Are you interested in students in other countries: Do they also have so much homework like you?What do they do in their spare time?

    On April 8,a report came out on the lives of high school students in China,Japan,South Korea and the US.It surveyedaround 6,200 students from the four countries last year.You will find the answers to many of your questions in this report.

    Who study hardest?

    Chinese students spend the most time studying.Nearly half of Chinese students(48.6%) spend more than two hours on their homework every day.That's much more than students of the US(26.4%),Japan(8.2%) and South Korea (5.2%).

    Who sleep most often in class?

    Japanese students fall asleep in class most often.About 45% of them said they sometimes sleep in class.In South Korea,it's 32%;in the US,21%;and 5% in China.

    Who are the most distracted（分心的）?

    American students are the most active in class,but also the most distracted.64.2% said they chat with friends in class;46.9% said they eat snacks in class;and 38.9% said they send emails or read storybooks in class.

    What do they do after school?

    In their spare time,most Chinese students study or surf the Internet.Most American students go out to play with their friends.Most Japanese students do physical exercise.Most Korean students watch TV.

    With the development of science and technology, people find it increasingly difficult to keep pace with the most fashionable smart phones in the world, especially when smart phones are connected with robots. If any robot can take over the world, it's RoBohon. He has all the information you put in your smart phone and can read human feelings. So everyone probably wants to own the cutest smart robot phone.

    RoBohon is very useful. He can project photographs and films, tell you he loves you if he senses you are crying and do everything your smart phone can do.

    RoBohon was created by Japanese electronics company SHARP. The robot phone, with a 2-inch screen fitted into its back, stands 20cm tall and weighs 390 grams. Most surprisingly, he can walk on his own legs around your home and act as a super cute personal assistant. He can even dance. He reads your text messages, announces phone calls, dries your tears and wakes you up. He can even recognize your face and call your name when you enter the room. He will be always at your side keeping you company and providing you with great comfort.

    RoBohon can also serve as an alarm clock. The robot can be a wonderful partner in a small conversation. Though he is expensive, more than double the price of iPhone, who wouldn't want a small personal assistant?

    "You'll be blind by the time you're twenty-five," a doctor at Children's Hospital predicted. "Your blood sugars are much too high." It consumed me. No matter where I was or what I was doing, it was overhead like a dark cloud, waiting for just the right opportunity to break open and destroy my world.

    I liked painting. Losing myself in painting filled me with peace. Painting provided me with the only place where I could escape from those threatening words.

    When I was twenty-one, my right eye went blind. Precisely three months after my twenty-fifth birthday, I had a massive hemorrhage (大出血) in my left eye because of an accident. For the next twenty years, vision came and went. I went through many eye operations in an attempt to keep my vision. But after one final operation, I lost the battle and all remaining vision. And I buried all dreams of painting.

    Desperate, I enrolled in (注册) a sixteen-week program for the blind and visually impaired (损伤的). I learned personal adjustment and the use of a computer with adaptive software. A whole new world opened up to me through this program.

    "Jaws and Window-Eyes are leading software for the blind," my instructor told me. "You can use the Internet, e-mail and Microsoft with all its tools and features." It's amazing! Hope went up for the first time in years. "By learning how to use hot keys to control the mouse, you can use Microsoft Access, Excel and Powerpoint," my instructor added.

    For the next several years, I learned that when one door closes, another door opens. There are plenty of choices available for the blind and visually impaired through the gift of technology. Not only do I have a speaking computer, but I have a speaking watch, alarm clock and calculator.

    These days, it seems that almost all of us are too serious. My older daughter often says to me, "Daddy, you've got that serious look again." Even those of us who are committed to non-seriousness are probably too serious. People are frustrated and anxious about almost everything—being five minutes late, witnessing someone look at us wrong or say the wrong thing, paying bills, waiting in line, overcooking a meal, making an honest mistake -- you name it, and we all lose perspective（理性判断）over it.

    The root of being anxious is our unwillingness to accept life as being different, in any way, from our expectation. Very simply, we want things to be a certain way but they're not a certain way. Life is simply as it is. Perhaps Benjamin Franklin said it best: "Our limited perspective, our hopes and fears become our measure of life, and when circumstances don't fit our ideas, they become our difficulties." We spend our lives wanting things, people, and events to be just as we want them to be—and when they're not, we fight and we suffer.

    The first step in recovering from over-seriousness is to admit that you have a problem. You have to want to change, to become more easygoing. You have to see that your own anxiety is largely of your own creation—it's made up of the way you have set up your life and the way you react to it.

    The next step is to understand the link between your expectations and your frustration level. Whenever you expect something to be a certain way and it isn't, you're upset and you suffer. On the other hand, when you let go of your expectations, when you accept life as it is, you're free.

    A good exercise is to try to approach a single day without expectation. Don't expect people to be friendly. When they're not, you won't be surprised or bothered; if they are, you'll be delighted. Don't expect your day to be problem-free. Instead, as problems come up, say to yourself, "Ah, another barrier to overcome." As you approach your day in this manner you'll notice how elegant life can be. Rather than fighting against life, you'll be dancing with it. Pretty soon, with practice, you'll lighten up your entire life. And when you lighten up, life is a lot more fun.

    Nottingham Goose (鹅) Fair started on the first Thursday in October and lasted 3 days. However, nowadays you won't find any geese there.

    The fair opened at 12: 00 on the Thursday by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham, but it has an interesting and shocking history.

    For starters, it wasn't always the largest fair in the area. And the main fair for the people of Nottingham in terms of trade and economy was the Lenton Fair held at Lenton Priory.

    In the Middle Ages the Lenton Fair overshadowed (使显得逊色) the Goose Fair in size and importance. Harrisons Calendar of Fairs for 1587 mentions the Lenton Fair but not the Goose Fair. However the Goose Fair competed with its local competitors and every year over 20, 000 geese from the Fens in Lincolnshire arrived to be sold to provide the traditional Michaelmas dish.

    It wasn't just for geese either. All kinds of things were sold at the Goose Fair: sheep, horses and cattle were also sold.

    The fair has been under threat of closure many times over the years. In 1764, they actually had cheese riots (暴乱) due to an increase of a third on the price of cheese compared with the previous year, which resulted in an attack on the stallholders (摊主) at the fair.

    By 1880 the fair was reduced to a three-day event, which started on the first Thursday of October. In 1928, the fair was moved from the market square to its present site in the forest which is far away from the city centre. Despite attempts throughout its history to prevent the fair, the income from rents paid by the stallholders is financially beneficial to the local government. So regardless of the cheese riots and the various attempts to prohibit it, Nottingham Goose Fair has survived to celebrate over eight centuries of fun.

    One day a poor man was begging with an old wallet in his hand. As he felt sad at his own bad luck, he kept wondering why some wealthy people were never satisfied and were always wanting more.

    "Here," said he, "is the master of this house—I know him well. He is a wealthy businessman. He should have turned over his business to others, and then he could have spent the rest of his life happily, but he didn't. Instead, he sent his ships to sea to trade with foreign lands. However, there were great storms on the water, so his ships were destroyed and his treasure disappeared in the sea. As for me, if I had only enough to eat and to buy clothing, I would not want anything more."

    Just at that moment, Fortune came down the street. She saw the poor man and stopped. She said to him, "Listen! I want to help you. Hold your wallet, and I will pour this gold into it, but only on this condition: all that falls into the wallet shall be pure gold, but every piece that falls upon the ground shall become dust. Do you understand?"

    "Oh, yes," said the poor man.

    "Then be careful," said Fortune. "Your wallet is old, so do not load it too heavily."

    The beggar was so glad that he quickly opened his wallet, and a stream of yellow dollars poured into it. The wallet grew heavy.

    "Is that enough?" asked Fortune.

    "Not yet."

    "Isn't the wallet cracking (裂开)?"

    "Never fear."

    The beggar's hands began to tremble. Ah, if the gold would only pour forever!

    "You are the richest man in the world now!"

    "Just a little more, add just a handful or two."

    Another piece was added, and the wallet cracked. The treasure fell upon the ground and turned to dust. The beggar had nothing now but his empty wallet. He was as poor as before.