Running away is a serious problem. There are lots of runaway and homeless kids living in the streets around the world.

    孩子们为什么想离家出走呢？

    ★Some kids run away because they have problems with their families.

    ★Some kids run away because they're afraid to tell their parents the bad things that they did at school or in society.

    ★Some kids run away because there is violence(暴力) in the family.

    ★Some kids run away because their parents divorce(离婚) or marry again.

    ★Some kids run away because they have problems at school.

    What will you do if your friends want to run away from home?

    If your friend is thinking about running away, tell him or her that it is difficult to survive(幸存) in the streets. Try to help your friend feel less alone.

    Whatever the problem is, there are other ways to solve it. Maybe you can't think of the ways right now, but an adult(成年人) will know how to help you. You should tell an adult that your friend plans to run away as soon as possible. Being a real friend doesn't mean keeping a secret that may hurt someone. And running away isn't a solution(解决方法) for either of you. It only makes more problems and danger.

    My name is Jerry Zhang, and I am a father of two young daughters one is about four years old and the other is only about one. I come from China and now live in the USA.

One day, my older daughter, Madison, told me she didn't want to be Chinese. Those days she was crazy about the book characters Madeline and Eloise. She kept asking me why she was Chinese and they weren't, and how she could have blonde or red hair like them.

    This made me look for books with Asian (亚洲的) characters for Madison to read. However, I only found a few, and they were heavily cultural, and Madison didn't connect (把……联系在一起) herself with any if the characters in them. And she wasn't interested in them at all. Then she told me again that she didn't want to be Chinese, and it broke my heart.

    In most of the books for children in the USA, the characters look like Americans. Few of them have Asian faces, although there are over 17 million Asians and Asian Americans in this country. I think it's important for Asian children to see themselves in books as interesting and smart kids.

    So I created (创作) a book for Madison. Pepper Zhang in the book is an Asian girl. Her imagination (想象) takes her on a trip to creativity and art! I want my children to know-that being Chinese or being Asian is a great thing, too.

    Don't be too surprised if you see a car going down the road without a driver in Beijing these days. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Last month, Baidu began to test its self-driving cars on open roads in Beijing.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Since then, companies like Tesla, Uber and Baidu have been working to produce and test their own self-driving cars.

    Self-driving cars are safer than regular cars. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}They can remove the stress of driving and allow disabled or blind people to get around more easily.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}In one test, researchers pointed a laser pointer(激光棒) at the car's sensors(传感器) while it was moving. The car mistakenly thought that the laser beam was in its way and slowed down or changed the direction.

    The software that is used to direct the cars may not be safe enough. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}When we use our computers or smartphones, they sometimes crash (崩溃)  without any reason. But if this happened to a self-driving car, the results could be deadly. Improvements to the software could be a solution to this problem.

    Have you heard of the story of The Legend of White Snake (《白蛇传》)? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It's a love story between White Snake and Xu Xian. It has a connection (联系) with the Dragon Boat Festival in China.

    Once upon a time, there were two snakes, White Snake and Green Snake. They had magical powers and turned into two beautiful young ladies. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} White Snake quickly fell in love with him. They got married soon and lived happily.

    The Dragon Boat Festival came. On that day, people drank realgar wine (雄黄酒). {#blank#}3{#/blank#} If she drank the wine, she would turn into the snake again. However, Xu Xian didn't know anything about it, so he asked his wife to drink realgar wine. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} When Xu Xian entered the room, he couldn't find his wife. He only saw a huge white snake on the bed. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Later, White Snake recovered (恢复). In order to save her husband, she went to steal the magical herb (药草). In the end, the god was so moved by her true love that he saved Xu Xian. What a moving love story!

    Flowers have habits or ways of doing things, just as people have. Would you like to hear about some of these?

    There is one habit that almost all flowers have. They turn to the light. If plants are kept in a room, the flowers turn to the window. Some flowers shut up at night. It seems that they go to sleep. They open again in the morning. Tulips（郁金香）do this.

    One morning Lingling was looking at some tulips. When one of them opened, a bee flew out. He stayed too late last night, and so was shut up in the flower. He might be hard at work all day getting honey. He stopped to rest in the tulip, and was shut in when it closed. He had a fine bed that night. Lingling wondered if he slept any better than he would have slept in the hive（蜂巢）!

    Hi! I am Mike. I have a sister and two brothers. We live in a happy family. Nancy is my sister. She is the oldest. She is a kind girl. She is beautiful. She likes learning. She studies very hard. She gets up early and finishes her breakfast quickly. Then she goes to school by bike. David is my brother. He is older than me. But he is a little lazy. He gets up late and then washes his face, brushes his teeth in a hurry. Then he goes to the bus stop without breakfast. He usually plays basketball after school. In the evening, he seldom does homework. He goes to bed late. Jack is our little brother. He is a lovely boy. He gets up very slowly and then he usually takes a shower before breakfast. He goes to school in his father's car. He likes watching TV in the evening.