There are some very good inventions which deserve to be better known, even though I admit that some of them are crazy. Let's have a look at some of them and see if you agree that they deserve to be more successful.

The Australians had a great idea to stop people from drinking and driving. The idea was that if a driver wanted to start the car, she or he would have to blow into a bag first. If there was too much alcohol in their breath, the car wouldn't start. It sounds like a great idea to me, but people said that they might need to drive the car in an emergency even if they had drunk too much alcohol. Another idea I liked was an invention by a scientist who thought his children watched too much TV. He linked the TV to an exercise bike so that the electricity to power the TV was generated by the bike. If the children wanted to watch a lot of TV, they had to ride very hard. I found another invention on the Internet was designed to encourage good habits. Believe it or not, this invention was an ashtray which spoke to you when you lit a cigarette! The ‘voice’ of the ashtray was activated by the heat from the cigarette and reminded you how dangerous it is to smoke.

One of the strangest inventions I have come across is a bicycle which can cross rivers! The idea was that when you came to a river, you could inflate (使充气) a huge plastic ball all around the bike. You would then get into the ball which would float on the river while you rode the bike inside the ball! One thing I would like is a baseball cap with a built-in radio so you can listen to sports programmes all day with your hands free. While we are on the subject of sport, the Americans invented a kind of robot for sports fans. If you were watching your team on TV on your own, you could press a button and the robot would do ‘high fives’ with you! Fantastic! I wonder if you have any brilliant ideas for inventions like these.

The well-known “new great inventions” of modern China have made our daily lives more convenient.

High-speed trains

China created its first high-speed railway line in 2008. Since then, the number of passenger trips has grown by over 30 percent every year. By 2016, more than 5 billion trips had been taken on the trains. By 2020, one-fifth of the country’s 150000-km railway network will be used by the trains. This network will link more than 80 percent of major cities across China.

Mobile payment

Mobile payment is turning China into a “cashless society”. Instead of paying by cash(现金) customers now pay for their goods and some kinds of bills simply by typing a short password into the Alipay(支付宝) or Wechat Pay app on their mobile phone.

Shared bikes

China has surprised the world with how quickly shared bikes are widely used. Nowadays, bike users can simply pick up or park the bike on the street through GPS and smart phone apps. China's two leading bike-sharing companies, Mobike and Ofo, have been opening their overseas markets in Singapore, the UK and the United States.

Online shopping

With around 751 million Internet users, China has been the world's largest and fastest growing online shopping market. Because of lower costs and fewer licensing requirements(执照要求), it’s easier for sellers to open an online shop in China. In 2016, more than 20 million jobs of rural areas were created, with over 8.1 million running their own online shops.