“Come on, Dad! It’s 7:20 a.m. now,” said Harry.

“Today I can’t drive you and Jane to school, because I need to wash the car now,” Mr. Smith said. “You have to walk to school this morning, OK?”

“But the school is a little far,” said Jane.

“Walking is good. Now get your schoolbags and go!”

Then Jane and Harry walked to school. It took 30 minutes. When they got to school, they were very tired.

In the evening, Jane and Harry had dinner with their grandpa. They told him they were not happy to walk to school. Grandpa said, “That’s good for you. I used to (过去常常) walk two kilometers to school every day.”

“Really?” Jane said. “But I don’t like walking.”

Grandpa said, “Kids need to walk or run every day. It’s good for your health. Remember it’s very important to be healthy for kids. ”

“Oh, I’ll start walking every day,” Harry said. “I want to keep fit.”

“I will join you, Harry,” said Jane.

Everyone knows that exercise is important. We all need to exercise. Doctors say it is good for us. It makes your heart and body strong. Children who often exercise are more alert(灵活).   

There are many ways to exercise. You can walk, run, swim, skate, or play ball games. Make sure you exercise in the following ways: you have to like what you’re doing. Exercise enough but not too much. It’s best to exercise twice each week. Thirty minutes each time is enough. Try all kinds of things until you find one, two or even three sports that feel right for you. You can exercise at fitness centers.

They have a lot of equipment（装备）there. The equipment will help exercise your arms, legs and other parts of your body to make you fit. Some people buy equipment for their homes. But it is very expensive.

Exercising can be fun. Friends can exercise together at a fitness center, or they can play s ports together. How do you exercise?

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 forexploration. 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 Imagineat 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.

Dear Jack,

How are you? I know you will come to my city to visit me next Sunday. Let me tell you the way to my house. When you walk out of the airport, go down Long Street. You will pass a bank on your right. The bank is opposite a famous theatre. Go on and cross White Street and Black Street. When you see a big supermarket, turn left. Then go down High Street and turn right at Sunshine Park. Go down Centre Street and you will go past a church and a square. My house is on your left. Itˈs about 15 minutesˈ walk.

Iˈm looking forward to seeing you soon and I hope youˈll have a good trip.

Yours,

Michael

  His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog(沼泽地). He dropped his tools and ran to the bog.

    There, suck in deep mud, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the boy from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.

    The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman's rare surroundings. An well-dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

    "I want to repay you," said the nobleman. "You saved my son's life." "No, I can't accept payment for what I did," the Scottish farmer replied, waving off the offer.

    At that moment, the farmer's own son came to the door of the family house. "Is that your son?" the nobleman asked.

    "Yes," the farmer replied proudly.

    "I'll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my son will enjoy. If the boy is anything like his father, he' U no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of."

    And that he did.

    Farmer Fleming's son attended the very best schools and in time, he graduated from St. Mary's Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer (发现者) of Penicillin (青霉素).

    Years afterward, the same nobleman's son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia (肺炎). What saved his life this time? Penicillin.

    The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill. His son's name? Sir Winston Churchill.

    Someone once said: What goes around comes around. Work like you don't need the money. Love like you've never been hurt. Dance like nobody's watching. Sing like nobody's listening. Live like it's heaven on earth.

Are you a positive (积极的) person? If so you are always hopeful and think of good points of a situation instead of bad ones. The power of positive thinking has been widely researched. It’s funny that some of us accept this power quickly while others are doubtful. Do you know the reason? Our opinions about positive thinking might explain its point.

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When facing a problem we weigh success or failure against the problem itself. We might think that positive thinking always leads us to expect success. Actually it’s more important to realize that positive thinking results in acceptance of our situation. If we think positively we may predict success or ways to move on when we are in difficulties. There’s a difference between blind positivity and seeing things in a positive way.

Results from positive thinking

Does research see any real value in positive thinking? Many studies show that a positive attitude leads to less stress and sadness. Physically positive thinking also leads to a longer life and quicker recovery(恢复) from sickness. Positive people with a family history of heart problems are even less likely to experience heart attacks.

Positive VS Negative(消极)

It seems strange to think that a state of mind can have such effects. But there are several reasons why a positive attitude is better than a negative one. Negative feelings are good for making us focus on tasks such as running from danger for example. However positive feelings open us up to a world of kinds of possibilities and bring us helpful ways. The more results of positive thinking naturally last longer as well.

Strategies for positivity

A positive attitude comes easier for some people than others because it’s a born character. Still anyone can try a few things to bring out the positive.

a. Rebuilding: See positives through negatives such as being glad the subway is cheap even when crowded.

b. Distance: When making a big decision act like you’re giving a friend advice.

c. Smile: Real or not smiles are shown to decrease (降低) heart rate and blood pressure.

In the end a positive attitude requires not only positive thinking but also positive action.

He met her at a party. After the party, he invited her for coffee. When they sat in a coffee shop, he didn’t know what to say. Suddenly, he asked the waiter, “ Could you please give me some salt?”

They were surprised and his face turned red. But when the salt came, he put it in his coffee and drank. She asked, “Why put salt in the coffee?” He said, “When I was a little boy, I lived near the sea. I liked playing on the seaside ....I could feel its taste salty, like salty coffee. Now every time I drink it, I think of my childhood and my hometown.”

She was touched(感动) and talked too, about her hometown, her childhood, her family. That was the start to their love story. Thanks to the salty coffee!

Soon they married(结婚) and lived happily together. And every time she made coffee for him, she put in some salt, the way he liked it.

After 40 years, he passed away and left her a letter. It said: My dearest, remember the first time we dated? I wanted to ask for some sugar, but I was too nervous(紧张) and said salt. It was hard for me to ask for a change, so I just went on. Many times, I tried to tell you about it, but I was afraid that it would make everything bad. I don’t really like salty coffee. But I’ve learned to enjoy it. Having you with me was my greatest happiness. If I could live a second time, I hope we can be together again, even if it means that I have to drink salty coffee for the rest of my life.

Do you know “Golden Week Holidays”? The Spring Festival and National Day are both “Golden Week Holidays”. These years Chinese people can enjoy longer holidays. They have more time to travel. With the development of China, Chinese people are getting richer and richer. More money makes it possible to travel farther, even go abroad.  Uncle Liu is going to visit Britain during this National Day. He said, “My dream to foreign countries really comes true. It’s so exciting to travel abroad.”

 Another good news came out in 2007. The Chinese government decided to make the May Day Holiday shorter, but make Qingming Festival, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Day as holidays. This decision makes Chinese people enjoy the three traditional festivals more. 

The world itself is becoming much smaller by using modern traffic and TV, telephone and so on. Life today is much easier than it was hundreds of years ago, but it has also brought new problems. One of the biggest is pollution.

Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, drink it and even hear it.

The more people, the more pollution. Many years ago, the problem was not so serious because there were not so many people. Man is now slowly polluting the whole world. Air pollution is still the most serious. It’s bad to all living things in the world. Water pollution kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us become angry more easily.

Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. They stop people from burning coal in houses and factories in the city.

The pollution of SO--₂ is now the most dangerous problem of air pollution. It is caused by heavy traffic. It is sure that if there are fewer people driving, there will be less air pollution.

Many musicians meet and form (组成) a band because they like to write and play their own music. They may start as a group of high school students and practice their music in someone’s house. Sometimes they may play to passers-by in the street or subway so that they can get some money for themselves or pay for their instruments.

However, there was one band that started in a different way. It was called the Monkees and was formed in 1965. It began as a TV show. The TV show had planned to find four rock musicians who could act as well as sing. But they could only find one who was good enough. They had to use actors for the other three members of the band.

Since some of these actors could not sing well enough, they had to ask for help from other musicians. So at first, the band just pretended (假装) to sing. Anyway, their performances were excellent and they got lots of fans. Each week on TV, the Monkees would pretend to play and sing songs written by other musicians. After a year or so, they became more serious about their work. They started to play and sing their own songs like a real band. Then they produced their own records and started touring and playing their own music. In the USA they became even more influential and popular than the Beatles and sold even more records.

However, the band broke up around 1970, but happily they reunited (重聚) in the 1980s. They produced a new record in 1996 to celebrate their time as a band. It was very successful. Today the Monkees are still making music for their millions of fans.