【推荐1】In London, everyone is busy in the early morning. Some are running to the stations, buses and cars. Some are stopping only to drink a cup of coffee. They usually have no time for breakfast. At about eight thirty, one after another, the shops open for business (商业). Taxis and buses are running in the streets. People work busily all day.

At six o’clock in the evening, people go home quickly from work. Most of the shops are closed, but some are still open. Many people work at night in a big city. In newspaper offices, reporters work hard. Doctors and nurses work in the hospital. Taxis and buses take people around the city all night. Some people are going to the movies. Some people are going to watch the plays. You can hear people talking, laughing and singing. You can listen to music, too. Every night, there are many people on the sidewalks. Some stop to look at shop windows, but they never buy clothes. Others are waiting for buses and taxis.

Day and night you can find people working and playing in London. A big city never sleeps.

Hongcun (宏村), with a history of about 900 years, is an extremely beautiful village in Anhui Province. Located under Mount Huang, the village has kept the major Chinese styles from ancient times. It’s also one of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (世界文化遗产).

Walk along the old stone streets and lanes, and you will feel like travelling back in time. All the houses with grey roofs and white walls were built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. On the front gate of each household is dotted with (点缀着) red Chinese knots and lanterns. All of them are outlined (映出轮廓) against the blue sky and reflected into the clear rivers, lakes and ponds, surrounded (环绕着) by dark green mountains. It’s a living water-ink picture.

Step into a tea house to take a rest. A piece of classical music, played by guqin, fills up the house and floats into your hearts, as if you hear birds singing, pines (松) whistling and rivers flowing. You will be lost in a world, full of peace and pleasure. Holding the tea cup, you will find some lines of poems on its out layer (层) coming into your sight:

No dust is rising on the road, wet with morning rain.

The willows by the hotel look so fresh and green.

Walk out of the tea house, and go to the open-air theatre. The actors with coloured make-ups (脸绘) are performing on the stage in special clothes. It’s a local opera called Huangmei Opera and different from others such as Kun Opera, Beijing Opera and Yue Opera. Also, you can enjoy various (多样的) quyi: crosstalk, kouji and pingshu.

If you want to feel more about the charm of Hongcun, plan a visit to it right now.

【推荐2】New rules and behavior standards (行为规范) for middle school students came out in March.

Middle schools are going to use a new way to decide who the top students are. The best students won’t only have good grades. The following are some of the new rules.

________. Have you ever cheated in an exam? Don’t do it again! That’s not something honest students should do. If you have played computer games for two hours in your room, don’t tell your parents you have done your homework.

Do more at school. Good students love animals and care for other people. April is Bird-Loving Month in China. Is your school doing anything to celebrate it? You should join! In that way, you can learn more about animals and how to protect them. And when your classmates are in trouble, remember to give them a hand. You know (A) a friend in need is a friend indeed.

②________. Have you ever thought people could live on the moon? Maybe you’ll find a new planet someday. Don’t look down on new ideas. You should welcome them because new ideas make life better for everyone.

Protect yourself. Has a thief ever taken money from one of your classmates? Don’t let it happen to you. If you have to go back home late, you should let your parents know.

Use the Internet carefully. The Internet can be very useful for your study. But some things on the Internet aren’t for kids, so try to look at the good web pages. You can use the web pages for fun or homework.

Do you have many passwords（密码）for your credit cards or different websites? Do you try to remember them all? As we are advised to have the passwords memorized by heart for safety reasons, not written down, lots of people find it hard to keep them in mind.

However, this problem has been solved by a microchip（芯片）company. The scientists there designed a very small microchip with an electronic circuit（线路）. It can identify（识别）you. By putting the microchip under the skin of your hand, you can have access to（有权进入）things with no need for passwords or cards. In this case, it means that you don’t have to remember any passwords.

Office workers in Stockholm, Sweden were offered the chance to have the microchip put under their skin if they wish. It allowed them to get in and out of their workplaces and log into their computers without keys. Besides, they could also use the new technology to pay for the food in the cafe. But some of the workers thought it was a risky idea to have a microchip put under their skin. They considered that the microchip might cause health problems one day.

Anyway, this new technology is fun. With the rapid development of technology, we seem to be on our way to being part human, part machine, don’t we?