XBOX 360 Kinetic, RoboSapien, WiiParty, theseare just a few of the modern toys sold in recent years. But some of the most populartoys are actually quite old.

Gameshave been around for thousands of years. In 4000 B. C, Babylonians played a boardgame that was similar to chess. Yo-yos made of stone were first used in ancientGreece around 1000 B C. And kites appeared in China around the same time.

    Another famous game is Scrabble. It was inventedby an architect in the 1930s, but it didn't get popular until 1953 And since then,more than 100 million sets have been sold worldwide.

    As you can imagine, toys and games are a multi-billion-dollarindustry. Mr. Potato Head, the first toy advertised on TV, grossed more than $4million in its first year. Play-Doh made its inventor Joseph McVicker a millionaireby his 27th birthday, while Mattel sells 1. 5 million Barbie dolls each week (that'stwo dolls each second!).

    Some toys go out of fashion, but then becomepopular again, such as Rubik's Cube. Research says parents are increasingly choosingto buy toys they remember from their own childhood.

    These days, toys are not just for fun. RoboSapienis a remote-controlled robot that was launched in 2004. He can walk, turn aroundand do other poses. RoboSapien was designed by Mark Tilden, who once created robotsfor NASA space missions. He expected the toy to be used mostly by and scientists,but almost 2 million RoboSapiens have been sold worldwide since its launch as atoy?

    Fancy a game anyone?

Walking around the city，you will see girls wearing hanfu on the underground or people wearing T—shirt with Chinese characters in the streets.A new trend （潮流） is getting popular in China.It's guochao or China—Chie.Guochao adds traditional Chinese culture into products

Guochao got people's attention in 2018.Before that，the market was controlled by foreign companies.There were few Chinese brands.To win the market share，many Chinese brands followed the footsteps of these Western brands.In 2018，but also included elements（元素） of traditional Chinese culture.It quickly caught people's attention at home and abroad.And it created amazing sales.

Later，many Chinese brands，from food，started to add Chinese culture into their products.Even the film and music industries made every effort to create Chinese styles."We want our products to be the ones that young people would like to share."They said.

These brands got what they wanted.Young people gradually converted their attention from Western culture to guochao.They accepted it with pleasure.What's more，they started to develop interest in traditional Chinese art and literature.Now they wear traditional clothes，practice Chinese calligraphy（书法）

No matter how guochao develops，there is one thing that won't change——people's confidence in our country's development and culture is growing.

Hi, I'm Mary Smith. Mary is my first name, and Smith is my{#blank#}1{#/blank#}name. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} are two photos of my family. In the{#blank#}3{#/blank#}photo, you can see two{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. The boy in a green T-shirt Is my cousin.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}name is Bob. He's my uncle's son. He is five years old. The boy in a blue and black T-shirt is my{#blank#}6{#/blank#}. He is ten years old.

In the next photo{#blank#}7{#/blank#} a boy and a girl. They are two{#blank#}8{#/blank#}of mike. The boy is Jack. He is in a blue T-shirt.{#blank#}9{#/blank#}is the girl? She is Jack's sister. Her{#blank#}10{#/blank#}is Jane. The{#blank#}11{#/blank#}of her dress is orange. She is always in orange. We are in the same school.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was a great success. China has kept the promise to hold a green Olympics. Many green actions made it possible, like providing environmentally friendly smart beds, using new energy(能源) cars, supporting sporting places with 100% clean energy and reusing rain and snow water.

Take making ice as an example. China didn't use R507, a common material to make ice, because it isn't friendly enough to the environment. Through 18 months' hard work, China independently developed the CO₂ direct cooling technology.

A net of tubes runs under the ice. High-pressure liquid(液态) CO₂ goes through them to create heat(热) exchange. The CO₂ evaporates(蒸发) under the ice surface. The evaporation takes in heat and turns water on the surface into ice. And the CO₂ goes into another circle. This technology helps to make ice better and faster. And above all, it is much greener because there's no new CO₂ produced. Among all the 15 ice sporting places in the Winter Olympics, 7 used the CO₂ direct cooling technology to make ice. As a result, much less pollution was caused.

Beijing did so much more to save energy. Beijing built the new sporting places with green materials. As for the old ones, Beijing used new glass walls to take the place of traditional walls to let more natural light in. 70% of the waste heat was also reused to keep warm and dry. And a large number of new energy cars were used at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is the first to truly achieve carbon neutrality(碳中和), and it has set new standards in green technologies. Some newspapers say China has set an example for the world in environmental protection and green development.

Doing "Clean" Exercise

When you go for a run outside, chances are that you'll find rubbish all around you. Do you just go past it, or do you stop to pick it up? If you choose the second, you are part of the latest popular sport in the West: plogging. 

The word"plogging" comes from the Swedish phrase"plocka upp (pick up)" and the English word"jogging (running slowly)". What a plogger needs is a rubbish bag and a pair of gloves to protect his or her hands. While collecting rubbish, ploggers learn to classify (分类) and deal with it correctly too. 

Plogging seems simple but it does a lot of good to both the environment and your health. It can not only make the world greener, but also get you full body exercise. For example, a30- minute plogging burns around 288 calories(卡路里), compared to 235 calories burnt from just jogging. 

So next time you go out jogging, why not carry a rubbish bag and collect some rubbish along the way? Your body and the environment will thank you. 

 Oct 16 is World Food Day. So what can you do {#blank#}1{#/blank#} ( help) hungry people? Now you can play a game and make the world a {#blank#}2{#/blank#} ( good) place at the same time. It's called Freerice.

 My geography teacher in high school told us {#blank#}3{#/blank#} this game. It's an educational trivia game(益智问答游戏) and it's so special. If you answer a question {#blank#}4{#/blank#} ( correct), you will raise 10 grains(粒) of rice for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) to support its work saving and changing lives worldwide.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#} I first started playing, it only had English trivia questions. But now it can test you on arts and culture, math, science, languages, and more.

I now like to use it to practice my Chinese and also geography — two favorite subjects of {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (I). It's also good because it fits all ages and has different difficulty {#blank#}7{#/blank#} ( level). Besides, you can play by yourself or even make a group with your family, friends or classmates.

 According to the Freerice website, since 2010, Freerice has raised more than 214 billion grains of rice for people in need. That is about US $1.41 million. One top donator(捐赠者) is a {#blank#}8{#/blank#} ( use) named Handsome JFr. He has donated 63,925,020 grains of rice!