Mason has seen the future—and it's fun. Mason likes thinking about how machines can make our life easier by doing the work we hate, such as cleaning. He shows a floor cleaning machine that's built into the wall. It can clean up the floor.

    When it comes to the kitchen, Bruce, an expert at Whirlpool, is sure that in a few years, robots will be doing most of the boring work, freeing us to relax. "More than just fun, future kitchens will be environmentally friendly," he says. A new system will be built in the house which can recycle energy lost from your kitchen to make the whole home warm.

    "The fridge will be the centre of the home," says Daniel, a market expert. The fridge will have a touch screen (触摸屏幕) where you can watch TV, surf the Internet, check your emails, keep a shopping list and order vegetables. "Your fridge is the first place you go to in the morning and the last place at night," says Daniel.

    "I wonder why a 1.9-metre man and 1.6-metre woman have to cook meals on counters (柜台) of the same height," Jane Langmuir, an expert of cooking machines, says. "But times have changed. We have made a new counter where you can press a button and it moves to whatever height you want."

    Ted Selker has made the dish maker which lets you make dishes and bowls out of plastics at home. After each meal, the dishes are changed straight back into plastics.

Something unexpected happened in the summer of my eleventh year. The home I had grown up in burned to the ground in the middle of the night. Thankfully, my mom, dad, grandma, brothers and I escaped along with my dogs. Yet, we had nothing but the night clothes we were sleeping in. I spent the rest of that night with a friend of my family. I tried unsuccessfully to sleep in the bed in his house. I was too scared.

    The next day my mom brought me a few T-shirts and pairs of jeans that another friend gave to her. One pair of them was too short and the other pair was too long, but I didn't care. At least I had some clothes again. My dad returned to our broken home to see what he could find. The only thing he could save was my mom's rings.

    To spend the summery dad rented us a big house on the same road as our old house had been. As we moved in, our friends and our community continued to donate (捐赠) all they could to help us to get back on our feet. There were more clothes, furniture, food money, and even some books for me to read. Love was around us.

    Looking back now I am thankful for all we went through that summer because it taught me so much about life, love and people. It showed me that when you have nothing left but love, for the first time you see that love is enough.

    When I just moved to Los Angeles（洛杉矶）, I didn't have a car.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}, but I wanted to prove（证明）them wrong.

    I asked my neighbor, Mrs. White, to take me to the bus station in the center of the city, so I could try taking the bus home.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}. When I got there, I went inside and got a bus timetable（时刻表）. I looked at the map and worked out that I needed to take three buses to get home.

    I bought the tickets and went outside to wait at the bus stop for the Number 8 bus. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. I gave my ticket to the bus driver and took a seat. At the right stop I got off. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. I waited and waited. A man was also waiting for the same bus. He said that it wasn't unusual for the bus to be late. Half an hour later, it finally came. To make the matter worse, the third bus broke down halfway and the driver had to fix it. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. So when I finally got home, I was very tired. Maybe getting a car in Los Angeles wasn't such a bad idea!

Hello,{#blank#}1{#/blank#}name is Sally. I am new here. I like{#blank#}2{#/blank#}. I often read books in the evening. I like dancing and I can{#blank#}3{#/blank#}very well. Do you like dancing? I like singing{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. My favourite singer is Jay Chou. I like running. It is my favourite{#blank#}5{#/blank#}. I{#blank#}6{#/blank#}swim and{#blank#}7{#/blank#}football, but I{#blank#}8{#/blank#}play basketball. I often put my football {#blank#}9{#/blank#}the bed. I can{#blank#}10{#/blank#}English.

    That's me. Thank you.

Hello, I am Mary. I live in Chengdu. It's sunny and cool in my city now. I'm studying at home. My parents are shopping. What's the weather like in your city? And what are you doing?

In a small Chinese town lived a poor young man named Liang.He loved 1 . One night, an old man with a long beard 2 Liang in a dream.He gave Liang a paintbrush.

"Use this magic paintbrush to 3 the poor," he said, "but don't use it to help people who are 4 and greedy (贪婪的), or the skill will 5 your fingers and you will never paint again."

When Liang woke up, he 6 the paintbrush on the table by his bed. He painted a butterfly and was 7 to see it fly off the page and out of the window.

Liang ran out of his little house and started painting things for people. He painted a buffalo (水牛) to help a farmer, food for 8 people and clothes for people who were cold.

A rich man, however, 9 about the paintbrush and asked Liang to paint some gold for him, 10 Liang refused.

"If you don't paint for me, I'll cut your fingers off," the rich man said."Then you will 11 paint again." So Liang painted an island of gold in the middle of a blue 12 .

" 13 will I get there?" asked the rich man.

Liang painted a 14 for the rich man, who got in it and went on his way toward the island.

But when the rich man was halfway there, Liang painted a hole in the side of the boat.The boat sank(沉)into the water and 15 ever saw him again.