A TV program has become popular in China recently. It has made people all over China become interested in writing Chinese characters (汉字).

The increasing use of computers and smart phones has left most young people hardly able to write by hand. Many of them are even unable to remember the 10,000 characters used in daily life without electronic help.

CCTV started the Chinese Character Dictation Competition to improve the population's handwriting skills. Contestants (参与者) on the show were school pupils, but it was found that 70% of adults in the audience (观众) were unable to remember how to write the word "chanchu".

Because computers allow people to type characters simply by entering pinyin, they don't need to remember how to write them. "The keyboard age has had a big influence on the handwriting of Chinese characters." Guan Zhengwen, who designed and directed the show said. He added that he hoped to encourage people to keep it alive as an art form.

Hao Mingjian, an editor of a magazine, putting his heart into Chinese characters, said, "Learning Chinese characters goes on throughout your life. If you stop using them for a long time, it is very likely that you will forget them."

What Does a Lifelong Learner Look Like?

Lifelong learners never think of themselves as the greatest expert in anything. They continue to learn and bring a great deal to the groups they belong to. What does a lifelong learner look like? Here are some of their main characteristics(特征).●They areknowledge seekers. They are always searching for much information on a topic they're interested in and looking for new experience or opportunities to improve their knowledge or skills.

● They are social and self-directed learners. They like taking different courses and taking part in discussions around subjects they are interested in.    ▲     They also know their own learning styles, and their strengths and weaknesses. They can plan and organize their own learning.

● They are critical(批判性的) thinkers. They always use a lot of ways to analyze(分析) and synthesize(合成) information. From their research they judge the information to see if it is useful for the question at hand.

●They are problem solvers. They will meet different problems while learning.However,they usually see problems as challenges and life experiences and try to stand above them.

—Yes. I hope to plant trees. ____trees, ____air pollution.

—I'd like to go____.

My mother was telling me about how she and her family got their first television when she was a teenager. Of course it was black and white. She said she only watched it at night. She didn't remember over watching it in the morning or afternoon. When I was young we had only about 3 or 4 different channels. My brothers, my sisters and I would sometimes fight about which channel to watch. But we usually enjoyed the same shows.

Nowadays we can get hundreds of channels on TV. I can't believe it! There are channels with old movies, cooking, fishing and so on. It's amazing! There is a channel for everything. I wonder how much my brothers, my sisters and I would fight if we had hundreds of channels when I was a child. Of course we had only one television set. These days I notice families with 2 or 3 or more television sets in their homes. I guess it stops people from arguing over which channel to choose from.