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 four 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 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 Review, whether companies are connecting dog food bowls or security（安全）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. 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.

    Imagine this. You come back from school and your robot housekeeper is already waiting for you at the door. He turns on the lights, air-conditioner and television. While you are having dinner, he cleans the floor. Before you go to sleep, he tells you the weather report, then reads you a bedtime story.

    Such thoughts are not just for stories. Now they can happen in the real world, as long as you have the robot Alpha 2. Alpha 2 was a star at the 2017 World Robot Conference(大会), which was held from August 23^rd to 27^th in Beijing. More than 150 universities and companies from across the world brought their robots to the event for show and sale. Some robots work in factories. Some robots go to outer space or under water for exploration. But the highlights(亮点)of the event were service robots.

    This kind of robot is the closest to our daily lives. From cleaning to teaching, music to sports, service robots have been used to do many kinds of jobs.

    Teo is a popular service robot, as well as an artist and music teacher. His 53 fingers help him play the piano well. He played John Lennon's song Imagine at the conference.

    There is another service robot called Bestic. It acts as a human arm to feed people with a spoon. It can be a good helper for little kids, the elderly and those with difficulties using their hands.

    The scientists believe that it may not be far when every family has at least one service robot.

    No one knows when the first kite was made. The first record of a kite was more than 2,000 years ago in China. Han Xin, the leader of an army, wanted to bring down a king. He decided to dig a tunnel(隧道) into the king's palace. He flew a kite over the wall of the palace to make sure the length(长度) of its string(线). In this way, he could determine how long the tunnel should be. His men in the tunnel took the kite string with them. When they reached the end of the string, they started to dig up.

    Kites have been flown in Japan for hundreds of years. In the 1700s, kites were flown in autumn to give thanks for a good harvest. They were also flown to send good wishes to couples who had their first son. Today in Japan, kites are often flown as part of a celebration, such as the beginning of a new year. And kite festivals are held each year in many parts of the country.

    Kites have been used for scientific purposes in the Western world. In 1752, Benjamin Franklin tied a key to a kite and flew it in a storm to find out that lightening was a form of electricity. In the 1890s, Lawrence Hargrave invented box kites to test ideas about flight. From 1898 until 1933, the United States Weather Bureau (气象局) used box kites to collect weather data. The Wright brothers also experimented (试验) with kites. What they learnt helped them make the first airplane flight in 1903.

    There are some easy things you can do to protect the earth:

    •Plant flowers, grass or trees.

    •Whenever you visit a park or beach, take away what you take there. Keep rubbish in a bag until you can put it in a dustbin (垃圾桶).

    •Turn off the lights and TV set when you leave the room. This can save a lot of electricity.

    •Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth. You can save some water by not letting it run. Also, use a glass cup instead of a paper cup because this saves paper.

    •Give your old books and magazines to a library instead of throwing them away.

    •Give your old clothes to poor children you know instead of throwing them away.

    •Use both sides of paper.

    •Stop pouring dirty water into the rivers or lakes nearby.

    •Encourage all your friends to do the same things you do to help protect the earth.

    You don't have to wait until Earth Day to do these things. Make every day Earth Day. If everyone makes a contribution (贡献) to protecting the environment, the earth will become much more beautiful.