【推荐1】There you are, sitting in an ice cream shop at the mall. You’re chatting with your friends. Suddenly, music begins to play and people begin to come out of nowhere and start to dance. What’s going on? It’s a flash mob!

A flash mob is group of people who come together suddenly in a public place, perform for a short time and then quickly disperse. Then they may not be together again.

The first flash mob started in 2000. Hundreds of people showed up in the rug(小地毯) department of a store in New York City. When salespeople asked them what they were doing, these people said that they were shopping for a rug as a group.

The idea for that flash mob came from Bill Wasik. He was the senior editor of Harper’s Magazine. Flash mobs were invented as a fun social experiment(社会实践). The experiment aimed to encourage spontaneity(自发性).

Today, people organized flash mobs in may cities around the world. College campuses are often popular places for flash mobs. You can watch some videos of flash mobs on the Internet. They are very interesting. Why do people organize such activities? Some flash mobs are meant to make people happy, some are for artistic expression, and some other flash mobs are only for enjoyment.

【推荐3】Americans have contributed to many art forms, but jazz, a type of music, is the only art form that was created in the United States.     1     Many blacks were brought from Africa to America as slaves. The black slaves sang and played the music of their homeland.

Jazz is a mixture of many different kinds of music. It is a combination of the music of West Africa, the work songs, the slaves sang and religious music.     2     This means that the musicians make the music up as they go along, or create the music on the spot. This is why a jazz song might sound a little different each time it is played.

    3     At that time they played in bars and clubs in many towns and cities of the South, especially in New Orleans.

New Orleans is an international seaport. People from all over the world come to New Orleans to hear jazz.

    4     By the 1920s, jazz was popular all over the United States. By the 1940s, you could hear jazz not only in clubs and bars, but in concert halls as well.     5     Jazz musicians from the United States, Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe meet and share their music at festivals on every continent. In this way, jazz continues to grow and change.

【推荐1】Do you want to know what our life will be like in the future? Let’s have a look. You may get a surprise.

You will go to the kitchen when you are hungry. You will give orders to the kitchen robot. The robot will cook the food for you in a few minutes. Then it will bring it to you. In the kitchen you will find a special food machine. The food machine will tell you what your body needs. It will help you eat healthily. The food machine will be connected with（连接）the kitchen robot. The robot can get messages from the food machine.

After having a meal, you can go to your home office. You will work at home and you don’t need to go out to work. You will have a special information screen. You can get any information on the screen. When you receive a message from a friend, your information screen will be turned on automatically（自动地）. Your friend’s face appears on the screen. Then you can talk to your friends easily.

【推荐3】A smile shows that a person is happy. For example, a person may smile when he or she is happy with a grade on a test. But smiles are not only a way to show happiness. There are other good reasons for smiling often.

First, to smile is easier than to show unhappiness. In fact, it only takes 17 muscles (肌肉) to smile. On the other hand, it takes 43 muscles to show unhappiness.

Second, smiles are nice. People may try to look nice by exercising or wearing nice clothes. However, a smile is the best thing a person can wear. That is because it is easy to be around someone who is smiling and happy.

Third, smiles have power (力量). If a person smiles, people around him or her want to smile, too. So, if your friend is sad, the best thing to do is to share a smile or laugh. It is the easiest way to make him or her happy again.

4.________ Even if you are sad, try smiling. You’ll find that it’s hard to stay sad for very long.