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, A Samsung CEO spent a lot of time talking about the Internet things. He said that five 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(家用的) 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 smartphone 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 Roview, whether companies are connecting dog food bowls or security 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(被黑客攻击). Morever, 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 menbers by late 2014.

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.

    Han Bin, a 15-year-old Chinese boy, likes eating snacks very much．He prefers cream (奶油) biscuits, McDonald's food and Beijing roast duck．Sometimes he eats two packages of biscuits a day．As a result, he becomes fatter and fatter.

    Today in China, there are many children like Han Bin．They like snacks．They don't eat enough healthy food like vegetables and fruit．It's bad for their health．Bad eating habit is a serious (严重的) problem.

    Health experts (专家) say that children should have healthy eating habits．First, they must eat regular meals and have a good breakfast．Then, they should have different kinds of foods, such as fruit, vegetables, eggs, milk, meat and so on．Third, children shouldn't eat too many snacks and too much fried food． They are delicious, but eating too much of them is unhealthy.

    If children do as the experts say, they won't become fat．They will be healthier．And they will have enough energy to study well.

    In recent years, there have been many breakthroughs in the AI (人工智能) field. Here, let us see four of the most interesting developments in AI in 2017.

    Did you know that each day one person in the USA throws away 4.4 pounds of rubbish? Almost every month, we throw away our own rubbish in packaging alone. Packaging (including boxes, bags, etc.) comes to our homes with the things we have bought. Several weeks ago, the TV news said that in a city in Italy tons of rubbish were piled up in the streets, and the smell was rather terrible. What can we do to help? We should get to know the following Rs.

    Reduce To reduce means to make less rubbish. That is one of the first things we all should do for the environment. Reduce your rubbish by doing things like packing your lunch in reusable containers(可再利用的容器), taking smaller portions(份) at dinner so you don't waste food when you have had enough, writing on both sides of paper, and using less water when taking a shower.

    Reuse to reuse is to use things again. Think about the bags you get from the shop. They can be reused to carry your lunch, to hold your rubbish, or to collect used cans. You can even take them back to the school next time to carry your things instead of getting a new bag!

    Recycle(回收利用) Recycling is an important part of keeping our planet clean and green. It can also save energy. Be sure that you don't throw things in the rubbish bins that can be recycled to make something else Paper, plastic, cans and bottles can all be recycled. But food, electrical waste and mobile phones cant. When you are not sure whether something can be recycled, go to your parents and teachers for advice.

Follow the three Rs, and every one of us can do something to save the Earth. It is also the best way to save ourselves.

    It's important to learn about protecting our environment. Here is a 5R rule for us:

    Reduce

    If you want to reduce waste, you should use things wisely(明智地). A larger number of trees are cut down to make paper. If everyone uses paper carelessly, soon we will not have any trees left. Other things are also being wasted, and people don't know what to do with the waste in big cities. So it is necessary to use things wisely.

    Reuse

    You should always think of reusing the usable things before throwing them away. For example, you can give your clothes you do not wear any more to the poor. In a family, you may pass on such clothes to younger brothers or sisters.

    Recycle

    Bottles, cans and paper can easily be recycled. By recycling them we save lots of time and money. For example, Coke cans are sent to a factory, where they are smashed flat (压平) and melted(融化) and the metal things are made for new Coke cans.

    Recover(恢复)

    When you buy a box of apples, there may be a few rotten(腐烂的) apples, you have two choices(选择): One is to throw the whole apples away, or you can cut off the rotten parts and keep the good parts. In the way, you are recovering the eatable(能吃的) parts of food.

    Repair

    If one of the legs of your table is broken, you can repair it. If you want to change for better ones, it is better for you to sell the old things or give them to other people who can use them after doing some repair.

    Bamboo(竹子) is one of nature s most surprising plants. Many people call this plant a tree, but it is a kind of grass.

    Like other kinds of grass, a bamboo plant may be cut very low to the ground, but it will grow back very quickly. A Japanese scientist reported one bamboo plant which grew 1.5 metres in 24 hours! There are more than 1, 000 kinds of bamboo. Bamboo grows almost everywhere in the world, but in Europe, they can't grow.

    Not all bamboo looks the same. Some bamboo plants are very thin. They may only grow to be a few centimetres wide while others may grow to be more than 30 centimetres across. This plant also comes in different colours, from yellow to black to green.

    Bamboo has been used to make many things such as hats and kitchen tools. Because it is strong, bamboo is also used to build buildings.

    Many Asian countries have used bamboo for hundreds of years. They often use bamboo for buildings and supporting(支撑) new buildings and bridges while they are being built.

    In Africa, poor farmers are taught how to bring water using bamboo. These African countries need cheap ways to bring water because they have no money, and their crops often die from no rain and no water. Bamboo pipes(管子) help poor farmers bring water to their thirsty fields without spending much money.