The Clockwork Radio
    The British inventor Trevor Baylis created this really clever ′wind-up radio′ for people from Third World countries. in some parts of the Third World countries, it's very hard for people to get or pay for enough energy. This radio uses no batteries (电池) and does not need any electricity to run it. A clockwork generator (发电机) is put inside the radio and works as the power. When it is fully wound up (上弦), the radio can work for long periods.

    The clock work product is not a new invention. The Victorians had already put it in wide use. We may find them used in toys as well. Then what is new about this clockwork radio? Baylis has used this simple but effective (高效的) way of creating electricity to both help the people of the Third World and to develop a product which is selling well in Western Europe.
    Even former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandella has one of these radios and personally recommends this product to others.

    Do you know what couch-potato means? Well, in America, the word is now often used. The American couch-potato becomes maybe even a part of American tradition. You see, in America, many people often spend their free time sitting on a couch（沙发）watching TV. As there are many programs to choose, the TV can be quite interesting and very addictive（上瘾的）. One may sit and watch TV for hour and hour without stop. They do nothing else but watch TV. These people are called couch-potatoes.

    In America, when one watches TV, he is most often sitting on a couch. While watching TV, most of these people look so frozen that they almost look dead. Everyone is sitting still（安静地） with eyes looking right into the same black box. Also because these people are addictive to TV, they don't exercise and usually get very fat. So in many ways, they look like real potatoes. Well, because they look so still and fat, and watch TV on a couch, they are all called couch-potatoes.

    Now you know what couch-potatoes means. The next time if you see someone watching TV too long, just say, "What a couch-potato!"

    The story of how the song Happy Birthday to You came to be, began as a sweet one that later sourced. Two sisters, Mildred Hill, a teacher at the Louisville, Kentucky Experimental Kindergarten, and Dr. Patty Hill, the headmaster of the same school, together wrote a song for the children, called Good Morning to All. As the local expert on spiritual songs, and as the organist（风琴师） for her church, Mildred combined her musical talents with her sister's knowledge in the area of Kindergarten Education, Good Morning to All was sure to be a success.

    The sisters published the song in a collection named "Song Stories of the Kindergarten" in 1893.Thirty-one years later, after Dr. Patty Hill became the head of the Department of Kindergarten Education at Columbia University's Teacher College, a gentleman by the name of Robert H. Coleman published the song, without the sisters'permission. What was worse, he added a second verse（歌词） Happy Birthday to You.

    Mr. Coleman's addition of the second verse made the song become well known and, gradually, the sisters' original first verse disappeared. Happy Birthday to You, the one and only birthday song, had altogether replaced the sisters' original title Good Morning to All.

    After Mildred died in 1916, Patty, together with a third sister, Jessica, discussed the issue together and took Mr. Coleman to court（法庭）, they proved that they, indeed, owned the melody（曲调）. The court finally decided that the family legally（合法地） owns the song, whenever it is sung for commercial purposes（商业目的）.

    An important question about eating out is who pays for the meal. If a friend of yours asks you to have lunch with him, you may say something like this, "I'm afraid it'll have to be someplace cheap, as I have very little money." The other person may say, "OK, I'll meet you at McDonald's."

    This means that the two agree to go Dutch, that is, each person pays for himself. He may also say, "Oh, no. I want to take you to lunch at Smith's," or "I want you to try the Chinese dumplings there. They're great." This means the person wants to pay for both of you. If you feel friendly towards this person, you can go with him and you needn't pay for the meal. You may just say, "Thank you. That would be very nice."

    American customs (1) about who pays for dates (2) are much the same as in other parts of the world. In the old days, American women wanted men to pay for all the meals. But, today, a university (3) girl or a woman in business world will usually pay her way during the day. If a man asks her for a dance outside the working hours, it means "Come, as my guest (4)." So as you can see, it is a polite thing to make the question clear at the very beginning.

    He will be the ambassador of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games. Of course, we're talking about the one-and-only Son Goku (孙悟空). Nope, this is not a joke. His dad is named Akira Toriyama (鸟山明). He must be very proud of him. Goku is 1.72 meters tall. He had a monkey tail as a child. He has beaten some of the universe's biggest enemies. The Tokyo Olympics are two years away, but the Olympic committee has already made a decision. Goku is a world famous Japanese character. He's worth investing in for the Olympics. He will be the main character with other eight Japanese popular cartoon characters.