1 . “Farm to table” is the name of a movement that encourages people to eat locally grown food. The farm­to­table idea has become more popular in recent years. But there is also a movement that brings “table to farm”. Its purpose is to connect people to the land and to honor local farmers by creating a sort of restaurant without walls.

Its founder, Jim Denevan, got the idea for this kind of “culinary adventure (美食探险)”, as he called it, ten years ago. He recently prepared tables for more than a hundred people at Briars Farm in Virginia. He and his eight­member team arrived the night before. Chefs (厨师) from a local restaurant prepared the dinner.

Jim Denevan’s brother is a farmer and he himself is a chef. He thought that the idea of a meal served right on the farm made sense, though not everyone agreed.

“But I wanted to make the idea work, so I decided to cross the country,” said Denevan. “I went all the way across the United States and set the table on farms, ranches (大牧场) and beaches, and all the places where food came from.”

“This kind of event connects us with a lot of enthusiastic people, people that we can form relationships with,” said Matt Szechenyi, who operates Briars Farm.

The tour of the farm ends at the dinner table. The meats in the meal come from Matt Szechenyi’s farm. The vegetables come from nearby farms. Guests and local farmers sit together.

Annoica Ingram came with a friend. “The food is wonderful. I appreciate their hard work. I see everything they have to do to take care of the animals and make sure they are well­cared­for. Without them, I think, we’ll have big problems,” she said.

2 . Mr. Hart, a London taxi driver, has a new black taxi. He hurries through the busy _________ every day. One day when he was having a short rest, a young man jumped into his taxi. “To the station as fast as you can,” shouted the man in a very _________ way. “My _________ leaves at 3 o’clock.” Mr. Hart did his best, but there was a lot of traffic. At every corner there was a _________ light. “Hurry up, man, I don’t want to _________ my train,” said the young man. “And I don’t want to have an _________ ,” replied Mr. Hart quickly. While he was _________, Mr. Hart suddenly recognized the man’s _________. He was a _________. The police were looking for him. His picture was in the __________. Mr. Hart drove through the streets and red lights. Soon there was a police car __________ him. Mr. Hart raced on until he __________ the station. He stopped in front of the station at two minutes to three, and the young man quickly jumped out of the taxi. “__________!” cried Mr. Hart. At the moment the police car stopped, too. “Quick! he is the thief!” shouted Mr. Hart. Two policemen __________ into the station. Three minutes later they __________ with the young man.

“Well done!” a policeman said to Mr. Hart as they were taking the thief to the police car.

3 . Today’s grandparents are joining their grandchildren on social media, but the different generations’ online habits couldn’t be more different. In the UK the over-55 s are joining Facebook in increasing numbers, meaning that they will soon be the site’s second biggest user group, with 3.5 million users aged 55-64 and 2.9 million over-65s.

Sheila, aged 59, says, “I joined to see what my grandchildren are doing, as my daughter posts videos and photos of them. It’s a much better way to see what they’re doing than waiting for letters and photos in the post. That’s how we did it when I was a child, but I think I’m lucky I get to see so much more of their lives than my grandparents did.”

Interestingly, Sheila’s grandchildren are less likely to use Facebook themselves. Children under 17 in the UK are leaving the site - only 2.2 million users are under 17 -but they’re not going far from their smartphones. Chloe, aged 15, even sleeps with her phone. “It’s my alarm clock so I have to,’ she says. “I look at it before I go to sleep and as soon as I wake up.”

Unlike her grandmother’s generation, Chloe’s age group is spending so much time on their phones at home that they are missing out on spending time with their friends in real life. Sheila, on the other hand, has made contact with old friends from school she hasn’t heard from in forty years. ”We use Facebook to arrange to meet all over the country,” she says. “It’s changed my social life completely.”

Parents have an important role to play if they want their kids to spend more time in real life. Peter, 38, who spends most of his time in front of a screen, is recently determined to set a better example to his kids. In the evening or at weekends, he would leave his smartphone home and take his kids out to nature.

5 . Taking photos of your food and posting them online is becoming more and more popular. However, not everyone thinks it’s a good idea.

Food photos are popular on social networking sites. Many of the pictures are of delicious-looking food from top-class restaurants. Some people even find it addictive (上瘾的). “I couldn’t get enough of it. I had to share every single meal,” one food poster wrote.

However, not all food photos are so attractive. There are now sites where you can post pictures of terrible-looking food. One such website is saddesklunch.com. Users send pictures of their depressing meals, which include things such as half-eaten bits of chicken and leftover (剩余的) pizza.

saddesklunch.com. was created by office worker Kira in 2012. At the time, she was working as a video editor. “I was staring at my rather terrible vegetable soup, which I was eating at my desk, and just thought, I can’t believe I’m eating this soup, let alone eating it alone at my desk’,”she said.

Some chefs are trying to stop people photographing food in their restaurants. Gilles runs a three-star restaurant in southern France. He told a news website that every time his food appears on social networks it “takes away the surprise, and a little bit of my intellectual property(知识产权)”.

Alexander is the chef at a restaurant. He has included a “no cameras” logo on his menu. “Before, people took pictures of their family in the restaurant; now they take pictures of food... They put them on the Internet, others ‘like’, they respond to comments, and the dish is cold,” he explained.

Will you take your camera next time you eat out?

6 . Do you remember what happened on Sponge Bob Square Pants yesterday? The day before? If so, you may be in need of a TV timeout!

Kids today are watching more TV than they watched before, researchers say. Kids ages 6 to 11 in the United States watch more than three hours of TV each day. Ten years ago, children watched only about two hours and 40 minutes of TV each day.

Why the increase? Experts say more TV shows today are focused, or aimed, at kids.

Some people want to limit kids' TV time. Researchers say that children who watch TV shows for more than three hours a day do not do as well in school. However, some programs can help kids learn. One example is BrainSurge. Some people say the show teaches kids facts.

How do you know whether a TV show can make you smart? Think about what you learn from watching, says Aletha Huston. She is a TV expert. But, she warns, don't spend too much time watching. “Limit the amount you watch. Get off the couch and do something else.”

TV Guide

This pie chart shows how long kids ages 6－11 use different types of TV technology each week.

7 . With people wearing face masks to protect themselves from being infected with the novel coronavirus, a concern now is how they are dealing with their used masks. As used face masks may carry the coronavirus, they shouldn't be carelessly thrown away as waste. Since the virus can survive for one or two days in wet conditions, the used masks may become a new source of infection.

Given that the garbage sorting has recently been carried out in only a few cities, mixed waste commonly exists. The mixture of polluted masks and recyclable waste may cause a possible danger to rubbish collectors when they put hands in the garbage cans to collect recyclable items. What's worse, if someone just throws a used mask on the street, someone might pick it up, or try to collect it to sell second-hand.

With the spread of the novel coronavirus, there has obviously been a high demand for protective equipment such as face masks among ordinary people, with the resulting generation of a huge quantity of what may be considered medical waste. Thus, the problem is how to deal with this mass of medical waste, particularly the used face masks outside of hospitals. Communities should have special trash cans around to collect used masks. If these are not provided, people should put the waste into plastic bags before casting them aside, so they are not exposed to the air.

As the main risk of medical waste is infectivity, disinfection, whether by steam, chemicals or microwave, is very important. According to regulations, only licensed companies should collect, transport and do the final management of medical waste. For example, medical waste must be collected in special containers,and be transported in special vehicles by qualified people.

8 . Many children love using a trampoline（蹦床）for fun. They love the excitement the activity brings to them. But are trampolines safe to use?

Starting in the early 1990s, trampolines saw a major increase in popularity. In 1989, 140,000 trampolines were sold in the United States and by 1998 that number had increased to 640,000. But with the increase in popularity there was a rise in pain. From 1990 to 1995, trampolines-related injuries jumped by 98% and in 1999 over 100,000 kids were treated in the emergency room because of using trampolines.

The data behind the danger is clear, but parents may not know that even though trampolines are made for children, they are not suitable for kids under the age of six. Kait Ellen posted an article on Facebook about her visit to a trampoline gym with her son Colton. Actually the visit was anything but enjoyable for the little guy. Colton, who was three years old, broke his bone while jumping up and down on a trampoline. And in her article there was a warning from a government department, which advised that children under the age of six should never use a trampoline.

In 2004, the first indoor trampoline park opened Thursday in LasVegas, Nevada and parks have been growing rapidly ever since. Parents should keep in mind the advice of experts for keeping their kids safe. To keep your kids from getting injured while using trampolines, you’d better keep them away from them.

9 . When it comes to helping developing countries, we often think about offering money in order that they can build schools and hospitals, buy food and medicine, or find clean water supplies. These seem to be the most important basic needs in their lives. However, it's far from enough. We have to come up with better ideas.

A man called Nicholas Negroponte invented a cheap laptop computer, which he decided to invent after he visited a school in Cambodia. The laptop which Mr. Negroponte has designed is not the same as the normal one that you can buy in the shops. One difference is that it will be covered in rubber so that it is strong and won't be damaged easily. As an electricity supply can be a problem in developing countries, the computer also has a special handle in order that children can wind the computer up to give it extra power just as easy as setting a clock.

This special laptop computer will cost less than 100 US dollars and Mr. Negroponte wants to produce as many as 15 million laptop computers in the first year. The idea is that these computers will help the children’s education as they will be able to access the Internet. These computers might not benefit the people in developing countries immediately, but by improving children’s education they should help people to find their own solutions to their problems in the long term.

Another idea to help children in developing countries is to recycle old mobile phones so that they can be used again in the UK and probably in many other countries too, millions of mobile phones are thrown away every year. The waste crested by throwing away these old phones is very bad for the environment, so it seems to be an excellent idea to achieve two important goals at the same time. We will reduce the waste we produce and help others, in other words, we will be able to “kill two birds with one stone” and that is always a good thing.

10 . You cannot judge a book by looking at its cover! That's what a group of parents and students in Hangzhou has found out this term.

When they came to school in September, the students were shocked to learn that their class teacher was to be a P.E. teacher. How could someone who teaches table tennis and basketball know anything about academics? Their parents were equally worried and pressured the school to replace ''Miss Muscle'' with a ''Miss Brain. '' However, the principal(校长) did not give in to the pressure and now the parents and students are happy that the school firmly insisted.

After three months, the P.E. teacher, whose name is actually Miss Su, has turned out to be a wonderful class teacher. She is intelligent, kind and helpful. She is a good leader who keeps her students active in their studies and participate in school activities. And she has won the parents over with her real caring for their children. In other words, Miss Su, the P. E. teacher, is ''pretty extraordinary. ''

The early negative reaction against Miss Su is an example of bias(偏见). A ''bias'' is wrong in thinking that has an influence on a person's opinions and decisions. For example, in business, tall men are more likely to be bosses. In the United States, anyone who is above 190 centimeters tall can expect to have a higher salary and to get more promotions than his shorter co-workers. Similarly, women have a difficult time climbing the career ladder because their bosses(mostly men!) think that women lack leadership skills and the necessary toughness to make difficult decisions. Neither of these opinions is based on facts or the talents of the individual. They're just bias.