My friend Peter has got a restaurant in a big city. It is near a supermarket. He gets ten robots for the restaurant. He bought them from a foreign company (公司) in America when he decided to open a restaurant last month. The price of each robot is 20,000 yuan. The restaurant is not big, but very popular in that city. Now more and more people come here for dinner.

The robots have different jobs in the restaurant. Two robots cook different kinds of food; one washes the dishes; one cleans the floor and the others give food to the guests. Although all the staff (员工) are robots, it is not expensive to eat in this restaurant. Because Peter doesn’t need to pay for the robots every month!

Robots do most of the jobs in the restaurant, but Peter is still very busy. He must do many things to keep the robots working well. Luckily, Peter is good at studying robots and he knows robots very well. I think in the future, there will be a lot of robot-themed restaurants (机器人主题餐厅) around the world.

2 . The story happened in Japan two years ago. At that time, Mike and Ben were taking a holiday on the beach. The two good friends had a quarrel (吵架). Mike hit Ben on the face. Ben was hurt, but he said nothing. He only wrote in the sand, “Today my best friend hit me on the face.”

After that, they took a taxi back to their hotel. After dinner, Ben started to read in bed. Mike went for a walk in the park near the hotel. Suddenly, an earthquake happened. The small hotel fell down and Ben was under the hotel. Mike helped him out. After Ben was out of danger, he wrote on a stone (石头), “Today my best friend saved my life.”

Mike asked him, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now you write it down on a stone. Why?” Ben answered, “When someone hurts us, we should write it down in the sand, and then the wind can blow it away. When someone helps us, we must write in the stone, then the wind can’t blow it away.”

A greeting is a way of saying “Hello” to someone. People in different countries greet each other in different ways. The following are some examples.

In the United States, people usually shake hands. The handshake has an interesting origin (起源). It started long ago as a way of showing people that you weren’t carrying a weapon (武器). Shaking the person’s right hand while looking him or her in the eye is the usual way.

Handshakes are also common in other parts of the world, including Britain and Russia. In Russia, a man often holds another man’s hand very strongly during the handshake. Most people in New Zealand also greet each other by shaking hands. However, the Maori in New Zealand greet each other by pressing their noses together.

In other countries, such as France and Belgium, hugging and kissing are more common when two people meet. In those cultures, people kiss each other on the cheek (面颊). The number of kisses is different from country to country.

In Saudi Arabia, men might hug and kiss each other (but not with a woman) on the cheek. In some Eastern countries, including Japan, bowing is the traditional way of greeting people.

4 . The start of a new year is a very wonderful time to take up something. Maybe that’s why so many people make New Year’s resolutions. People hope they’ll stop their bad habits and start good ones. However, a study shows that about 80% of people break their New Year’s resolutions before February. Why does this happen? That’s because they don’t make or keep their resolutions the right way. The following ideas may be helpful.

First, your resolutions should be specific (具体的). Don’t make a resolution like “I’m going to get healthy this year.” It doesn’t tell you what you need to do to become healthy. Make a specific one like “Get healthy by eating less and doing some running every morning.”

Second, just take it easy. It takes time to start a new habit. Never expect to reach your goals (目标) in just a few days or weeks.

Third, share your resolutions with others. Tell what your resolutions are to your family or close friends or join a group with the same goals as you. These people will help you to reach your goals when you want to give up (放弃).

5 . Have you ever heard of e-waste, which can be produced every day? How do you deal with your computers, MP4 players and mobile phones when they’re broken or you want a new one?

Most people just throw them away. With the development of the electronic industry, e-waste pollution has become a serious problem. According to the United Nations, in 2014, people around the world produced 41.8 million tons of e-waste but only recycled 6.5 million tons. The US was the biggest waster, producing 7.1 million tons. China came second with 6 million tons.

It’s important to pay attention to e-waste. It can either be valuable or harmful, depending on how we deal with it. E-waste is a valuable urban mine (城市矿藏). The value of the metals, like gold and silver in the waste around the world, is amazing. And the metals can be reused. But if people throw them away, the toxic (有毒的) chemicals can get into the soil or air, affecting the environment and people’s health.

Apple, for example, now recycles people’s used products in China when they are buying new ones. The company will test and repair the used ones and sell them at lower prices. To help reduce e-waste, we can also take computers and phones to see if companies offer recycling programs.

A famous study was done in a school by a professor (教授) from a university. At the start of the school year, the teachers were given the names of five children. They were told that these five were the most excellent students in the class. But the fact was that these students were only average (普通的), and they were not the best students at all. Well, guess what? At the end of the year, all the five average students scored among the highest in the class.

What made these average students change so much to become top students? The only difference was the change in their teachers’ attitude (态度). Because the teachers believed that these five kids were the top students, they expected more from them. And so these five average students began to believe and expect more from themselves. So they worked harder to do as well as they could.

Do you know why? If you expect the best from people, they’ll usually want to give you their best. A great leader said, “Treat a person just how he appears to be on the outside, and you’ll make him even worse. But treat a person like he’s already a success, and you’ll help make him the best he can be.”

Like the true story of 7-year-old Johnny, his teacher got so angry with him that one day she said,“Johnny, you’re the naughtiest (淘气的) boy in this class. I’m sure you’ll never change.” The next year Johnny had a new teacher. And on the first day of class, she met with Johnny after school and said, “Johnny, I’ve heard a lot about you! But do you know that I don’t believe a word of it.” And every day after that, this new teacher treated Johnny as if he was one of the smartest students even when Johnny did naughty things. Later on, Johnny became a school leader. Because that’s the power of our belief (信仰) and attitude toward children.

8 . One day, I saw Harry sitting under a tree. He looked very sad. So I asked him what was wrong. “Nothing,” he said. “I’m too short to join the school basketball team.” “And our PE teacher thinks I have little hope to be in the team in half a year,” he added. “Why not join another team?” I asked. “But my dream is to be an excellent basketball player in the future,” he said. He told me his father wanted him to change his idea to join the school ping-pong team. “Good idea,” I agreed. “You’re sure to be excellent, because you have a smart head.” The next day, he joined the school ping-pong team. He worked harder than any other boy. Soon he was very popular in the team and looked happy every day. Last month, in the city’s middle school ping-pong match, he and his team won the championship (冠军).

Sometimes your dream may not come true. Then make a small change, and it will bring you another success.

Hello, I’m Lucy. During my stay in America, my friend Susan invited (邀请) me to have dinner in a restaurant. That was a funny experience for me. Now let me talk about it.

At first, my husband told me to take some money before I left, but I didn’t listen to him. I thought Susan would pay because she invited me to go.

The Americans like to be on time, so I arrived at the restaurant on time. We sat at a table and soon we began to enjoy ourselves there. The food was very delicious. We talked about our friends and shared the experiences about ourselves.

After two hours, the waiter came and asked whether we wanted one check (账单) or two. Susan said two. Susan paid her check, and the waiter gave me mine. I had no money. Then I had an idea and said, “Oh! I left my money at home! Can I call my husband?” The waiter showed me where the phone was. I ran to it and called my husband. In a few minutes, he arrived with some money. He laughed all the way home.