Benjamin Banneker was born a few months before another great American—George Washington. Benjamin was black, but he was not a slave (奴隶). He and his mother and his grandmother were free. Benjamin's grandmother came from England. In America she got a job and worked for many years to pay for her boat trip across the ocean. After working many years, she saved enough money to buy a farm. Benjamin lived with her for a while. She taught him to read, write and do arithmetic (算术).

    Benjamin's neighbours knew that he was clever. They were not surprised when he built a large wooden clock. He made each piece after studying a small pocket watch. The clock made him famous, for it was one of the first clocks built in America. People from other places began to send hard problems of all kinds to Benjamin to settle.

    Thomas Jefferson heard of Benjamin Banneker's ability to settle hard problems. He asked Banneker to help build the city that was to be the capital of the United States—Washington, D.C. Banneker worked hard on the plans for the city. He marked where the streets and buildings—the Capitol (美国国会大厦), the White House, and many other places should be built.

    Later, L' Enfant, the Frenchman who had designed the new city, had a quarrel, and went back to France in anger. He took all of the plans away. The workmen couldn't build without any plans to follow.

    For a while it seemed that the plans for the capital might have to be changed, but Benjamin Banneker remembered the plans he had helped draw. He drew each again as he had built each piece of his clock.

    If it weren't for Benjamin Banneker, Washington,

    D.C might look very different from the way it does today.

My baby graduated last week. Waiting for the ceremony to begin, I took a photo and posted it on Facebook with words "I'm teary. " However, autocorrect (自动更正) changed my words to "I'm ready. " For a minute I was unhappy. But the next minute I was cheering the handsome man, as he walked straight with a big smile to the headmaster. My heart was filled with pride, and I began to wonder if autocorrect had known something. 

The idea of "empty nest" is often connected with sadness, but the truth is that birds don't have a problem with it. Birds' parents encourage their children to leave the nest as soon as possible, while continuing to provide support. That sounds right to me. The fact that my kid is brave enough to go out on his own means I did my job well. And I should have the rewards. 

So, I started with a hot bath at 6:00 p. m. I enjoyed it for over an hour, and then went out to do some running. Back home then, I cooked salmon -my favourite fish but my boy disliked its smell. Later, in the evening, I didn't have to tell anyone to turn off his computer and get some sleep. But at midnight, I missed my boy a little bit more. 

The next morning, I went for a walk. Was I a terrible mother to live in the house by myself? Then I remembered: my kid flew because I taught him to fly. If I'm happy to be drinking coffee as I write this, it's not about not loving my boy but about finding his independence when he's away. It's about realizing that when your smartphone autocorrects "teary" to "ready", you should take note. 

In our school, all students have their favourite subjects. But students in different grades like different subjects.

In Grade Seven, students' favourite subject is always Chinese, because it's their mother tongue. They like PE and music, too. Students at this age like playing sports. Why is music welcome? Because most of them think music is relaxing.

In Grade Eight, some students like maths very much. But they aren't very good at maths, because maths in Grade Eight is a little difficult. They also like science and geography. They can learn a lot from science, and they seem(似乎) to go around China in geography classes.

In Grade Nine, English is some students' favourite subject. It's useful. Students often talk with friends in English. They also watch English movies to learn English.

As teenagers, we should always keep the sense (意识) of safety in mind. But how can we be safe? Here {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(be) some advice. First, we must be careful when we make {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(friend), especially online. If we are at home alone,{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(not open) the door for strangers (陌生人) easily. Second, if we are in danger, we should call the police {#blank#}4{#/blank#} help in time. Let's {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (keep) ourselves safe in this way. While we are at school,{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(not run) after each other in the classroom because it is dangerous. At the same time, we should remember {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(protect) ourselves while doing sports. Also, we should eat {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(health) and safely.{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(not eat) unhealthy food. Last but not least, summer is coming so we mustn't swim {#blank#}10{#/blank#} parents around. It's also very dangerous.

Type in"A cat wants to go to the space" and ask the robot to write a bedtime story. Just one second later, you' ll get the story of a cat called Max. He goes through many difficulties to sing among the stars. 

This robot writer is called ChatGPT. US company OpenAI made it. It can talk with people, write songs, poems and even jokes. It's one of the most powerful(强大的)AI writers. 

ChatGPT can write things really fast. We may spend hours researching (研究) and writing an article. But ChatGPT can write a good one in seconds. It can help correct grammar and spelling mistakes, and make our writing better. It is also good for the researchers from non-English speaking countries if they need to write English papers. 

However, every coin has two sides. According to a study, 89 percent of US college students had used ChatGPT to write homework. So many schools ban (禁止) the robot. Students can't utilise it for homework. Thousands of scientific journals (期刊) also have banned writers from using ChatGPT. They worry that the wrong information it creates will become junk science. And the robot doesn't have any new or creative ideas.