What if there is no TV? No video games (电子游戏)? What would you do for fun? You might do some of the things kids in the 1930s did. This was a time many people lost their jobs. Even those who had jobs had a hard time. This time was called the Great Depression in America.

Television was new at that time. They were very hard to see. Most people in the 1930s couldn’t buy a TV. They were too poor. So how did kids in the 1930s spend their time?

Many children had to work. Newsboys sold papers. Other kids picked fruit on big farms. Some sold things door-to-door. Most kids gave their money to their parents. It was needed to buy food. Some kids could keep a little money to go to the movies. Then, a child’s ticket cost ten cents (美分). Snow White was one movie kids liked. It was the first cartoon movie ever made. It came out in 1937.

Radio (收音机) was also new in the 1930s. Many homes had radio sets. People listened to shows that were a little like books on tape (磁带). Some effects (效果) made the stories exciting.

Books were a big part of the lives of kids. A good story could take you to exciting places. You could fight a dragon. You could even ride a magic carpet (毯子)!

Kids of the 1930s didn’t have TV. They had very little money. But they found lots of ways to have fun.

4 . What do you want to be when you grow up? Have you ever wondered what it would be like to work in a zoo? Zoos are fun to visit, so working at a zoo might be a fun job.

There are many different jobs for zoo workers. One job is to know what each animal eats and how to prepare its meals. All animals need food and water. Lions and bears do not eat the same kind of food. A diet expert (专家) knows what kind of food is best for each animal.

One of the most dangerous and important jobs in the zoo is working as trainers. Animal trainers need to understand how animals eat, sleep and move. Trainers teach zoo workers the safest way to feed the animals. When zoo animals get sick, trainers help the zoo doctor take care of the animals.

It is never too early to start planning for your future zoo job. You can begin by taking care of your own pet. Help your neighbors by pet sitting for them when they go on vacation. When you are older, you can volunteer in an animal shelter (收容所).

Teach yourself about animals by reading books and information on kids’ internet sites. Who knows? Someday you may work at a zoo and help other people enjoy the zoo as much as you can.

5 . Teachers find it difficult for students to collect the homework before class, sometimes they may even get mad. To solve this problem, a 13-year-old middle school student Zhang from Shenzhen invented a smart robot and he got the first prize in the 20th Guangdong Provincial Children’s Invention Awards (奖项). His parents are so proud of him.

This efficient robot can collect homework in a short time without making any mistakes. It uses radio frequency identification (RFID，射频识别) technology—a reader and a special tag (标签) that can share information without touching each other. This way, it can help find and know what it is looking for. Each student’s notebook has a special RFID tag with their name and the subject. Students only need to place their notebooks on the robot, and the machine “sees” the notebook, reads its tag and takes it out of the name list. Teachers can check who hasn’t turned in homework by connecting their phones with the robot through Wi-Fi.

Many teachers speak highly of the robot after using it and they think Zhang will create more useful AI tools to make life easier. His parents will continue to support him. Inspired by the words, Zhang dreams of becoming a scientist when he grows up. “I have tried making model airplanes and other scientific and creative projects. Inventing has brought me joy and happiness,” he said.

6 . Elephants are the largest living animals on land. They can weigh about 7,000 kg and be 4 meters high. There are two species of elephants—Asian elephants and African elephants.

All elephants eat plants. They eat grass, leaves, fruit, branches, and tree bark. An elephant can eat about 200 kg of food in a day! Elephants are very smart and sensitive (敏感的) animals. They live in family groups. Elephants communicate over long distances with very low sounds. People can’t hear them!

The sad news about elephants is that they are endangered, or in danger of becoming extinct. The number of elephants has been decreasing for many years. Elephants still live in some parts of Africa and Asia, but they have disappeared from West Asia, Java, and most of China. Why are elephants disappearing? One reason is that people have been killing elephants for their ivory. Another reason is that people have been destroying the elephants’ homes to use the land.

Many environmental groups have been working to stop people from killing elephants for ivory and to stop people from selling and buying ivory. People have built sanctuaries (避难所), or protected areas, for elephants to live in safely. We have to protect elephants if we want them to survive.

7 . A video of college students in northern China wearing military coats (军大衣) to class has become popular online. At the same time, many young women have started to buy floral coats (花棉衣), which are often on sale.

With the price of down jackets (羽绒服) increasing, college students in China have chosen floral jackets and military coats in winter. Most students think that it isn’t about whether or not they can afford a down jacket, but the military coats and floral coats provide better quality at a much lower price. People can buy ten military coats at the price of one down jacket. The cheap military coats and floral coats have become the most fashionable coats in winter for college students to wear in northern China.

With their light weight, down jackets have been a must-have for many Chinese people. However, the prices have increased. The data from the China National Commercial Information Center shows that the average price of down jackets increased from 438 yuan ($ 62) in 2015 to 656 yuan ($ 92) in 2020.

The price of goose down has increased a lot, because of the need at the market. Many brands have started to move towards high-end development, so they need lots of high-quality materials like white goose down.