Computers are useful machines．They can help people a lot in their daily life ． For example，they can help people to save much time to do much work，and they can help people to work out many problems easily．Our country asks everyone to learn to use computers before the twenty-first century，except the old people．

    Today more and more families own computers ． Parents buy computers for their children．They hope computers can help them improve their studies in school．Yet，many of their children use computers to play games，to watch videos or to chat．Computers can not help children to study but make them fall behind．So computers are locked in boxes by parents．

    In some other countries，even some scientists also hate computers．They say computers let millions of people lose their jobs or bring them a lot of trouble．Will computers really bring trouble to people or can they bring people happiness? It will be decided by today's students themselves!

    I once believed that a friend is a friend all the way. Now I have changed my ideas about friendships.

    1). Friends of convenience(便利). They can be the people who live next door or the mothers of our children's closest friends. Friends of convenience are good indeed. They'll help us when we need it. They'll look after our cats when we go on holidays. But we don't ever get too close or tell too much. Between us, we'll talk about being overweight but not about being sad or disappointed(失望). However, people still find it necessary to make friends like this.

    2). Special-interest friends. These friendships aren't deeply personal or emotional(感情上的). They lie in some shared interests, so we may have an office friend, a tennis friend, or even a shopping friend.

    3). Historical friends. We all have a friend who knew us when…maybe we were back in the second grade of primary school, when our family lived in that two-room flat downtown. He or she was the first, the only friend we told our secrets to.

    The years have gone by, and we have gone different ways. But we're still a personal part of each other's past. We know how we looked before our teeth were straightened(矫正), and our getting together makes us think of an earlier part of ourselves, which is important and never lost.

    4). Cross-generational friends. These are friendships that from across generations(代). I have in my own life a precious(珍贵的) friend, a woman of 65, who is clever, who listens well, and who means not only an ideal mother to me but also the person I'd like to be when I grow up.

    Best friends, I believe, totally love and help each other.

    Many people in the world are living a very fast life. They seem to be always in a hurry (匆忙).

No time to stop

    People in cities around the world walk 10 percent more quickly than they did twenty years ago. Singapore is at the top of the list for fast walkers.

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    People aren' t as patient (有耐心的) as they were in the past. If it takes more than five minutes for a bus to arrive, they become very impatient. They think they don' t have any time to wait

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    Written communication (交流) on the Internet is getting shorter and shorter. People now use more and more simple words, like BRB (be right back) or NP (no problem).

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    Even in their free time, people do things in a hurry. Twenty years ago when people went to art museums, they spent about one minute looking at each picture. But today they spend much less time.

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    The cars are faster, but the traffic (交通) is worse, so people drive more slowly. They spend more time than ever sitting in their cars, feeling worried that they aren't going to arrive on time.

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    In the US, there is a book called One-Minute Bedtime Stories, for children. The stories in it are famous but short. They are popular with those parents who are too busy to tell their children long stories.

    People are living faster, but are they living better?

    British people pride themselves on their polite manners towards one another in public. They often use the word 'sorry'—even when they don't really mean it! Usually, if they want to ask a stranger for the time, they would start by saying 'Sorry to bother you. Do you know what time it is?' If they're five minutes late for an appointment (约会), they would generally greet the person by saying 'Sorry I'm late!'

    They use the word 'sorry' in so many different situations that the meaning of the word has changed a little over time. The two main dictionary definitions (释义) of 'sorry' are: 1) feeling sad for someone else because of their problems or bad luck; 2) feeling regret because you've done something wrong. Now, think about this. Normally, when they want to ask a stranger a question, they start with 'Sorry to bother you'. In this situation, they aren't saying sorry because they feel sad for that person or because they feel regret.

    So what does 'sorry' really mean? And why do British people use it so much? Well, in the British culture, saying 'sorry' is a way to be polite, especially to people who they don't know very well. It's also a very clever way to get what they want. In a recent experiment, an actor went up to a different strangers on a rainy day to ask if he could use their mobile phones in order to make a call. When he went up to one group of strangers and asked them without saying 'sorry' first, he was only 9 per cent successful in borrowing their phones. However, when he said 'sorry' to another group of strangers about the bad weather before asking if he could use their mobile phones, he was 47 per cent successful. So maybe saying 'sorry' is not just being polite, but it is also a good method to get what they want too!

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B: There are forty students in our class.

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B: Most of my classmates exercise three or four times a week. Some students exercise every day.

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B: Sure, it's very important for us. Do you often exercise?

A: No, I hardly ever exercise.

B: {#blank#}4{#/blank#}I think you should exercise more from now on.

A: I think you're right. Thank you.

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