2 . Smart Home Products for Living a Connected Life

What makes something a smart home product? Generally, it’s defined by its ability to connect to a Wi-Fi network, allowing users to interact（互动）with it from their smartphones.We’ve rounded up some cool, diverse offerings that you’ll love to have in your home.

Nest Cam IQ

walmart.com

$299.00

The Nest Cam IQ is a beautifully designed home security camera that can recognize faces. It can warn you if there’s a stranger in your home. The device also supports two-way communication via built-in microphones and a powerful speaker.

Logitech Harmony Elite

amazon.com

$249.99

The Logitech Harmony Elite is one of the best universal remote controls available on the market. It can control just about every piece of electronics you own（it supports over 270，000 devices！）in every room of your house or apartment, including TVs，streaming devices, and sound systems.

Apple HomePod

bhphotovideo.com

$349.00

The Apple HomePod has better audio quality than any other smart speaker available today. Available in white or space gray, the Siri-powered device also allows you to control a number of devices with your voice.

August Smart Lock Pro

amazon.com

$279.99

The August Smart Lock Pro is compatible（兼容的）with most locks. A mobile app allows you to manage access to the lock, check its usage history, and get informed when someone opens the door. You can control it and check on the state of your door with voice commands.

Monster Zoo is one of the largest zoos in the world, covering more than 15 km squares. It is home to more than 50 species of rare and native animals. The zoo is located 70 km from the city New South Australia.

Monster zoo was founded in 1983 as a breeding area (繁殖区). Officially open to the public in October 1993, Monster Zoo is now home to more than 500 animals.

Monster zoo is open daily from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm with last entry at 3:00 pm. The zoo is open every day of the year, including Christmas Day and all public holidays. The exception to this is if the forecast temperature for Monster Zoo is 40 degrees or above, it will be closed.

To get the most out of your visit we recommend setting aside a minimum of four to five hours to fully enjoy the Monster zoo.

Child (4-14 years old) : AU $28.50

Adult (15 years old and over) : AU $ 51.75

Family / Mini Group: AU $132.75

Monster zoo offers various daily zoo keeper talks and animal feeds that give guests the chance to interact (互动) with our friendly workers and learn about the zoo’s unique residents.

Looking for a more unique animal experience? Consider booking a Behind the Scenes Animal Experience to come face to face with some of our special animal residents.

Ketabi Café is open from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm daily and offers a variety of tasty treats, small snacks and hot meals.

For those who prefer to bring their own meals, special picnic areas are available close to the Visitor Center. Please note that due to fire risk, the zoo does not allow for the use of BBQs.

5 . There are so many expressions in American English that sound good but actually are not.

“Face the music” is a good example. When someone says they have to face the music, it does not mean they are going to a musical show or a concert. To “face the music” means accepting the bad results of behavior.

Imagine a friend asks you to take care of her beautiful red sports car. She gives you the keys and says, “Thanks so much for watching my car while I’m away. But please do not drive it. It is a very fast car and you are not on the insurance (保险).” But you do not listen. You want to show it to some friends and pretend (假装) the car is yours. So, you drive it around town one night. As bad luck would have it, you lose control of the car and drive it into a stop sign. The damage is serious. When your friend returns, you must tell her what you have done and “face the music”. The “music” here is the result of your behavior. It could be losing her friendship or paying for repairs to her sports car or both. Whatever the “music” is, you must face it.

There are other American expressions that mean the same as “face the music”.

“Take your medicine” means accepting the results of something bad you have done. And if someone says, “You made your bed. Now lie in it.” He means you created a bad situation and now you will experience the results, or as we say in American spoken English, you must deal with it!

“Pay the piper” also means the same as “face the music”. But that expression has its own very interesting beginning. We will talk about that in the next Words and Their Stories.

6 . Life will be peaceful if you always do kind things. I teach my daughters to develop a habit of _____ others. They can make you feel how _____ it is to be kind and helpful.

We live in a rural (乡村的) area. Most of what we _____ is beautiful nature. One of the exceptions to the _____ is the rubbish that some people throw out of their car windows as they drive along the rural roads. One of the few _____ of living there is short of _____ public services, such as rubbish collection, which is common in the _____ .

My daughters and I regularly _____ rubbish in our neighborhood. They will often say to me in a(n) _____ voice,“There’s some rubbish, Daddy-stop the car!” And we will often get out of our car and pick it up. In fact, we ______   it. We pick up rubbish in parks, on sidewalks, almost everywhere.

One day I saw a stranger picking up rubbish on the road. He ______ his head and smiled, “I saw you doing this with your family. It’s a good ______ to protect our environment.”

There are many other ways to ______ kindness for others. You may share dinner with a beggar, visit lonely old people in the nursing home, or help the blind ______ the road. You can think of something that can be finished ______ but helpful. It is fun, self-satisfying, and what’s more, it can set a good example.

8 . Making friends is a skill like many other skills. It improves with practice. If you want to meet people and make friends, you must be willing to take some actions. You must first go where there are people. You won’t make friends staying home alone. Join a club or a group. Talking with those who like the same things as you do is much easier. Or join someone in some activities. Many people are nervous when talking to new people. After all, meeting strangers means facing the unknown. And it’s human nature to feel a bit uncomfortable about the unknown. Most of our fears about dealing with new people come from doubts about ourselves. We imagine other people are finding us too tall or too short, too this or too that. But don’t forget that they must be feeling the same way. Try to accept yourself as you are and try to put the other person at ease. You’ll both feel more comfortable.

Try to act self-confidently even if you don’t feel that way. When you enter a room full of strangers, such as a new classroom, walk tall and straight, look directly at other people and smile.

If you see someone you’d like to speak to, say something. Don’t wait for the other person to start a conversation.

Just meeting someone new does not mean that you will make friends with that person. Friendship is based on real liking and “give and take”. It takes time and effort to develop.

10 . When I was 16, I worked at a fast food restaurant. That was when I came across two new family ________.

One afternoon in the fall I went out to ________ boxes and flatten them for recycling. When I opened the ________, I found a little cat crying outside. He got a little wet because of the morning rain. I picked him up into the kitchen, ________ him and fed him water and food. My boss was ________ when seeing a stray cat (流浪猫) in the kitchen and asked me to take him out immediately. I quickly got some towels and a box and made him a little ________ and put him in my car. It was cold outside so it was ________ for the cat to stay in the car.

After work, I rushed to my car to ________ him. I found another cat scratching my car door to ________ her brother. So I picked her up too. I had to carry them into my house ________ because my mother didn’t ________ a cat. Our cat had died earlier that year and she was in ________ and determined that she would not ________ any cats.

I ________ the two cats in my room for four days. One day my mother caught me taking cat food into my room, followed me and ________ me. Seeing her, I was ________ but I told her I had no choice but to ________ them. I told her we could just keep the boy and find another ________ for the girl. She yelled at me that we couldn’t ________ them. I knew I had her ________.

My family had Penny and Rizzo for the next 15 years.