【推荐1】Have you ever noticed that a number is so amazing? Do you want to get some magic power from a number? Just take a look and see what it is.

The digits (位) of multiples (倍数) of 9 always finally add up to 9: No matter how large the number, just keep adding the digits of the answer together, and finally you’ll get 9!

Nines can make you look like a calculator Just prepare a piece of paper and a pen. Let’s play a number trick now! ①Draw 4 rows of 5 spaces each, like this:    ⓶Ask a friend to fill in the first and third rows with any numbers. (This will work no matter what numbers your friend writes in the first and third rows.) So your friend might write: ③Below each number, write the number that will add up to 9! The trick? You will quickly complete the sum (总数) that has the answer 199.998.

【推荐3】“I liked playing with toys, but now I don’t, ”said one of my friends. “As students, we shouldn’t spend so much time playing with toys.”

But in my class, some students love playing with a special toy—Kendama.

Kendama is popular in my class for a while. People first started to play with it in France. In the 17th century, it came to Japan and became a kind of amusement after dinner. In the early 20th century, Japanese people changed it to be even more interesting. Now it is known as Kendama. It means“cup and ball game” in Japanese.

It has a handle（手柄）, a pair of cups and a ball, all connected by a string（用细绳串联）. You can pull the ball up, and the goal（目标）of the game is to make the ball fall on a cup.

“It’s really fun to play with, ”said Deng Chuqin, a Kendama player in my class. “This hobby gives my life more colors after class. That’s why it is so popular among students now.”

Learning Kendama is difficult at first, but you can do it well by practicing often. It is a toy to teach you something important—keep trying and never give up on your goal.

【推荐2】Have you heard of the digital (电子的) pet? It is a kind of pet. People usually keep it for enjoyment.

History

PF Magic made the first widely popular digital pets Dogz in 1995, followed by Catz in the spring of 1996, and they finally became Petz. The digital pets became further popular when Tamagotchi appeared in 1996 and Digimon in 1997. Digital pets were popular in Japan, the US and the UK during the late 1990s.

Digital pets over real pets

It’s a good choice to keep digital pets. First, it’s easy to keep them and people can take them anywhere at any time. For those who can’t care for a real pet, a digital pet can successfully take the place of a real one. Besides, unlike real pets, digital pets don’t make a mess in the house.

Common features

There are many common features between different digital pets. Some of them are used to give a sense of reality (真实感) to the user, for example, the pet responding (回应) to touch, and some are used to improve the ability to play, for example, training.

Communication

Now the modern digital pets don’t have a message box to show the pet’s health or feelings like earlier ones. Instead, users can understand the pet by reading their body language. This helps make them seem more natural.

【推荐3】Put on your seat belt when you’re in a car. Why? Think about this example: You put an egg on a skateboard and give it a push. If the skateboard hits a stone, it will stop. But the egg won’t. It will fly through the air, hit the ground and break.

What would happen if you tied the egg to the skateboard? When the skateboard hits a stone, the egg won’t go flying. It will stay safely on the skateboard.

Air bags are also very important for car safety. Sometimes a seat belt isn’t enough. If the car is going really fast and runs into something, seat belts could even hurt people who wear them. Most cars have air bags in front of and next to the seats. When a car hits something, its air bags will come out quickly in less than one second to keep the people inside safe.