3 . The Chinese are very generous(慷慨)when it comes to educating their children. Not _____   the money, parents often send their children to the _______schools or even abroad to England, the USA or Australia. They also want their children to take extra-course ______where they will either learn a musical instrument or ballet, or other classes which will give them a head start in life. The Chinese believe that the ________an education is, the better it is. So parents will spend a (an)_____amount of money on education. Even_____couples will buy a computer for their son or daughter.

_______, what most parents _____to see is that the best early education they can give their children is usually very cheap. Parents can see that their children’s skills vary, skilled in some areas while poor in others. What most parents fail to realize ______, is that today’s children _________self-respect and self-confidence(自信).

The problem is that parents are only _____ their children on how to take multiple-choice tests and how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important skills that they need to be ________, happy and clever.

Parents can achieve this by teaching _______ skills like cooking, sewing, and doing other housework._______ a child to cook will improve many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking demands ______ and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult ________ . A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job_____ . His result, a well-cooked dinner, will give him much satisfaction and a lot of self-confidence.

Some old machines such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your children to play with will make him ______ and arouse his interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying to _____ them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. These ____ are not merely teaching a child to read a book, but rather to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.

5 . As data and identity theft becomes more and more common, the market is growing for biometric(生物测量) technologies—like fingerprint scans—to keep others out of private e-spaces. At present, these technologies are still expensive, though.

Researchers from Georgia Tech say that they have come up with a low-cost device(装置) that gets around this problem: a smart keyboard. This smart keyboard precisely measures the cadence(节奏) with which one types and the pressure fingers apply to each key. The keyboard could offer a strong layer of security by analyzing things like the force of a user’s typing and the time between key presses. These patterns are unique to each person. Thus, the keyboard can determine people’s identities, and by extension, whether they should be given access to the computer it’s connected to—regardless of whether someone gets the password right.

It also doesn’t require a new type of technology that people aren’t already familiar with. Everybody uses a keyboard and everybody types differently.

In a study describing the technology, the researchers had 100 volunteers type the word “touch” four times using the smart keyboard. Data collected from the device could be used to recognize different participants based on how they typed, with very low error rates. The researchers say that the keyboard should be pretty straightforward to commercialize and is mostly made of inexpensive, plastic-like parts. The team hopes to make it to market in the near future.

6 . Since the first Earth Day in 1970, Americans have gotten a lot “greener” toward the environment. “We didn’t know at that time there even was an environment, let alone that there was a problem with it,” says Bruce Anderson, president of Earth Day USA.

But what began as nothing important in public affairs has grown into a social movement .Business people, political leaders, university professors, and especially millions of grass-roots Americans are taking part in the movement. “The understanding has increased many， many times,” says Gaylord Nelson, the former governor from Wisconsin, who thought up the first. According to US government reports, emissions (排放)from cars and trucks have dropped from 10.3 million tons a year to 5.5 tons .The number of cities producing CO beyond the standard has been reduced from 40 to 9. Although serious problems still remain and need to be dealt with, the world is a safer and healthier place. A kind of “Green thinking” has become part of practices.

Great improvement has been achieved. In 1988 there were only 600 recycling programs; today in 1995 there are about 6,600. Advanced lights, motors, and building designs have helped save a lot of energy and therefore prevented pollution.

Twenty –five years ago, there were hardly any education programs for environment. Today, it’s hard to find a public school, university, or law school that does not have such a kind of program. “Until we do that, nothing else will change!” says Bruce Anderson.