Many expressions that we use in American English come from novels. Today we will look at some of them from Lewis Carroll's famous novel "Alice in Wonderland" in detail.

    The story is about a young girl falling down a rabbit hole. When she finally lands, she finds herself in a strange world and meets some strange characters.

    The first character Alice meets is the White Rabbit, who runs past her and says some strange words. Alice chases（追赶）him, and that is where her adventures begin.

    In English, chasing a white rabbit means chasing an impossible clue and finding yourself in a misleading situation.

    Then, as she runs after the rabbit, she falls down the rabbit hole into Wonderland.

    To fall down the rabbit hole can mean to enter a confusing（令人困惑的）situation. However, usually we use this expression to mean we get interested in something to the point of distraction（分神）.It often happens by accident and is about something not that meaningful.

    Later in the story, Alice meets the March Hare and the Hatter at a crazy tea party. Hares（野兔）have long been thought to behave excitedly in March, which is their mating（交配）season. Scientifically, this may not be true. But to be mad as a March Hare means that someone is completely mad, or crazy. The expression mad as a Hatter also means to be completely crazy. Of the two, mad as a Hatter is more common. But don't tell the March Hare. Who knows how he will react（反应）！

    Near the end of the story, Alice meets the Queen of Hearts. A woman who is called a Queen of Hearts likes controlling others and always tries to control everything and everyone around her.

    An official media outlet has, for the first time, published a cartoon of President Xi Jinping, with graphic details of his engagements over the past months. Cartoons can make politicians seem more friendly, says Tao Duanfang in an article for The Beijing News.

    Cartoons can leave a deep impression about a character in the minds of readers. Presidential campaign teams in countries like the US, Canada and Japan have a tradition of crafting products in the shape of politicians' caricatures.

    Tao points out that caricatures of politicians have become part of pop culture in many countries, with their purposes ranging from publicity to commercial use. Cartoons and caricatures can be used to criticize or ridicule political leaders, too. Besides, they can also help politicians introduce their political views.

    Tao says that cartoons and caricatures can bring politicians closer to the people and demonstrate the spirit of an inclusive and lively political climate, which is conducive (有利于) to social progress.

    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 result could be deadly. Improvements to the software could be a solution to this problem.

There is a competition for photographers (摄影师) of wildlife in the Natural History Museum in London every year. This year, the competition had about 50,000 photos.These photos come from different parts of the world. They take us underwater, deep into the woods, and high above cities. All of them show different kinds of life on earth.

In the end, the great prize went to Laurent Ballesta. The French photographer won the prize for his photo of a horseshoe crab. In the photo, the horseshoe crab looks for food in the sea. Three little fish follow it closely. They may hope to eat what the horseshoe crab misses.

Horseshoe crabs are known as "living fossils (化石)". They have lived for at least 445 million years and stayed almost unchanged. They're now in great danger, however. What happened to them? In the 1960s, scientists found something surprising. The blue blood of horseshoe crabs can be used for scientific study. As a result, hundreds of thousands of them are caught each year.

For a long time, Ballesta took photos of horseshoe crabs in the sea. His winning photo took the judges (评委) by surprise. "To see a horseshoe crab so alive and well, in such a beautiful way, was fantastic," said one of them.

Read the passage and answer the following questions.

①Do you have a tidy desk or an untidy desk at home? Do you want to keep your desk clean and tidy for a long time? A tidy desk helps you find things easily and do things well. It is also helpful for your study. Here are some tips（提示）for you.

②First, only put things you need on your desk. For old books, you can put them in the bookcase. Get a box for small things you don't need every day, and you can put your pens and pencils in a pencil box.

③Second, don't put food or drinks on your desk, because they can make your desk dirty. Go to the kitchen when you want to eat.

④Third, put important things next to you. Then it is easy for you to get them. If you have a drawer（抽屉）under your desk, you can put things there.

⑤Fourth, clean your desk every day. If you do it every day, you can have a new day with a tidy room the next morning.

⑥If you do these things, you can have a tidy and clean desk. Why not have a try now?