In China, more and more villagers have left their villages to work in big cities. As a result, their children have become left-behind children and they need more care. The survey below is from some villages in Central China. Three hundred left-behind children were chosen to answer the questions.

We asked thirty young people between 14 and 18 several questions. All the children had computers at home. The average (平均) time spent on a computer in a week was about 12 hours, with the highest about 32 hours, and the lowest only 5 hours. Most children said they usually used computers to play games. Fourteen children told us they did some word-processing (文字处理) at times. Eight people told us they kept addresses and phone numbers on their computers or used them as diaries. Only three people said they were learning to write computer programs and nobodyused databases (数据库). Only two of them said computers helped with their lessons. The diagram (表格) gives all the results one by one.

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The results show that computer use is quite common among 14 to 18-year-old children. They also show quite clearly that computers are seen by most young people as little more than game machines. It means to us that, though computers are common (普遍) in the home of young people, they have not yet become popular in everyday life.

  Now the society (社会) is developing very fast. And our life is becoming better and better. With the development, it is true that times are changing for the old people. But not all the changes are bad ones. Modern medicine, for example, has made old people healthier than ever before. Another advantage is that there are much more old people than there used to be. This means that old people often have a good social life with their own clubs and activities. Old people, too, have more money than their own parents and grandparents had.

  The biggest disadvantage of modern life is loneliness. The young leave home when they grow up and many old people live alone. Fewer old people have brothers and sisters. An old personˈs one or two children may have moved to another part of the country. Even when they live near, the young people have their own work to do and their own children to look after. They have not much time for the old. Problems of loneliness often start when people stop work. When people retire, they find it difficult to start a new life without their jobs. Maybe they would like to enjoy talking with others in their free time.

  The world has changed so fast that it is difficult for old people to understand the problems of the young. And the world is changing even faster these days than fifty years ago. What will it be like when today’s young people are old?

Have you ever planted a few trees on Tree Planting Day? Each year, millions of people, both old and young , plant a lot of trees. But this may not be the best way to make our home a greener place.

   Last week we visited a park in Hebei. We were surprised to find most of the trees in the park have been burned. The workers told us that the trees died soon after they were planted because they weren’t watered well enough. So workers burned them and cleaned the place for new trees to be planted this year. On a card found in one of the dead trees, a student wrote, “I hope this tree will grow up with me to be the backbone(栋梁) of our country.” The workers said that the survival(存活) of the trees was really more important than how many trees were planted.

Some people in Beijing now have a new idea that they can donate(捐赠) some money and let professionals(专业人士) plant and take care of the trees.

Moms take care of their children life and dads bring home food and make the family rules. These are the roles moms and dads fall in to when they become parents and it’s common among all cultures. But times change and parents’ roles seem to be changing, too. More women are bringing home food by having full-time jobs and men are taking care of their children at home.

　The Chinese TV show Where Are We Going, Dad ? provides a closer look at the changing roles of dads in modern family life. The show follows the adventures（冒险经历）of five celebrity（明星）dads who take trips with their young children (aged 4 to 6) and try to complete a set of tasks. It shows how hard young dads are trying hard to find the best way to raise their children and keep a closer relationship with them. Young dads no longer want to be cold.

 Psychologists（心理学家）say that a strong fatherly influence is important in a child’s development. Fathers teach their children skills and encourage them to try new things. They also give them a sense of safety. A child learns that if something goes wrong, he or she can depend on dad to help fix it. The psychologists also say that without a dad, a child is more possible to drop out of school and get into trouble. 

 A mother’s love is important, and so is a father’s love. Chen Mo, a psychology professor says, “It takes both parents to raise a child. Children have different needs at different ages and this needs to be considered by both parents.”

Soap operas are very popular in America. Every weekday, lots of fans from all over the world are waiting to see their favorite soaps.

Soap operas were first on TV in 1952. The soap opera is not about soap, and it is not an opera. It gets its name because in the 1930s ,soap companies（公司） paid for the shows, and it tells stories just like operas do. What makes the soap opera special is that the story never ends.(结束).

There are daytime and night-time soaps. Daytime soaps usually have more information. Night –time soaps are usually once a week, and each lasts for about an hour.

Soap opera are having a difficult time in today’s TV market, but they are here to stay. Big fans will never give them up easily.

According to Oxford dictionaries, the word of 2013 is “selfie.” It means a photograph that one has taken of oneself with a smartphone and send it to a social media website. The word was first used in2002 inAustralia. Selfies are everywhere these days. In the past 12 months, its frequency (频率) in the English language has increased by 17,000 percent, said Oxford dictionaries.

Now, almost everybody knows it. “Almost every day, I take a photo of myself at school, and save it in my QQ zone,” said Huang Xu, 13, fromHunan, China. These photos record her happy and sad moments. Pop stars also take a lot of selfies. Li Chunping, 14, from Harbin, is a big fan of Yang Mi. “She has used many selfies to tell us what’s going on in her personal life,” said Li.

What makes people love selfies? Some people say it’s narcissism. “The rise of the selfie is a perfect symbol for our narcissistic(自恋) culture. We’re crying out: Look at me!” said a US doctor, Carole Lieberman.

Young people are using selfies to make friends online, Jonathan Freedland, a reporter wrote in the newspaper. “The usual purpose(意图) of taking a selfie is to share online. They express a human need to connect with others.”

Huang Xu agrees with that. “During summer vacation, my classmates and I shared many selfies online. Hair or clothes were not our interests. Through these photos, we got to know each other’s holidays and feelings,” said Huang Xu.

 On the bus, on the subway, every head is lowered to a cell phone, iPad, or other digital device (数码设备). But does this mean more and more people are getting into reading the digital way?

   According to the National Reading Survey, before the 17th World Reading Day on April 23, only 1.2 percent of Chinese people said they read a lot. But 38.6 percent said they read on digital devices like cell phone and e-books. This is a 17.7 percent increase from 2013.

   Many experts are talking about a trend (趋势) toward fragmented reading (碎片化阅读)—reading many short messages or items on a digital device like a cell phone instead of one long text in a book.

   Zhao Jianmin, a professor at Shanghai University, said fragmented reading was part of modern life. "The fast pace of life leaves many people no time to sit and read a whole book," he said. "So making use of fragmented time to read is sure to be a trend"

   Fragmented reading has its advantages. People can enjoy large amounts of information, knowledge and entertainment in a short time. Digital reading (电子化阅读) is faster than traditional deep reading.

   However, some experts fear the trend of digital reading will lead people to read in a simple way. Xu Guosheng, from a university, says fragmented reading makes it harder for people to think more about what they read. He also warned fragmented reading could make people lazy about remembering facts because they know they can always just search for answers online.

   "Fragmented reading is sometimes good, but don't let it take all your time," suggested Tian Zhiling, an editor. He said it was important to read good books in a deeper way, and we should read for knowledge, for practical use and for pleasure. He suggested people choose easy books first, then move onto more difficult ones.