On September 19, Alibaba went public (上市) on the New York Shock Exchange. It shows that Ma Yun has done his business successfully. A short Chinese man seems to be the tallest man in the world right now. Ma used to be an English teacher. So far, he has become the richest man on the Chinese mainland.

 Ma was born in Hangzhou and grew up as a happy kid. At the age of twelve, he found that English was very interesting. Every morning he got up at 5 a.m., and then ran to a hotel near the West Lake where he could communicate with foreign tourists in English. He did it for nine years.The experience made him become a fantastic English speaker and also opened his eyes to the wide world. In a 1995 trip to the US,  Ma was shown to the Internet for the first time. Seeing the chance, Ma returned to China and set up a website without knowing much about computers. Four years later, Ma set up Alibaba in Hangzhou. People called him “Crazy Jack Ma”. But fifteen years later, Alibaba has developed into the world's largest e-commerce (电子商务) company.

When you wave to a friend, you are using body language. When you smile at someone, you mean to be friendly. When you put one finger in front of your mouth, you mean "be quiet.''

    Yet, people in different countries may use different body languages.

    Once an Englishman was in Italy. He could speak little Italian. One day while he was walking in the street, he felt hungry and went into a restaurant. When the waiter came, the Englishman opened his mouth, put his fingers into it and took them out again and moved his lips. In this way, he meant to say, "Bring me something to eat." But the waiter brought him a lot of things to drink, first tea, then coffee, then milk, but no food.

    The Englishman was sorry that he was not able to tell the waiter he was hungry. He was ready to leave the restaurant when another man came in. The man put his hands on his stomach, and this body language was good enough for the waiter. In a few minutes, the waiter brought him a large plate of bread and meat.

    Finally the Englishman had his meal in the same way.

   There are two kinds of robots. The first type is the industrial robot. The second type of robots help us in our everyday lives. Robots of the later type are being used widely in Japan these days, helping people out in many areas—in hospitals, at homes and in schools.

Recently professor Tomomasa Sato and others developed a “robotic room”. This room is a robot itself, and they let the robot help the people inside. It has ten video cameras on the top of the room and walls. The robot can help the doctors and nurses do a lot of work with the help of its arms and nine computers. The robot's arms can lift and carry things needed by sick persons and nurses, and can throw waste things away.

   In the future, we may have robots at home to help out with the chores. Many people think these robots should look and move like humans. At Honda Motor Company, people made a robot that has two arms and two legs and can walk by itself, just like a person. This robot can walk freely by checking the road it walks on, and use its arms to do different things. The robot is 180 centimeters tall and weighs 210 kilograms. It can not only walk around flat places but go up and down stairs as well. It can also do such things as moving a bag. Not too far in the future, robots that look like movie characters may lend us a hand in our everyday jobs.

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    Good sleep is important to your health. You need about eight hours' sleep a night. Don't eat or read in bed. A cup of milk before sleep may help you get a good sleep. Go to bed at the same time before midnight and get up all the same time every morning.

    How often do you exercise? If you want to stay healthy, try to exercise for 30 minutes every day and three or four times a week. For more information, please call Health Line at 180-2000.

    Eating habits are also important to us. You should have more fruit and vegetables every day. And you shouldn't eat too much or too little. Of course, you should keep away from fast food. If you want to know more, please call Dr. Smith at 6831918.

Brush your teeth twice a day and see a dentist at least once a year. The oral(口腔) examination is not only for the health of teeth, but also for the whole body.

    One fine winter day some ants were working in the field . They were very busy . Just then a grasshopper (蚱蜢) passed by . “ Good day ， kind ants . ”said the grasshopper . “ I am very hungry . Won't you lend (借给) me a little food ?( A)  我没有东西吃了。I  will pay you before the next autumn .” “ Have you no food of your own ? ( B) Why didn't you gather any food during the summer ? You know there was much food in the field this summer . What were you doing then ?” asked an old ant . The grasshopper answered ， “ I( C )       ( sing ) all day and night during the summer . And I  had no time to gather any food .” “ Well， then，”said the ant .“   （D）   You only played and did not work during the summer . We'll never lend you any food .” （E） And the ants went on working .

    While you are at the bookstore, you may be faced with a difficult decision: e-books or paper books? Each one has its advantages and disadvantages. Making the best decision depends on a number of factor (因素).

    An e-reader can carry a whole library wherever you go, which is great for travelers or those who always want a choice of reading material Although e-readers are convenient, high levels of screen brightness from an electronic device(电子设备) can cause eye problems. A study in the Information Science Research found that young people preferred e-readers, like smart phones or iPads. That's why most teenagers are short-sighted.

    Many book lovers still prefer paper books and value the feeling of them. Paper books are very well designed, they look and smell good, and they carry with them a more human touch. Avid (热衷的)readers prefer reading on paper. Perhaps this is their choice because paper books give them a sense of ownership. It is reported that reading on paper rather than an electronic screen is better for memory and focus. But paper books are heavy and they are not convenient to carry.

    Which is your decision, an e-book or a paper book?