Roughly the size of a soda can, sitting on a bookshelf, a relatively harmless device(设备) may be turning friends away from your home. The elephant in your living room is your Internet-connected camera, a device people are increasingly using for peace of mind in their homes. But few stop to think about the effect these devices may have on house guests. Should you tell your friends, for instance, that they're being recorded while you all watch the big game together?

    "It's certainly new territory, especially as home security cameras become easier to fix," says Lizzie Post, president of the Emily Post Institute, America's distinguished manners advisors." I think it will be very interesting to see what manners appear in terms of whether you tell people you have a camera or not, and whether guests have a right to ask that it be turned off, if it's not a security issue. "Post wants to make clear that she's not talking about legal rights, but rather personal preference.

When it comes to security cameras, Post says it's a host's responsibility to make sure guests feel comfortable within their home. If the host casually acknowledges that there is a camera in the room by telling a story about it, that may be enough to provide an opening for a guest to say if they are uncomfortable.

    However, if a contractor(合约工)is working in your home, you don't need to tell them that there are cameras watching. Then again, the camera can also work in contractors' favor. "If anything does go wrong while they're in the house, they don't want to be blamed for it," she says. "In fact, the camera could be the thing that proves that they didn't steal the $20, or knock the vase off the table.

Walking certainly seems to be growing in popularity. Since the dawn of smart phones, technology has made it easier to count the steps. If you feel like hitting your stride(达到最好状态), then the following are some popular apps to help you put your best foot forward.

Joyrun

This app focuses on helping people become better runners. Users can create and join running groups and make new friends. Setting targets is a popular function. Users can choose from a variety of activities to set goals and those who achieve them may win Prizes. It also offers handy tips on how to avoid injury, input from coaches sharing their knowledge.

Codoon

This app can track your performance whether you are running, walking, riding or hiking. It has an active social platform where people can share photos and videos, and it offers running programs. Users can also launch their own activities, inviting people in the same city to join them. For users who wish to engage in a variety of activities, the app provides other workout programs focused on building strength and leg muscles.

WeChat

Users can choose at most 10 friends to follow and see their daily activities, though the friends they follow will not be informed. WeChat has charity programs to help vulnerable (脆弱的)groups, such as left-behind children. Users can "donate steps", which can be converted(转化)to actual amounts of money that gets donated to charity programs.

Alipay

The popular mobile payment app has a charity-oriented activity called Ant Forest, where users' steps are converted into virtual energy, which can help tree planting. The app claims that affer receiving an application from a user who has saved enough energy, a real tree will be planted(干旱的)areas. They also have charity programs in Alipay encouraging users to "donate steps" as well.

Ping An Good Doctor

This app, providing online health services, such as medical consultation, can also count steps, and these can be converted into virtual coins the next day. With enough virtual coins, users can buy health-related products from its online store at discounted prices. In some cases, users only need to pay a small courier fee to get items such as chocolate candies, Band-Aids and tissues.

I'm going to be completely honest. I have no idea how I ended up with this opportunity, I have no idea what I'm doing, but I am very happy to be here.

Last summer a friend tagged me in a Facebook post from BBC Earth and encouraged me to apply to the BBC Presenter Search 2018. The assignment was easy and hard, make a video shorter than 60 seconds where you talk about something in science you think is cool. Simple concept, but for me it was challenging as I want to talk about bryophytes(苔藓植物) forever (which is slightly longer than 60 seconds).

So I decided to make an attempt. I was going to make a 60 second video about sphagnum(水苔), commonly known as peat moss and uncommonly known as an unsung climate hero. Sphagnum is the plant genus that holds the most carbon in the world, it slowly builds up its carbon storage over hundreds of thousands of years and if undisturbed, they never let go of the carbon they gathered.

Making a short video on this was hard because I wanted to include everything. And it became even harder as I had no one to hold the camera. I tied my camera to the scrawniest little tree, swinging in the wind as a bird tried to chase me away from the mud. This chaos ended up as the video "Why sphagnum is awesome" on my channel. I submitted the video, but didn't dare to write in the description section of the video that it was a submission, because I never imagined that I could win!

But I did.

I waited two months before I could tell people that I had won the search, and when the news came out, I received the most attention I've had in my entire life.

No matter your background, whether you want to pass the time or pass an exam, I really hope you enjoy the video!

Almost every day we come across situations in which we have to make decisions one way or another. Choice, we are given to believe, is a right. But for a good many people in the world, in rich and poor countries, choice is a luxury, something wonderful but hard to get, not a right. And for those who think they are exercising their right to make choices, the whole system is merely an illusion, a false idea created by companies and advertisers, hoping to sell their products.

'The endless choice gives birth to anxiety in people's lives. Buying something as basic as a coffee pot is not exactly simple. Easy access to a wide range of everyday goods leads to a sense of powerlessness in many people, ending in the shopper giving up and walking away, or just buying an unsuitable item that is not really wanted. Recent studies in England have shown that many electrical goods bought in almost every family are not really needed. More difficult decision-making is then either avoided or trusted into the hands of the professionals, lifestyle instructors, or advisors.

It is not just the availability of the goods that is the problem, but the speed with which new types of products come on the market. Advances in design and production help quicken the process. Products also need to have a short lifespan so that the public can be persuaded to replace them within a short time. The typical example is computers, which are almost out-of-date once they are bought. This indeed makes selection a problem. Gone are the days when one could just walk with ease into a shop and buy one thing; no choice, no anxiety.

As high school students, we must spend the vast majority of our time in class and reading books. Without a friend, our world would be a wilderness. What kind of friends should we pick? What are the dos and don'ts of friendship? Here are some of my opinions.

We may consider different people we meet every day to be nice and feel like making friends with them. However, not all good people are matches for us. Rather than make friends with the popular students, we should spend time with those we have things in common with, or who will be there to listen to us. Moreover, we should be careful about students with many bad habits, since they could pass those habits on to us.

Being tolerant is a good idea. No one is perfect. Therefore, we should try to understand our friends and be patient with them when they make mistakes since we're all on a journey to being better people. Gradually, our friendships will last longer and become more solid.

Be honest. However, it's better to be honest with friends, to tell them what is bothering us and seek their advice. Being honest will not annoy your friends, but it will bring you and your friend closer together.

We need to be open-minded. Listen to others' ideas, whether you agree with them or not, and be happy to make friends with your friends' friends.

A. We must be careful.

B. We need to be well-informed.

C. As is said, honesty is the best policy.

D. A friend without faults will never be found.

E. None are so deaf as those who will not hear.

F. Still, spending time with friends is also necessary and good for us.

G. We all tend to show our positive side to friends and hide our true feelings.

A few days ago, I bought some ink for my printer at my favorite $1 Supermarket, which sold everything from fresh produce to birthday cards at one dollar. Then l found a better 1 at a computer store. So I went back to the supermarket to 2 it for some other products. With 3 telling me exactly what to do, I put the ink into a plastic bag, tied it up, placed the bag into a push-cart and started 4.

I was midway 5 when a clerk suddenly stopped me. "You are not allowed to 6 a bag around in this store. Open it and show me the 7!" she yelled coldly.

8, I opened the bag and 9 the ink to her. "I'm returning it." I said.

"You should have left the bag with the clerk upon 10 . Let me see your receipt!" she demanded I did as told, looking around, embarrassed 11everyone was laughing at me. "Perhaps in the future you'll learn how to follow the store 12 . " she added.

By the time I finished shopping, I was angry. How dare she treat me as a 13 ? I went looking for her and asked for her 14 She mumbled (嘀咕) something. I asked her again, and this time I heard "Ursula."

"Ursula what?" I asked. She yelled at me," Ursula!" and stormed away.

"This employee is about to become unemployed, " I 15 when I got home. I 16 their headquarters (总部). I described my unpleasant experience to a representative. She was sympathetic, "Our employees are taught to be 17 Give me your phone number and I will ring you back."

She did two days later. "I'm sorry," she said, "but there's no Ursula at that supermarket. Can you 18 her so that I can find out who she is? I assure you, we do not tolerate rude behavior, nor do we tolerate 19to our customers. "

By this time, I had calmed down. I didn't really want the employee to lose her 20 So I told the representative to forget about it.

When I was in the third grade, my teacher told us to write a report on our dream. I poured my whole heart into my report, (drive) by a dream to be an airline pilot. my paper came back with an "F" on it. The teacher said that it was a "fairy tale", made me crushed and disappointed.

Too many people said," Girls can't become pilots; never have, never will." (final), I gave up.

In my senior year of high school, my English teacher, Ms Dorothy, one day gave the class same task. I (think) about the report I had written before. Pilot? No way. Waitress? That felt safe, so I wrote it down.

Two days later, the teacher handed back the task, saying sincerely, "If you don't go for your dreams, no one will do it for you. You can have what you want!" I felt very (delight) as well as a little scared. I stayed after the class and went up to my teacher. I told her my dream becoming a pilot. "Then do it" she said.

So I did. It took me 10 years of hard work (achieve) my ambition. Now I'm one of the Boeing 737(captain) for the United Airelines. I prove to all that it is not a fairy tale.

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。

Great changes have been taken place in my village. Ten years ago, the small and low houses of my village lie on the north of a lake. The villagers produced many waste. As a result, the lake was seriously polluted. To the west of the village was a sandy field, where was the source of much dust.

Now the poor house have been replaced by green trees. However, the sandy field that the villagers used to plough has been covered of fruit trees. On the lake, now clean and clearly, the villagers often spend their spare time fish.

In word, my village has become a green one.

1）学会学习：方法，习惯等；

2）学会做人：真诚，友善；

3）学会其他：考生自拟。

注意：1）词数100左右；

2）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；

3）开头语和结尾已为你写好。

Good morning, everyone! It is my honor to be here to share with you my opinions on what to learn in senior high school.

……

Thank you!