2 . Gone are the days when a mother’s place was in the home: in Britain women with children are now as likely to be in paid work as their unburdened sisters. Many put their little darlings in day care long before they start school. Mindful that a poor start can spoil a person’s chances of success later in life, the state has intervened ever more closely in how babies and toddlers are looked after. Inspectors call not only at nurseries but also at homes where youngsters are minded; three-year-olds follow the national curriculum. Child care has increasingly become a profession.

For years after the government first began in 2001 to twist the arms of anyone who looked after an unrelated child to register with the schools, the numbers so doing fell. Kind but clueless neighbours stopped looking after little ones, who were instead herded into formal nurseries or handed over to one of the ever-fewer registered child-minders. The decline in the number of people taking in children now appears to have halted. According to data released by the Office for Standards in Education on October 27th, the number of registered child-minders reached its lowest point in September 2010 and has since recovered slightly.

The new lot are certainly better qualified. In 2010 fully 82% of nursery workers held diplomas notionally equivalent to A-levels, the university-entrance exams taken mostly by 18-year-olds, up from 56% seven years earlier, says Anand Shukla of the Daycare Trust, a charity. Nurseries staffed by university graduates tend to be rated highest by inspectors, increasing their appeal to the pickiest parents. As a result, more graduates are being recruited.

But professionalization has also pushed up the price of child care, defying even the economic depression. A survey by the Daycare Trust finds that a full-time nursery place in England for a child aged under two, who must be intensively supervised, costs £194 ($310) per week, on average. Prices in London and the south-east are far higher. Parents in Britain spend more on child care than anywhere else in the world, according to the OECD, a think-tank. Some 68% of a typical second earner's net income is spent on freeing her to work, compared with an OECD average of 52%.

The price of child care is not only eye-watering, but has also become a barrier to work. Soon after it took power the coalition government pledged to ensure that people are better off in work than on benefits, but a recent survey by Save the Children, a charity, found that the high cost of day care prevented a quarter of low-paid workers from returning to their jobs once they had started a family. The government pays for free part-time nursery places for three-and four-year-olds, and contributes towards day-care costs for younger children from poor areas. Alas, extending such an aid during stressful economic times would appear to be anything but child’s play.

3 . “NON-FUNGIBLE TOKENS” (NFTs) leapt from the more obscure corners of the internet into the mainstream in March 2021 when Christies, a British auction house, sold a digital work of art for $69m. What it actually flogged was an NFT, a cryptocurrency chit that proves a buyer owns an intangible marker connected to a unique piece of digital art, music or other item. Much like René Magritte’s painting of a pipe that proclaims “this is not a pipe” an NFT is not the thing it represents. Tweets, videos of basketball dunks and even the source code to the world wide web have been sold as NFTs in recent months. From June to September they generated almost $11bn in sales, an eight-fold increase on the previous four months, according to DappRadar, a market tracker. What exactly is an NFT? And why are people spending tens of millions of dollars on them?

An NFT is a record on a cryptocurrency’s blockchain (an immutable ledger（不可篡改的账本） that can record more than just virtual coins) that represents pieces of digital media. Invented a few years ago, it can link not only to art but also to text, videos or bits of code. Promoters of NFTs claim that they solve a thorny（棘手的） problem with digital art: how to own an original. For creators who freely upload their work or sell it as identical copies, the concept of an original is difficult to pin down（确定）. Exclusivity is impossible to enforce when digital files can be shared freely on the internet. But collectors want the cachet that comes with having an exclusive claim on an artwork. This is where NFTs fit in.

To mint（铸币，造币） an NFT, the creator establishes a unique record of the artwork, generally on a website. Then the creator places the record on a blockchain, usually Ethereum’s, which requires a transaction fee known as gas. Possession of a private encryption key associated with the transaction proves ownership. This gives an artist or collector something to sell. An NFT may link to a version of the work, but rarely includes the rights to reproduce or distribute it. That differentiates it from a commercial licensing arrangement, too.

NFTs have myriad（众多的） problems. They often change hands using cryptocurrencies, many of which currently have sky-high valuations, leading to fears of a bubble. Anyone can mint an NFT, since the systems involved are decentralised（去中心化的）, although doing so with someone else’s work could be infringe their copyright. Some artists have already claimed misappropriation of their work.Most NFTs are simply links to images. Unless they have been issued in a certain way to ensure they are tamper-proof（防更改的） these can in theory be meddled with after the sale. The high electricity usage of blockchains—Bitcoin’s is greater than that of Chile—has prompted arguments over whether artists are contributing to climate change by embracing NFTs. And ownership may be difficult to prove in the long term, as web-based records may not last for ever.

Yet NFTs have some value beyond the cryptocurrency hype （加密货币炒作）: artists struggle to make a living when their works can be easily replicated and pirated. NFTs will create new problems in an attempt to solve old ones, but for now many creators and collectors are too busy cashing in to care.

I’m so glad you are interested in Chinese dumplings and honored to introduce them to you.

Welcome to China and enjoy dumplings!

Yours sincerely,

Lihua

There is a farm not far from the coastline. It belongs to a man called Tom. Tom couldn’t do everything by himself on the farm. Thus, he needed to hire one man to help him run the farm. However, no one worked on his farm for long. Why？Because the work was too tiring. Since the farm is near the sea, there are often storms from the sea that strike his farm. When a storm comes, Tom and the man he hired have to get up quickly and try to reduce the losses caused by the storm. Therefore, no one liked working there. Tom had to look for people to work for him all the time.

One day, a man called Henry read the poster that Tom had put up and then came to his farm.

“Sir, I can work for you ,” said Henry.

Tom looked at Henry. This young man was neither strong nor tall.

“Are you sure?”asked Tom.

“Yes, sir. I can do the work well. But you must pay me twice what you paid others before,” said that young man.

Tom was surprised. He didn’t really believe such a man could do the work well. But it was really hard for him to find someone else to work for him. At last, he decided to give Henry a try. However, before hiring him, he said, “Can you really be a good helper？The work on the farm is hard and tiring. And there are often storms.”

Henry smiled and said, “Don’t worry. I can be a good helper. You’ll see. And storms won’t be a problem. They won’t even disturb our sleep. We can sleep very well even on stormy nights.”

And then Henry stayed on the farm. To Tom’s joy, Henry worked hard and did his work well. It was obvious that he hadn’t lied.

However, one night, there was a big storm. Tom was woken up by the strong wind. He was worried that the storm would cause great losses for his farm. And he saw his helper nowhere.

Tom thought Henry must still be sleeping.

Tom thought he had hired the wrong man.

My grandparents’ house is in Rosewood and they have a small house with a lovely garden. “Grandpa has gone to visit his brother and Grandma is staying alone at home,” I said to my friends Melissa and Rocky, both of whom were more than willing to go to give her a surprise. After we got ready, Dad drove us there.

When we arrived, my grandma was so surprised and happy. She gave me a big hug. “Won’t you introduce me to your friends?” said Grandma.

My friends were introduced and Grandma gave them each a warm hug. Dad stayed for a while and left for his own work. Then we enjoyed talking and playing in the garden. Lunch was served. Grandma prepared a tasty meal of vegetable soup chicken sandwiches and strawberry ice cream for us. After lunch, we sat in the garden in a semicircle facing Grandma, and listened to her telling interesting stories

We were interrupted by a sudden and urgent knock on the door. I jumped up to open the door. It was Janet, Grandma’s neighbor.

“Mrs. White, my daughter Eva went to walk our dog Bruno, and hasn’t returned home yet. She always comes back in ten minutes or so. I’m very worried that something has happened to her. She usually walks on the main street outside our home but I can’t see her anywhere. I called out her name, but there was no answer. I have hurt my foot and can hardly walk, so I want to ask you for help,” said Janet.

“Aunty Janet, please don’t worry. My friends and I will go and look for Eva. I’m sure we will find her soon,” I said.

Grandma stayed with Janet and looked after her. We left the garden immediately to search for Eva and Bruno. We called Eva’s name and looked everywhere but couldn’t find her. I thought we would have to go back in vain.

Kilimandjaro was a popular place for soccer fans who went to watch Middlesbrough F.C. play over the weekend to eat after the game. Waka Waka Chicken was one of the restaurant’s signature dishes.

Everything seemed normal for the owner of the restaurant, Apollo, who always values the virtue of honesty, and his waiters. Customers were flocking in, and service was running smoothly that day. Apollo, to be honest, wasn’t even there. He was having a good time with his family, completely unaware of what was going on in his restaurant. He had no idea that something unexpected was about to happen and that he’d be getting a rather awkward phone call from the waiter.

At about 11：00 a. m, three guys walked in, clearly interested in sitting down and eating   some food. There’s a good chance they came from out of town and were fans of the away team. At the very least, the staff could detect a difference in their accents. It wasn’t long before they were attended to by a waiter who took their orders. After that, everything appeared to be going well…The three friends were glad they had chosen Kilimandjaro. Waka Waka Chicken with cheese was enjoyed by them. From their expression, the staff could tell these three guys were very satisfied with the food.

About one hour later, the three friends were prepared to pay for their meals. The total cost of the food was £35. They reached for their credit cards and handed them over as the waiter approached their table. However, they were shocked when the waiter informed them that they could only pay in cash. None of them carried cash with them. At this time, the waiter was asked to go to another table to take orders. Realizing the last train back home was to depart in an hour, the three friends had other ideas…

On returning, the waiter was surprised the three guys had gone without paying.

Two weeks later，Apollo received an unexpected letter with £35 attached．