1 . The world uses about a thousand million (百万) tons of water a day. Water is a human right and everyone should have their share. Yet more than 700 million people around the world have trouble getting clean, safe water.

Treating wastewater is a good way to provide fresh water for us. And it also helps the environment by keeping waste out of rivers and oceans. 80% of wastewater around the world is not treated at all, and it is running into oceans. But now we have got the technology to treat and reuse the wastewater.

While 75% of our planet is covered with water, only about 2% is fresh water—that comes from rivers, lakes, ice and snow. The rest, 98% of the water, is in seas and oceans. It is too salty to drink. Then desalination businesses come in. More than 19,000 factories have been built around the world, mostly in coastal countries. They process (加工) more than 92 million tons of water every day. But the technology they use requires a lot of energy.

Scientists are working to create a less costly technology. They want to produce 20 times more clean water and make sure everyone has enough. But for now, the world still faces each day with not having enough water for everyone.

2 . Computer scientist Mary has an idea for a new robot to help her work with children. How should it look? The robot should have arms to be able to lift things. And if it is going to communicate with people, it will also need a face. Scientists believe that giving a robot a face can make it seem more friendly. Humans would also like to pay more attention to robots with faces. But what kind?

For Mary, she wants to make sure that her new robot doesn’t look too much like a human. She wants people to just treat it as a machine-person. If it looks more like a human than a machine, she thinks users might find it a bit creepy and feel afraid. Mary also believes that robots’ faces don’t need to look a lot like ours. Her research shows that we can enjoy communicating with robots whether or not they look like humans, because our brains are able to look for faces. Just put two circles on top of a robot’s body, and we will see a face.

Dave feels differently. He believes that although at first we might be afraid when seeing a robot with a lifelike face, we may soon get used to it. If robots are going to work closely with humans, they should look as much like us as possible. After all, faces are an important part of the way we communicate.

To make his robots look as much like real people as possible, Dave invented a special skin (皮肤) for their faces. With this skin, robots can show human-like expressions and appear to be angry, sad, happy or surprised. Dave’s robots are also programmed to copy expressions. How? Just imagine his robot is looking at you. The cameras in its eyes send pictures of your face to its central computer!

3 . Folke Borgstrom, an 18-year-old student from Sweden, bought a jade necklace (玉项链) in Beijing. He came to China to take part in the 16th “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign Secondary School Students (第十六届“汉语桥”世界中学生中文比赛) in Beijing and Yunnan from Oct.16 to Oct.30 in 2023.

Borgstrom knew about jade from a Chinese TV program. “A main character looks so cool with jade,” Borgstrom said. After doing some online research on jade, he found out that it has cultural meaning. “People believe that jade can bring good luck,” Borgstrom added.

When it comes to making Chinese culture international, we often think of traditional ways, like setting up cultural exchange programs. However, pop culture, such as Chinese TV programs, is getting more popular among young people in other countries.

Chulkyu Lee, a 16-year-old girl from R.O.K, likes to watch short videos on the Internet. She said, “Through the Internet, I’ve seen many real lives of Chinese people. It lets me know more about the daily lives of Chinese people and the real China.”

Yang Yao from Yunnan Media Group believes that we should use more creative ways to spread Chinese culture. He takes R.O.K as an example of this. “You may know little about the history of the Goryeo Dynasty (高丽王朝), but through the dramas of R.O.K, you come to understand its food like kimchi (泡菜),” said Yang. “China’s culture can go abroad in the similar way,” Yang added.

7 . Water is important for all living things on Earth. The water cycle (循环) is a natural process that takes water from the ground and the sky and brings it back to the earth again. It is a cycle that happens the whole year and is most active from March to June in China.

The water cycle always begins with water vapour (蒸汽). When it’s hot outside, you can see clouds forming in the sky. These clouds are made of water vapour that comes from the ground, plants and rivers. As water vapour rises into the sky, it cools down and becomes clouds. After that, clouds travel through the sky and fall back to Earth as rain or snow. Then, water runs through rivers and oceans and finally returns to the earth again in different forms like rainwater or snow.

The water cycle plays an important role in protecting our Earth’s climate (气候). It provides us with water to drink and keeps our climate healthy. On top of that, it takes water from rivers and oceans and brings it to the areas that don’t have enough water. Without the cycle, we would face many problems. When there is too much water in one place, it becomes a flood. When water is badly in need, it becomes a drought. Besides, water vapour can take heat from the sun and keep our planet cool.

The water cycle is a natural process that keeps our planet alive. It’s important for plants and animals to drink water and for our rivers to stay flowing with water. Understanding the water cycle can help us enjoy the beauty of nature, know how our planet works and develop better methods to protect our Earth. And that is a responsibility we should take on.

8 . Bullying (欺凌) can happen to anyone. Many children around the world are bullied every year, but there are things that can be done to help.

What is bullying?

Bullying is when someone makes you feel bad or hurts you again and again. Bullying can happen at school, out of school and online. Bullying includes:

·calling people mean (恶意的) names

·laughing at people

·telling lies about people

·taking someone’s things without permission (允许)

·not letting someone play in a group

·hitting people.

What is cyberbullying (网络欺凌)?

Cyberbullying includes:

·sending bad messages online

·sharing photos online without permission

·not letting someone be part of an online group

·spreading lies online.

What can you do?

If someone is not kind to you, tell an adult that you know and like. For example, talk to a parent or a teacher. If you get bad messages, don’t reply. You should save them and give them to your teacher, your family, or the police. Ask an adult for help. Don’t share something before you make sure it is true. That will help stop the cyberbullying. Talk to your parents or teacher or an adult if you see bullying or if you are worried about a friend. Say sorry if you are not kind to someone. You can write a message or talk to the person. And always remember: think about how to be kind in the future.

For more information, visit our home page at www.kidsworld.com.

9 . What do we look forward to in winter? Snow and ice festivals! Many of them hold fun ice sculpture contests (冰雕比赛). Check out these four famous winter sculpture contests!

10 . National Smile Month is the largest and longest-running oral (口腔的) health campaign (运动) in the UK. National Smile Month will be sharing positive messages and encouraging others to develop and have a healthy mouth between May 13 and June 13, 2024.

The British are known for their bad teeth because they have too many sweet foods and drinks. It seems that most of them don’t often show their feelings. They neither smile nor cry. But this is not true. The British like to smile as much as anyone else. They just don’t want to show their bad teeth.

There are three key messages in helping people develop and have a healthy mouth. They are:

■ Brush your teeth at night and at least once a day.

■ Cut down on how much sweet food and drink you have, and how often you have them.

■ Visit your dentist regularly, as often as they ask you to do.

With the help of these three messages, people can realize the importance of good teeth and be confident enough to open their mouths to smile. National Smile Month isn’t just about education and stressing the importance of a healthy mouth. The key to the success of the campaign is that we have lots of fun doing it!

A smile might be a small body language, yet it can make a great difference to our state of mind. You can support National Smile Month in so many ways. Hold events to raise awareness (意识) of oral health, or simply post something on social media. By taking part in National Smile Month, you can help to create a healthier and happier world.