Do you know anything about the invention of the bar code(条形码)?

A small food store owner found it was _______ to keep records of the product information. In 1948, he asked the Drexel Institute of Technology to solve this _______ . Bernard Silver, a graduate student, was _______ . He and his friend Norman Joseph Woodland _______ to work on it _______, they invented their first working system.

The system did work _______, but it was very expensive and _______ the system didn't work well. If the invention was to become _______ in stores, the problems had to be solved. Finally, Woodland solved _______.

The patent(专利权) for the bar code system was ________ for by Silver and Woodland in 1949, but the patent was not given until 1952. ________ this patent was given, the system was still not popular ________ store owners.

In 1970, a business named Logicon Inc, ________ the Universal Grocery Products Identification Code (食品工业统一码). Marsh Supermarket in Troy was the first store to ________ this bar code reading system. It has become very popular ever since, and now it's ________ in all types of stores all over the world.

Tips for writing better articles

Many of us don't spend a lot of time improving our writing skills. This can be a problem when we hand in our articles. Good writing skills will help us improve our grades and benefit us later in life.     16    

Make good word choices. When we're not sure which word is the right one for a sentence, look it up in a dictionary. Many of us choose words in a hurry and don't take the time to decide if they're proper.     17    

Check facts. If we want people to believe what we write, we must make sure our facts are true. We should use dependable facts.

Rewrite. A common problem is that we don't like to rewrite. In fact, rewriting is the best way to find out and correct some mistakes like grammar and spelling mistakes.     18     though it takes more time and more work.

Read aloud. Sometimes it's easier to find problems with spelling, word usage, and grammar when we read aloud. Reading aloud helps us not only find out our problems but also develop our writing.

    19     Preparing a list is necessary for writing a good article. Such a list includes: Is there a proper title? Have we explained every point? Are all the parts of the article included? This can help us to make sure that we have covered everything.

    20     But with a few simple steps, we can improve our writing skills and learn how to write better articles.

Beauty sleep is a real thing, researches have shown that people who have enough sleep look more attractive (有魅力的) to others.

A few bad nights is enough to make a person look "especially" more ugly, their sleep   experiments show.

The researchers asked 25 university students to join in their sleep experiment. They were asked to get a good night's sleep for two nights.

A week later, they were asked to sleep for only four hours every night for two nights in a row.

The researchers took make-up free (素颜) photos of the volunteers after both the good and the bad sleep.

Next, they asked 122 strangers to have a look at the photos and judge (评价) them on attractiveness, health, and sleepiness, as well as asking them: "How much would you like to make friends with this person in the picture?"

The strangers were good at judging if the person they were looking at was tired, and, if they were sleepy, their attractiveness score was low.

The strangers also said they wouldn't want to socialize with the tired students. The researchers say this is natural for people. An unhealthy-looking face makes people run away. In other words, people don't want to hang around with people who might be ill.

Dr. Brewer, an expert at the University of Liverpool said "Judgement of attractiveness is often unconscious (无意识的), hut we all do it, and we are able to judge on even something small like whether someone looks tired or unhealthy. This study is a good reminder of how important sleep is to us."

We all dream about things that we would like to do and we hope to achieve in the future. But are everybody's dreams the same? Here are some findings of a survey about hopes and dreams. Thousands of students across China took part in it.

What are the hopes of teenagers?

We received several different answers to the question: What would you like to do after finishing your education? It seems that some students would like to start work as soon as possible, so that they can help provide better lives for their families. Other students hope to continue studying. Although money is important, most teenagers said they want to do jobs they enjoy. According to the survey, the most popular choice of job is computer programming.

What are the dreams of teenagers?

Teenagers have all kinds of dreams. Some are more realistic(现实的) than others. For example, many students said they would like to be volunteers if Beijing could hold the World Cup, maybe working as translators or tour guides. And quite a few said they dream of going to the moon one day. According to the survey, less realistic dreams are also common, but many students reported that they were willing to work hard to achieve their dreams. Quite a few dream of becoming famous, perhaps famous sports people or singers. Some said they'd like to go on exciting trips. One student said she'd love to sail across the Pacific Ocean. And then there are dreams that are impossible. Three students said they'd like to be able to fly!

Conclusion

It was clear from the survey that teenagers have similar hopes. It seems that most students hope to have a good education and find a good job. Besides, students dream of very different things: good things, and even crazy things. It is very important to dream, so hold on your dreams, and one day they may just come true.

Everybody likes to have a good time, but do you know that laughing is very good     36     your health? Scientists believe that laughing can help your body fight illness. Because of this, an Indian doctor opened the first laughter     37     in 1995.

Now there are more than 1,000 laughter clubs around the world. A laughter club is a place where you can go to laugh in your way for happiness and     38     health. Steve Wilson, the man who took laughter clubs to America, said, "We laugh with each other, but     39     laugh at each other. At first, the laughter exercise feels a bit false. But soon the laughter becomes real."

Laughter is very important when we communicate with other people. It helps     40     make friends and understand each other better. We can laugh with people all over the world. It is the same in any language. So never be afraid to laugh.

Are some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence (智力) developed by our environment and our experience? Strangely enough, the answer to these questions is yes. In some degree, our intelligence is given to us at birth, and no education can make a talent out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in a rich environment. Therefore, the limits (极限) of a person's intelligence are fixed at birth, whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This point of view now is held by most experts.

It is easy to show that intelligence is something that we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. If we take two strangers by chance from the population, it seems that their degree of intelligence will be completely different. If, on the other hand, we compare two twins, they will very likely be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents and children, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligence depends on birth.

Imagine now that we take two twins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example, to a university and the other to a factory separately where the work is boring. We would soon find differences in intelligence developing, and this shows that environment as well as birth plays an important role. This conclusion(结论) is also suggested by the fact that people who live in close contact(接触) with each other, but who are not related at all are likely to have similar degree of intelligence.

Bill liked fish very much. He often bought fish in the shop and took it home. But when his wife     46     the fish, she said to herself, "Good! Now I can ask my friends     47     lunch, and we can eat the fish. They like fish very much."

So when Bill     48     home in the evening, the fish was not there, and his wife always said ,"Oh, your cat eats it." And she gave Bill some bread for supper. Bill     49     very angry. He took his wife and the cat to the shop near his house and weighed(称) the cat. Then he turned to his wife and said,"My fish     50     one kilo. This cat weighs one kilo, too. My fish is here, you see. Then where is my cat?"

What do you think of robots? Will they work for humans in the future? Maybe we can't answer it. But robots have _______ an important part in our daily life for several years. But in some science fiction movies, the robots are just like humans. Now they help humans with the housework and do the most _______ jobs.

Many scientists believe that there will be such robots in the future. _______, they agree it may _______ hundreds of years. Scientists are now trying to make robots look like people and do the same things as us.

But robot scientist James White _______. He thinks that it will be _______ for a robot to do the same things as a person. _______, it's easy for a child to wake up and know where they are. Mr. White thinks that robots won't be able to do this. But other scientists disagree. They think that robots will be able to talk to people _______ 25 to 50 years.

Robot scientists are not just trying to make robots look like people. For example, there are already robots working in factories. They do many _______ over and over again. People would not like to do such jobs and would get bored. But robots will ________ get bored.

In the future, there will be more robots everywhere, and humans will have ________ work to do. New robots will have many different ________. Some will look like humans, and ________ might look like snakes. After an earthquake, a snake robot could help look for people under buildings. That may not seem possible now, but computers, space rockets and even electric toothbrushes ________ impossible a hundred years ago. With the ________ of science technology, we never know what will happen in the future! Let's work much harder to make robots serve us better!

Kagiso Legobe met a 12-year-old disabled boy on the road.     66    

The poor boy can't walk freely due to his disability. He needs a wheelchair to get around. He lived with his aunt's family. They could not afford to buy him a wheelchair."     67     I was shocked at what I saw. It is a shabby(破旧的) little house. I learned that the boy was in Grade 1 at his age because he can't walk by himself and has to stay at home. He must get a good education," said Legobe.

"His aunt told me that the boy lost both his parents. He has an eight-year-old sister. They depend on others' help.     68     " he added.

Then Legobe opened a bank account(账户).     69     Money that has been raised will be used to provide some necessities for the boy's family. Legobe thanked all those who have offered a helping hand in the life of the disabled boy.

"    70     He says he can't afford to miss even a day at school," Legobe said.