Lydia is 14 years old. She lives in a small house with her parents and two brothers, Daniel and Henry. Daniel is 12 years old, and Henry is 9 years old. Daniel and Henry often complain about the small house. They want to live in a big house. Their dream house is very big. In the house, they each have a bedroom, a desk and a computer. In front of the house, there is a big beautiful garden. In the garden, there are some fruit trees. They like eating fruit very much. Behind the garden, there is a swimming pool. They like swimming, too. They can ask their friends to come to their house on weekends. They can play computer games, swim and do their homework together. They say they will have a lot of fun that time.

    It is increasingly popular for Chinese youngpeople to share their experiences on social media (媒体), such as the"moments"(朋友圈)on popular instant messagingservice WeChat. "I have been reading 'JaneEyre' for 40 days with 48,000 words finished Li Anqi said. Li has beensharing her reading experience on WeChat moments every day since January.Working in Yinchuan, capital of Northwest China? s Ningxia, Li wants to learnEnglish very much, but cannot get rid of (摆脱)theeveryday work of school lessons.

    "I found many of my WeChat friends hadbeen reading books or learning English on mobile reading apps, and I did notwant to fall behind," Li said.

In January, she spent more than 100yuan buying an online reading class at the Bohe Reading app, which tellscustomers they can: "Finish reading your first English book here."

    At her reading class, teachers assignreading homework and give instructions to 430 class members every day.

    A survey reportreleased on Thursdaysaid 70.9 percent of primary and middle students in China use the Wechatinstant messaging App.

    At the same time, 75. 9 percent of Chinesechildren have their own mobile phones, according to China National Children'sCenter.

    The figures were based on a survey of nearly9000 children across China.

    However, 28. 8 percent of them never readnews online and 43. 2 percent have never touched newspapers.

    The center called for efforts to address thedigital divide between urban and rural education and protect children's privacy(隐私)asInternet users.

Do you know cosmic radiation(宇宙辐射)? Have you ever seen the auroras ( 极 光 ) in the sky? Cosmic radiation creates these pretty lights in the North and South Pole areas. It seems that cosmic radiation is a beautiful gift from space. But for some people, it can be dangerous.

A 53-year-old flight attendant(空中乘务员) in South Korea, who spent about 1, 022 hours flying each year, passed away due to cancer. His death was thought to be connected to great exposure (暴露) to cosmic radiation. During his lifetime, nearly half of his flights crossed the areas in and around the North Pole, where cosmic radiation is very strong.

Cosmic radiation from space is hitting Earth nonstop, coming from both the sun and other stars in the sky.

____ . Earth's magnetic field (磁场) and atmosphere (大气层) protect us from most cosmic radiation. The magnetic field is the strongest near the equator and the weakest at the poles. People living at higher latitudes (纬度), like in Heilongjiang province, are exposed to a bit more cosmic radiation than those living at lower latitudes, like in Hainan province. Also, when you go higher in an airplane, the thin atmosphere increases exposure to cosmic radiation.

Cosmic radiation can create health risks. However, what makes cosmic radiation dangerous also makes it useful. The high speed and energy of cosmic radiation have provided wonderful ideas for treating some cancer. Scientists can now produce man-made radiation similar to cosmic radiation. Compared to the present ways of treating cancer, it can work better with less harm to healthy parts of the body around them.

①Lake Victoria is the largest lake in Africa and the second largest freshwater lake in the world. Lake Victoria not only is beautiful but also provides a source(源头) of water, food and power for several African countries. However, the lake has been polluted seriously. People there worry about the problem and take action to protect it. James Kateeba is one of them.

②James Kateeba lives in Uganda, a country next to Lake Victoria. His job is to show tourists around Uganda. He found that during the rainy season, there is a lot of plastic waste floating(漂浮) on Lake Victoria. It not only pollutes the environment but also influences the local fishing industry(工业). 

③James Kateeba wanted to do something for Lake Victoria. Mr. Kateeba watched some fishermen building boats. Suddenly, he came up with an idea. He decided to make his own boat. And his boat is not like traditional wooden boats. His boat is made of recycled things, and it became a recycling project later.

④In 2007, James asked fishermen to collect plastic bottles for some money. They tied the bottles to nets(网) to make a special boat that could float on the water. Mr. Kateeba put soil over the bottles and built a garden. Then he added the board. Tourists like his boat for its rich plants, food and drinks. Today, the boat, marketed(营销) as the Floating Island, can comfortably serve 100 visitors at a time.

⑤Mr. Kateeba isn't the only one who wants to clean up. Local environmental workers also offered money to fishermen to collect all the bottles they caught in their nets.

 The National Literacy Trust once did some researches(调查) on reading. About 32,000 children from different schools in the UK answered the questions from it. These children are aged from 8 to 18.

 The research shows that children in the UK are reading less in their free time. Just over a quarter of the students said they read outside school. About the same number said their parents didn't feel that reading was important. Half of those students said they enjoyed reading"very much" or"quite a lot". About two in five thought reading was"cool", but about one in three said they only read when they had to.

 Jonathan Douglas from the National Literacy Trust said, "Our research not only shows that children are reading less and having negative attitudes(消极的态度) to reading but also shows the relationship(关系) between this and their performance in reading tests." The research also finds that many children in the UK like to read e- books outside school. The percentage in 2014 was about 6% and it grew to 12% in2015.

 In today's world, there are so many activities for children to do. But if they sit down and do some reading, they will find reading is really interesting and useful.

The horse-face skirt or mamianqun, is a traditional Chinese skirt that dates back to the Song dynasty. It actually has nothing to do with a horse's face. "Ma Mian" in ancient China has another meaning. It refers to a special structure of ancient Chinese city wall system. But whether its name is really related to the city wall is still a question.

During the Song dynasty, it was initially worn by high-class coursesans (歌舞伎) and was made of silk or cotton. Because of the style and its functionality, it soon spread among the upper-class ladies. In the early Ming dynasty, mamianqun was quite loose, and its style was simple, and it was characterized (是……的特征) by a high-waisted design and a skirt that looked like the face of a horse. Mamianqun in the Qing dynasty gradually developed into the everyday clothing of Han women, which was also used in wedding dresses in the late Qing dynasty. Mamianqun was still worn by Chinese women in the 1920s. After the May Fourth Movement, the difference between Chinese women's skirts and Western women's skirts became smaller, and the traditional elements gradually disappeared.

Nowadays, this traditional beauty continues to be valued by Chinese people. The Chinese actress Yang Mi wore it in the 2024 Henan TV Spring Festival Gala. It immediately became a trendy clothing on social media. Many people searched the same skirt worn by the actress on e-shopping platforms. It is called the neo-Chinese style which naturally puts together modernity and tradition.