hoverboard

If you’re looking to buy a gift for your children, why not choose something popular and get the best hoverboard?

What is a Hoverboard?

A hoverboard is a two-wheeled personal transportation device （设备）. It’s electrical and became highly popular in 2015 because of a popular 1980’s movie. Usually, this self-balancing device operates like a powered skateboard. _________                                                                                        

The device may have many designs, but the mechanism itself is simple. Basically, a standard hoverboard includes:

●Battery: stores the electrical power. Almost all hoverboards use a high-watt lithium-ion battery（高瓦锂电池）.

●Gyroscope （one for each wheel）: allows riders to tilt （倾斜） the hoverboard while keeping balance and changing their direction.

●Motor （one in each wheel）: provides the power to the wheels to keep the rider balanced and upright.

●Logic board: uses as the hoverboard brain. It deals with data-your speed, tilt, etc.-and sends information to the motors. This unit controls the power of the board so riders can change their speed.

All the above work together to control the power and tilt of the hoverboards so the rider is balanced, upright and moving at a suitable speed.

Where is a hoverboard legal （合法）?

Although hoverboards are wildly popular, they are still not “street﹣legal”. At present, some places don’t allow anyone under 16 to use these devices, like campus buildings, parks, shopping malls and subway stations. Some places have also put speed limits on the devices and set a limit to their use to bike paths. However, you are free to enjoy in open areas, including your yard.

At home during suppertime, Pete announced, “Baba Olena wants us to come for Easter dinner.” Mom shook her head, “That’s sweet, but I don’t think so.” Dad laughed, “I wouldn’t want to seem rude if I didn’t like her cooking. Can you tell her thanks but we already have plans?”

Pete sighed. His parents hardly knew Baba Olena. They didn’t know about her pastries (糕点) and funny sayings. All they saw was an Ukrainian woman with strange hair and a yard full of chickens.

On Easter Sunday, they passed Baba Olena’s house as they headed for Dixie’s Diner. When they arrived, they found the diner was dark, and no cars were in front of it. “What?” said Dad. “They’re always open!” “Not today,” Mom said. “Guess we’ll be making sandwiches.”

Across the street, Baba Olena stepped out of the house, waving to them.

Pete shouted, “Looks like Baba’s expecting us.” “We can’t go there,” Dad said, but Baba was hurrying over. “You came! I’m so happy,” she said. “This morning I saw the diner is closed and thought maybe you will come.”

Inside, Pete’s parents sat stiff (僵硬地) as yardsticks while Baba was busy with her pastries happily.

Dad looked at something red on the table. “What’s this?” “Beet (甜菜) salad. I use the juice for my hair.” Baba and Pete smiled at each other.

“And this –” She set down bowls of what looked like little half-moon pastries – “is Ukrainian stuffed dumplings. These have cabbage filling; those have potato. No crane today.”

Mum looked at her, open-mouthed.

Pete laughed and explained about the “crane” chips. Dad and Mum laughed, too.

Mum took a small bite. “Delicious!” “Oh, good you like it.” Baba said.

By the time she cut the round Easter bread, everyone was talking. “Now I see why Pete wanted to eat here,” Dad said. Mum nodded. “And why he speaks highly of you nonstop.”

Later, Baba brought out the basket of eggs. “It’s an old Ukrainian tradition to play with Easter eggs,” she said. “See, Pete, hold yours to mine, end to end, like this. The egg that doesn’t break, wins.”

Pete held his egg ready. “I already won something,” he said.

(Adapted from Easter with Baba Olena)

Fou Ts’ong, a Chinese-born pianist known for his sensitive way of performing Chopin, Debussy and Mozart, died at a hospital in London. He was 86.

Born in Shanghai on March 10, 1934, Fou had already started to show an interest in music at just four years old. Three years later he began studying piano with Mario Paci, a well-known Italian pianist. In 1948, Mr. Fou moved with his family to Yunnan because of the war. It was only after returning to Shanghai several years later that he began to devote himself to the piano.

Mr. Fou made his first stage appearance in 1952 and the concert caught the attention of officials in Beijing, who chose him to compete and tour in Eastern Europe. Soon Mr. Fou moved to Poland, where he studied at the Warsaw Conservatory. To prepare for the fifth Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1955, he practised so hard that he hurt his fingers and was nearly cut from the first round of competition. Finally, he took third place and won a special prize for his performance of Chopin’s mazurkas (马祖卡舞曲). Three years later, Mr. Fou left for London. After the deaths of his parents in 1966, Mr. Fou stayed abroad and became a well-known concert pianist in the world.

In 1981, the book,Fu Lei’s Family Letters, written by Mr. Fou’s father, mainly to Mr. Fou, was published and soon became a best seller in China.

“My father had a saying that ‘First you must be a person, then an artist, and then a musician, and only then can you be a pianist,’” Mr. Fou once recalled in an interview. “Even now, I believe in this order – that it should be this way and that I am this way.”

As time went by, Mr. Fou still played the piano for a long time every day even when his fingers grew weak. It was a love that he mentioned in interviews, with pieces of wisdom from his father.

65. 今年以来，数位中科院院士相继离世，在社会各界纷纷表达惋惜之余，“谁是真正的偶像”的话题被再度热议。为此，Teens英文报特辟了主题为“Who You Admire Most”的专栏，请你用英语写一篇短文投稿。以下信息非限定性内容，仅供参考。