In early days of history, being a good neighbor was very important. Neighbors helped one another build houses, and clear fields. Families depended on one another for friendship and entertainment. 

But today in our cities and suburbs, friendly relationship between neighbors is not common. A family may not even know the other families that live next door to them. We live in an age of machines, and each family may have its own car, TV set, and washing machine. People no longer depend on neighbors as much as they once did. Machines keep people apart in other ways. In our grandparents'  time, women met while they hung out the washing, and men stopped and talked while they mowed the lawns. Today, they cannot hear anything above the noise of their power lawn mowers. And women stay inside with their electrical dryers, which help dry their clothes. Children are inside watching their favorite TV shows. Is the idea of being a good neighbor old-fashioned? 

In 1965, a power cut hit New York City, and many thousands of people were left helpless. Suddenly, everyone shared the same problem, and the largest city became a group of eight million neighbors. People with cars offered rides to those walking. Other people helped direct traffic. In elevators, people played word games and helped cheer each other up. 

In times of trouble, people still depend on one another. As time goes on, people may once again feel that being a good neighbor is important. 

September 22 every year is World Car Free Day. Many people across the world ride bikes to have fun, exercise or as a way to get from one place to another. In fact,4. 人们200多年前就习惯在日常生活中骑单车。Although bikes have changed a lot over the years, one thing stays the same: two wheels and a lot of fun. As an invention of great importance, just like the smart phone today, it' s worth remembering how the development of the bicycle in the late 19th century changed societies. 

In the 1890s the bicycle was a must-have for people, so they could go anywhere they wanted. For the first time in the history, people were able to come and go as they pleased. There is no more need for expensive horses and carriages (马车). By 1898 cycling had become such a popular activity in the United States. 

5. It is believed that the Englishman. John Starley, was the inventor of the modern bicycle. His uncle had developed the penny-farthing(经典自行车),an early type of bicycle that had a very large front wheel(轮子) and a small back wheel in 1870s. However, many people were afraid to ride such a high wheel bicycle then. So in 1885 Starley changed the bicycle with the "Rover Safety Bicycle" (罗孚安全自行车). The bike looked like the bikes we ride today. It had two wheels of the same size and a low seat between them,which made the bike safer and easier to ride.

All kinds of creative bicycles are produced, because people have new ideas and needs for bicycles every year. The design of bikes keeps changing in interesting ways. Who knows what bikes will look like in the future?

One cannot discuss Chinese music without mentioning the guqin, one of the four arts—along with go, calligraphy(书法) and painting. It first appeared over 3, 000 years ago and stands for China's solo musical instrument tradition. 

At first, the guqin had only five strings(弦), meaning the five elements(元素) of metal, wood, water, fire and earth. Later, in the Zhou Dynasty, King Wen of Zhou added a sixth string for his son. King Wu of Zhou, added a seventh string to encourage his army to fight with the Shang. 

Ambience was important in playing the guqin. Usually, it was practiced in a quiet setting and never for public performances. Ancient artists enjoyed performing by a stream in the mountains. The sound of the guqin mixed with the echoes(回音) from the mountains, until the musician felt he was at one with nature. Playing it in snow was also an enjoyable activity for ancient artists, who believed the instrument was the purest of its kind in the world. Also, a night with moonlight was considered wonderful for playing the guqin. Wang Wei, a highly talented man of the Tang Dynasty, liked playing it in a bamboo forest on nights with moonlight most. 

Guqin pieces are usually three to eight minutes long, with the longest being Guangling Verse, which is 22 minutes long. Other famous pieces include Plum Blossoms in Three Movements, Wild Geese Landing on the Sandbank and Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute. 

Nowadays, there are fewer than one thousand well- trained guqin players and perhaps no more than fifty living masters. The original number of several thousand pieces has greatly reduced to only one hundred works by today. The guqin and its music was added to the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity(人类非物质文化遗产) in 2003. 

 Chinatown is the name of an area(地区) in the middle of London. It is a large Chinese community(社区) with a lot of Chinese restaurants, Chinese supermarkets and shops. 

In the 1950s, it was a poor area and everything was very cheap. At the same time, the world rice market became bad and thousands of farm workers in Hong Kong lost their jobs. They began going to London to look for work. They found jobs in the restaurants in this area. 

These restaurant workers often worked 17 hours a day and had no time to learn English. As more Chinese arrived, more shops and businesses grew up. Women came to join their husbands and children came to join their fathers. The community grew, and Chinatown was born. 

In the 1970s and 1980s, British-born Chinese started to have a better education(教育) and this brought economic(经济的) success to the area. Many families moved out of Chinatown, and there was more space for businesses. Chinatown soon became a popular place for tourists. 

Now everyone knows about London's Chinatown. During the Chinese New Year, the streets are seen with flags and thousands of Chinese go into the streets. For most time of the year, though, Londoners and tourists go there mainly for the food in the Chinese restaurants. The best restaurants are the ones where the Chinese eat. 

Lion dance is an important tradition in Chinese culture. It has a  of more than 2, 000 years. It's usually performed during festivals and believed to bring good luck. 

Ancient people considered the lion as a symbol of braveness and strength One story tells how a lion  people from danger. In the story, a monster (怪兽) called Nian  and tried to eat the people in a village. 

A lion came and scared (吓唬)  away. The next day Nian appeared again,  the lion was not nearby. At that moment, a villager dressed up  a lion and drove Nian away successfully. As a result, the tradition of the lion dance developed. 

In the dance usually  people act as a lion. One waves the lion  and the other waves the lion body and tail. The dancers use different ways to make the lion's eyes, head and body move. But the performance is more than that. Dancers need years of practice and  work to make the lion dance look exciting and graceful (优美的). 

These days, more and  young people are learning lion dancing. The young lion dancers are putting short videos online, introducing this traditional Chinese art to people all over the world.

For most of us, watching a movie is a pretty common thing to do. But for the blind, it can be very 1 . In Kunming, Yunnan Province, there is a blind-friendly theater. It's called Xin Deng Theater. 

More than 5, 000 2  help at the Xin Deng Theater. Most of them are university students. Their 3  is to narrate（讲述）films to blind moviegoers. Before working, volunteers will get some training. They will 4  how to narrate a film from Zhou Quan, the founder of Xin Deng Theater. 

Every Saturday, volunteers will come to the bus stop to 5  the blind and take them to the Xin Deng Theater. Then all the blind will be seated to enjoy a movie together. When the movie begins, a volunteer will give lively narrations. He 6  what is happening on the screen, including facial expressions, unspoken gestures（手势）, the background and clothes. With the help of the narrator, the blind immerse（沉浸）themselves in the movie. They 7  when something funny happens and cry during sad situations. 

Volunteers at the Xin Deng Theater 8  blind moviegoers better enjoy their theater trips. Yifan, one of the volunteers, has narrated more than 20 movies. "I could 9  they were enjoying the film. I was so glad that my volunteer work could bring 10  to them," he said, "I felt as though I was shining a light on their lives."

During ancient times in China, children didn't have any smart phones, ipads or computers to have fun.  Let's take a look.

Stone balls

During the Qing Dynasty, kicking a stone ball around was a popular sport in the northern part of China, and it was often played in winter to keep warm.

Flying kites

Kites have quite a long history. The earliest kites were made of wood, instead of paper. Nowadays, the three most famous kites are the Beijing kite, Tianjin kite, and Weifang        kite.  For example, the swallow-shaped kite is a well-known Beijing style.

Hide-and-seek

Hide-and-seek is a traditional game for children, popular around the nation.  One is covering a child's eyes while other kids run around to enjoy themselves. The other is that one child must try to find other players who hide, it is more commonly.

Watching shadow plays

 Folk artists use puppets behind the screen to show all kinds of shadows, telling stories with music. During the Qing Dynasty, shadow play art reached its top, and was shown for each important occasion.

"Everything in the world fears time, yet time fears the pyramids. "The pyramids of Khufu have been timeless symbols of Egyptian culture.

But who actually built them? For years, we did not know for sure. But archaeologists recently discovered an ancient village near the pyramids. Close by, there was a cemetery(墓地)where pyramid builders were buried. By studying these places, archaeologists are now certain that the pyramids were not built by foreigners or aliens. Instead, ordinary Egyptians built them.

It took about 80 years to build the pyramids. And the Pyramid of Khufu is the largest of all. It reaches a height of 138. 5 meters, and the sides of the base are 230. 4 meters long. Inside, there are three large rooms and many passages(通道). According to archaeologists, about 20, 000 to30, 000 people took part in the building task. The workers had different roles. Some were made to dig up the rocks to be used. Others were tasked with moving them, while another group was given the job of shaping them into blocks.

Life for these workers was hard. Archaeologists from Harvard University found in a study that the bones of some men workers show signs of arthritis (关节炎), which probably developed because they had to carry heavy things for a long time. However, workers usually had enough food and could get good medical care when they got sick or hurt.

The work was hard, but the builders were proud of their work. "They were not only building the pyramid but also building Egypt." says Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass.

History has some very special qualities about it. It is a1of what has happened in the past, and the really interesting thing is that much of history has been repeated time and again. It allows us to learn from the past, both the2made and the successes achieved.

One of the advantages(优点) of history is that it allows us to know3famous people dealt with the problems in their life.4these events happened at a certain time in the past or in a different country or culture, all of them can always teach us something5.

Take the story of Thomas Edison for example and how many times he6on the road to finally inventing the light bulb (电灯泡). He could be a good example of a person7never stopped trying. I am sure he was8with those difficulties but he did not let them stop him. He had a dream and he just kept trying9he reached success.

Or think about the story of Abraham Lincoln(林肯) who10to become President(总统) of the United States even though he met lots of failure. Most of us only know about his success. 11, his life was not an easy one. His story makes us keep moving forward no matter12difficulties we have in life.

These true history stories will stop you thinking about13. Instead, they will remind you to think about going after your dreams even though you may think you don't have the courage or the14to get what you have always wanted. They could help you make decisions and choices when you have no idea what to do. They could15you to be all that you can be.

Argentina in the late nineteenth century was an exciting place. Around 1870, it was experiencing an economic boom( 经济繁荣),and the capital Buenos Aires, attracted many people. Farmers, as well as many foreigners from Spain and Italy, came to Buenos Aires looking for jobs. These jobs didn't pay well, and the people felt lonely with their new life in the city. As the unhappy newcomers mixed together in the poor parts of the city, the dance known as the tango came into being.

At the beginning, the tango was a dance of the lower classes（  阶级）.It was danced in the bars and streets. At that time women were fewer than men, so if a man didn't want to be left out, his only choice was to dance with another man so that he could attract the attention of the women. Gradually, the dance spread into the upper classes of Argentinean society and became more respectable.

In Europe at this time, strong interest in dance from around the world was beginning. The interest in international dance was especially strong in Paris. Every kind of dance from ballet to belly dancing could be found in Paris theaters. After tango dancers from Argentina arrived in Europe, they began to draw the interest of the public as they performed their exciting dance in cafes. Though not everyone liked the new dance, tango really attracted enough supporters to make it popular.

The popularity of the tango continued to grow in many other parts of the world. Soldiers who returned to the United States from World War I brought the tango to North America. It reached Japan in 1926, and in 2003 a tango dancer of South Korea was hired to act as a kind of dance ambassador(大使)and pushed for tango dancing throughout South Korea