A man had a kitten that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. He _________ warm milk. It didn’t come down.

The tree was too high for him to climb, so the man decided that if he tied a rope to his _________ and pulled it until the tree bent down, he could then _________ and get the kitten.

That’s what he did. He then thought if he went just a little bit _________ , the tree would be bent low enough for him to reach the kitten.

But as he moved the car a little further forward, the rope broke.

The tree went “Boing!” and the kitten was nowhere to be found. The man felt terrible. He asked people he met if they’d _________ a little kitten. No. Nobody had.

A few _________ later, he met a neighbor at the store. He happened to look into her shopping basket and was _________ to see cat food.

This woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, “_________ are you buying cat food?^” She replied, “You won’t believe this,” and then told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, _________ she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child had begged again, so the Mom finally told her little girl, “Well, I’ll let you keep a cat if it fells from the ____________.” She told the man, “I watched my child go out in the yard, and look straight into the sky. And really, you won’t believe this, but I saw it with my own eyes. A kitten suddenly came flying through the air; and landed right in front of her.”

Ben and Kitty are interested in Hi-tech products. They are reading a magazine article about Hi-tech fashion.

A talking Handbag

It’s 8:00 a.m. and you are running out of the door. You walk outside and your backpack or purse suddenly says, “Wait! You forgot your keys!” A talking purse or backpack? Yes, it’s true. This “smart bag” can “talk” to your accessories(配件). If you forget your keys or drop your wallet, for example, the bag will tell you.

How does it work? There’s a “smart chip(芯片) in the bag. You put other chips on your phone, wallet or keys. Then the bag and the accessories can “talk” to each other and you.

The Hug Shirt

You are in Shanghai and your girlfriend is in London. You call her every day. But now with a special shirt and a cell phone, you can also send her a “virtual(虚拟的) hug”. How? You start by text messaging your girlfriend. She is wearing her Hug Shirt in London and it receives your message. Suddenly she feels pressure on her arms; her shirt gets warm, and she can feel your heart beating, just like a real hug!

Smart Clothes

These clothes change color while you are wearing them! Is it hot outside? Watch your jacket change from dark blue to a lighter color to protect you from the sun. Did you spill coffee on your white trousers or shirt? No problem. These smart clothes never get dirty!

For almost 100 years, the Winter Olympics have been a celebration of snow and ice sports around the world. It is a special event that only happens once every four years.

Although the Winter Olympics started with just five sports across nine disciplines(分项) in France in 1924, it has grown to include seven sports across 15 different disciplines and has been hosted in 12 countries across three continents(大陆). In 2022, for the first time ever in the Games’ history, Beijing will become the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

China has come a long way and achieved many goals since it took part in the Winter Olympics for the first time in 1980. In this short period of time, China’s athletes have won medals in six of the events sports. Short track speed skating has been an area of expertise(专长) for China.

China’s love for winter sports has been growing. The Ministry of Education has set a goal of building 5,000 special schools by 2025 to improve winter sports education. The government has also been encouraging primary and secondary schools to add winter sports to their courses. Many provinces and cities have already acted on this suggestion. Classes will be set up in schools in northern China to boost interest in winter sports. In southern China, schools can partner with ice rinks(溜冰场) and winter sports clubs.

Beijing has already set a good example. Nearly 840,000 students in the city have begun taking winter sports lessons, including skating and skiing lessons, China News Agency reported.

The 2030 Agenda(《2030 年议程》) says that ending poverty(贫困) in all its forms, including extreme(极度) poverty, is the greatest task. Because 1.4 billion people in developing countries live on less than $1.25 a day. Another 842 million people, or one in eight people, do not have enough to eat today.

The good news is that there are ways to end poverty.

Creating jobs, both in the United States and abroad, is a great way to deal with poverty. When people have jobs, they have money, and when people have money, they can more easily get themselves out of poverty. The U.N says that “For the poor, labor is often the only thing they can use to improve their well-being(幸福)”.

The education of girls and women impacts(影响) the rest of the societies. A woman’s degree of education is linked to the age at which she marries and has children, to her health and diseases. Educating girls and women can end poverty in developing nations, as well as in the United States.

The United States hasn’t raised the lowest pay since 2007. Because of this, right now, “A full-time worker with two children getting the lowest pay will still raise his or her family in poverty?” And this is a problem in almost every other country, especially in developing nations. Raising the lowest pay could possibly increase the health and well-being of millions.

The former President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, said that he believed “Health care covering in all countries can help achieve a goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030”. He said that health care could end poverty. Because about 100 million people are pushed into extreme poverty every year by having to spend money on health problems, and health problems push about another 150 million into very serious hardship.

These ways to end poverty show that while there is a difficult road ahead, there is a practical path forward.