Both of my parents worked full-time when I was a little girl, so my grandmother would stay at our house during the day. We would watch game shows in the living room. Our favorite was The Price is Right. We would call out our answers along with the contestants.

    When I got older and started going to school, we couldn't watch our game shows regularly. That was okay with me, though, because the one thing I liked better than watching game shows with my grandmother was helping her bake. Watching her in the kitchen was amazing: she never seemed to need the recipes but everything she made tasted delicious.

    At first I would just sit in the kitchen and watch, even though I didn't understand what she was doing. As I got older, she let me help with the easy parts, such as measuring the sugar. The day she let me separate the eggs，I felt like I had found complete pleasure.

    At last, my parents decided that I could take care of myself，and my grandmother stopped coming over every day. The love of baking, however, stayed with me. I started baking by myself, and even if the cookies ended up burnt sometimes, more often they turned out pretty well. I tried out new recipes, and whenever I got to a thorny part, I would call my grandmother for advice. Sometimes I would call her just to talk, too. I felt like I could talk to her about anything.

    My grandmother passed away ten years ago, but I still think of her every day. Last week, I found a recipe book she made for me. It included her recipes for brownies, cookies, and my favorite, lemon pie. As I looked through the pages, I thought I could hear her voice. She was the one who taught me not just about baking, but about life.

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    The tallest building in the United States, the One World Trade Center, opened on November 3, 2014 in New York. The building is 1,776 feet tall, making it the 3rd tallest building in the world. It has 104 floors. The building stands in the area where the twin towers of the World Trade Center once stood. On September 11, 2001, a group of terrorists destroyed these twin towers and killed nearly 3,000 people. It took 8 years to build the new One World Trade Center. Does the height of the building in feet reminds you of something in history? The number is the year when the United States declared(宣布) its independence(独立) from Great Britain.

    One problem with such a tall building is how to clean the windows. Well, a platform(平台) hangs from ropes, and workers on the platform clean windows. On November 12, while two men were busy cleaning windows, a rope of the platform broke near the 68th floor. The two men were saved by cutting a hole in the glass window.

The two tallest buildings in the world are the BurjKhalifa in Dubai, UAE and the Makkah Royal Clock Tower in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

    My mother once was a follower of traditional methods when it came to anything. She cooked traditional food, liked dressing up traditionally and thus was fond of traditional way of shopping. She loved going to the market and going from one shop to another to find out what suited her best. She could walk miles when it came to shopping along with her friends. She was familiar with all the local markets and shops and by now knows very well where she can get best discounts and material.

    However, now she begins to feel her age and gets tired when she goes out in the market. So one day I decided to introduce a new shop to her, a shop that is much bigger than her usual markets and where she gets better discounts. Yes, I am talking about the online gift stores. She has basic knowledge of computers and can operate a laptop. Initially (起初) she was doubtful about shopping from these online gift shops and wasn't too sure about the quality of the products.

    One fine day I decided to get some branded things for her first so that she could build trust in these shops. I ordered a Timex watch for her along with a Sisley handbag. She never bought things online but when they were delivered as a gift, she jumped for joy. She could not believe that I had ordered these gifts for her despite her being not very positive about online shops. However, after she saw both the products, she believed that these online gift shops would send the promised brand and products. She loved her new watch and the handbag.

    After this incident she ordered a gift for her friend's wedding anniversary. She chose a gift basket that could be made to her requirements. They sent a beautifully decorated basket with fine wines and chocolates. The basket was so carefully decorated that it immediately became her friend's favorite gift. Since then my mother has been often shopping online.

    It had coaster brakes and only one gear (齿轮). My two older brothers used it before me. The twenty-inch, black frame showed its age. It was scratched and nicked from years of use, but I didn't care. It was mine now.

My tricycle stood by the front steps of our house—-forgotten. In the front yard. I held the handlebars, swung my right leg over and settled myself onto the seat. My legs weren't long enough for both to touch the ground at the same time. I leaned to one side one foot supported me, I looked around, made sure no one was watching and kicked off My feet reached for the pedals and began to pump.

    After a few wobbly (不稳定的))yards, I fell off, and landed on my shoulder in the grass. I jumped up, brushed myself off, got back on and fell again.

    A week later, I rode in circles around the yard. Always to the left, I didn't wobble or fall. I was steady as I followed the beaten trail ['d created in the grass. I was free and I was flying.

    “Michael!” Mum called. ‘Supper is read!'

     I turned toward the front steps, wobbled and fell to the ground. I didn't know how to go straight or to the right. I'd learned to travel in circles to the left.

A year later, I was bicycling all around the neighbourhood. At twenty years old, I left home and cried. It was a lonely time in my life. Mum wasn't there It was time to learn how to turn again. I married and became a Dad —- I stumbled（跌跌撞撞）. There was someone else to think about new turns to stumble through.

    Each time I fell. I got up, brushed myself off and turned around the obstacle (障碍). Each time I think I'm on a straight road, life throws a turn in front of me. I may fall, but I always climb back on my seat.

    The US teenager Thomas Cheatham had planned to study Latin during his time at Hebron High School in Texas. But when he learned that the school district was going to offer a Mandarin class, he quickly changed his mind.

    “I thought Mandarin would be more beneficial than Latin,” said Cheatham, who is now in his second year of studying the language. He speaks Mandarin to order food at Chinese restaurants and can read social media posts from his Chinese-speaking friends.

    While it's a difficult language to master, the high school junior, who plans to study computer engineering, thinks it will be important for his career. “Chinese is a good language to know, especially with China becoming a growing power,” he said.

    Many experts agree that proficiency in a language spoken by a billion people worldwide will give American students an edge in the global economy. “People are looking at China as our next economic competitor, and interest in Mandarin is growing,” said Marty Abbott, executive director of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. “We're seeing it in all parts of the country. ”

    Abbott estimates that as many as 100, 000 students are now studying Mandarin throughout the US, in public and private schools. She said the US government has designated (指定) Mandarin as a “critical needs” language and provides professional development programs for teachers. “Our government wants to increase our language competency for national security and economic competitiveness,” Abbott said.

    At the same time, the Chinese government is spreading knowledge of the Chinese language and culture through Confucius Institutes established in many US states. For example, the Confucius Institute at the University of Texas in Dallas has been the home of a Confucius Institute for 10 years. It sponsors Confucius Classrooms at 21 local public and private schools, where tens of thousands of students are learning Mandarin.

    Google's new camera, called Clips, is a small, smart device. It comes with a case that has a clip (夹子), but it's not designed to be worn on your clothing. Most interestingly, it uses artificial intelligence to take photography out of your hands so it can capture moments on its own.

    This roughly 2-inch by 2-inch camera, with a three-hour battery life and Gorilla Glass for toughness, is intended for candid moments, like when a child does something cute that may happen too quickly for you to pull out your smartphone.

    Onboard the Clips device, it uses machine learning algorithms (计算程序) to help capture scenes. Those algorithms include face recognition. "Once it learns that there's a face you see frequently, it'll try to get nice photos of those faces," said Juston Payne, the device's product manager. And they also want it to recognize facial expressions, which involved "training it to know what happiness looks like". The Google team also trained it to recognize what not to shoot—like when a child's hand is over the lens, or if it is tossed in a dark purse.

    The only way to see the images is by connecting the camera with your phone, as it has no screen for viewing or editing.

    Were people concerned it could seem strange? Yes, Payne admitted. But they said they addressed that by making it obvious what it is. A green light on the front signals that it is on. Besides, unlike a camera meant to monitor your home, it is not connected to the Internet.

    "This product is only possible because of the way that silicon has advanced" Payne said, noting that it was only in the past year or so that they could squeeze the technology down into a device this size. Going forward, we're likely to get more assistance from the artificial intelligence packed into our apps and gadgets.