Exploit your parking space

    An unused parking space or garage can make money. If you live near a city center or an airport, you could make anything up to￡200 or￡300 a week. Put an advertisement for free on Letpark or Atmyhousepark

Rent a room

    Spare room? Not only will a lodger（房客）earn you an income, but also, thank to the government-backed "rent a room" program, you won't have to pay any tax on the first￡4500 you make per year. Try advertising your room on Roomspare or Roommateeasy.

Make money during special events

    Don't want a full-time lodger? Then rent on a short-term basis. If you live in the capital, renting a room out during the Olympics or other big events could bring in money. Grashpadder can advertise your space.

Live on set

    Renting your home out as a "film set" could earn you hundreds of pounds a day, depending on the film production company and how long your home is needed. A quick search on the Internet will bring up dozens of online companies that allow you to register your home for free—but you will be charged if your home gets picked.

Use your roof

    You need the right kind of roof, but some energy companies pay the cost of fixing solar equipment (around￡14,000),and let you use the energy produced for nothing. In return, they get paid for unused energy fed back into the National Grid. However, you have to sign a 25-year agreement with the supplier, which could prevent you from changing the roof.

根据短文内容，请将单词填写在题号对应的横线上。

Paris

Passengers carried per day: 4.4m

Cost of ticket: 80p flat fare

Length: 131 miles    Lines: 14   Stations: 297

    In Paris there are pleasures for those who use the Metro(地铁) — many of them artistic. The graceful Art Nouveau dragon-fly entrances are just the most noticeable on a Metro system which celebrated its 100^th anniversary by spending 30 million francs (£2.9million) on making its stations works of art. On my way home I pass Bonne Nouvelle station in the heart of Paris's cinema district. There, during the cinema festival this summer, special lighting effects dot the platforms and films are projected onto the large advertising boards.

    More than anything the metro is efficient. “When I worked on line 4”, says a retired driver, “we had exactly 30 minutes and 15 seconds to complete the journey. If it took any longer, they cut our pay.” But there are problems. Many Metro stations have too many stairs, and changing lines at big interchanges(交换) can be tiresome.

Moscow

Passengers carried per day: 9m

Cost of ticket: 12p

Length: 164 miles    Lines: 11   Stations: 162

    The first underground passage for the Moscow Metropolitan started in 1932. Three years later the trains started running. They haven't stopped since— every 90 seconds or two minutes during rush hour, every five minutes the rest of the time, from 6 a.m. till 1 a. m. There may be a crowd of people but there is seldom a wait.

    The trains take you through spacious and spotless stations. For tourists it's a major sightseeing attraction: from Russian Art Deco to neo-classical, the Metro stations are not to be missed.

Tokyo

Passengers carried per day: 7m

Cost of ticket: 90p ~ £1.68

Length: 177 miles    Lines: 12   Stations: 209

    Trains do not just arrive on time in Tokyo. They stop right on the platform mark so that passengers can line up knowing exactly where the doors will open. Train driving is a respectful job for life, for which the applicants must pass a strict screening of health checks, interviews and written exams before they can put on the enviable uniform, cap and white gloves.

    However, overcrowding means it is far from perfect. At rush hours, some stations employ part-time platform staff to push in passengers. Carriages can be filled to 184% of capacity(容量). The main reason for such conditions is that the Tokyo subway station system has only 15 miles of track for every 1 million people, compared to 36 on the London Underground. New lines are under construction, but at a cost of £500,000 per meter of rail. Progress has been slow.

Mexico City

Passengers carried per day: 4.2m

Cost of ticket: 11p flat fare

Length: 99 miles    Lines: 11   Stations: 175

    Fast, relatively safe, and very cheap, Mexico City's underground is an ideal place of order and efficiency compared to the disorders above. The Mexican capital's underground system is the biggest in the continent and one of the most subsidized (获得补助的) networks in the world.

    The first trains leave the station at 5 a.m. and the last after midnight as the crowd move from the outskirts of the 20 million-strong megacity (大城市). Mexico City's Metro also attracts a sizeable group of passengers who are unwilling to spend hours in traffic jams. There is a master plan to build new lines and extend existing one, but financial constraints (约束) complicated by the fact that the system runs through different jurisdicitons (管辖权) mean progress is slow.

    It's not easy being a teenager— nor is it easy being the parent of a teenager. You can make your child feel angry, hurt, or misunderstood by what you say without realizing it yourself. It is important to give your child the space he needs to grow while gently letting him know that you'll still be there for him when he needs you.

    Expect a lot from your child, just not everything. Except for health and safety problems, such as drug use or careless driving; consider everything else open to discussion. If your child is unwilling to discuss something, don't insist he tell you what's on his mind. The more you insist, the more likely that he'll clam up. Instead, let him attempt to solve things by himself. At the same time, remind him that you're always there for him if he seeks advice or help. Show respect for your teenager's privacy (隐私). Never read his mail or listen in on personal conversations.

    Teach your teenager that the family phone is for the whole family. If your child talks on the family's telephone for too long, tell him he can talk for 15 minutes, but then he must stay off the phone for at least an equal period of time. This not only frees up the line so that other family members can make and receive calls, but teaches your teenager moderation (节制). Or if you are open to the idea, allow your teenager his own phone that he pays for with his own pocket money or a part-time job.

    A nine-year-old kid was sitting at his desk when suddenly there was a puddle（水潭、泥坑） between his feet and the front of his trousers was wet. He thought his heart was going to stop because he couldn't possibly imagine how this had happened. It had never happened before, and he knew that when the boys found out he would never hear the end of it. When the girls found out, they would never speak to him again as long as he lived.

    He prayed this prayer, "Dear God, I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat!" He looked up from his prayer and here came the teacher with a look in her eyes that said he had been discovered. As the teacher was walking toward him, a classmate named Susie was carrying a goldfish bowl full of water. Susie tripped （绊倒） in front of the teacher and dumped （倒） the bowl of water in the boy's lap. The boy pretended to be angry, but all the while was saying to himself, "Thank you. Lord!"

    Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy was the object of sympathy. The teacher rushed him downstairs and gave him gym shorts to put on while his trousers dried out. All the other children were on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy was wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his had been transferred （转移） to someone else+—Susie. She tried to help, but they told her to get out.

    When school was over, the boy walked over to Susie and whispered, "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Susie whispered back, "I wet my trousers once, too!"

Hot Technology Products at CES 2020

The consumer electronics show, or CES, presents new technology developments annually. Here are some latest products launched at CES 2020.

The Sero TV

Samsung introduced a TV that can be used to watch video designed for a smartphone. The Sero TV does this by turning itself from the normal TV position to an upright position that looks like the shape of a phone. The V can connect to mobile devices to play video directly from the phone.

Smart waste can

A company called TOWNEW presented; waste can designed for the home that does a lot of the dirty work on its own. When the can is full, the user touches a button to activate the machine's smart abilities. The device then completely closes off the waste bag inside, puts a new one in place, all by itself, and raises its top so the user can pick up and throw away the bag.

Invisible car hood(引擎盖)

Automobile industry company Continental showed off a new technology that seems to make the front end of a vehicle disappear. The technology, called "Transparent Hood," aims to make driving safer and easier. Cameras provide video of the area underneath the vehicle, permitting the driver to see objects and road conditions that might present danger.

Wearable air purifier

A company called Aō Air introduced a wearable air purifier. Designed to be a high-tech face covering to block pollution, the device pulls air through a filtration(过滤)system and then uses fans to create a small area of clean air at its front, allowing the air to be purified-without the need for a solid container.

The urgency and importance of Covid-19 over (he past year have driven almost everything else from most leaders5 minds. But since the vaccine is kicking in, Britain's government is once again beginning to think about the things that will matter later. Next week, it is expected to publish a 'plan for growth" to boost productivity, with innovation at its centre.

The world may be on the point of a technological boom with life sciences, at which Britain excels. Innovation is crucial to productivity, but on this front Britain's performance has lagged behind its competitors' in recent years. Its low spending on Research and Development (R&D) argues for a boost. Those who attributed the financial failure in the 1970s to the insufficiency of research funds may regard this as a threat to economic growth. Promoting innovation can quickly (um into an exercise in picking winners - or, as is more often the case, losers.

A second danger is that policy agendas get mixed up. The government has promised to "level up" poorer areas of the country, so deprived towns arc campaigning for more money for their universities. But trying to boost innovation by sending money to weak institutions is likely to make our leading universities lose their advantages, thus producing average ideas that could have been remarkable. Britain's research-funding system has always been elitist(精英主义的). It should stay that way.

The government's first move in boosting innovation was the announcement of a plan for an Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). ARlA's purpose is to fund high-risk, high-reward research. But money is not all that mailers. The successful translation of life science research into treatments during the pandemic suggests some inexpensive measures that can also make a difference.

One is to speed up governmental processes. The rapidity with which Britain's medical regulator moved during the pandemic is one reason why the vaccine rollout is racing through the population. Urgency is not unique lo pandemics. Getting things done quickly can make an investment worthwhile and determine where a businessman chooses as a base.

Another useful measure the government should use is its unique ability to overcome barriers. At the beginning of the pandemic. Covid-19 researchers were unable to gain access to different strands of health service data. The government eased restrictions on existing data and allowed researchers to ask people who had tested positive tor Covid-19 to join trials. Both were crucial to the effort.

A last principle is the value of connections between the government and the private sector. Kate Bingham, a venture capitalist who led the vaccine-purchase effort, understood how to deal with drug companies. Many of the civil servants working with her had commercial experience. The governments closeness to business during the pandemic has been criticized. But without it, the vaccine effort would not have succeeded.

Innovation took human beings from caves to computers. Good education, a welcoming immigration policy and a friendly business environment will do most to tend it. But a new sensible principles can help keep the flame burning.