Are you able to send a letter with pictures and sounds to someone somewhere in the world without a stamp(邮票) on it? Using a computer you can send e-mails quickly and easily. The post is much slower than e-mail. E-mail can send its message to the other side of the world in seconds.

    E-mail is easy to use and it saves time and money. The differences in time in different parts of the world do not matter when sending e-mail. It's twenty-four-hour service(服务) that you can send e-mail at any time of the day or night. No one has to be there to get e-mail. It does not matter if your friends are in beds when you send e-mail to them, or you are seeing a movie at the movie theater when they send e-mail back.

D

    When a computer works on a group of programs, it can get very hot. Cooling the computer can cost a lot. So some scientists wonder what would happen if the heat from the computer could be used.

    Large Internet companies (公司）such as Google and Microsoft have thousands of computers. As these computers deal with information, they produce lots of heat, so they need huge cooling systems(系统）. These systems send the heat into the air.

    A company in Holland(荷兰） thinks paying to make the computers work and then paying again to cool them are a waste of energy. So the company developed a special device—the e-Radiator.

    Boaz Leupe, head of the company, says the e-Radiator works as a heating system and saves money. He explains that the energy is used twice—once to heat the home and once to cool the computer and that the users don't have to pay to cool their computers.

    Five homeowners in Holland are testing the heating system in their homes.

    "We pay for the computer using, so, in that way, homeowners get heating for free," Boaz says.

    Jan Visser is one of the homeowners. "If you use the computer more, the e-Radiator produces more heat," he says. "It can't provide enough heat if you don't use your computer often." But he is ready to try it. It's a great help for his family.

    The company says e-Radiators produce heat temperatures of up to 55℃. It says the system could save its users about $440 a year.

Hiphop or rap (说唱) music started on the street and in the clubs of the New York City in the 1970s. People rap to express how they feel about their lives and problems.

Rapping in class.

Would you like to rap in class? Well, actually hip pop music is played in more than 10,000 schools in the USA. Why?

There is a new school program called "Flocabulary" in which teachers use texts and hip hop CDs to help teach different school subjects. The words of the songs are just what students are studying. This makes learning easy and fun. Students and teachers are excited about the good results it has had on exam marks. Mr. Lee,a teacher in a highschool, said, "I've used hip hop songs in class, and I have never seen my students so crazy about history! You can't imagine how well they remember what I teach! We eventry to write our own songs."

Whose idea was Flocabulary?

Blake Harrison, a highschool student, was the first person to come up with the idea ofFlocabulary. The word "Flocabulary" comes from the word "flow" and "vocabulary". "Flow" is a rap word for "style", or the way a rapper says the words of a song. "Vocabulary" means the words you have to learn in a language. How did he get the idea? Well, he realized he could remember the words of a hiphop song very easily. So, why not make lessons into songs? Today together with Alex Rappaport, a song writer, Blake produces hiphop songs for math, science and literature (文学). They are now used in schools with great success.

The only thing better than reading a good book is reading it with others. In a book club, a group of people will find a book. Then everyone will read it by themselves first and then talk about the book with others. Reading is not just something you love doing by yourself. It's also fun to talk about what you' re reading with friends.

There are no rules(规则) of starting a book club. But it's better to have a plan for it. Here it is.

First, before you start a book club, you should think about" What will my book club be like?"" When and where will we meet?"

Then, ask your friends to come to your club. Think of eight to twelve people around your age. You may ask your friends for help, and they can ask their friends to come. These people may be your new club members. And you can make friends with them.

Next, having a topic can also help. The topic may interest members to look up more information about it. You might want to read stories about history. The topic" history" makes it easier to know which books to read. If every time every member helps find a book to read, you might know more great new books and writers.

Finally, make sure to read the book before the meeting. And then come to the meeting with questions to talk about.

In a word, it's better to do than to say. △

 Having Zao Cha, or morning tea, is a common morning activity for people in Guangdong. Whether rich or poor, young or old, local people go to morning tea houses1 tea or enjoy dim sum(点心) for breakfast. For them, having Zao Cha is not just a daily habit but also 2 important way of social communication.

 Guangdong morning tea dates back to the Qing Dynasty. It began in a small restaurant 3 Guangzhou called"Yi Li Guan", which served tea and dim sum. Over time, more and more similar tea houses appeared, and since then, Cantonese(广州的) people 4 the habit of drinking morning tea in tea houses.

 Today, on weekends or holidays, the whole family or good friends often get together for 5 morning tea. It 6 as an enjoyable way to pass time and relax completely.

 In morning tea, tea is a necessary part. The Cantonese prefer black tea 7 it warms the stomach and helps digestion(消化). Although it is a little bitter and 8 clear than green tea, it pairs perfectly with dim sum during morning tea. In addition, the Cantonese think that Oolong tea, Tieguanyin tea and pu' er tea are also popular choices. 9 relaxing it is to drink morning tea in Guangdong!

 Thanks to the increasing number of overseas Chinese, Cantonese morning tea restaurants can now be found 10 in big cities like New York and even on some small islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The morning tea culture is not only popular in Guangdong, but has also become a global trend(全球趋势).