How many machines does your family have? What machines do you use every day? Can you live a life without machines? When I was a boy, we had a small machine. It only had one channel. Still, I would always be in my chair when cartoons came on.

The one I liked best was The Jetsons. It was a cartoon about the future that was full of fantastic machines that could do anything. I always laughed when I watched it and dreamt of a day when I would have machines like this to do all my work, so I could just sit back and relax.

Now my life is full of machines like these. ___*___ Just today I had to spend most of the morning on my computer because there was something wrong with it. Last week, I spent most of another morning trying to get my new coffee maker to work right. There seems to be many rules and problems after we have new technology.

But don’t get me wrong. Computers and machines truly help all of us a lot. I just want us to use them without them using us. We always seem to be busy because we’re spending all of our time using these machines.

I hope that in the future, machines can be more user-friendly so we don’t spend all our time on them. With machines we can live an easier life, but they have to work for us.

Nowadays, people show all kinds of things on the Internet—good food, nice clothes, wonderful vacations and so on. Now showing the number of steps is becoming popular, too. Why?

People are finding it important to be in good health. To keep healthy, many people go to work on foot. When they start walking, they open the step counter app in their phones to record (记录) how many steps they walk that day. After a day’s walk, some people show the number on WeChat or Weibo. This can make them learn from each other and keep exercising.

“This helps me to exercise much and keep a good habit,” Miss Liu said. “I can also talk about how to keep healthy with my friends on WeChat. We are in the same group to encourage (鼓励) each other to keep exercising.”

Mr. Wu likes to exercise. But in the past he was kind of lazy and didn’t want to exercise every day. “After I use the step counter app, everything is different. It’s great to exercise with my friends. Sometimes there are prizes for those who walk more steps. I really like it.” he said.

Walking is a relaxing and useful way to exercise. Both the old and the young like it. Recording the steps helps people develop (养成) a good habit of walking and showing the number can make people more interested in walking. But don’t take the number too seriously.

How can you combine (结合) games with English learning? The answer is Wordle! Wordle players must correctly guess a five-letter word with just six tries. You either win by guessing it or lose because you run out of tries.

Invented by software engineer Josh Wardle, the game has been popular with millions of players across the world. Every midnight, Wordle refreshes its word of the day. For example, the answer for March 3 is ALOUD.

As you guess, the game gives you hints (提示). For example, if a letter is correct and in the right place, it turns green. If the letter is not in the word, it turns gray. If the letter is part of the word but in the wrong place, it turns yellow. These hints make the game into a puzzle (谜).

You need knowledge to win this game, not just luck. Every syllable (音节) in an English word includes at least one vowel (元音), so finding vowels is a useful method. For example, in the word “think”, there is only one syllable and there is one vowel “i”.

Several days ago, I played this game and found it very interesting. First, I guessed the word “table”. Only “a” was green. Then, I guessed “maker” and the “r” turned yellow. In the end, I guessed “carry” and I was correct!

Wordle is not only a perfect game to have fun, but also an excellent tool to increase your English vocabulary. Why not have a try in your spare time?

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