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.

Feng Boyao and MengShuqi found that their city library didn't have enough Braille books for blindpeople and many of the Braille books were out of date. 

So, they teamed up to help the blind by fixing the problem. Feng and Meng both studied at No.37 MiddleSchool in Taiyuan, Shanxi province. They invented a new kind of Braille reader. Their work won first prize ina national competition aiming to nurture creative thinking by encouraging youths to solve social problems. The invention was also granted（授予）a national patent（专利）. When connected to a computer, their Braillereader can turn words into raised dots（凸起的点）. Blind people can read by touching the dots, which aremagnets（磁铁）. This is the first Braille reader that uses magnets. 

"We found that today's Braille readers are very difficult and expensive," Feng said. "So, we decided todevelop a user-friendly product, especially for young blind children from grades1 to 3. Moreover, it only costsabout 2000 yuan."

After making their first device, Feng and Meng visited a school for the blind to get advice and improvedit based on the students' needs, like changing the size of the screen and the amount of space between the dots. "We hope the invention will be popularized（普及）in the future to help those blind people who can't affordthe Braille reader now," Meng told Taiyuan News. 

This story is about a young man. He worked hard at his lessons. He was too busy. He didn't have time to rest, so he was ill. Every night, when he went to bed, he closed his eyes and tried to sleep. But he couldn't. He thought, "I must go to see the doctor." He said to the doctor, "I can't go to sleep at night." "Try counting numbers. When you reach one thousand, you'll be asleep."

The next day the man came back to the doctor's office. "Well," said the doctor, "how are you today?" 

"Yes," he said. "I tried counting one, two, three … up to （直到)one thousand. But when I reached five hundred and sixty-nine, I began to feel sleepy. I had to get up and drank some tea. Then I went on counting up to one thousand. But I still couldn't fall asleep." 

Do You Have a Soccer Ball?

Frank Brown

I don't have a soccer ball, but my brother Alan does. We go to the s{#blank#}1{#/blank#} school and we love soccer. We play it at school with our friends. It's r{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

Gina Smith

Yes, I do. I have two soccer balls, three volleyballs, four basketballs and five baseballs and bats. I love s{#blank#}3{#/blank#}, but I don't play them—I only watch them on TV! 

Wang Wei

No, I don't. Soccer is d{#blank#}4{#/blank#} for me, so I never play it. I like ping-pong. It's easy for me. I have three ping-pong balls and two ping-pong bats. A{#blank#}5{#/blank#} class, I play ping-pong with my classmates.