Have you heard of “Buy Nothing Day”? Do you think you can spend no coin on that day?

This holiday encourages people to stop buying things. It began in the 1990s in Vancouver,Canada. It was the idea of a man named Kalle Lasn. After working for many years in advertising (广告业), Lasn began to question the ways advertisers influenced people to buy things.

Lasn knows that people need to buy things. They have to buy things to eat, live and even enjoy life. But Lasn believes that many companies encourage people to buy far more than is necessary. He thinks it hurts people and culture.

Lasn tries to help people understand some of the false (错误的) values and ideas behind advertising. The main value he fights is the idea, “You must buy more to be happy.” Encouraging people to celebrate “Buy Nothing Day” is one idea he came up with (提出).

“Buy Nothing Day” is celebrated on the fourth Friday of every November. Lasn chose this day for a very important reason. It is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Advertisers call this day Black Friday.

The first “Buy Nothing Day” was celebrated in Canada in 1992. Many other countries also have growing problems with too much consumption (消费). Now, over sixty different countries, including theUSA, theUK,Germany,France, Japan, are celebrating “Buy Nothing Day”.

Some people doubt if “Buy Nothing Day” can really change culture. It is only one day, they say. Other people say that consumers should not just buy less, but they should buy better. These people encourage consumers to buy things made in environment-friendly ways.

But “Buy Nothing Day” does get people thinking about the negative influences of buying too much.

One day Peng Xianzhe learned he would go to the Mashan School in Guizhou. The 16-year-old boy tried to imagine how serious the drought was for the students at that school. However, he realized it was more serious than he had imagined when he saw the sign“DON’T wash clothes with water，or you will be punished（惩罚）.”

Because of drought, the school has been short of water for a long time. Each student has only one bottle of water every day for washing and drinking. The drought has made the poor students much poorer.

Peng is a student from Beijing Chaoyang Foreign Language School. He took part in the school’s Rain & Bow Project from April 2 to 10.

The project idea came from Peng’s principal（负责人）. One day, she heard a sad story about Li Guoxian, a poor girl in the Mashan School，who stopped going to school because of drought. The principal started this project to help the school. In one day, 3，000 students made over 10，000 donations of water，books and clothes.

Peng and other four students went to the Mashan School and gave the donations with five teachers. They visited poor families, made surveys and had classes at the school.

Ding Zhentao，16，was worried about the school’s poor learning environment. “The blackboards and playground are too shabby to use，”Ding said.“Besides, there really aren’t enough teachers. A teacher has to teach both history and English, and even the cook is a class teacher.”

Although life isn’t easy, students at the school have a positive attitude(积极的态度）towards life and they are quite willing to learn. That’s what moved 16-year-old Chen Shi most.

“They sang their songs together as usual before class every afternoon. After class, the students asked us to tell them things about Beijing and our studies,” Chen said.“You can see the passion(热情）in them. I believe it will make a difference. Their futures will be bright.”

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Can you imagine a pair of shoes that could tie themselves? All you would have to do is put them on and push a button. Well, this idea is becoming a reality. The shoe company Nike created the self-tying shoe!

    This idea first came from the movie Back to the Future II, and Nike has been working for years to create a shoe that can do this in real life. They have finally done it with Nike Hyper Adapt 1.0.

    So how do they work? According to Nike, the shoe is “powered by an underfoot-lacing mechanism(脚下系带装置)” ．This is kind of like a small motor that has the power to lace the shoes.

    All the wearer has to do is put them on, and at first, the shoes are very loose. But then you can push the “+” button, and the shoes will tighten to be the perfect fit for the wearer. To take them off, all you have to do is push the “-” button, and the shoes will easily slide off.

    But the shoes are battery charged, and for someone who uses them quite often, they need to be charged every two weeks, according to USA Today.

    Cristiano Ronaldo, a professional soccer player from Portugal, was a special athlete who got to test the shoes out for himself. He said on the social media site Instagram, “Wow! Thanks Nike for letting me be the first athlete in the world to try the new Hyper Adapt 1.0.”

    They haven't been released to the public yet, and the cost of the shoes is still unknown. But you might be able to get a pair of your own closer to the holiday season this year.

Last week was Road Safety Week at Jason’s school.All the students had to take part in a talk on road safety which was given by a police officer.The following is what the police officer said.”Most traffic accidents shouldn’t happen.They happen only because people are careless.A frequent cause of traffic accidents is speed.Some people drive too quickly.This means that if they have to stop suddenly .they cannot stop quickly enough to avoid(避免） hitting other vehicles(车辆）or people.You need to remember this when you are crossing the street or walking along the side walk.”

“It’s not only drivers who cause accidents .however .People on foot-pedestrians and bicycle riders often cause accidents .Pedestrians sometimes walk out into the street without looking .You should always look on both sides before stepping into the street.”

    Do any of you ride a bike ?Bicycle riders can cause accidents by changing directions suddenly or without warning other road users.Before you turn left .for example .you should check behind you to make sure there aren’t any cars .trucks or buses coming.You should .If clear.The rules of the road are very simple .If we learn them and obey them .we should not have accidents any more.”

                                                                                                             C

       When we think of Hollywood, we think of films and famous film stars. They are part of Hollybood's history. Today people make films in other places too. Not all famous film stars live in Hollywood. But Hollywood is still a very special city in Los Angeles. There is a big sign on the hills. It says "HOLLYWOOD". The white letters are fifty feet tall. You can see the sign from far away. The Hollywood sign is a famous Hollywood landmark(标记) in Los Angeles. Many postcards show this famous Hollywood landmark.

       In the hills of Hollywood, there is also the Hollywood Bowl. This is an open-air theatre. It is one of the largest open-air theatres in the world. It has seventeen thousand seats and a very different stage(演奏台). The design of the stage was by a great American named Frank Loyed Wright. You can listen to all kinds of concerts at the Hollywood Bowl.

C

   The Silk Road is a historically important international trade route between China and the Mediterranean(地中海)。It began during the Western Han Dynasty and has been a bridge between East and West for over 2,000 years。

   The ancient road started from Chang’an (nowXi’an) and ended in Eastern Europe, near today’sTurkeyand theMediterranean Sea. It was about 6,500 kilometers long and went across one-fourth of the planet。

   The Silk Roadgot its name in the 19th century because Chinese silk used to be carried along this road。 Silk, jade, ceramics and iron went west to Rome。 And from the west came glass, gems and food like carrots。

   The Silk Road was very important to both China and the rest of the world。 It was more than an ancient international trade route。 Besides trade, knowledge about arts, science and literature, as well crafts and technologies was shared across theSilk Road。 In this way, languages and cultures developed and influenced each other。                

   Today, China is trying to build the "21st Century Marine(海洋的) Silk Road". With the help of APEC held in Beijing in November 2014,the dream of One Belt One Road(the "Silk Road Economic(经济的)Belt"and"21st Century Marine Silk Road")("一带一路")is coming true。

An old man walked slowly with a cane(手杖)into the restaurant. His old jacket, worn-out shoes and warm personality made him stand out from the usual crowd.

A young waitress (女侍者) watched him move toward a table by the window. She ran over to him, and said: “Here, sir……let me help you with that chair.”

Without saying a word, he smiled and nodded(点头). She pulled the chair away from the table and helped him sit. Then she put his cane against the table.

“Thank you, miss.” he said, kindly.                  

“You’re welcome, sir.” she said.

After he had finished his breakfast, the waitress brought him the change(零钱). He left it on the table. She helped him up and walked with him to the front door.

When she went to clean his table, she found a business card under his plate and note on a napkin(纸巾). Under the napkin was a 100-dollar bill.

The note on the napkin read: “Dear miss, I respect you very much and I can see you respect yourself, too. It shows by the way you treat others. Youhave found the secret of happiness. Your kindness will shine through to all those who meet you.”

The man she had waited on was the owner of the restaurant where she worked. This was the first time that she or any of the other workers had ever seen him in person(亲自).

Fred and Ted were not very smart. They were always getting things wrong. The only work they could get was digging holes and painting. They were easy jobs but Fred and Ted still made mistakes. They dug holes in the wrong places, or painted things the wrong places. Once they painted a floor and then walked on it while the paint was still wet.
   One day their boss asked them to paint a flagpole (旗杆) outside the office building. “This shouldn’t be too difficult for them to do” their boss thought. “All they need is paint and brushes.”
   Their boss told them where the paint and brushes were and then he went away. An hour later he came back. Fred and Ted were not painting the flagpole. They didn't even have the paint and brushes. Fred was standing against  the flagpole and Ted was standing on his shoulders, trying to reach the 20 of it with a ruler.
   "What are you two men doing?" their boss asked.
   "We have to find out how much paint  we need." Ted said. "So we're measuring  the flagpole. "
   "That's not the way to do it."  their boss said. "Pull the flagpole out of the ground, and place it down. "
   “Ha!” Fred said, “We’re  not stupid. We can't measure how high it is that way. We can only measure    how long  it is. "

 B

My brother Scan and I went to visit Uncle Randolph on his farm. Our uncle was experimenting(做试验) for new things all  the time. We knew he’d been working on something in his barn(畜棚)。

On the second morning of our visit, we ran in the barn secretly before sunrise. At first, everything looked normal. Suddenly, in the corner, we noticed a huge machine with the words TIME MACHINE painted on it We smiled at each other.

Sean and I walked inside the machine. As Sean closed the door, I pushed a button(按钮). The machine started to fly. “Watch the time. Don’t stay too long!” said a voice.

Quickly, we pushed the door back open, but as we looked around, we realized we weren’t in Uncle Randolph’s barn anymore. There was a team of robots milking cows and collecting eggs.

I asked,“Where’s Uncle Randolph?”A robot answered,“Unable to compute Uncle Randolph. We do have an Uncle Sean.”Sean wasn’t prepared for that.

Then we went to the barn door and looked outside. A flying machine landed, a robot ran out and said to the other robots,“Ready for Mars(火星)！”

Just then we heard a message coming from, and five minutes later, we were back in Uncle Randolph’s barn. As Sean and I looked at each other, we both said,“There’s no place like home!”