Have you ever seen a hitchhiker (搭便车的旅行者) {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (stand) by the side of a road? Now drivers in Canada might see an unusual hitchhiker: a hitchhiking robot.

    One of its {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (invent), David Harris Smith, has hitched across Canada three times. Smith and a friend, Frauke Zeller, have built Hitchbot because they wanted {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (see) if people would stop and give the robot a lift and talk to it. The robot {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (chat) about things it had learned, and about {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (it) trip. You might think it's a joke, but Smith and Zeller's experiment has a serious point: can robot and people get along?

    Hitchbot {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (begin) its journey in Nova Scotia in July. It has already completed one {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (three) its 6, 000-mile trip to Victoria. More than 57,000 people are following its journey closely on Facebook and Twitter, and travelers have posted lots of photos on the websites. Hitchbot {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (do) some shopping, eaten motor oil and had fun with travelers. Nobody {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (know) when it will finish its journey. It might be longer than expected, but Zeller and Smith want Hitchbot to get as {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (many) rides as it can. It hasn't been in a self-driving car yet, but anything is possible!

Dear Linda,

    How is it going? I'm glad to tell you something about the Mid-Autumn Festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is a traditional festival in China. It falls on August the{#blank#}1{#/blank#}of Chinese lunar(农历) year. On that day, family members always get together to have a big meal and admire the moon. Normally, people {#blank#}2{#/blank#}the full moon with reunion(团聚) and happiness.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, for my dad, the true meaning of the Mid-Autumn Festival is missing the relatives in his hometown, as he has been working in Shantou for sixteen years, which is a beach city in {#blank#}4{#/blank#}east of Guangdong Province. Thanks to the development of the transportation(交通), it is much more {#blank#}5{#/blank#}for us to travel than before. But my father is too busy to spare(抽空) his time. As a result, he seldom went back to his hometown. On this Mid-Autumn night, my mum{#blank#}6{#/blank#}out fruit and mooncakes on the table after dinner. I prefer the sweet mooncakes though sweet food may make me put{#blank#}7{#/blank#}weight. My mum pays much {#blank#}8{#/blank#} to my father's health, so she didn't allow him to eat the mooncakes with sugar. My dad went out to the balcony(阳台) and took pictures of the full moon. For a long time, he stood there, looking up at the moon in silence until the moon passed by our balcony.

    Hopefully we can spend the festival together next year {#blank#}9{#/blank#} you want to get more knowledge about it. I'm looking forward to {#blank#}10{#/blank#} from you.

Best wishes!

Yours,

Li Hua