My mother was telling me about how she and her family got their first television when she was a teenager. Of course, it was black and white. She said she only watched it at night. When I was young, we had only about 3 or 4 different channels. My brothers, my sisters and I would sometimes fight about which channel to watch. But we usually enjoyed the same shows.

   Nowadays, we can get hundreds of channels on TV. There are channels with old movies, cooking, fishing and so on. It's amazing! I wonder how much my brothers, my sisters and I would fight if we had hundreds of channels when I was a child. Of course, we had only one television set. These days I notice families with 2 or 3 or more television sets in their homes. I guess it stops people from arguing over which channel to choose.

    Since May 1, 2015, Beijing started to allow blind people to take guide dogs (导盲犬) onto the subway(地铁). How much do you know about guide dogs? What can they do to help blind people?

    Not every dog can become a guide dog. The most common guide dog breeds (品种) are Labrador Retrievers (拉布拉多猎犬) and Golden Retrievers (金毛猎犬). That's because they are smart and have a good temper.

    To help blind people, dogs need to learn many skills, such as finding and following a clear road, moving around obstacles (障碍物), and stopping when they reach a curb (路牙) beside a road. Of course they should pass tests. They also need to learn an important lesson known as “intelligent disobedience (智能抗命)”. For example, blind people ask the dog to go forward when crossing a road. But if the dog knows that a car is coming, it will not move until it is safe.

    At about 10 or 12 years old, guide dogs retire(退休). Some of them stay at their owner's home and become their pets. Others may go back to training schools and live there.

    What can a guide dog do to help blind people?

• Follow a direct road, paying no attention to other things such as smells, animals and people.

• Keep a steady (稳定的) pace and just ahead of the owner.

• Stop at all curbs until the handler tells them to move forward.

• Stay quiet when the owner is sitting down.

• Help the owner to move around buses, subways and other public transportation.

    Answer the following questions. (in no more than eight words)

    A good book can be satisfying, can improve your knowledge and can teach you a lot. There are several ways to develop a lifetime reading habit.

    Set times. You should have a few set times every day when you'll read for at least 5—10 minutes, no matter what happens. For example, make it a habit to read during breakfast and lunch (and even dinner if you eat alone).

    Always carry a book. No matter where you go, take a book with you. When you leave the house, make sure to have at least one book. You may keep the book in the car, or into the office or to anywhere you go, unless you' re sure you won't have time to read.

    Make a list. Keep a list of all the great books you want to read. You can keep this in a pocket notebook. Be sure to add to it whenever you hear about a good book. Keep a running list, and cross out the ones you have read.

    Find a quiet place. Find a place in your home where you can sit in a comfortable chair without television or computer near the chair. There should be no music or noisy family members.

    Set a high aim. For example. Tell yourself that you want to read 50 books this year. Your best to finish reading them. Just be sure you're still enjoying the reading.

    The Reasons of Learning English

    Today lots of people in China can speak English and more and more people are learning this language. Then what do they learn English for? We have done a survey and here are some people's reasons:

    Alice White: I like traveling by myself very much. I've been to many places in China, and I plan to travel to some foreign countries. English is the most widely used language in the world, so learning English will do great help to my trips.

    Mark Smith: I'm actually not so interested in English. I like Chinese much better. However, I have to learn English. We have to take English exams and the score(分数) of English takes a large part in the total score. Luckily, I'm not doing too badly in it, or I'll have to struggle(奋斗) with it.

    Ben Green: It is necessary to learn English. As you know, the competition in the job market is very fierce(激烈的). If I have a good knowledge of English, I will have a chance of getting a good job.

    Kate Lu: It's interesting, isn't it? I can get information that others can't get. I can talk and write letters to interesting people that others can't communicate with. And I can always make people surprised by speaking good English.

Information Card

    The Internet is shaping our lives. We already have online shopping services and mobile payment. However, this is just a start. The world's leading tech companies are planning to build smarter online communities. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} It was held in Wuzhen, Zhejiang last year. The development of artificial intelligence(AI,人工智能) was a hot topic at the conference(会议). If a machine can learn and solve problems as humans do, it can be called AI.

    The company Alibaba uses AI technology in its unmanned supermarket in Wuzhen. There is no salesperson in the supermarket, just an iPad on a desk that says "please smile". {#blank#}2{#/blank#} The bigger you smile, the more discounts(折扣) you get. Payment is done automatically through your Alipay account. When you first enter the supermarket, the supermarket's AI recognizes(辨认) your face and your account.

    There is also AI that can read lips. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} It recognizes your mouth's movements and turns them into voice or text messages. This could be very useful when you are trying to talk to someone on your phone in a noisy place. Police could also use the technology to help them find criminals by lip-reading recordings from video cameras.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Microsoft's chatting robot XiaoIce can not only provide useful information, but also talk with people like a real friend. XiaoIce has a WeChat account(账户). After following the account, users can start talking with her. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} She keeps improving herself by talking with users.

    These technologies are being put into wider use. We may see a smarter world and better lives in the near future.

The Inside of the World

    When I was a very little boy, I was always asking questions.

    One day when I was walking with my nurse along the city street, I asked, "Jane, what's under the street?" "Oh, just dirt (尘土) ," she replied. "And what is under the dirt?" "Oh, more dirt," she replied.

   {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. So I asked again, "Well, what's under that?" "Oh, nothing-I don't know-why are you always asking so many questions?" she asked

    I knew there must be something under that. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. I also heard that Chinese lived on the other side of the world, head down. I wanted to find out if that was true.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, down, down, down, till I came through on the other side, and then I would know. I was a very little boy, you see. With a small shovel (铁锹) , I started a hole in the back yard behind the grapevines (葡萄藤). No one knew what I was doing. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    Then one evening my father asked, "What's that hole in the back yard?" {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

He didn't laugh when I told him, but he asked me if I knew how far I would have to dig.

    I hadn't dug through the world, but I did know how far it was.