The erhu is a traditional Chinese musical instrument. It is the most popular of the huqin family. In the Song Dynasty, musicians began to use this type of huqin to perform different kinds of music, and it became quite a popular instrument. With the rise of some forms of folk art, the art of the erhu developed quickly during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It became an important accompanying (伴奏) instrument in different folk music. Now it is used in both traditional and modern music. It has even become a solo (独奏的) instrument. One of the most famous musical pieces played on the erhu is Erquan Yingyue by Abing.

The erhu used to be mainly played by common people, As the playing skills were passed down by oral (口传) tradition, there are few written records about the erhu that can be found. To study the history and the development of the erhu, historians usually turn to ancient paintings, sculptures and murals (雕塑和璧画). The earliest pictures of this instrument were found in Yulin Caves and Eastern Thousand Buddha Caves in Gansu Province.

Because of so many people's effort, the erhu becomes more and more popular around the world. In fact, we can hear the familiar sound of the erhu in many Hollywood productions, such as Kungfu Panda in 2012 and most recently, the Oscar nominated(提名)film Up in the Air(《在云端》). When people watch these movies, they also enjoy the special music of the erhu. The erhu is also called "Chinese violin" by many westerners, but in many ways, they are quite different.

Doing housework is a key part of family life. It helps improve the relationship among family members. However, lots of Chinese parents are unaware of the importance of doing housework and they think it is a waste of time.

In order to know how often middle school students do housework at home, we did a survey among 1,200 students from Grade 7 to Grade 9 in a middle school. The following bar chart shows the result of our survey.

From the bar chart, we find that only a small number of students usually do housework. Nearly half of the students in Grade 9 never do housework. The result makes us worried.

After all, doing housework is good for students. It can teach students many important skills, like planning, timing, solving problems and so on. Doing housework can also teach students what responsibility is. Everyone should do something for the family. What's more, doing housework can help students relax themselves and keep a balance between study and life.

Therefore, we suggest that parents should encourage their children to do housework. They must learn one or two life skills every year so that they can be better prepared for an independent life in the future.

One of the things to be learnt in a foreign language is guessing. You guess what kind of thing to come when listening to someone talking. People do this all the time in their own language, so it is necessary(必要的) to do this in a foreign language, too. Here are some examples.

1. " What's thematter?""I went to a party last night, so I…"

2. "I feel so tired these days. "" I think you'd better..."

3. " Of course, she never stops talking. She is one of the most..."

You can see from the above three examples that the context(上下文) helps a lot in understanding what is being talked about. So" guessing " is very important in understanding English, especially(尤其) spoken English.

At a restaurant in Qingdao, meals are cooked by robotic chefs(机器人厨师).Customers can watch how the food {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (cook) by chefs in the kitchen, so they feel safe and certain about the food they eat.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#} it takes a robot only 10 minutes to cook a dish, the colors and tastes of the dishes are almost the same as those cooked by human chefs.

Such robotic kitchens work better in{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (cut) food waste, Research shows that about 50% of vegetables are wasted during the preparation of dishes. To improve this situation, the vegetables will be sent to {#blank#}4{#/blank#} factory to be washed and then arrive at the restaurant ready for cooking. Because {#blank#}5{#/blank#}this whole process, there will be little food waste produced. Besides, the restaurant will collect the unused or uneaten vegetables and feed{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (they) to animals. The kitchen waste is {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (great) cut in this way.

The rise of the robotic restaurants shows that some restaurants are now paying more attention to the{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (safe) and freshness of food, They meet {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (people ) needs for safe and healthy food.

The robotic kitchens are challenging the, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (tradition) restaurant industry. Is the robotic kitchen the future of restaurants? Time will tell.

This is a tale of two friends—one is blind, the other has no arms. On their own, the two are "disabled". But together, they are a powerful team that has changed part of their village in North China's Hebei Province into a rich, green forest. Meet 53-year-old Jia Haixia and Jia Wenqi! 

Their story began in 2000, when Haixia, who was already blind in his right eye, lost his left one after an illness. Wenqi lost his arms in an accident when he was just three. Neither could. find a job, so the two decided to team up. They rented some poor land and began to plant trees. In return, the local officials paid them a small fee. 

Haixia and Wenqi never imagined that they would end up creating an environmental paradise. Their forest now has over 10,000 trees, hundreds of birds and many other wild animals. In addition, it saves the village from river flooding during the rainy season. 

When the friends work together, they focus on their strengths not their disabilities. Their day begins at 7 a. m. when the sightless Haixia carries Wenqi across the river to get to their worksite. Since they cannot afford to buy young trees to plant, the two use branches from existing trees. Haixia climbs to the tree-top and with Wenqi's direction, selects the perfect branch. He then digs a hole and carefully plants it. Finally, Wenqi waters the area. 

Though hard-working, the men don't make much money. But as Wenqi puts it, "We stand on our own feet. so the fruits of our work taste sweeter. "

Neither Haixia nor Wenqi cares about money. Together, they already have everything they need—a perfect pair of eyes, two strong hands, and the best friendship in the world!