) problem. One of the problems is water shortage. The amount of fresh water for each person of the city is only 25％ of the country's average. What's more, most of the water drunk by Shenzhen people comes from other areas.

    Your mom tells you to put on your hat and gloves. But as the cold winter season gets closer, it's so cold that even mom's advice does not work.

    That means it's time to put on your qiuku! This is a kind of "thermal underwear(保暖内衣)" or long underpants that keep people warm in the coldest months of the year.

    In Western countries, qiuku is usually known as long johns  but they aren't popular. Long johns in the US are usually two pieces,  a long-sleeved(长袖的) shirt and long pants, worn under other clothing or sometimes even used as pajamas(睡衣).

    Long johns first appeared in England during the 17^th century. We call them long johns because the US boxer John L. Sullivan wore them while he boxed. But this is not a historical fact.

    In the US, it gets quite cold and snowy in many places. And while parents often push kids to wear more clothes and long underwear,  it's very special when young people actually(实际上) put them on.

    Part of the reason might be because it's not very fashionable(时尚的) and another reason might be because people don't spend much time outside during the cold months. So they just deal with the freezing(冰冻的) temperatures when they have to leave the warm building. But in their parents' eyes, staying warm is more important than looking nice.

    Australia as a nation is less than 250 years old if the year 1770 when James Cook discovered the land is regarded as a starting point for its modern history. The short history has not produced a big wealth of cultural heritages. For this reason, Australia spare no efforts to protect its culture. The cottage of James Cook is a perfect example of the government and people's effort.

    Built in 1755, Cooks' Cottage is the oldest building in Australia, with a fascinating past. It's a must when exploring Melbourne. Originally located in Yorkshire, England, the cottage was brought to the Fitzroy Gardens by Sir Russell Grimwade in 1934. In 1901 Australia came into being with its capital in Melbourne. To celebrate the birth of the nation, a statue of Captain Cook was built in Sydney where Cook had sailed in and set his steps onto the land. Stamps were printed in honor of the English explorer. However, Australian people would have to travel all the way to Britain to admire the life of the discoverer, so Sir Russell Grimwade, an Australian businessman, offered to buy the old house of James Cook in Yorkshire and relocate it to Melbourne when Melbourne celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1934. Amazingly, each piece was carefully numbered, packed into boxes and then shipped to Australia, along with cuttings of the original coverings. It took nearly a month to reach Melbourne.

    In fact, explorer Captain James Cook never lived in the cottage-he'd been away from home for almost ten years when his father built it-but this connection to the Cook family was enough to prompt Grimwade to transport the cottage to the other side of the world.

    The construction(建设)of high﹣speed railways in China began with the building of the Qinhuangdao﹣Shenyang High﹣Speed Railway（HSR）in 1999.Now the high﹣speed rail network in China is the largest in the world. So far, there have been about 1700 kilometers of HSR in service, along with trains of an average(平均)speed of 220 km/h.

    Now Chinese government plans to spend $300 million building the largest and fastest HSR system in the world by 2020. It's said that the trains can run 400 km/h and create new business for China and other countries through the Belt and Road.(一带一路)

    It's predicted that the HSR network in China will reach 30,000 kilometers and it will be like a grid, which is mainly made up of 8 long﹣distance high﹣speed rail lines:  four north﹣south HSR lines and four east﹣west HSR lines. Except for the Qingdao﹣Taiyuan HSR, all HSR lines of the railgrid are longer than 1,000 kilometers.

    Feng Hao, an expert, says "Many markets along the Belt and Road, especially in Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Eastern European countries, are planning to build HSR lines. They look forward to getting technological support from China".