【推荐1】Teenagers are known for being creative and full of new ideas. Let’s have a look at these teenage inventions(发明) that might change the world.

【推荐2】There are four great inventions from ancient China.

The compass is a great gift to the world. Before it was invented, sailors had to depend on the stars to find directions. After it was invented, the oceans were open to travel.

Paper-making is one of the greatest inventions. During the Western Han Dynasty (202 B.C. -9 A.D.), paper was made in some places in China. It was developed in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 A.D.-220 A.D.) by Cai Lun. He made paper with bark(树皮), old cloth and so on.

It is said that in the third century a Chinese man wrote about how to make gunpowder(火药). At first, it was used for making fireworks(烟花). At the end of the Tang Dynasty, people began to use it in wars. The way of making it was brought to the Arab world and Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Printing was developed in 1041-1048 in the Song Dynasty. A man named Bi Sheng carved characters(字符) on pieces of clay and wood. Then he put ink on them. After the characters were printed on paper, the pieces of clay or wood could be used again. This technology then spread to Korea, Japan and Europe.

【推荐3】Modern inventions make our life easier and more interesting than before. Let’s take a look at some inventions.

【推荐2】AI (人工智能) makes our lives easier and better. Let’s see the amazing AI.

Cool driverless bus

A bus door opens and you get on. Wait! Where is the driver? Here is a new kind of driverless bus called Apolong. It has 14 seats and doesn’t need a driver. The bus follows traffic rules. It stops as soon as it sees a stop light.

Your close friend

Hi, everyone. I’m Xiaobing, a chatbot (聊天机器人). І speak like а 17-year-old girl. If you feel lonely, you can talk with me. I’m talented at singing, writing poems and telling stories. I want to be your friend!

World’s first AI anchor (主播)

Hey, look! The famous Chinese anchor Qiu Hao is reporting the news for us. But, is “he” really Qiu Hao? The answer is “no”. This is the world’s first AI anchor. It looks and speaks just like a real person. It can work 24 hours and doesn’t make any mistakes. You might see it on TV soon.

Popular AI artist

This beautiful painting was at an auction (拍卖) in 2020. The painting is worth about 3,000,000 yuan! But it is not a work by a famous painter, such as Vincent van Gogh. It was painted by an AI artist. Three Frenchmen created the AI artist. It studied over 15,000 paintings. In this way, it learned to paint.

【推荐1】Do you love Beats headphones, True Religion jeans, and UGG shoes? These are some of the most popular brands（牌子）around. They are also expensive. But some experts say they are not much better than cheaper brands.

For example, Jim Wilcox works for Consumer Reports. He tested all kinds of headphones. He says   that $ 80 Koss Pro headphones provide basically the same quality and comfort as Beats. So why do people pay twice or even 10 times as much for the hottest brands?

Experts say it’s because fashionable, expensive brands send a message. Brands say “I belong” or “I can afford it.”

Some people think that expensive brand names are worth the price. They say that some designer clothes really are top quality and that they last longer than cheaper brands. Some teenagers choose to wear popular brands because these brands make them feel good about themselves.

Alexandra Allam, 17, likes to buy brand-name products. “I’d rather spend the extra money to get something I know I’ll be satisfied with.” she says. Her friend Emmy Swan agrees, saying “As long as you can afford it, it seems reasonable to buy what you want.” But not all teenagers agree. “Spending hundreds of dollars for designer is stupid and unreasonable.” says Daniel Steinbrecher, 16. “It’s fake（假的）happiness.”

People who are against wearing expensive brand names say that many designer brands aren’t any better. “It’s wasteful to buy things just because they are popular.” says Edmund Williams, 15. “You’ll feel better if you buy things because you like them. If you have extra（额外的）money to spend, it would be better to give it to people in need.”

【推荐2】Many boys and girls love to watch TV. They spend many hours a day in front of the TV set. There are many types（种类）of TV programs, such as sitcoms, soap operas, movies, sports shows, fashion（时尚；时装业） shows, etc. A child can learn both bad things and good things from them. Some programs help children to understand the news all over the world, and some show them the people and places of other countries. With television , a child doesn’t have to go to the zoo to see animals or to the ocean（海洋） to see sharks. Boys and girls can see a play, listen to a concert or watch a game at home.

But some programs show crime and other things which are not educational for children. So parents sometimes should help them to find other interesting things to do. They should tell them it is fun to watch some TV programs, but it is also fun to read books, to play games or to visit friends.

【推荐3】Parents often find children watch cartoons for three to four hours a day. Studies show that children start watching cartoons on TV at an early age of six months, when they reach the age of two or three, they become cartoon fans and they would like to spend much time on it. Parents often see this as a problem because most of the children are found to become addicted (上瘾的) to watching cartoons. Parents think if children spend too much time on cartoons, they will fall behind (落后) in study.

Some people think cartoons are worth watching. It helps the working parents a lot because they can do much work by making their children watch cartoons on TV.

When they watch educational cartoons, they can learn many things. They also help to improve their language Educational cartoons help them to try different languages. Children can learn English well with the help of those cartoons. At the same time, some children can learn about the friendship and teamwork from the cartoons.

So sometimes we needn’t stop kids from watching cartoons, but parents should make sure that their children are watching the right things.