Where weredominoes (多米诺骨牌) from?Modern dominoes first showed up in Italy during the 18th century. But it isbelieved that the earliest dominoes were Chinese playing cards. Italianmissionaries (传教士) in China may have brought the gameto Europe. Do you think so?

    Do youlike to play with dominoes? Dominoes are small rectangular (长方形的) pieces made of wood orplastic (塑料). People can place dominoes in differentshapes. Then, they push one domino down and the rest of the dominoes fall oneby one. It is interesting to watch.

    Butplacing dominoes is hard. To make sure the dominoes fall smoothly, the spacebetween each domino is important. According to domino—play. com, if a domino is about 4cm long, then the space between two dominoes should be1—2 cm. If the space is too big, the dominoes will stop falling halfway.If the space is too small, the dominoes will fall too quickly and won't lookinteresting.

    Beginnerscan start by putting dominoes in a straight line. This is the easiest shape.Professional (专业的) playerscan place dominoes in many other shapes, including big circles, beautifulflowers and even famous paintings.

    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?

On a hot day，Dog finds a tent on the beach."Cool! "he says."Now I can stay away from （躲避） the hot sun."And he walks inside. 

"Hey，Mouse!Come and see the tent I find，"says Dog. 

"Thank you!It is a great place to stay away from the hot sun，"says Mouse，and he walks into the tent. 

"Hey，Cat!"call Dog and Mouse."Come and see our tent.It is a nice place.""Thanks，"says Cat when he walks inside. 

"Hey，Chicken!"they call."Come into our tent and cool off! ""Thank you，"says Chicken.and he walks inside. 

"Hello，Elephant!"say Dog，Mouse，Cat and Chicken."We would like to ask you to come into our tent，but there is no more room.We are very sorry." 

"I am sorry for you，"says Elephant."You see，this is not a tent.It is my hat.""Oh，"says Dog."We will look for a tent somewhere else.""That's OK，friends， "says Elephant."We can share （分享）it! " 

Recently, researchers have found that dolphins know their own names much like people. Dolphins talk to one another with whistles (口哨) and calls. Scientists have known that the animals also use unusual whistles to name each other. They had thought that dolphins only heard each other's voices. However, the scientists didn't know that dolphins listen for their names too.

To test this idea, the researchers caught 14 dolphins and recorded their name calls. The scientists then copied each dolphin's voice. When the changed recordings were played, the dolphins replied strongly to the names of their relatives and group members. They paid no attention to the names of dolphins they did not know.

Dolphins live in large groups that grow and change. Each dolphin's unusual whistle helps it quickly find a friend or a family member, or call for help. Understanding their calls requires learning. It's a skill that's seen in very few animals, which include humans and elephants.

Elephants, for example, communicate with sound. Their sounds can be heard by other elephants miles away. Dolphins, too, communicate with each other by making sounds like this. Elephants also communicate by moving their head, feet and trunk (象鼻). In much the same way, dolphins communicate by their movements. They often touch each other to express friendship.

Unlike dolphins, elephants also communicate by their great sense of smell. They can recognize other elephants by the smells they have.

Why do dolphins and elephants share the gift of communication? Scientists think it may be because they are social and smart animals. Both have strong family relationship. Now, whether they also have nicknames(绰号) is another question!

Today, we are going to make a simple cake. Here are the materials (材料) and ways. Let's have a try!

Materials

□ 1 cup of white sugar

□ 1/2 cup of butter

□ 2 eggs

□ 2 spoons of vanilla extract (香草香精)

□ 1 and 1/2 cups of flour (面粉)

□ 1 and 3/4 spoons of baking powder (发酵粉)

□ 1/2 cup of milk

Ways

◆First, you should preheat (预热) your oven (烤箱). Then you should cover a pan (平底锅) with oil and flour.

◆You should mix up the sugar and butter in a medium bowl. Then you can add the eggs, one  at a time. Next, you can add the vanilla extract, flour and baking powder to it and mix well. Finally, you should add the milk. Then pour it into the prepared pan.

◆Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the oven. If you want to make cupcakes, you can bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Tom and Tony are brothers. Tom exercises every day. He plays soccer five times a week and he swims and runs every weekend. He drinks milk and eats fruit and vegetables every day. He doesn't eat junk food. He sleeps eight hours every night.

Tony doesn't like to exercise, but he sometimes plays soccer with his brother. He really likes to watch TV. He watches TV for four or five hours every night. He never drinks milk, and he hardly ever eats fruit and vegetables. He loves junk food. He eats junk food five or six times a week. He often plays computer games, too. He sleeps eight hours every night.