What will the house of the future look like? Could it have gardens on its walls, or a pool with fish for dinner? Architects(建筑师) believe that they are all possible. The only thing for sure is that the houses will be as green as possible.

Jodie's Daddy Is a Garbageman (垃圾清理工)

    Mr. Swales wanted to find out what his students' parents did. He had just called Jodie when some girls laughed. Shirley shouted, “Jodie's daddy is a garbageman!”

    Everybody in the class laughed out loudly, except Jodie. She felt her face turn red.

    “Silence!” Mr. Swales said, “Being a garbageman is a difficult and useful job. We should all be grateful to Jodie's father.”

    Jodie's father came to walk her home from school as usual, but she didn't run up to him as she always did. When they got back home, Jodie went to her room and cried for a long time.

    Her father came into her room, “What happened, Jodie? Why are you so sad?”

    Jodie told her father what had happened and looked at him. He didn't seem angry or hurt. “Well,” he said, “they are right. Being a garbageman is a dirty job. Tomorrow's Saturday. Come to work with me, Jodie.”

    The place really smelt too bad. Jodie wrinkled her nose. “Don't worry, kid. In five minutes, you won't smell a thing.” said her father.

    Everybody there was working hard, and they seemed to have a good time. Jodie's father handed her a pair of gloves and told her to get the little plastic bags and throw them into the truck.

    It was fun, but also hard work. Jodie's arms soon got tired. At last, no more garbage was left and Jodie felt very happy.

    “Garbage is dirty, but when we clear it away, everything's nice and clean. You can make yourself happy only by making others happy. That's why I like being a garbageman so much.”

    Jodie gave her dirty, smelly garbageman daddy a big kiss. She said, “When I grow up, I will be a garbage-girl!”

    Now whenever someone asks Jodie what her daddy does, she says, “He's a garbageman! Everybody makes garbage, but my daddy takes it away!”

    A young man went to a car shop. He was wearing rubber boots(橡胶靴子) and a dirty jacket. He needed a haircut(理发) very much. The young man looked at an expensive car carefully and then asked the shop owner(店主), “How much is this car?” “Nine thousand two hundred and eighteen,” the owner answered. “I want sixteen of them,” the young man said. The shop owner smiled coldly. He showed the door to the young man.

    In another shop on the other side of the street the business was done(生意做成了). The young man took money out of his pocket and paid for the cars. He said the cars were for himself and his friends were. Each of them wanted to get one. He said that he and his friends were working on a fishing-boat. “We have got much money this season,” the young man said, “and we want to buy cars. ”

    Once upon a time, there lived a rich man. He had a servant (仆人). He and the servant(仆人) loved wine and good food very much. Each time the rich man left his home, the servant would drink the wine and eat up all the nice food in the house. The rich man knew what his servant did, but he had never caught his servant doing that.

    One morning, when he left home, he said to the servant, “Here are two bottles of poison (毒药) and some nice food in the house. You must take care of them.” With these words, he went out.

    But the servant knew that the rich man had said was untrue. After the rich man was away from his home, he enjoyed a nice meal. Because he drank too much, he was drunk and fell to the ground. When the rich man came back, he couldn't find his food and his wine. He became very angry. He woke the servant up. But the servant told his story very well. He said a cat had eaten up everything. He was afraid to be punished, so he drank the poison to kill himself.

    Lei Haiwei, a 37-year-old fast food courier(快递员) from Hunan Province, got first place in a televised Chinese poetry knowledge competition. He beat other competitors, including a master's degree（硕士学位） graduate from Beijing University, in the third season of the Chinese Poetry Conference on CCTV on April 4, 2018.

    "My interest in ancient poems began as early as I was six years old. My father hoped I would grow up to be a man who keeps the mountains, rivers, lakes and seas in mind," the courier said.

    In 2001, the younger Lei found a job in Shanghai and began to read books related to ancient poems at bookstores or libraries in his spare time, since he didn't make much money. The young man also developed a habit of reciting poems he liked and writing them down after returning home.

    Though Lei works as a fast food courier in Hangzhou later, his love for poems never died. Even on his busiest work days, he used any available moment to recite poems. "For example, I am used to reciting poems when I wait for food at restaurants, and traffic lights on my way to deliver food.  Reciting poems not only enriches my knowledge, but also makes my job less boring. As for my future plan, I will stick to reading and reciting poems," Lei said.