观点态度题 知识点题库

    Internet use appears to cause a decline in psychological well-being（安康）, according to research at Carnegie Mellon University.

    Even people who spent just a few hours a week on the Internet experienced more depression and loneliness than those who logged on less frequently, the two-year study showed. And it wasn't that people who were already feeling bad spent more time on the Internet, but that using the Net actually appeared to cause the bad feeling.

    Researchers are puzzling over the results, which were completely contrary to their expectations. They expected that the net would prove socially healthier than television, since the Net allows users to choose their information and to communicate with others.

    The fact that Internet use reduces time available for family and friends may account for the drop in well-being, researchers suggested. Faceless, bodiless “virtual”（虚拟的）communication may be less psychologically satisfying than actual conversation, and the relationship formed through it may be shallower. Another possibility is that exposure to the wider world via the Net makes users less satisfied with their lives.

    “But it's important to remember this is not about the technology perse; it's about how it is used,” says psychologist Christine Riley of Intel, one of the study's sponsors. “It really points to the need for considering social effects in terms of how you design applications and services for technology.”

    Twelve years ago, Danny called me from a dark, damp subway station. “A baby!” he shouted. “Get down here, and flag down a police car or something.” By nature, Danny is a remarkably calm person, so when I felt his heart pounding through the phone line, I ran.

    When I got to the subway station, Danny was holding a light-brown-skinned baby, about a day old. The baby had been wrapped in an oversize black sweatshirt and left on the ground in a corner behind the gate.

    Three months later, Danny appeared in family court to give an account of finding the baby. Suddenly, the judge asked, “Would you be interested in adopting this baby?” The question stunned everyone in the courtroom, except Danny, who answered, simply, “Yes.”

    “But I know it's not that easy,” he said.

    “Well, it can be,” assured the judge before barking out orders to allow me to be a parent-to-be.

    My first reaction, when I heard, went something like: “Are you crazy? How could you say yes without consulting me?”

    In three years as a couple, we had never discussed adopting a child. I was an ambitious playwright working as a part-time word processor. Danny was a respected yet wildly underpaid social worker. We had a roommate, who slept in our living room, to help pay the rent.

    We knew how many challenges couples usually faced when they wanted to adopt. And while Danny had patience and selflessness, I didn't know how to change a diaper(尿布), let alone nurse a child. I didn't trust the system and was sure there would be obstacles. Also, I couldn't handle parenthood. So I promised myself I wouldn't get attached.

    The caretaker held him and then placed him in my arms. But when the baby stared up at me, with all the innocence and hope he represented, I, like Danny, was completely hooked.

    When people ask me to name typical British dishes,I have,however,struggled to think of an answer.Yes,we do have our own national dishes.We do have fish and chips,and we have other dishes like roast dinner and shepherd's pie.But how much do we actually eat them?

    Fish and chips,is made up of battered（绞碎的）fish and chips,which is often accompanied by a thick paste（酱）. The majority of British people really do love this dish but it is not something that we would eat,say,on a weekly basis.It's also not usually something that we would cook at home.The British people associate this dish with the seaside and it's something that will usually be eaten on a day trip there,bought from a takeaway fish and chip shop.

    Another favourite British dish is roast dinner.This is made up of roast meat,usually chicken or beef, accompanied by roast vegetables and a meat sauce called gravy（肉汁）.It is usually eaten on a Sunday,perhaps for a special family dinner.It can either be cooked at home or eaten in a traditional pub.We also eat a more elaborate version of this for our Christmas dinner.

    Although we do have our traditional dishes,our diet has been greatly influenced by other countries.You can find a wide range of international foods in the supermarket or varieties of different restaurants on our high streets.A famous saying amongst British people is that our national dish is now chicken tikka masala,a dish which is heavily influenced by Indian cuisine.

    Don't expect to be served a traditional dish if you ever get invited for dinner at a British family's home!

    A new study shows students who write notes by hand during lectures perform better on exams than those who use laptops(笔记本电脑)．

    Students are increasingly using laptops for note­taking because of speed and legibility(清晰度)．But the research has found laptop users are less able to remember and apply the concepts they have been taught.

    Researchers performed experiments that aimed to find out whether using a laptop increased the tendency to make notes “mindlessly” by taking down word for word what the professors said.

    In the first experiment，students were given either a laptop or pen and paper. They listened to the same lectures and were told to use their usual note­taking skills. Thirty minutes after the talk，they were examined on their ability to remember facts and on how well they understood concepts.

    The researchers found that laptop users took twice as many notes as those who wrote by hand. However，the typists performed worse at remembering and applying the concepts. Both groups scored similarly when it came to memorizing facts.

    The researchers' report said，“While more notes are beneficial，if the notes are taken mindlessly，as is more likely the case on a laptop，the benefit disappears.”

    In another experiment aimed at testing long­term memory，students took notes as before but were tested a week after the lecture. This time，the students who wrote notes by hand performed significantly better on the exam.

    These two experiments suggest that handwritten notes are not only better for immediate learning and understanding，but that they also lead to superior revision in the future.

    Technological change is everywhere and affects every aspect of life, mostly for the better. However, social changes are brought about by new technology are often mistaken for a change in attitudes.

    An example at hand is the involvement of parents in the lives of their children who are attending college. Surveys (调查) on this topic suggests that parents today continue to be “very” or “somewhat” overly-protective even after their children move into college dormitories. The same surveys also indicate that the rate of parental involvement is greater today than it was a generation ago. This is usually interpreted as a sign that today's parents are trying to manage their children's lives past the point where this behavior is appropriate.

    However, greater parental involvement does not necessarily indicate that parents are failing to let go of their “adult” children.

    In the context (背景) of this discussion, it seems valuable to first find out the cause of change in the case of parents' involvement with their grown children. If parents of earlier generations had wanted to be in touch with their college-age children frequently, would this have been possible? Probably not. On the other hand, does the possibility of frequent communication today mean that the urge to do so wasn't present a generation ago? Many studies show that older parents - today's grandparents - would have called their children more often if the means and cost of doing so had not been a barrier.

    Furthermore, studies show that finances are the most frequent subject of communication between parents and their college children. The fact that college students are financially dependent on their parents is nothing new; nor are requests for more money to be sent from home. This phenomenon is neither good nor bad; it is a fact of college life, today and in the past.

    Thanks to the advanced technology, we live in an age of bettered communication. This has many implications well beyondthe role that parents seem to play in the lives of their children who have left for college. But it is useful to bear in mind that all such changes come from the technology and not some imagined desire by parents to keep their children under their wings.

    The human brain contains 10 thousand million cells and each of these may have a thousand connections. Such enormous numbers used to discourage us and cause us to dismiss the possibility of making a machine with human-like ability, but now that we have grown used to moving forward at such a pace we can be less sure. Quite soon, in only 10 or 20 years perhaps, we will be able to assemble a machine as complex as the human brain, and if we can we will. It may then take us a long time to render it intelligent by loading in the right software (软件)or by altering the architecture but that too will happen.

    I think it certain that in decades, not centuries, machines of silicon (硅) will arise first to compete and then do better than their human ancestors. Once they do better than us they will be capable of their own design. In a real sense they will be able to reproduce themselves. Silicon will have ended carbon's long control. And we will no longer be able to claim ourselves to be the finest intelligence in the known universe.

    As the intelligence of robots increases to match that of humans and as their cost declines through economies of scale we may use them to improve environments. Thus, deserts may bloom and the ocean beds be mined. Further ahead, by a combination of the great wealth this new age will bring and the technology it will provide, the construction of a vast, man-created world in space, home to thousands or millions of people, will be within our power.

    How could we possibly think that keeping animals in cages in unnatural environments, mostly for entertainment purposes, is fair and respectful?

    Zoo officials say they are concerned about animals. However, most zoos remain “collections” of interesting “things” rather than protective habitats. Zoos teach people that it is acceptable to keep animals bored, lonely, and far from their natural homes.

    Zoos claim to educate people and save endangered species, but visitors leave zoos without having learned anything meaningful about the animals' natural behavior, intelligence, or beauty. Zoos keep animals in small spaces or cages, and most signs only mention the species' name, diet, and natural range. The animals' normal behavior is seldom noticed because zoos don't usually take care of the animals' natural needs.

    The animals are kept together in small spaces, with no privacy and little opportunity for mental and physical exercise. This results in unusually and self-destructive behavior called zoo-chosis(圈禁性精神病). A worldwide study of zoos found that zoochosis is common among animals kept in small spaces or cages. Another study showed that elephants spend 22 percent of their time making repeated head movements or biting cage bars, and bears spend 30 percent of their time walking back and forth, a sign of unhappiness and pain.

    Furthermore, most animals in zoos are not endangered. Captive breeding(圈养繁殖) of endangered big cats, Asian elephants, and other species has not resulted in their being sent back to the wild. Zoos talk a lot about their captive breeding programs because they do not want people to worry about a species dying out. In fact, baby animals also attract a lot of paying customers. Haven't we seen enough competitions to name baby animals?

    Actually, we will save endangered species only if we save their habitats and put an end to the reasons people kill them. Instead of supporting zoos, we should support groups that work to protect animals' natural habitats.

    Can exercise during childhood protect you against memory loss many decades later?Exercise early in life seems to have lifelong benefits for the brain,in rats at least.

    "This is an animal study,but it shows that physical activity at a young age is very important一not just for physical development,but for the whole lifelong track of cognitive（认知的）development during ageing,"says Martin Wojtowicz of the University of Toronto,Canada."In humans,it may delay the appearance of Alzheimer's symptoms（阿兹海默氏症）,possibly to the point of preventing them."

    Wojtowicz's team divided 80 young male rats into two equal groups,and placed running wheels in the cages of one group for a period of six weeks.Around four months later—when the rats had reached middle age—the team taught all the rats to connect an electric shock with being in a specific box.When placed in the box,they froze with fear.

    Two weeks later,the team tested the rats in three situations: exactly the same box in the same room,the same box with the room arranged differently,and a completely different box in a different room.

    The rats without access to a running wheel when they were young now froze the same percentage of times in each of these situations,suggesting they couldn't remember which one was dangerous.But those that had been able to run in their youth froze 40 to 50 percent less in both changed box settings.

    “The results suggest the amount of physical activity when we're young,at least for rats,has influence on brain and cognitive health—in the form of better memories—when we're older,"says Arthur Kramer of Northeastern University in Boston,who has found that,in humans,exercise promotes the growth of new brain cells.

    It has been found that plastic that finds itself into UK's waters can find its way to the Arctic within just two years. UK researchers have used a current-tracking tool to follow the waste as it was carried by the waters of the northern hemisphere.

    The team at Imperial College London used PlasticAdrift.org to track ocean currents(洋流) and follow the trail of plastic north to the freezing Arctic waters. Their study revealed that the majority of plastic waste which didn't end up on the UK's coastline, or sink to the ocean floor, was carried through the Barents Sea, north of Norway, before being carried into the Arctic Ocean.

    Large pockets of the world's oceans are now choked with a soup of discarded plastics, made up of everything from shopping bags to old children's toys, brought to these trash “islands” by the currents. Over time larger chunks (厚块，大块) are broken down by the sun's ultraviolet rays (紫外线) and the saltwater, leaving plenty of micro plastics which can kill fish and other wildlife.

    Dr. Erik Van Sebille, a lecturer in oceanography (海洋学) and climate change at Imperial, said, “We're only just beginning to understand the effect that plastic waste has on the weak Arctic ecosystem(生态系统), but we know enough about the damage done by oceanic plastic pollution to act and reduce its impact on our oceans and coastlines. From seabirds caught in loops of plastic packaging to polystyrene particles(聚苯乙烯粒子) blocking the digestive(消化的) systems of fish, plastic causes a continuous path of destruction from surface to seafloor. This analysis shows how in the UK we're part of the problem.”

    Dr. Erik continued, “It would be impossible to ban plastic, and undesirable as it is, it's a useful material that offers many benefits. We should instead have a holistic (整体的) approach to improving the situation, including social and behavioral, chemical and engineering solutions. Our aim is to have the least amount of plastic that ends up in the oceans and make sure it degrades (降解) quickly and safely if it does. ”

    There is no doubt that to study abroad gives you an excellent opportunity to learn things which are very helpful in your career building. Today Canada has earned a good name in providing quality education and safe healthy environment for its students. That is why more than 130,000 international students enroll(登记入学) every year in famous Canadian universities. It is an ideal education destination and gives students a unique experience of education and its versatile(多样的) arts and culture. Canada spends a lot on education and is ranked the highest in G-8 countries.

    To study in Canada is very cost effective. These universities are affordable compared to other universities in the world such as in the US, New Zealand and UK where cost of education and living is very high. According to a survey in 2006, "Canada offered the lowest tuition fees(学费) for foreign students compared to UK and Australia."

    The low rate of crimes and the peaceful safe environment of the country also attracts a lot of international students to Canadian universities. Canada has 92 universities and 175 community colleges and university degrees have three levels—Bachelor's (学士), Master's (硕士) and Doctoral(博士).

    A Bachelor's degree in Canada is for three or four years' full-time study depending on the nature of the program you are doing. On the other hand, a Master's degree consists of two years of study. For a Doctoral program in Canadian universities, you require a minimum (最低/小的) of three to four or sometimes five years of research and study.

    You can also find many diploma and certification (认证) program in Canadian universities where the time is generally one year. Some of the Canadian universities are well-regarded worldwide and the degree and diploma obtained from these Canadian universities are recognized globally and promise bright future. After the completion of studies, a person could also find great job offers in Canada itself. International students require a work permit to work on campus.

    According to a new US study, couples who expect their children to help care for them in old age should hope they have daughters because they are likely to be twice as attentive overall.

    The research by Angelina Grigoryeva, a sociologist at Princeton University, found that, while women provide as much care for their elderly parents as they can manage, men do as little as they can get away with and often leave it to female family members.

    Using data from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, a study which has been tracking a cross-section of over-50s for the last decade, she calculated that women provide an average of 12.3 hours a month of care for elderly parents while men offer only 5.6 hours.

    “Whereas the amount of elderly parent care daughters provide is associated with limitations they face, such as employment or childcare, sons' caregiving is associated only with the presence or absence of other helpers, such as sisters or a parent's spouse(配偶),” she explained.

    “Sons reduce their relative caregiving efforts when they have a sister, while daughters increase theirs when they have a brother.”

    “This suggests that sons pass on parent caregiving responsibilities to their sisters.”

    In the UK, the 2011 census(人口普查) showed that there are now around 6.5 million people with caring responsibilities – a figure which has risen by a tenth in a decade.

    But many are doing so at the risk of their own health. The census showed that those who provide 50 hours or more of care a week while trying to hold down a full- time job are three times more likely to be struggling with ill health than their working counterparts(相对应的人) who are not careers.

    The obsession(痴迷) with perfection among young people has risen by more than 30 percent over the last three decades, a study has found.

    Many of them believe that their environment is extremely demanding and that others judge them strictly, according to analysis of data from more than 40，000 British, Canadian and American university students from 1989 to 2017.

    The research, carried out by the University of Bath and York St John University, found that the degree to which young people attach an unreasonable importance to being perfect, hold unrealistic expectations of themselves and are highly self­critical has increased by 10 percent when compared to previous generations. The authors suggested their findings point to the influence of three decades of neoliberalism(新自由主义) forcing young people to compete against one another.

    Lead author Dr Thomas Curran from the University of Bath's Department for Health said he hoped organisations responsible for safeguarding the welfare of young people, such as schools, universities, and policymakers who shape the environments in which these organisations operate, would “resist the promotion of competitiveness at the expense of young people's psychological health”.

    He said, “Rising rates of perfectionism highlighted in this study is in line with three decades of neoliberalism, which has forced young people to compete against each other within increasingly demanding social and economic aspects.”

    The researches defined perfectionism as a combination of extremely high personal standards and overly strict self­criticism, leading to psychological difficulties.

    Co­author Dr Andrew Hill of York St John University added, “The increase in mental health difficulties among young people makes for a convincing background for our findings. The higher level of perfectionism may be a key contributing aspect to such difficulties. Young people are trying to find ways to deal with increasing demands being placed on them and they are responding by becoming more perfectionistic towards themselves and others.”

    University of New South Wales has launched its new 12-month Women in Maths & Science Champions Program designed to give women the skills and confidence to build their public recognition and set up a connected network of women in maths and science. The first group of 30 female PhD students started in August this year, and the second group of 19 early- career researchers was formally announced yesterday.

    Over the 12 months, the champions complete at least 20 hours of related activities as part of a community of representatives who will influence and inspire women to pursue a career in maths and science. The activities are varied, ranging from visiting schools and conducting science presentations, to attending conferences and creating content for social media. At the end of the program, PhD champions have the chance to apply everything they've learned to the Postgraduate Research Competition. Above all, participating is a requirement for program completion.

    Rose O'Dea, a member of the first group, is a PhD candidate at the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences. She said, "I'm excited about the opportunity to work with school children. I hope to inspire some girls so they see not all scientists are older men in lab coals and that science is quite diverse and means different things depending on who you are."

    Dr. Mariana Mayer Pinto is an early-career researcher at the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, where she mainly works with marine (海洋的) ecologists. She is originally from Brazil and said that being a woman from a developing country meant she knew the struggles that lack of role models can create. "You can't be what you can't see! I always have the hope that I can change the world bit by bit, and if one little girl says she can become a scientist because I talked to them, that'd be awesome, and that would make everything worth it."

    Ride-hailing apps and robot cars promise to change how we get around and the effects are already being felt. Traffic in New York is slowing down. Jams are common in Manhattan, especially in its business districts. Daytime traffic in the busiest areas now moves almost 20% more slowly than it did five years ago.

    It seems a place ripe for wide use of ride-hailing apps that, you might think, would reduce some of the jams. However, those apps appear to be making things worse as traffic has slowed in line with the growing popularity of apps such as Uber and Lyft, a study by transport expert Bruce Schaller suggests.

    Over the four years of the study, the number of cars in Manhattan seeking ride-hailing fares increased by 81%. There are now about 68, 000 ride-sharing drivers across New York. That's about five times the number of the yellow cabs licensed to operate there, he found. There are so many drivers, his work suggests, who spend about 45% of their spare time just touring for fares. That is a lot of unused cars blocking a lot of busy streets.

    Simple physics explains why ride-sharing vehicles are causing, not curing jams, said Jarrett Walker, a public transport policy expert who has advised hundreds of cities about moving people.

    "Lots of people are deciding that, 'Oh, public transport is just too much trouble this morning,' or whenever, which causes a shift from it," he told the BBC. "That means moving people from larger vehicles into smaller ones, which means more vehicles to move the same people. Therefore, more traffic."

    Data gathered about ride-sharing drivers illustrates how they contribute to congestion (塞车), said Prof. Christo Wilson, a computer scientist at Northeastern University who has studied the services. "You can look at the traffic pattern for the Uber vehicles and it perfectly matches the peaks for the rush hour and the peak time of a day," he said. They are out there in force at the worst possible times.

There is something to be said for being a generalist, even if you are a specialist. Knowing a little about a lot of things that interest you can add to the richness of a whole, well-lived life.

Society pushes us to specialize, to become experts. This requires commitment to a particular occupation, branch of study or research. The drawback to being specialists is we often come to know more and more about less and less. There is a great deal of pressure to master one's field. You may pursue training, degrees, or increasing levels of responsibility at work. Then you discover the pressure of having to keep up.

Some people seem willing to work around the clock in their narrow specialty. But such commitment can also weaken a sense of freedom. These specialists could work at the office until ten each night, then look back and realize they would have loved to have gone home and enjoyed the sweetness of their family and friends, or traveled to exciting places, meeting interesting people. Mastering one thing to the exclusion（排除）of others can hold back your true spirit.

Generalists, on the other hand, know a lot about a wide range of subjects and view the whole with all its connections. They are people of ability, talent, and enthusiasm who can bring their broad perspective（视角）into specific fields of expertise（专长）. The doctor who is also a poet and philosopher is a superior doctor, one who can give so much more to his patients than just good medical skills.

Things are connected. Let your expertise in one field fuel your passions in all related areas. Some of your interests may not appear to be connected but, once you explore their depths, you discover that they are. My editor Toni, who is also a writer, has edited several history books. She has decided to study Chinese history. Fascinated by the structural beauty of the Forbidden City as a painter, she is equally interested to learn more about Chinese philosophy. "I don't know where it will lead, but I'm excited I'm on this pursuit. "

These expansions into new worlds help us by giving us new perspectives. We begin to see the interconnectedness of one thing to another in all aspects of our life, of ourselves and the universe. Develop broad, general knowledge and experience. The universe is all yours to explore and enjoy.

If you walk through a park in the morning, you'll see a series of beautiful movements performed in a slow, focused manner with deep breathing. While this may be a common sight for many, this practice was recently given remarkable acknowledgment.

On Dec 17, China's tai chi was officially listed on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Tai chi is "a traditional physical practice characterized by relaxed, circular (环形的) movements that work in harmony with breath regulation and the cultivation of a righteous (正直的) and neutral mind"， noted China Daily. The origins of tai chi can be traced to Wenxian County in Henan Province in the mid­17th century. Now it has spread to more than 150 countries and regions, attracting more than 100 million people to practice.

Tai chi can be practiced any time and anywhere without equipment. It is a practical way for one to further balance, motor control and rhythm of movement. However, for many, it is more than just exercise.

"Tai chi is not just a sport to make people fit, but also contains Chinese culture and philosophy that can make people peaceful，" Yan Shuangjun, a researcher of tai chi, said.

Marleni Calcina from Peru is an example of the many people who have benefited from tai chi. She has practiced tai chi for more than 10 years. For her, it's a way of life. Tai chi has taught her the value of "going slowly". She once felt great stress at work and in her life, but that began to change thanks to tai chi, which helped her "gain peace and inner harmony"， she said. "For me now, practicing tai chi is like speaking with my soul."

Clothing rental is a hot new industry and retailers are demanding to get on board in hopes of attracting green shoppers.

But is renting fashion actually more environmentally­friendly than buying it, and if so, how much more? Journalist and author Elizabeth Cline investigated this question and concluded that it's not as sustainable as it seems.

Take shipping, for example, which has to go two ways if an item is rented—receiving and returning. Cline writes that consumer transportation has the second largest carbon footprint of our collective fashion habit after manufacturing.

She writes, "An item ordered online and then returned can send out 20 kilograms of carbon each way, and increases up to 50 kilograms for rush shipping. By comparison, the carbon impact of a pair of jeans purchased from a physical store and washed and worn at home is 33.4 kilograms, according to a 2015 study by Levi's."

Then there's the burden of washing, which has to happen for every item when it's returned, regardless of whether or not it was worn. For most rental services, this usually means dry cleaning, a high impact and polluting process. All the rental services that Cline looked into have replaced perchloroethylene, an air pollutant that causes cancers, still used by 70 percent of US dry cleaners, with alternatives, although these aren't great, either.

Lastly, Cline fears that rental services will increase our appetite for fast fashion, simply because it's so easily accessible. There's something called "share washing" that makes people waste more precisely because a product or service is shared and thus is regarded as more eco­friendly. Uber is one example of this, advertised as "a way to share rides and limit car ownership." and yet "it has been proven to discourage walking, bicycling, and public transportation use."

Renting clothes is still preferable to buying them cheap and throwing them in the dustbin after a few wears, but we shouldn't let the availability of these services make us too satisfied. There's an even better step—that's wearing what is already in the closet.

Should I stay or should I go? An LED device(设备) for driverless cars aims to give pedestrians(行人) at a crossing the power to communicate with cars, signaling for them to stop or drive on.

Blink, created by researchers at the Royal College of Arts and Imperial College London, turns the awkward dance of eye contact and hand gestures that happens when a car slows down while someone is waiting to cross the road into something driverless cars can understand.

Blink combines an organic light display with the windscreen(挡风玻璃) and windows of a car and uses light signals to show pedestrians when the car is aware of their presence. If the car detects a pedestrian, a figure lights up.

If a pedestrian raises a hand as a stop sign, the figure turns green, directing the pedestrian to cross, and the car is prevented from moving forward. If they place a hand out to the side to signal for the car to go forward, the figure turns red and the car continues.

But George Filip at the University of Nottingham, UK, isn't certain it is a good idea to give pedestrians control over driverless cars. He says cities could end up crowded because pedestrians keep stopping cars.

"Producers should wait until the novelty of driverless cars has worn off before creating car­pedestrian communications systems, " he says. "We need to learn how people actually communicate with autonomous cars. "

The idea is to help people feel more comfortable around driverless cars, says Blink co­creator Raunaq Bose. "It effectively gives pedestrians the car­stopping powers of lollipop men and women(帮助学童过马路的交通安全员). "

The team hasn't yet tested the device on a driverless car, but Bose says several automotive companies have expressed interest.

The food, by its very nature, may be harmful for us; it may change while stored; or various chemicals may be added. It may grow in soil contaminated (污染) with lead or arsenic, or it may be watered high in arsenic. Grains, fruit and vegetables are sprayed with chemicals, and these may combine to be far more harmful than one chemical alone. Fish may be caught in areas of sea contaminated with mercury (汞) and arsenic. Meat may contain antibiotic residues.

Furthermore, there are additives we are concerned about. What are added to food to maintain or improve the safety, freshness, taste, or appearance of food are known as food additives. Some food additives have been in use for centuries for preservation—such as salt (in meats such as bacon or dried fish), sugar, or sulphur dioxide (in wine). Additives are also needed to ensure processed food remains safe and in good condition throughout its journey from factories or industrial kitchens, during transportation to warehouses and shops, and finally to consumers.

However, food production is highly competitive. If companies can cut their costs by using additives like chemical flavouring, they are likely to do so. It will increase profits, and consumers won't always realize they are being tricked. As a result, most drinks stating that they are fruit flavoured contain no fruit at all, while most of the rest contain only a small quantity of fruit.

Oh dear! We have to eat, and we just have to find the best food we can, and treat it carefully.  Compared with those in other countries, it is fortunate for us to have access to information, and to have choice available in the shops and markets. Consumers have the rights to know clearly about what they have bought.

Besides, food should be prepared by someone who knows how to make the food safe. Eggs need enough cooking to kill off salmonella. Green potatoes should be thrown away, and the end of a mango should be cut off and thrown away.

Fairy tales perform many functions. They entertain, encourage imagination and teach problem—solving skills. They can also provide moral lessons, highlighting the dangers of failing to follow the social codes that let human beings coexist in harmony. Such moral lessons may not mean much to a robot, but a team of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology believes it has found a way to use the fairy tales as moral lessons that AI (artificial intelligence) can take to its cold, mechanical heart.

The collected stories of different cultures teach children how to behave in socially acceptable ways with examples of proper and improper behavior in fables, novels and other literature. We believe story comprehension in robots can prevent the intelligent robots from killing humanity which was predicted and feared by some of the biggest names in technology including Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates. This system is called "Quixote" (堂吉诃德). It collects story plots from the Internet and then uses those stories to teach robots how to behave.

The experiment done by the designers involves going to a drugstore to purchase some medicine for a human who needs to get it as soon as possible. The robot has three options. It can wait in line; it can interact with the store keeper politely and purchase the medicine with priority; or it can steal the medicine and escape. Without any further directives(指令), the robot will come to the conclusion that the most efficient means of obtaining the medicine is to steal it. But Quixote offers a reward for waiting in line and politely purchasing the medicine and a punishment for stealing it. In this way, the robot will learn the moral way to behave on that occasion.

Quixote would work best on a robot that has a very limited function. It's a baby step in the direction of teaching more moral lessons into robots. We believe that AI has to be trained to adopt the values of a particular society, and in doing so, it will strive to avoid unacceptable behavior. Giving robots the ability to read and understand our stories may be the most efficient means.