Many animals do strange things before an earthquake. This news may be important. Earthquakes can kill people and knock down homes. The animals may help to save lives.

    Some animals make a lot of noise before an earthquake. Farmers have told about this. Dogs that are usually quiet have started to bark (吠). Horses on farms have run around in circles. Mice have left their holes and run away. Cows have given less milk.

    In a town in Italy, cats raced down the street in a group. That happened only a few hours before an earthquake. In San Francisco, a man kept tiny pet frogs. One Sunday, the frogs jumped around more than ever. They made loud noises, like bigger frogs. That night, an earthquake struck the city.

    People want to know when an earthquake is coming. Then they could get away safely. Right now, there is no sure way to know ahead of time. Maybe the best idea is watching the animals.

    A new camera made by a company named Netatmo has facial recognition software(面部识别软件). It can tell parents at work that their children have returned from school, or that a package has been taken to their home. It can also tell them if a stranger has entered their home.

    Janina Mattausch is the product marketing manager for Netatmo.

    "The common security(安全)camera at present are not that smart. They can tell if something is moving but they don't necessarily know if it's a human being or, ah, if it's your kids. They don't know the difference, so they will warn you all the time."

    When family members enter a home, the new camera "recognizes(识别)" them and sends information to the owner's smartphone. The owner can choose to see the video then or later. But if an unknown person enters a home, the camera will send the warning that will cause an alarm to sound on the owner's smartphone.

    That is what happened recently to an owner of the smart camera named Damien, He lives in Paris.

    "On a Friday I was at work, attending(出席) a big monthly meeting when my phone warned. At first I told myself, 'Oh, it must be a mistake, maybe I have to set the system again.' But the notice on my phone was telling me that there was a movement in my flat and also a face that the software did not recognize."

    He watched the video and was very surprised by what he saw. "I was watching it live on video. So I felt totally unbelievable and frozen. I asked a workmate to take me back home as fast as possible and I called the police on the way."

    With the help of the video, the police found the intruder(闯A者) later that day.

    Where weredominoes (多米诺骨牌) from?Modern dominoes first showed up in Italy during the 18th century. But it isbelieved that the earliest dominoes were Chinese playing cards. Italianmissionaries (传教士) in China may have brought the gameto Europe. Do you think so?

    Do youlike to play with dominoes? Dominoes are small rectangular (长方形的) pieces made of wood orplastic (塑料). People can place dominoes in differentshapes. Then, they push one domino down and the rest of the dominoes fall oneby one. It is interesting to watch.

    Butplacing dominoes is hard. To make sure the dominoes fall smoothly, the spacebetween each domino is important. According to domino—play. com, if a domino is about 4cm long, then the space between two dominoes should be1—2 cm. If the space is too big, the dominoes will stop falling halfway.If the space is too small, the dominoes will fall too quickly and won't lookinteresting.

    Beginnerscan start by putting dominoes in a straight line. This is the easiest shape.Professional (专业的) playerscan place dominoes in many other shapes, including big circles, beautifulflowers and even famous paintings.

Dear Candy,

I am happy to hear from you. I know that you are 1 in Chinese paper cutting(剪纸). Let me tell you about it.

As we all know, paper cutting is a kind of art in China. It has a long 2 . It is very popular 3 easy to make. People often make paper-cuts when they are free, because they think that paper-cuts can bring good luck to 4 .

People usually use red paper 5 paper-cuts. We can 6 paper-cuts on walls, windows, doors, and so on. In China, people like to make paper-cuts in the shape(形状) of flowers and 7 .

It is easy 8 how to make paper-cuts. What you need is a piece of paper and a pair of scissors(剪刀). But it's difficult to be good 9 paper-cuts, because it needs 10 practice and imagination(想象).

I know you will come to China next month. Hope to see you soon.

Best wishes!

Li Hua

Do you know Ireland? It's next to the UK, a great place for a holiday. Every year, lots of t{#blank#}1{#/blank#} come here. Most of them are from the USA, because many Americans have grandparents and great-grandparents who come from Ireland.

Why do so many people come to Ireland? Maybe it's because the capital city, Dublin, has old {#blank#}2{#/blank#} （教堂） and nice hotels. Also, there are great restaurants e{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. It may be because people in Ireland like to make friends. Or it may be because it's one of the most beautiful c{#blank#}4{#/blank#} in the world.

For young people, Ireland is a great place to stay in for {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (几个、一些)days. Camping is easy, and you can {#blank#}6{#/blank#} （拿、带） tents there. You can ride bikes around the island in the f{#blank#}7{#/blank#} time. And you can spend some time on a houseboat on the river.

The music is exciting too. {#blank#}8{#/blank#} （当然）, you can listen to traditional Irish music, or the great Irish pop music. Sometimes, you can even see big stars walk a{#blank#}9{#/blank#}the street!

{#blank#}10{#/blank#} （飞） to Ireland and spend your next holiday. You'll love it!

假如你是 Kate，请你根据以下要点写一篇文章介绍家乡一江门， 可适当发挥， 字数85词左右， 文章开头已给出。

My home town

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kate. I'd like to introduce my home town to you.