John and Jack met at the old bench every afternoon. Then they played football. But they didn't have enough money to buy a real football. So Jack made a ball out of old socks covered with a piece of plastic. Every time, the two friends didn't stop kicking and running until very late.

    On Monday afternoon, John and Jack met again at the old bench. Soon the home-made ball was running across the grass. The boys laughed and shouted happily. The ball was stopped by a boy wearing a nice pair of sports shoes. John was upset when he saw it was Steven.

    The next morning, John's mother gave him a bill. “Your uncle sent you a birthday present.”She smiled. John's eyes grew big when he saw the ＄100 bill. Later that day, his mother bought a pair of new sports shoes and a real football.

    That afternoon Steven invited John to play football. Steven did not want Jack to join them only because Jack's sports shoes were dirty. When the game was over, John and Steven walked past the old bench where Jack was sitting. Steven picked up a stone and threw it at him. John, holding his new football in his hands, walked on and did not look back.

    Several days later, as John walked past the old bench, he saw something lying under it. He looked closer and saw it was the home-made ball. John was full of sadness when he saw the ball. As his sadness turned to anger, he picked up his new football and kicked it into the air. Then he walked to the beach, sat down and waited.

     With the development of the Internet, many people use it very often, including some teenagers. But many parents are worried about that their children may meet with something unhealthy online. To solve this problem, a new search engine for children named Kiddle has appeared.

     Search results are filtered, so only safe website are shown and descriptions are written in simple language. Searches with bad words are shut off, too. Kiddles uses the same color as Google in its logo and a similar design on its homepage, too— with an extra robot picture. The top three Kiddle research show safe websites and pages written specially for kids and those websites and pages are well chosen and checked by Kiddle developers. The fourth to seventh results will be safe and trusted websites that are not written for adults. They provide expert content, but are harder for kids to understand.

     Unlike on Google, most results appear along with large thumbnail pictures(缩略图) to make it easier for children to find what they are looking for. For example, when you search for “meow meow”. Google produces pages for information about a drug(毒品)，but Kiddle lists information only about cats. The company explained, “Websites which appear in Kiddle search results satisfy family–friendly requirements, as we filter websites with unhealthy content.”

B

    Most people hope to have a memory which helps them succeed in study, work and life. Can memory be improved? Luckily, hundreds of studies in the past 50 years have already given us a definite answer.

    A healthy lifestyle keeps our brain young and memory sharp. First of all, it is necessary to have a healthy diet. Eating more food rich in B vitamins and vitamin E, such as vegetables and lean meat, helps you have a better memory. Doing exercise can keep your brain alive, too. Proper exercise provides much oxygen for the brain. Running, riding a bike, swimming and even walking two or three times a week are helpful. Moreover, getting enough sleep is important. Only when your brain gets a good rest, can it work well. The healthier your lifestyle is, the better your memory will become. But do not expect a sudden change－it takes a long time to make a difference.

    Memory stills help you remember things better. The following three are the most widely used. Chunking is a way of remembering a piece of information by cutting it into small ones. For example, to memorize a ten-digit telephone number 2127983630, you can divide the digits into three groups: first 212, then 798, and lastly 3630. This method is far more effective than remembering a string of 10 digits. Organization means organizing information into groups of the same kind. For example, trees, grass and flowers are plants; tigers, pandas, horses and cows are animals. Imagery is remembering newly learnt information by using your imagination and connecting it with something that you are familiar with.

    However, memory skills will hardly work if you don't understand the information. What's more, only a regular review can make the memory last long. That is why students are always advised to go over what they have learnt and then use it as regularly as possible.

    Human brains are like muscles that needs nutrients and exercise to become stronger. If you make a few lifestyle changes and try some memory skills, you can certainly improve your memory.

D

    When a computer works on a group of programs, it can get very hot. Cooling the computer can cost a lot. So some scientists wonder what would happen if the heat from the computer could be used.

    Large Internet companies (公司）such as Google and Microsoft have thousands of computers. As these computers deal with information, they produce lots of heat, so they need huge cooling systems(系统）. These systems send the heat into the air.

    A company in Holland(荷兰） thinks paying to make the computers work and then paying again to cool them are a waste of energy. So the company developed a special device—the e-Radiator.

    Boaz Leupe, head of the company, says the e-Radiator works as a heating system and saves money. He explains that the energy is used twice—once to heat the home and once to cool the computer and that the users don't have to pay to cool their computers.

    Five homeowners in Holland are testing the heating system in their homes.

    "We pay for the computer using, so, in that way, homeowners get heating for free," Boaz says.

    Jan Visser is one of the homeowners. "If you use the computer more, the e-Radiator produces more heat," he says. "It can't provide enough heat if you don't use your computer often." But he is ready to try it. It's a great help for his family.

    The company says e-Radiators produce heat temperatures of up to 55℃. It says the system could save its users about $440 a year.

    Technology is everywhere. We see it any place we go and, in fact, almost all of us carry some piece of technology with us every time we leave the house. What I always forget, though, is just how useful and powerful technology can be when we want to help others.

    There is not a single room in my house that does not have some electronic devices （设备）lying around in it. Whenever I am at home, I am almost always using at least one electronic device. If you walked into my living room on any given day, you would find that, first, I have the television on. At the same time, I usually have my laptop resting on my knee, or I will be using my mobile phone. Even when I'm not at home I am always using my phone, and at work or in cafés, I sit down and connect to the local wireless network on my laptop.

    I must say that I waste a lot of time on the computer and the time I spend on it could be much better spent if I were to take up a little online volunteering.

    The technology we carry about everywhere can have a great power to do good for the world and to help others and recently I discovered just how much online volunteering there is to do in the world. From using your language skills to do translations, to developing and managing projects and helping with IT work, there is so much that so many people can do to help people in their own countries and across the world. The United Nations, in fact, has a huge page with "Volunteers Recruited" on its website.

    This work can support the poor and help charities who cannot pay for staff members. Many organizations only require you to work an hour a week﹣some even less. And the support provided by online volunteers can really help make a difference to those in need.

    Many people have the wrong ideas about pigs. Pigs are actually(买际上) very clean animals. On farms, they live in dirty places, so they become very dirty. But in the wild, pigs keep themselves very clean.

    They are also very smart. They may he smarter than clogs. So pigs can learn things from people.

    Pigs are very friendly animals. Some people raise (饲养) them as pets. Of course, people raise the smart kind, not the big kind. Small pigs are very cute. And they don't break things in the house. Big pigs usually live outside on the farms, not in people's houses.