China is a country with a long history. It has great traditional culture, especially Chinese characters. Chinese characters usually have more than one meaning and some of them are very interesting. Here are six ones. We use "pinyin" here because “pinyin”is the Chinese spelling way for the characters. For example, "fu" is the “pinyin” for good luck in Chinese. “pinyin”"fu”is only the phonic part of the character and if you want to know the meaning of good luck “fu”, you must read Chinese character 福 because “fu” also represents(代表) other Chinese characters that sound the same.

“fu”means blessing, good fortune, good luck. Chinese character “fu”is one of the most popular ones used during Chinese New Year. Chinese people often put up "fu”upside down on the front door of a house or an apartment. The upside down "fu" means good luck comes since the character for upside down in Chinese sounds the same as the character for “come”.

“lu”is used to mean official's a pay in old China. “shou” means long life, age or birthday. "xi" is happiness, The doubled character "xi” means double happiness. It is usually put up everywhere at Chinese weddings. "cai" is weath or money. Chinese often say “ money can make a ghost turn a millstone”. It is to say money really can do a lot of things. But, money can't buy everything. "he" is an important part of Chinese culture. It means good relations with other people, when you have “he”, things will be a lot easier for you.

The top six lucky Chinese charaters. “fu”"lu”"shou”"xi"“cai" "he”,are particularly loved by Chinese people.

   Today more and more cars go into families. Which car is the best for people? Different people have different ideas.
   Some people like the bright colour car made in China. It's really a good choice(选择). The bright colour car made in China is cheap, nice and safe. This kind of cars is suit for(适合于) the general income (收入一般的) family.
   Some people love famous foreign cars like Japanese cars, American cars and German cars. They're good but too expensive. But most people think famous foreign cars of better quality are better in safety. These are suit for the high income family or for business.
Some people like sports cars, because they're fast and exciting. Some sports cars are very nice but very expensive. Only rich people can afford them.
   Some people like travelling, so they need a travel car. Travel cars are comfortable. But they use much oil(油). What's the best car for us? Maybe it's a new and popular topic in life.

One year, a college in the Unites States announced that it would offer a lot of money for the pure white marigold(金盏花). The high reward attracted so many people, but in the nature, besides golden, the marigold is brown, and it is not easy to get the white one. So after they were excited for a time, many people had forgotten the announcement.

One normal day after 20 years, the college received a letter and 100 seeds of pure white marigold. It turned out to be anold woman of over 70 years old. Some experts in the college doubted it , but in order not to let her down, those seedsfinally took root(根) in the earth. The miracle appeared after one year: the field was covered by pure white marigold.

Therefore, the old woman who was always unknown to the public became a newfocus.

The old woman was a flower-lover. When she read the announcement 20 years ago, she got very excited like others. But her right children were totally against her decision. After all, a woman who never knew the seed genetics(遗传学)  couldn't complete what the experts could never do, so her thought was only a daydream.

Still, the old woman didn't change her mind and went on working. She planted some of the most common seeds and took good care of them. A year later, when the marigold came out, she chose one faintest(最暗淡的) from those golden and brown flowers and get the best seed. The next year, she again grew them and chose…. Day after day, year after year, through many seasons, the old woman's husband died, her children flew far and high, a lot of things happened in her life, but only the desire to grow the pure white marigold took root in her heart.

Finally, after 20 years on the day we all know, in the gardenshe saw a marigold which was not nearly white, but as white as sliver or snow.

A problem even experts couldn't deal with was solved by an old woman who didn't understand genetics. Wasn't it a miracle?

To take root in the heart, even the most common seed can grow into a miracle!

Imagine yourself getting thirsty or hungry during a mountain climbing exercise and there is a convenience* store right beside you, offering food and drinks, how great is that?

Rock climbing lovers in Pingjiang, Hunan Province, don't have to imagine this. They can stop and get food and drinks at a convenience store built on a mountain cliff *at the Shiniuzhai scenic area. The Shiniuzhai scenic area is famous for cliffs, canyons and rocks. It is also known for its glass-bottom bridge, which is one of the longest and highest glass bridges in the world.

Song Huizhou, manager of the Shiniuzhai scenic area, said the two-square-meter convenience store there is built on a mountainside about 120 meters above the ground. It was first built in 2017 and opened a year later. It takes people nearly one-and-a-half hours to reach the top. Visitors coming to experience the rock climbing program are usually amateurs*, so they often get thirsty and hungry along the way. Then the local government decided to build the store as a refreshment center for them. The food and drinks at the store are carried by staff members who work there every day. The climbers are allowed to take one free bottle of water and pay if they want more. However, the prices are the same as those at common stores. The store opens at 8 am and closes at 5 pm. If there are not many customers, there is no cashier* at the store and visitors can scan* the QR code with their phones to pay for the food and drinks by themselves.

①Will your school change a lot in the future? Will you have a robot teacher? What will your school life be like in 50 years?

②When you get to the new school, you will find that there is no teacher speaking in the front of the classroom. There will be a big screen playing a video of a teacher. A robot may walk around the classroom and help you with your problems. You can get the best teaching there. You will listen to the teacher for only about 20 minutes. Then you will work in groups to solve problems together. 

③You will have a special desk to keep your things. It can be like a fridge to keep your lunch fresh and a microwave(微波炉) to warm it up. 

④Your classroom will always be cool in summer and warm in winter. There is solar and wind power on the top of the teaching building. Each room can stay at a comfortable temperature(温度). 

⑤You can also consider(看作) your daily life as part of your school life. Because you can learn things from robot teachers, too. For example(例如), if you need to learn about cooking and washing dishes, you can go home and spend time in the kitchen with your home robot. 

⑥The school in the future will be quite different, and it is sure to be a great place to stay in.