One day an old woman was travelling alone in the mountains. Suddenly she saw something shining in the stream（溪流）. When she came close, she found it was a precious（宝贵的）stone. She put the stone into her bag and went on with her trip.

    The next day the old woman met a young man, who was also a traveler in the mountains. The young man looked very hungry, so the old woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked carefully, "The stone is beautiful. Would you like to give it to me?"

    "Sure. Why not?" the woman said, and handed the stone to him.

    The young man left happily with the stone. He knew it was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman.

    "I've been thinking." he said. "I know how valuable the stone is, but I give it back and hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have in your bag."

    The woman opened her bag. It was almost empty. She looked at the young man and smiled, "I have nothing special in my bag, but I do have something precious—the joy of giving!"

    The young man felt ashamed (惭愧的）and left silently.

    Some of the best things in life don't happen until you grow old enough to recognize them. I can say that about tea.

    I didn't start to drink tea until I was 35. What happened before that? The first time I felt a genuine urge to drink tea was in 2003, when I stayed briefly in the United Kingdom. After a time of consuming local food, I started to really like strong black tea. Although it was too strong to my tongue, I felt it was a necessity because it was comforting to my body.

    I took packs of green teas with me as gifts but was disappointed to find my British friends preferred much stronger black teas from Sri Lanka. Later I learned that although people know China for its teas, it ranks only third among the world's black tea exporters, after Sri Lanka and Kenya.

    After I came back to China and started to cover food stories, I met friends in the tea-drinking circle and learned more. Although the majority of the rest of the world drinks black tea, which the Chinese call“red tea”, China produces and drinks mostly green teas.

    I feel lucky to be Chinese because of the great variety of teas available in the country. It is estimated that there are more than 2,000 teas in China if you divide them geographically, including more than 600 locally famous brews. A more simple way to categorize (分类) is by color and extent of fermentation (发酵). That comes down to six main categories—green, white, yellow, dark-greenish (oolong), red and black teas.

    Tasting teas can be compared to our lives. They can be plain and predictable but sometimes they are full of pleasant surprises. Occasionally they can even seem too good to be true. The best thing is, you know there's always more to explore.

    Most people agree that eating healthy food is important. But sometimes making good food choices can be difficult. Now, there are apps that can help people learn about the food they eat to improve their health and their dining out experience.

    Happy Cow app

    Vegetarians do not eat animal meat. Vegans do not eat any animal products. The HappyCow app is made for both groups. Users can search for vegetarian-vegan restaurants and stores around the world.

    Open Table app

    Open Table app helps people choose restaurants when they want to go out to eat. It is a free service that shows users restaurant available based on where and when they want to dine. It gives users points when they make reservations(保留，预定), which can add up to discounts on restaurant visits.

    Local Eats app

    Restaurant chains, like McDonalds, can be found almost anywhere a person might travel. But sometimes travelers want to eat like locals. The Local Eats app is designed for that. It can help you find local restaurants in major cities in the US and in other countries. It costs about a dollar.

Where Chefs Eat app

    "Where Chefs Eat" is a 975-page book. Most people would not want to carry that around. But there is a much lighter app version of the same name for just $15. Six hundred chefs provide information on 3,000 restaurants around the world on the Where Chefs Eat app.

    Memory, they say, is a matter of practice and exercise. If you have the wish and really make a conscious(自觉的) effort, then you can quite easily improve your ability to remember things. But even if you are successful, there are times when your memory seems to play tricks on you.

    Sometimes you remember things that really did not happen. One morning last week, for example, I got up and found that I had left the front door unlocked all night, yet I clearly remember locking it carefully the night before.

    Memory “tricks” work the other way as well. Once in a while you remember not doing something, and then find out that you did. One day last month, for example, I was sitting in a barber(理发师) shop waiting for my turn to get a haircut, and suddenly I realized that I had got a haircut two days before at the barber shop across the street from my office.

    We always seem to find something funny and amusing in incidents caused by people's forgetfulness or absent-mindedness. Stories about absent-minded professors have been told for years, and we never get tired of hearing new ones. Unfortunately, however, absent-mindedness is not always funny. There are times when “tricks” of our memory can cause us great trouble.

    First-time shoppers at Seattle-based Amazon Go may feel as though they were stealing. That's because the 1,800 square-foot grocery store, which opened its doors to the public on January 22, has no cashiers or even checkout counters. Instead, as the name indicates, customers merely grab what they need and go! But before you start celebrating, the goods are not free—the cost of the purchase(s) is/are calculated electronically using “Just Walk Out” technology.

    The process is simple. Upon entering the store, shoppers “sign-in” by scanning their smartphones. Every item selected gets added to the bill automatically. If the customer changes his mind, all he has to do is return the purchase to the shelf, and it will be removed from the final bill. Though consumers will not find everything they need, they will be able to buy basics like bread, milk, and drinks. There are also numerous ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner choices made by chefs in the on-site kitchen. Those that prefer to cook at home can select from the wide variety of Amazon Meal Packages.

    Once the customer exits the store, the system processes the purchases and charges the cost to their Amazon account. Within seconds, the customer is notified of the deal with a digital receipt that lists each item bought, as well as the time spent in the store. The accurate tracking is possible thanks to multiple smart cameras that monitor everything the shopper is doing. Kumar explains,“Cameras figure out which interactions(互动) you have with the shelves. Computer vision figures out which items are taken. Machine-learning also determines which item it is.” The company insists that the system is so accurate that shoplifting(偷盗) is impossible. And they should know, considering that Amazon employees have been shopping there since 2015!

    The store has raised some concern about the jobs of the over 3.5 million cashiers in America. However, Amazon officials say they have nothing to worry about because human employees are not being displaced. They are simply assigned other essential tasks, like preparing meals, restocking shelves, assisting customers, and solving technical issues.

The custom of lighting up flower lamps during the Lantern Festival has a history of over 2,000 years in China. Various kinds of flower lamps with diverse{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(style) are popular in different parts across the country. According to some Chinese folk customs, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(witness) by a full moon hanging high above the sky, people will light up various lanterns at night to celebrate. It is the time for the whole family{#blank#}3{#/blank#} (enjoy) the bright moon, fire firecrackers, guess lantern riddles, eat the rice glue balls and celebrate the holiday{#blank#}4{#/blank#}(joyful). As a form of art, the Chinese flower lamp combines{#blank#}5{#/blank#}variety of skills, procedures, decoration methods and raw materials. Typical flower lamp includes the dragon lamp, the palace lamp, the blue flower lamp and the dragon- phoenix lamp, etc. 

Today,{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(economy) development and social progress provide the{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(motivate) for upgrading designs and creative styles of lamps. Whether paper lamps, electric lamps{#blank#}8{#/blank#}LED lamps, flower lamps have seen the changes of time.{#blank#}9{#/blank#}has never changed, however, is craftsmanship. Flower lamp is more than a handicraft; It's also an inheritance.{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (watch) flower lamps has become a culture, which has been passed down from generation to generation.