Xiaofan, a smart boy from Shenzhen, used to have difficulty in getting up on time, and his alarm clock was of no use at all. It made him very upset. One day, he had a good idea.

Xiaofan went to a shop and bought a tape. Back home, he started to record what he wanted. After that, he took out a tool box and connected his tape player with the new tape to his alarm clock. A special alarm clock was born. At a certain time in the morning, the tape player would play soft music with a low and sweet voice of a young girl, “Wake up, please.” Five minutes later, the tape player would play again, and it might be loud music. At the same time, he could hear a recording of his parent, “Wake up at once, or you’ll be late!”

Several days later, Xiaofan got used to the sound of the recordings. After the recordings, he was still sleepy, and even fall asleep again. That was terrible! So he went to the library and borrowed plenty of books home to deal with his problem of getting up late.

He made it! With the help of what he had learned from the books, he put a mechanical（机械的）arm at the end of the bed. Now if Xiaofan still doesn’t get up at last, the arm in the bed will “beat” him, and even make him out of the bed.

The special bed with a mechanical arm helps Xiaofan a lot, but it is not sold in stores.

For Schultz, 77-year-old man, this is a chance of a lifetime. Schultz is part of a group of around 50 Germans who are on a bus journey along the ancient Silk Road.

Speaking of his journey, he says: “I have been deeply interested in the Silk Road since I was a child, but now I finally have a chance to experience it.”

The two-month bus journey will take the group through Germany, Russia, and other 4 European countries. They will then enter China from the country’s western part. It will be an unforgettable memory for them.

Nearly half of the 13, 000-kilometer trip will be inside China. From Xinjiang in the west to Shanghai in the east, the German visitors will see more than 20 Chinese cities. “We have managed the trip of the Silk Road for around 10 years. An increasing number of people, not only from German-speaking countries, have been joining us,” says Liu Guoqiang from China Tours.

Almost 26 million foreigners traveled to China in 2015, and about 5 million of them were from Europe. Beijing, Xi’an, Shanghai and the Changjiang River are traditional Chinese travel destinations for European tourists. Speaking of where he wants to go, Schultz says, “Compared with modern cities, the culture in western China attracts(吸引) me more.”

As Shi Xiang, head of the China Tours, says, “Being a new brand to attract foreign visitors, the Silk Road is good for people to know more about China, especially the northwestern part of the country.”

(China Daily)

Every year, in late March or early April, a boat race takes place on the Thames River, England. This boat race is an event between the two most famous and also the oldest universities in Britain – the Oxford（牛津大学）and the Cambridge（剑桥大学）.

The idea for the boat race between the universities came from two friends – Charles Merivale, a student at Cambridge, and his friend Charles Wordsworth who was at Oxford. They decided to set up a boat race between the two universities. On March 12, 1829, Cambridge sent a challenge to Oxford first.

When the first boat race took place in a small town by Thames, eight students from each university became the competitors. Crowds of twenty thousand traveled to watch. It was so exciting. And the Oxford was clear winners. Later on, not only did the students from the two universities take part, but also some social groups attended the event. By 1845, with the small town becoming too crowded, the boat race had moved six miles up to the village – Putney. From 1856 on, the race has been held every year except war years. This boat race is considered to be “the world’s oldest sporting challenge”.

The race is four and a quarter miles in just 20 minutes and the competitors often face difficulties. It usually takes six months for the two teams to prepare for the big days. In the past, the Oxford was mostly the winners. But things have changed from 1993 on. The Cambridge has won more.

61．. How much money do you spend every week? Write it down on your notebook. Then you will know how to manage your money. It’s best to plan to spend money buying useful things. So you can put your money into good use.

62．. Invite your friends to your house instead of going out to a restaurant. You can enjoy home-made food and play games together. It’s an excellent way to have fun, and at a lower cost.

63．. Try to save most of your pocket money. Some people don’t mind their pocket money. That’s wrong. If you save just 5 yuan a week, you can have lots of money put in a bank. With the pocket money you save, you can do lots of meaningful things.

64．. Instead of buying tea or coffee with a meal, drink water. It is widely known that water is the most popular drink in the world. It is good for your health. Drinking water makes you full of energy and it also saves money.

65．. Walking is a great way to get some exercise and save money. This is a lifestyle that costs nothing. You’d better choose to walk rather than drive as much as possible. Doing this, not only can you feel good about enjoying the fresh air, but you can spend time exercising a lot.

诚实守信是中华民族的传统美德（virtue）.作为青少年,我们应该行动起来.本周班级英语学习微信交流群主发起一个关于如何诚实守信的讨论,请帮助完成下面的发言内容,每空一词.

良好的习惯对于青少年的成长与成功发挥着重大的作用。某英文网站正在就此话题在同学中展开调查。请你写一篇不少于80词的英语短文，向该网站投稿，描述你的一种或两种个人习惯，并谈谈它（们）给你的成长与成功带来怎样的影响。（文中不得出现真实的人名和校名）