What foods are successful? Hamburgers and pizzas are popular. But instant noodles (方便面) have also become the world’s success. Now instant noodles are celebrating their 61st birthday!

Instant noodles were invented by a Japanese named Momofuku Ando. To find a way to make noodles last longer, Ando began experimenting (实验) in 1955 and three years later, he made the first bag of instant noodles.

Each year, 95 billion (十亿) bags of instant noodles are eaten around the world. In the UK, people call instant noodles “pot noodles”. University students like them a lot. During the first term at college, you may be given a gift bag that includes instant noodles. Instant noodles are cheap and easy to eat. But watch out! People may think you are lazy if you are an instant noodle lover.

The UN often sends instant noodles as part of its food aid (援助). This is because of their long life and high fat, which makes people feel full for longer time.

However, instant noodles aren’t healthy. They are high in fat and salt. Health experts say they are bad for us and we shouldn’t eat them too often.

Jack is a businessman. His main task is to sell “Living Machines”. He is very interested in clean water. He is also interested in saving money. So it’s natural that he is to be a developer of a small and affordable system (系统) to clean waste water. His “Living Machine” can clean waste water in your home.

The “Living Machine” is a system for cleaning waste water. The waste water goes into a big plastic tank where bacteria (细菌) start to break down the waste. A few days later after it is dealt with, the water is brought into a greenhouse filled with plants and fish. With the help of sunlight, the plants and animals remove more chemicals from the water, making it cleaner. Then the water can be reused for washing or bathing. It can’t be used for drinking and cooking. But the water is clean enough for watering the flowers, washing the dog, or even for bathing or swimming.

The advantage of this technology is that it is affordable and good for the environment. If you have enough homes and businesses use “Living Machines”, you’d better buy it. It can help to use less fresh water. It can help keep the water supply unpolluted, too.

In our daily life, robots are often found to do work that is too dangerous, boring, difficult, or dirty. And we often see kids play with toy robots.

But what exactly is a robot? There are some important characteristics (特征) that a robot must have. These characteristics might help you to decide what is and what is not a robot. It will also help you to decide what you will need to build into a machine before it can be considered as a robot. A robot has these important characteristics.

Sensing

First of all, your robot would have to be able to sense the environment around it. Give your robot sensors (传感器): light sensors (eyes), touch sensors (hands), chemical sensors (nose), hearing sensors (ears) and taste sensors (tongue).

Movement

A robot needs to be able to move around its environment. It can move on wheels, walk on legs or be driven by small engines (发动机). A robot can move either the whole body or just parts of it.

Energy

A robot needs to be able to power itself. Some robots might power itself with sunlight, some might with electricity, while others with the battery (电池). The way your robot gets its energy will depend on what your robot needs to do.

Intelligence

A robot needs some kinds of “smarts”. A programmer is the person who gives the robot its “smarts”. The robot will have to have a certain way to receive the program so that it knows what it is to do.