My grandmother is over eighty years old. She always complains about how greatly things have changed, and she often says that life used to be better.

    Families aren't families the way they used to be. If a husband and wife are having problem with their marriage, they don't stay together any more. They choose to divorce. Mothers used to stay at home and take care of their children, but now everyone is busy working; no one has time to look after children at home.

    And the cars! No one walk any more; people get richer and richer, and more and more people buy cars and drive. We used to walk five miles to school every day, even in winter. But now children don't.

    And in school, children don't have to think any more. When I was at school, I used to add, subtract, multiply and divide using my head in math class, but now, children use calculators instead.

    Most families have computers and TVs now. In the past we didn't have computers or TVs, we spent a lot of time talking with our family members. But now, people are too busy to talk to each other. If they have time, they'd watch TV or surf the Internet rather than talk to family members. They are even too busy to eat and think.

    Life used to be simple, but it isn't any more.

Information Card

    Most of us think the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}In fact, an Italian named Antonio Meucci was officially recognised(认定)as the inventor a few years ago. Who is Meucci and why wasn't he known for his invention at the time?

    Antonio Meucci was born in Italy in 1808. He studied engineering and drawing. During his studies, Meucci started to experiment with electricity. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}When two places were connected with wire, people in those places could hear each other talk.

    In 1850, Meucci and his wife. Ester, moved to New York. Meucci was worried about his wife, because she had become very ill. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}To solve this problem, he connected metal cables between his home and his workshop. This way, they could talk to each other conveniently.

    Meucci invited a group of people to see his new invention. They listened in amazement as the voice of a singer was heard through the wires.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Even worse, Meucci never applied for a patent (专利) on his invention. Meanwhile, Alexander Graham Bell was working on the same idea and in 1876 the patent for the telephone was given to him.

    In 2002, more than a century after Meucci's death, his work was finally recognised by the government. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Its name is Price low.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} You can buy school things, like notebook, pens, rulers, pencils, erasers and pencil-boxes.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}You can also buy clothes. Some of the things there ate cheap.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}The supermarket is open every day from 7:00am to 8:00 pm .The worker there are very good.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}They will help you if you want to buy anything.

    In the eyes of many foreigners, Chinese are the best hosts and the worst guests in the world. They're not really bad guests, but because the guest-host relationship in China is much different than in some western counties, it appears they are not nice guests. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Whenever I enter a Chinese person's home, there is always fruit on the table for me, and someone is quick to bring me a cup of tea or water. In the west, generally the guest is not a god. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    My wife's mother, a very kind elderly Chinese lady, doesn't smoke. When I see some of her guests smoking in her house, as a non-smoker, I feel unhappy. Usually I want to stop them directly, but I must realize that in China, to be a good host, she must not do that. In most North America homes, if you are a guest, and the hosts are not smokers, you should not smoke in their house.  {#blank#}4{#/blank#} But, don't be surprised if they say," No, you can't smoke. "

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Some western people may not adapt to these habits very soon. Thankfully my wife is Chinese, so whenever we visit a Chinese family she tells me to buy them a gift. However, giving a gift to a host is not always necessary in my country. So, if you invite international guests to your home, don't be too surprised if they don't bring you a gift.

    In China, you probably won't need to change the guest-host relationship very much because you will probably only be the host, and Chinese are naturally very good hosts. If western hosts invite you to their house, try not to be too surprised if their style of treating you is not what you have expected.

A. In China, guests are almost like gods.

B. Guests in China also have special habits.

C. At the very least, you could ask, "Is it OK if I smoke?"

D. Acting according to the host's way of doing things is usual behavior for a guest.

E. And western guests sometimes look impolite or even rude in the eyes of Chinese guests.

    The sun was falling behind the hills. Andrea was driving back home to Brockboune. Then she saw an old lady, standing by the toad, with a sign saying "Brockboune" in her hand.

    Andrea stopped the car. When the old lady got in, Andrea could see that she was not that little. She was in a long dress and had a hat pulled down low over her eyes. She put her big brown shopping bag down onto the floor.

    "Do you live in Brockboune?" asked Andrea. "No, dear," answered the old lady in a low voice, "I'm just going to visit a friend, but my car won't start, so I decided to hitchhike."

    Something in the way the lady spoke made Andrea uneasy, Andrea secretly studied the half-covered face, the shapeless body, the arms with their thick black hairs… Thick black hairs? Andrea's blood froze. This wasn't a woman. It was a man!

    Her heart was beating wildly and her mind raced. Then suddenly, an idea came up to her. She stopped the car in a sudden. "My God!" she shouted, "A child! Did you see the child? I think I hit her!" "I didn't see anything", the "old lady" said, "I don't think you hit anything." "I'm sure it was a child!" shouted Andrea. "Could you just get out and have a look?" The "old lady" slowly opened the car door, leaving her bag inside. As soon as "she" was out of the car, Andrea drove away as soon as possible.

    Several minutes later, Andrea thought about the "old lady's" bag and opened it carefully. There was only one thing in it—a shining knife.

    Around the world, people live in homes of many shapes and sizes. In some countryside, people live together with their family in a huge house with gardens or backyards. On the other hand, the buildings in cities are usually very close together.

    A home can be any kind of building—large or small. Some people even have homes on boats, in tents or in caravans that can be moved around. Caravans are mobile homes. They are towed(拖，拉) by either a car or a huge truck. Some of them are holiday homes. We can see many families staying together in these caravans.

    In the past, rich and important people built strong castles to keep their families safe. The castles(城堡) were built on hill tops with high walls and some even had moats. Moats were deep and wide ditches(壕沟) filled with water. They made it difficult for enemies to attack.

    Today, we have different ways of protecting our homes. Some homes are installed(安装) with video cameras and an alarm system. These will help to alert(向……报警) home owners if someone tries to break in.

    Homes are important to all the people. Everyone needs a home where they feel sheltered and safe.