Tea, coffee and cocoa are three major drinks all over the world. Tea is drunk by the largest number of people in the world. Tea, as well as silk and porcelain, began to be known by the world over a thousand years ago and has been an important Chinese export since then.

   Tea has a history of over 4, 000 years and China is the home of tea. In ancient China, tea was used as a kind of medicine, while nowadays people drink tea daily. Longjing, Pu'er, Wulong and Tieguanyin are all famous tea. Thanks to the mild climate and rich soil in Fujian, Zhejiang and Yunnan, tea is produced mainly in these provinces.

   The words for tea in different languages came from Chinese, like “cha' i” in Russian. And the Japanese character for tea is written exactly the same as it is in Chinese.

   Over the past centuries, Chinese people have developed their unique(独特的)tea culture, which includes tea planting, tea-leaf  picking, tea making, tea drinking and so on. Tea is also popular in some sayings, like “A friendship between gentlemen is like a cup of tea.” In dances, songs, poems and novels, tea is often mentioned, too.

    Mr. Guo is a teacher from Xi'an.  He asked his students to hand in their homework through a QR code(二维码). "We spent an hour or two in class learning how to generate(使产生) the codes, and in the end everything gets easier. "Said Mr. Guo, "When students finish the homework, they keep it on WeChat. Then, each student makes his own QR code and gives it to me. So I can cheek their work anywhere using my computer or telephone. "

    The QR codes can be sent to Mr. Guo by email, QQ and WeChat. When Mr. Guo scans (扫描) his students' QR codes, their homework appears on his phone, lie finds that their homework becomes more creative, with many pictures, music and even videos.

    Mr. Guo's students like the new way and think it is interesting. "We are living in the information age. Many students like to work with computers, which makes learning more fun. "Said Tingling, a student of Mr. Guo's.

    "The paper is not easy to keep, hut the code is easy to keep and share." Mr. Guo said," It is worth trying to use new technology in education. Education itself is a kind of creation. I don't want my students to fall behind the times. "

    However, some parents are worried. They are afraid that their children will spend too much time on computers and less time communicating with teachers. But in fact, it's unnecessary. Students still need to look up information in books and write it down when they do their homework. They only use the codes when they hand in their work, which doesn't take them too much time.  Also for teachers, it allows them to cheek the students' work at any time.  And it's also an easy way to share homework with other students.

    As the Internet is developing fast, more and more new words and phrases have been created in Chinese. Here are some examples.

    One of the most popular words is Dianzan, which is often used when you quite agree with someone. Another example is Renxing. When you say somebody is Renxing, you mean that they will do whatever they like. The phrase Miaosha first came from online shopping, which means ou can complete your shopping orders before others. But now it's widely used when you achieve your purpose in a very short time. If you describe someone as a Tuhao, you mean that he or she is very rich.

    You can find lots of such new Chinese words. Keep learning and you'll know more about Chinese culture.

    People burn coal, gas and oil to get energy But there are problems with these fuels (燃料). (A)________, these fuels cause pollution. Pollution makes the air and water unsafe for humans. Secondly, these fuels will not last forever. One day, we will run out of these fuels.

    Scientists are looking for new kinds of energy. One is heat from the Earth. We know that (B)地球中央非常热. We cannot reach the center of the Earth, but in some places the heat from the Earth's center comes to the surface of the Earth. Perhaps you know about some of these places One place is volcanoes (火山). It is very dangerous to go near an active volcano, (C) _______ we cannot use the energy from this.

    Another kind of heat from the Earth is hot springs (温泉). In these places, hot water comes to the surface of the Earth. If this water is near a town, the hot water can be sent in pipes (管道) directly to people's houses to heat them .In Iceland, this is a common way to heat houses.

    (D)In Australia, scientists are looking for ways to make energy using hot rocks under the surface of the Earth. They want to pump (抽水)water onto the hot rocks .When the water hits the rocks, it makes stream(蒸汽). The steam is piped to power stations where (E) it is used to make electricity. The electricity can then be sent all over the country.