Stop Phubbing (别当低头族)

Last month, Justin Valdez, a college student was shot in subway in San Francisco, the U.S. The surveillance(监控) video showed that before Justin was killed, the killer pulled out the gun several times, and even wiped his nose with it. However, nobody noticed the killer. The surrounding passengers all focused on their mobile phones.

We may see the same scene everywhere in the life: in subway, restaurants. Elevators, roads, people are watching their mobile phones. From family reunion to date with a friend, people can't stop checking their WeChat, Facebook on the mobile phone and snubbing(无视) the persons in front completely. Not only the young people, but also the olds and the kids.

“Phubbing” is a new word which comes from the words “phone” and “snub”. It means the habit of snubbing someone in favor of(只顾着) a mobile phone. The word “phubbing” was included in the Australian National Dictionary in 2012. So we can see phubbing is spreading globlly.

Phubbing seems innocuous(无害的); however, it disturbs our life. Stop posting photos. Let's put down the mobile phone and enjoy the real taste of food and the warmth of interpersonal(人与人之间) communication.

Information Card

    As a first grader, the last thing on Kylie' s mind was to be an inventor (发明家) . When she made a board game (棋类游戏) about Ladybug (瓢虫) for her science class, the student from Pleasanton, California, thought it would just make her homework fun. Now her board game the Ladybug Game goes into many stores in America. Kylie is happy to talk to WR News about her invention.

(WR=WR News; K=Kylie)

WR: How did you get the idea for the Ladybug Game?

K: I just did it for Mrs. Ditto's science class. We had to make something to tell our classmates about insects (昆虫). I really like board games and I play them a lot. So I made a board game myself.

WR: Why ladybugs?

K: I like their colors. Ladybugs come in many different colors. And I think they have a cool life cycle (生命周期).

WR: Your dad took your game to a friend and the friend helped more people know it. How did you feel when you heard that going to sell your board game?

K: It was really cool. When I got into some stores sometimes the people said "You're the girl on the box!"

WR： Do you think you will invent some other things someday?

K: I don't know, but I'm sure that it will be fun.

    Jamie Feilden has been interested in farms since he was a little child. Now he is planning to pass on his love for farms to students.

    28-year-old Mr Feilden is going to set up a charity (慈善机构). He plans to raise money for students from city schools who would like to visit Jamie's Farm and experience country life.

    Mr Feilden first got the idea for his project when he started working for the Teach First Project after graduating from university in Edinburgh.

    "When I worked in a school in Croydon, I realized the students there had little experience of farm life. Many of the students in the school had never been out of Croydon before. Of course, they had never seen farm animals,"said Mr Feilden. "So I opened up a small farm in the school. It was a real success."

    Mr Feilden once took a group of students back to his hometown. There the students saw many animals. They had lots of fun spending time in the countryside. Since then he has done more work on his own farm project. He even started working for it full time.

    Mr Feilden said, "Living and working in the countryside can give children a chance to eat food produced on the farm. They can also do some gardening, cooking and be with animals there."

    Now Jamie's Farm needs volunteers. If you are interested in donating your money or time, you can get in touch with Jamie by e-mailing him.

    The People's Bank of China will come out the fifth edition(版本)of the renminbi (RMB) from August 30, 2019. These banknotes(纸币)will have brighter colors and new security features(防伪特征).

    We've been using banknotes for around 1,000 years. Back in the Northern Song Dynasty, Chinese people made the worlds earliest paper money to replace(代替) metal coins. These banknotes were called jiaozi.

    Paper money is cheaper to make and easier to carry. These advantages made it more popular than other forms of money. But now, in the digital (数码的)age, paper money seems to be disappearing for the same reason.

    China seems to be heading towards becoming a cashless(不用现金的) society. From supermarkets to street stores, people pay by using the We Chat Wallet and Alipay apps on their mobile phones. Sweden is even closer to a future without paper money. Many Swedish banks no longer even have cash on hand.

    But there are worries about creating cashless societies. Some say it is unfair to the poor and people without much education. It's not easy for them to open bank accounts( 账户)or deal with mobile phones. And if all of your money is" digital, it may not be safe enough.

    Is paper money going away? Although paper money is used less than electronic payment (电子支付) in some countries, it won' t disappear at once in most parts of the world.

    It was Saturday again. Grace and Karen disliked Saturdays. That was another thing the twins had in common. They shared the same clothes and tied their hair in the same manner. In fact, it was hard for their classmates and teachers to tell the difference between them sometimes.

    Unlike their classmates, they had to get up early at seven every Saturday to prepare for their lessons. Grace had to attend the art lesson and Karen had to attend her ballet lesson. "How I wish I could do something different today," said the twins with one voice. All at once, an idea came to Grace and Karen at the same time. "What about exchanging our roles for a day?" they asked each other. It seemed like a wonderful plan. After giving each other a description of their own friends, Grace put on Karen's ballet dress while Karen put Grace's brushes and paints into her bag. Then they left for their classes.

    When the art lesson started, Karen was lost. Unlike Grace, Karen was poor at drawing. When the art lesson finally ended, Karen didn't dare to hand in her work.

    Meanwhile, Grace had problems in the ballet class as well. As she had no idea about the dance steps, she had to follow her classmates blindly. As a result, she kept knocking into them. Their ballet teacher became impatient with her, "Karen, you should remember the basic steps."

    When Karen and Grace got home, they were tired out. They decided that they would never try to be someone else they were not. It seemed that the grass was not always greener on the other side.

根据短文内容回答下面的五个问题，每题答案不超过7个词。

    Tea does not mean the same thing to everyone. In different countries people have different ideas about tea-drinking.

    Chinese people drink tea at any time of the day at homes or in teahouses. They prefer their tea with nothing else in it. The Japanese way of having tea is very old and full of meaning. There is even a special room for tea-drinking in Japanese homes. In England, almost everyone has a cup of tea in the late afternoon. The English usually make tea in a teapot and drink it with cream and sugar. They also eat cakes and cookies with tea. Americans usually use tea bags to make their tea. It's faster and easier. They drink tea mostly for breakfast or after meals. In summer they drink cold tea or iced tea.