Inventions usually make a big difference to people’s lives. Do you have any great inventions at home? Do they help you a lot in your life or bring you much fun? Here are some of the most useful inventions in families according to a survey.

Sleep is very important. In fact we spend a third of our lives sleeping !

For some people they fall asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow (枕头). But for others, it’s difficult to fall asleep, leaving them tired in the next morning. We call this problem insomnia. For modern people, the use of electronic products, such as cell phones and TVs increase the chance of a bad night’s sleep. Researchers say that the light from those electronics at night may make us excited before we go to bed. Then it’s hard for us to get to sleep.

But we all know, a good sleep is very important. It influences whether we are happy or not. We can easily find we usually have a good mood after a good sleep. What’s more, a good sleep can influence our brain. Some studies have connected sleep with memory. The sleeping brain appears to be necessary for long-term memory. And it can make us forget unnecessary information. So sleep may help us remember what’s important by letting us forget what’s not. Besides, a good sleep can help our physical health as well. Do you find a person who has a good sleep usually do not have acne (青春痘)? That’s because enough sleep balance their internal secretion and detox (内分泌和排毒).

It’s important for us to have a good sleep. It’s said a person who does not sleep dies faster than a person who does not eat. Do you still dare to sleep late?

During the Qin Dynasty in China, there was a boy named Han Xin. He was born in a very poor family and often had nothing to eat. He often went fishing but almost caught nothing. He was always hungry.

One day, Han Xin was fishing at the river. An old lady saw that the boy was very thin and looked hungry. She gave him a bowl of rice.

“Thank you so much,” said Han Xin as he bowed down to the old lady. Since then, every time Han Xin met the old lady at the river, he never went hungry. Han Xin was very thankful to the old lady. “I will find a way to pay you back someday,” he said.

“Why do you promise so much when you have nothing?” she said. “I give you rice because I feel sorry that you don’t have anything to eat. I don’t expect you to repay me. If you are a real man, you will find a way to support yourself. ”

When Han Xin grew up, he became brave and kind. He joined the army and then became a general. And later he became the “King of Qi” and the “King of Chu” in the Han Dynasty. He did many great things and helped many people.

Han Xin never forgot the old lady. He went back to the village and took her to his palace. Han Xin bowed down to her and gave her a bowl filled with gold.

“I promised I would pay you back someday,” he said.

The old lady refused. “Thank you for the gold,” she said. “You have already paid me back by becoming a strong and kind man.”

The Chinese saying “one rice, thousand gold” comes from this story. It tells us that we should always give a hand to others without expecting anything in return, and we should also forever remember the help from someone else.

Getting electricity has always been a problem for the 173 people living in Nuevo Saposoa, a small village in Peru, South America. However, things went from bad to worse in March 2015 after heavy rains broke the only power cable (电力电缆) in the area. The villagers were forced to use oil lamps (灯), which are not only expensive but also dangerous because of the terrible smell they produce.

Luckily, researchers at the University of Technology (UT) in Lima, Peru heard about their problem and found a wonderful way. They made a lamp that can be powered by plants and soil (土壤). Both can be easily found in the Amazonian rainforest where the village lies. The lamp takes energy from a plant growing in a wooden box and uses it to light up a LED light bulb (灯泡).

While that may sound amazing and even impossible, the science behind the idea is quite simple. As plants create their food, they produce waste. And the waste returns to the soil. Tiny animals in the soil eat the waste and they produce electrons—the parts of electrical energy. The UT team put special sticks inside the soil to get the energy and keep it in the lamp for later use. The researchers say a single charge (充电) can make a 50w LED light work for two hours—enough time for local villagers to get their evening work done.

The university gave ten Plant Lamps to the villagers of Nuevo Saposoa in October 2015. So far, they have been a huge success! Elmer Ramirez, the UT professor who invented the lamp, believes the Plant Lamp could help improve the lives of many people, especially small rainforest villages. 42% of them have no electricity.

China is the hometown of kites. Making and flying kites is one of the Chinese ancient folk skills. Kites are also an important part of the Chinese culture.

Kites were invented by the Chinese during the Spring and Autumn Period, having a history of over 2,000 years. It is said that Mozi, an ancient Chinese thinker made a wood bird after the work of three years. This might be the earliest kite in human history.     16    . Some folk custom experts told that ancestors (祖先) invented kites mainly to memorize their family members and friends.     17    . They hope that their sadness could be passed to the dead through the kites. In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, kites began to be used for the purpose of sending messages. Since the Sui-Tang Period, paper has been used to make kites because of the papermaking.     18    .

According to researches, kites were spread to Korea in the tenth century and then to Japan.     19    . It was said the time when it was spread to Europe was the thirteenth or fourteenth century.

    20    . The controlling string (绳) and the pulling force are decided by the size and the shape of the kites, the environment and the wind. Right wind often blows in spring, making it the perfect season for flying kites. If we want to play for fun, flying kites should avoid cloudy days, and rainy days. Safety is also important. Flying kites should be done on an open ground and it is not wise to fly kites in dangerous places such as water side and tops of buildings.

Since my mother moved to live with us in the city, she has been much heavier than before. As time went by, her ______ got worse. So I had to take her to see a ______. My mother was told to lose weight ______ doing exercise every day. She had no choice but to ______ what the doctor said. I told her that I would exercise with her every morning.

On the first morning, she got up very early ______ ran with me in our neighborhood. I tried to run ______ so that she could follow me. After ______ for some minutes, I told her the proper ways of exercise and the importance of eating healthy food. She listened to me ______. It made me ______ that she told me everything very patiently when I was a kid. On the second morning, I ______ her for keeping running with me.

But after two weeks, she wanted to ______ running because she thought the two- week exercise didn’t work at all. To encourage her, I taught her how to use the facilities for exercise in our ______. She began to exercise again.

With my help, it took her one month to develop a good ______ of daily exercise. “Thank you, my dear daughter. Exercise brings health and happiness to me. I will ______ worry about my health.” Her words ______ my heart deeply. I felt happy to make a big difference to my mother’s life.