Chinese students work hard to learn English. Do you know American kids are {#blank#}1{#/blank#} to learn Chinese? About 50,000 American students now study Chinese .“Because of china's fast growth, Chinese is more useful than{#blank#}2{#/blank#}languages,” said Scott McGinnis, a Washington language expert.

    For example, in 1999,only three Chicago schools had Chinese classes. This year more than 20 do. In many US cities , students take Chinese lessons during holidays{#blank#}3{#/blank#}on the weekends. But Chicago schools teach Chinese during the regular day. Last year China gave them 3,000 textbooks because they had done a good job.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Chinese classes are becoming popular, it is one of the most difficult languages. It totally takes an English speaker about 1,320 hours to become good at Chinese , but it only takes 480 hours to learn French, Spanish or Italian.

    One day, a father and his son went to a kite flying festival. When they arrived, there were already many adults and their children playing in the park. When the son saw the sky filled with {#blank#}1{#/blank#} kites in different shapes, he was excited and wanted to get one too. His father agreed to buy one for him. So they went to a kite shop and {#blank#}2{#/blank#} a beautiful one.

    With the string(线)in hand, the son started {#blank#}3{#/blank#} the kite. Soon, the kite was high up in the sky. After a while, the son said, "Father, it seems that the string is stopping the kite from flying higher. If we cut it, it will be free and fly even higher. Can we cut it?” The father didn't reply, but just cut the string off the reel(线轴). Suddenly, the kite began to go {#blank#}4{#/blank#}, which made the son much happier.

    However, to his surprise, the kite was coming down. They waited for quite some time. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}, it fell onto the grass. The son felt upset and asked, "I thought that after cutting the string, the kite would fly higher. Why did it fall down?”

    The father smiled and said, “The role of the string was not stopping the kite from flying higher, {#blank#}6{#/blank#} helping it stay in the sky, because the kite {#blank#}7{#/blank#} can' t fly up. By using the string you help the kite go up in the right {#blank#}8{#/blank#}. When you cut the string, it could not support the kite.

    In our life, we may sometimes feel like there are certain things that are holding us back and stopping us from growing. But in fact, these might be the things that support us{#blank#}9{#/blank#}. We can really grow up and become stronger by realizing the {#blank#}10{#/blank#} of these things.

    This is Tammela School, a primary school in Finland. The students are having a math class with their robot teacher.

    The "teacher" is {#blank#}1{#/blank#} small, blue machine about 25cm high, Reuters reported. Whenever students have problems, it helps them very {#blank#}2{#/blank#} and never gets bored.

    "The robot can make students more {#blank#}3{#/blank#} in class than usual. I see Elias as one of the {#blank#}4{#/blank#}to get different kinds of practice and activities into the classroom," a teacher told Reuters.

    So far the school has {#blank#}5{#/blank#}  four robot teachers, one of whom is a language teacher that can speak 23 languages and dance to music. "It is {#blank#}6{#/blank#} to encourage kids to come up {#blank#}7{#/blank#}  new ways to make use of technology in school life," the head of the school {#blank#}8{#/blank#} in the interview.

    The robot teachers are used to {#blank#}9{#/blank#} improve learning. This doesn't mean that human teachers will lose their jobs. The robots can teach well, {#blank#}10{#/blank#} they are not able to keep class in order. The school still needs human teachers.

    Each different part of China has its own special forms of traditional art.

    Chinese paper cutting, or jianzhi, is a kind of folk art. It's a way to {#blank#}1{#/blank#} people's hope and feelings. It has a {#blank#}2{#/blank#} of more than 1, 500 years. Paper cutting sounds very easy but it can be difficult. Red paper is usually used as red is {#blank#}3{#/blank#} with happiness in Chinese culture. The most {#blank#}4{#/blank#} pictures are flowers, animals, xi (喜) and fu (福). They are put on windows, doors, and walls {#blank#}5{#/blank#} symbols of wishes for good luck.

    Chinese clay art is well known and popular all over the country. Now many kids learn to make it in schools or even shopping {#blank#}6{#/blank#}. To make Chinese clay art, the clay is shaped by hand into things, such as cute children or {#blank#}7{#/blank#} characters from a Chinese fairy tale or historical story. {#blank#}8{#/blank#} the things get dry in the air, they are fired at a very high heat and then polished and painted. It takes several weeks to {#blank#}9{#/blank#} everything. Although they look so small, they look very real. {#blank#}10{#/blank#} small pieces of clay art show the love that all Chinese people have for life and beauty.