B

    Nancy lives in Washington D.C. Her father has a store there and her mother is a reporter. She's six years old now and begins to go to school this year. It's a little far from their shop and her father drives a car to take her to school every day. So she's not late for class and her teachers like her.

    It's Tuesday today. Miss White is teaching them to count(数数) from one to ten. Nancy is studying hard. Soon she can count them. Miss White is happy and asks, “How many people are there in your family, Nancy?”

    Nancy stands up and begins to count with her fingers(手指), and then she says, “Two, Miss White.”

  “Who are they?”

  “My father and mother.”

  “Oh?” Miss White is surprised, “Two people in your family?”

  “Because now I'm not at home.”

    Mr Guo is a teacher from Xi'an．He asked his students to hand in their homework through a QR code （二维码）．"We spent an hour or two in class learning how to generate （使产生） the codes，and in the end everything gets easier，"said Guo．"When students finish the homework，they keep it on WeChat （微信）．Then，each student makes his own QR code and gives it to me．So I can check their work everywhere using my computer or telephone．"

    The QR codes can be sent to Mr Guo by email，QQ and WeChat．When Guo scans （扫描） his students'QR codes，their homework appears on his phone．He finds that their homework becomes more creative （创新的），with many pictures，music and even videos．

    Guo's students like the new way and think it is interesting．"We are living in the information age．Many students like to work with computers，which makes learning more fun．"said Tingting，a student of Guo's．

    "The paper is not easy to keep，but the code is easy to keep and share．"Guo said．" It is worth trying to use new technology in education．Education itself is a kind of creation．I don't want my students to fall behind the times．"

    However，some parents are worried．They are afraid that their children will spend too much time on computers and less time communicating with teachers．But in fact，it's unnecessary．Students still need to look up information in books and write it down when they do their homework．They only use the code when they hand in their work，which doesn't take them too much time．Also for teachers，it allows them to check the students'work at any time．And it's also an easy way to share homework with other students．

    Billy's favorite color is orange. But he can't see what orange looks like. Billy is blind.

    A month after he was born, his mother noticed that his eyes weren't quite as big as a normal baby's. “Billy would never be able to see.” the doctor told his mother. After that Billy's mother began talking to him, describing things she saw outside the window. She described everything to him.

    Billy does not only depend on his mother's descriptions to learn about the world around him. He sees with his cars and his hands, too. He has perfect hearing. When people make phone calls, he can tell the numbers they dial(拨).

    Billy loves computer science. He began teaching himself computer programming when he was just seven years old. His dream school would be Stanford University. He gets top grades in his classes, making that a real possibility.

    “You can't let excuses get in the way of your dreams, and if you do that you can't move forward and reach your goals, “said Billy.

    These days, few 11-year-olds are allowed to walk to school by themselves. However, 11-year-old Rosalie Atkins is traveling the world alone.

    Rosalie Atkins lives in England. Her parents decided to let her travel alone. This summer Rosalie's mother put her on a plane to Paris with a host family.

Rosalie spent a week visiting Paris. She visited the Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame, as well as several museums, markets, and parks. "If I had visited with my parents, we would have seen only the touristy parts of Paris," said Rosalie. "But because I was staying with a French family I saw more." Traveling to different countries, Rosalie also expressed the confidence. "I am quite confident when I have to talk to new people, which is a useful social skill, " Rosalie said.

Rosalie is glad that her parents allow her to go on adventure() that other kids could only dream of. Rosalie said, "Your parents aren't going to travel with you forever. You have to learn to be independent some day, and in my opinion the sooner the better."

    Laozi or Lao Tzu, who lived in the 6th century BC, was a well-known philosopher in ancient China. He was the founder of Taoism. His teachings have been passed down through centuries and today there are still many followers of Taoism.

    Famous and respected as he is. Laozi's personal life is still a mystery and there are many stories about his birth and life. The only reliable biography of him is Shiji written by historian Sima Qian of 145 BC. According to Shiji, Laozi was born in Ku County of the state of Chu, the present day Luyi County of Henan Province. His family name was "Li", and "Dan" was his designation (字).

    At first, Laozi worked as a historian at the royal court (王朝) of the Zhou Dynasty. Later, he went on a trip to the west and met the guardian of the Hangu Pass (函谷关) who asked Laozi to write a book to record his wisdom for the good of the country.

    Upon his request, Laozi began writing his famous book—Daodejing. Daode means "virtue". So the title can be translated as "Classic of the Virtue". After finishing writing the book, the wise old man left Hangu Pass. No one had seen him or known where he was ever since.

    However, because of the fact that none of the original texts about Taoism have any reference about the life and death of Laozi, today many researchers have the opinion that Daodejing was in fact not written by Laozi alone. Some even say that Laozi was never a real person but can be referred to any old wise man in ancient China who taught philosophy.