Autistic (患自闭症的) children may learn better from robots than from human beings, according to a study at a school in Birmingham.   Two robots like humans, Max and Ben, have been helping teach autistic children at Topcliffe Primary School since March last year. The school is the first in the UK to try the new way.Ian Lowe, the head teacher, said, “The robots have no feelings, so autistic children find that they are less terrible than their teachers.” He added, “They are really cute-looking. Autistic children are hard to communicate with adults and other children, but for some reasons they like these robots. Some children are not able to communicate with others. But they come into school and start to communicate through the robots.”

    The robots are knee-high and move like children. The school is using them to teach phonics (声学) and play cards or memory and imitation (模仿) games with children from five to ten.Dr Guldberg said, “We do many different activities with the robots acting as a model for the children's behavior. It is amazing to see how interested and concentrated the children can be when they are working with the robots. It can be very difficult to get autistic children to concentrate.” He added, “If you can meet the needs of autistic children, you can meet the needs of all children. And you know, when people feel safe and interested, they learn much better.”

Dancing is popular all over the world. People dance in theaters, in parks or in their own living room. But Yang Liu, a woman in Guizhou, dances in an unusual place. Her dancing place is a bamboo pole（竹竿）.

Yang is a performer of bamboo drifting（独竹漂）. It is a traditional skill（技术）in the girl's hometown. In the past, the local people were so poor that there were few bridges over the river for people to walk across. They crossed the rivers by riding on a bamboo pole. Now, bamboo drifting has become a folk sport.

Yang started to learn bamboo drifting at the age of seven. The bamboo pole is very slippery and it never stops moving. Yang fell into the water again and again. But the girl didn't want to give up. She always got back up on the pole and tried again. She practiced hard every day for three years. Finally, she was able to keep her balance on the pole.

But Yang didn't just stop there. She wanted to live out her dream of becoming a dancer on a bamboo pole. The girl practiced many difficult movements on the pole. She failed lots of times, but she never stopped trying.

Her hard work finally paid off. Now 26, Yang has made a name for herself as a dancer on a bamboo pole. People can't believe their eyes whenever they watch her performances. Through Yang's dances, many people now know about bamboo drifting. They have learned the beauty of this traditional skill.

According to the Chinese lunar calendar* , 12 animals mark 12 different years-rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pip. Your year of birth decides your zodiac. Some people believe that people born under the same zodiac share similar characteristics*. Here are some zodiac signs and their characteristics. 

The ox is the second animal in the Chinese zodiac. In one folk story(民间传说), all of the animals held a race to choose the 12 animals of the zodiac. The ox was in the first place. But it didn't see a rat on its back. When the ox was close to the finishing line, the rat jumped down and became the winner!It is believed that people born in the Year of the Ox are patient and hard-working! But they can be stubborn* sometimes. 

It is said that people born in the Year of the Dragon are creative, confident, outgoing and quick-tempered(性急的). They also like to help others. They're warm-hearted so that they may have many friends. 

Chinese people believe that those who are born in the Year of the Rooster are active. They also like to be the center of attention and always look beautiful. They are the happiest when they are surrounded by others, whether at a party or just around friends. 

Every month has its saying. But for some people, every month {#blank#}1{#/blank#} its color. January is white. White symbolizes(象征) a start to the New Year. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} is red and pink. It is the month of love. June is orange, symbolizing the start of summer. But they are not people's favorite months.

So what is their favorite month? October. The {#blank#}3{#/blank#} of October are orange and black. These two colors are also a part of Halloween(万圣节). {#blank#}4{#/blank#} is the color of pumpkins(南瓜) and black is a symbol for night. Just as the great writer L. M. Montgomery says," I'm so {#blank#}5{#/blank#} to live in a world where there are Octobers." 

 We' ve talked about snails(蜗牛) and their slow move. But much of the time snails don't move at all. They' re in their shells - - - sleeping.

 Hot sun will dry out a snail's body. So at the least sign of hot sun, a snail draws its body into its shell and closes the opening with a thin cover. Then it goes to sleep. A snail will die in a heavy rain. So whenever it rains, it goes inside its shell house and goes to sleep. A snail can sleep for as long as it needs to. It can take a short sleep. Or it can sleep for days at a time. And it spends all the winter months in its shell, asleep.

 In spring the snail wakes up. Its body, about three inches long, comes out of from the shell. When hungry, the snail looks for food. It can' t see very well. Its eyes, at the ends of the top feelers are very weak. But its sense of smell is very strong. It helps the snail to the new greens. Then the snail's little mouth goes to work.

A snail's mouth is no longer than the point of a pin(针). Yet it has 256,000 teeth! The teeth are so small that you can't see them. But they do their work.. If you put a snail in a hard paper box, it will eat its way out. And if a snail wears out its teeth, it will grow new ones.

 Mostly, a snail looks for food at night. But on cloudy days it eats in the daytime. It eats all day long. A snail can go on eating for hours and never feel full.