Is your TV connected to the Internet? What about your chair, or your fridge? Probably they are not. But in the future, most things in your home may be connected, thanks to the so-called "Internet of things".

    The Internet of things may be coming sooner than you think. Earlier this year, Samsung CEO spent a lot of time talking about the Internet things. He said that three years from now, every Samsung product will be part of the Internet of things, no matter whether it's a remote control or a washing machine.

    So, how do household objects that are part of the Internet of things work? Well, think of a common chair. When connected to the Internet, the chair warms up when it knows the user has just walked into the room and is feeling cold.

    An Internet-connected camera could help people feel safer in their homes. It can know people's faces and has an infrared sensor（红外传感器）, so even if it's dark it can see when someone passes by and send you a message on your smart-phone to let you know who's there. If the person is someone you don't know, it can tell you that, too.

    But according to MIT Technology Review, whether companies are connecting dog food bowls or safety systems to the Internet, there may be some problems. For example, many early connected-home objects don't have much built-in security, which means they could be hacked（攻击）. Moreover, it could be difficult to get these new machines to work together especially when they are made by different companies. To fight this, many companies have joined the Open Interconnect Consortium, which had 45 members by late 2015.

    So, picture this: you enter your home. The temperature changes to make you feel comfortable. Your favorite music starts playing for you. Do you think that this would be a good thing? It may happen sooner than you think.

    Mary is having a birthday party. There will be a cake with candles. Some people will bring birthday presents. Let's look at birthdays in some different countries around the world.

    Argentina: Ear pulling. If you ate 13, they will pull your ear. They will pull your ear one time for each year of your age. If you are 13, they will pull your ear thirteen times.

    Denmark: Flag (旗). If it is your birthday in Denmark, a flag will fly outside a window of your home

    Philippines: Coloured lights. Some people put colored light outside their home if sometime is having a birthday.

    Russia: Birthday pies. Many Russian children get a birthday pie, not a birthday cake.

    When you have a birthday, here is a message for you "Happy Birthday" from all around the world.

   Wonderful Events

   Horse Racing All Year Round

   The races start at 3 p.m. every Sunday. And the racetrack is only 20miles away. There is a lot of parking place here. So you don't need to worryabout where to park. We also provide presents for free. However, no childrenare allowed to go in.

100 Years of Pictures

   There are plenty of photos on show (now and then). You can see the Tajinhistory from 1900 to 2000. The show starts on February 1st and goes on to April30th. Our address is City Art Museum 730 High Street. The museum is open from10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Monday.

   Weekend Sales

   Everything is at the great sale (20% — 60% off) from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.this Saturday. Don't you want to save time and money? Come and visit us at BookGrandview Mall to realize your dreams! As soon as you come here, you'll fall inlove with prices we offer.

   Dance Party

   You must be tired after working for a long time. You need to take breaksaway from heavy work to celebrate a special date. Please come to Live Band,Country Club with your sweet heart on Sunday night. We prepare a dance party,which is from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. The price is $ 25 a couple or $ 15 a person.Enjoy your sleepless night!

Many Chinese people these days leave their hometown to work in the cities. They usually return to their hometowns one or {#blank#}1{#/blank#} times a year. Zhong Wei, a 46-year-old husband and father hasn't been back for almost three years. He has been working in a crayon factory in Wenzhou for the past 13 years. People like him are interested in how their hometowns are {#blank#}2{#/blank#} . New buildings are often built by the government. At the same time large hospitals and new roads have appeared.  Zhong Wei thinks {#blank#}3{#/blank#} developments are good because things need to change in order to become better. But he also thinks some things {#blank#}4{#/blank#} change. There is still a big old tree{#blank#}5{#/blank#} the school. Zhong Wei can still remember what his happy childhood was like under that big tree, and his hometown is still the place that holds all his childhood memories.

More and more Americans are going to work by bike. Do you know why more people are 1 bikes to work? We can answer the question in 2 ways. First, bikes don't need gasoline(汽油), so it takes less 3 to use them. Second, a bike doesn't 4 much space(空间), so it is 5 to find a place for it. And riding a bike is good for one's 6 . People often drive their 7 to offices or to shops, but now people think riding bikes is a good way of doing sports.

That's 8 more Americans are now going to work 9 bike, and they are 10 their own cars at home. 

Fewer than 2,000 giant pandas are left in the wild. So the discovery of one of the animals is a(n)1 for celebration. Recently,a white panda was2 on a camera in a bamboo forest in Sichuan province. What3 news!

The white panda is the world's first known albino（患白化病的动物）panda. It is all white with reddish eyes. The animal, whose gender is hard to determine（确定） from the photo，is between one and two years old.

Albinism is caused by a lack of pigment（色素）in the skin，eyes and hair. It often makes it difficult for animals to4 from predators （掠食者）.

A 2017 study discovered that the giant panda's black and white coloring allowed it to blend in with the snow during winter or to hide in the shade during summer. The scientists also believe the dark circles around the eyes help the panda bears 5 each other. Fortunately, the lack of markings does not seem to have affected the albino panda thus far.

Li Sheng, a professor at Peking University,said,"The panda looked strong and his steps were steady（平稳的）,a6 that albinism may not have influenced its life."