每天早晨，我父亲在去上班的路上买一份报纸。Every evening, my mother looks through magazines at home. Can we imagine life without paper or printing?

Paper was first created about 2,000 years ago in China. After its invention, people started to write on paper to make books. In those days, books were only produced one at a time by hand. As a result, there were not many books, and they were expensive. So, few people had the chance to learn to read.

Printing was invented in China during the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Later, developments in printing made it possible to produce books more quickly and cheaply. A trade in books resulted, and more people learnt to read. Knowledge and ideas spread faster than ever before. In a way, we can compare the invention of paper and printing to the introduction of the Internet in the twentieth century.

Although the Internet is still young, it is growing very fast, and may become more powerful than printing. A much larger amount of information can be stored in more varied forms on the Internet than in books. Someone with an Internet connection can find information much more easily than they can find it in printed forms. And the machines we use to read it are now small and light, often smaller and lighter than a single book.

Computers and the Internet are used in classrooms now, and newspapers and magazines are already read online. So what direction will traditional printing take in the future? Will books be replaced by the Internet in the future? Let’s wait and see.

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“It’s time to wake up, Emily,” my mom sings from the kitchen. I pretended to open my eyes. Why didn’t the alarm on my cellphone ring?

Soon, I realized it was April 8, the day for my program : “A day without technology.”I didn’t realize what I had gotten myself into until I was driving to school in my car. No radio blasting my favorite songs. I had to sing to myself.

As soon as I got to school, I went to the library to print out my English project from my flash drive. “Uh-oh,” I thought. “This isn’t expected.” Finally,I had to spend nearly an hour writing the report again.

The school day went on and I finally got used to the rules. This wasn’t so hard! I could do this every day.

I drove home in silence again, and my mind eventually went into after-school mode (模式),depending on what I would eat for supper and who would be voted off (被淘汰出局)American Idol later that night. The last thing I knew, I was chat with friends on Facebook, check email and watch a video on YouTube, all at the same time!

My mom walked in and her jaw dropped.

“What happened to no homework?” she asked me. I froze for the second time that day and ordered myself to go back to reality. I had failed.

This experiment, which many teenagers would never have the courage to try, was actually convenient to me.Even though my attempt(尝试) at going about my day without these luxuries (奢侈品) was a failure, I realized that if I really tried,I would be completely successful without my addiction to technology.

These devices suddenly make my life easier, and I’m sure I wouldn’t practice getting rid of them altogether, but I do believe the lives of today’s teenagers would be dramatically different without our tech dependence.

Eyes Always on Us

Video cameras are everywhere: schools, theatres and stores. But in recent years, they have entered our homes. Many parents set up cameras at home to watch their children’s online classes and homework. Are cameras really helpful? What do students think about it?