体裁分类 知识点题库

    There're so many ways that going green can benefit not only our beautiful earth and our environment, but also your own daily life and health. Green living, renewable energy source and sustainable (足可支撑的) materials are all the newest and most exciting buzz words of recent years.

    Foot power. Ride your bicycle, walk or run to your destination rather than driving your vehicle. You'll save money on gas and you'll enjoy excellent cardiovascular(心血管的) health as a result of using your own energy to arrive where you want to go. Do some sightseeing on the way too!

    Enjoy solar power. Solar water heating systems are built so that you can enjoy free heated water. Solar powered lights are an excellent way to dress up your landscape while positively impacting the environment. You'll use less electricity, save money and cut back on the amount of fossil fuels your family uses to light up the outside of your house, garden or pool area. Solar battery charters enable you to have electricity anywhere with sunlight you go. Power your cell phone, laptop, lights, RVs, boats and handheld devices without the concern of the location of an electrical outlet. You'll help save the environment at the same time you're enjoying free electricity!

    Healthier bodies and support the local economy. Eating fresh whole organic foods provide the fuel our bodies aced to function best. The benefits of making greener food choice are increased long life, better tasting foods and feeling good about supporting your local growers. Grow your own vegetables or purchase locally from farmers' markets and food cooperative. You're automatically helping the environment because the amount of fossil fuels required to ship or truck in fresh food to the grocery store is cut considerably.

    Green household cleaners. Make your own household cleaners or choose all-natural products to make your home sparkle. No more worrying about harsh (涩口的) smells or chemical reactions — you'll simply enjoy a leaner healthier home environment naturally.

    Carri Kessler and her husband Will named their daughter Ottilie after a friend from the UK, who helped them a lot. However, right after their baby girl was born, the couple noticed a big problem: "No one could remember her name and no one could pronounce it, were going to keep having to introduce her!" Kessler told Today.com.

    The situation then grew worse as Kessler's grandmother admitted to sticking Post-it notes around the house to help remind her of Ottilie's name which can be pronounced either Ott-ill-ee or Oh-TEEL-ya. Three months after Ottilie was born, the Kesslers have decided to legally change their daughter's name. The couple came up with two possible names. They then settled on Margot after talking to a name expert.

    The Kesslers situation is not uncommon as an increasing number of parents experience the same as the Kesslers. According to Baby Center Canada, 11% of its users wish they could change their children's names due to being over popular mispronounced or simply unfitting. Parents care a lot more and think a lot more about names now than their parents.

    To deal with this, a number of name experts now offer services to help parents choose the right name. Couples have also looked for help from the Internet to choose their baby's name. However, parents can change their child's name in the event that they regret their choice. In Canada, the rules vary in each province. For instance, in Ontario, the child must have lived in the province for the past 12 months, or since birth if under the age of one. Each of the child's legal guardians(监护人)must also give permission.

    UFO stands for "unidentified flying object"(不明飞行物). Many people reported having seen UFOs in the sky. A lot of countries tried to research them and in 1952 they got the name of UFO.

    There were several reports published in the 19th century which were related (相关的) to UFOs. Denison Daily News in its report of 25th January, 1878 wrote that a farmer, Martin, saw a flying object in the sky and it was just like a plate. This was the first time that the word plate had been related to the UFOs.

    The first reports on UFOs came during World War II. In 1947 pilot Kenneth Arnold said while he was flying near the Mount Rainer he saw a very bright object in the sky. He said that it was like a plate too. The information given by Kenneth got lots of attention from the media and people.

    Several research organizations gave their reports on the UFOs. They showed direct or indirect physical evidence of the UFOs, and sometimes UFOs' appearance was found on the radar (雷达) screen. Many people tried to take video tapes or photos of the UFOs as proof. Most UFOs are in saucer shape while many UFOs are like a cigarette or a half ball.

    Many films and TV shows are made about UFOs. There are two famous movies which are created on the theme of UFOs and aliens, War of the World and Star Wars. UFOs have created a new field in science which is known as Ufology (飞碟学).

    Many of us listen to music while we work, thinking that it will help us to concentrate on the task at hand. And in fact, recent research has found that music can have beneficial effects on creativity. When it comes to other areas of performance, however, the impact of background music is more complicated.

The idea that listening to music when working is beneficial to output probably has its roots in the so-called "Mozart effect". Put simply, this is the finding that spatial rotation performance(空间旋转能力) is increased immediately after listening to the music of Mozart, compared to no sound at all.

    How sound affects performance has been the topic of research for over 40 years, and is observed through a phenomenon called the irrelevant sound effect. To study irrelevant sound effect, participants in the research are asked to complete a simple task which requires them to recall a series of numbers or letters in the exact order in which they saw them. The tricky thing is being able to do this while ignoring any background noise.

    Two key characteristics of the irrelevant sound effect are required for its observation. First, the task must require the person to use their rehearsal abilities(复述能力), and second, the sound must contain acoustical variation(声学变化). Where the sound does not vary much acoustically, the performance of the task is much closer to that observed in quiet conditions.

    The irrelevant sound effect itself comes from attempting to process two sources of ordered information at the same time—one from the task and one from the sound. Unfortunately, only the former is required to successfully perform the recall task, and the effort in ensuring that irrelevant order information from the sound is not processed actually hinders(阻碍) this ability.

    A similar conflict is also seen when reading while in the presence of lyrical (抒情的）music. In this situation, the two sources of words—from the task and the sound—are in conflict. The cost is poorer performance of the task in the presence of music with lyrics.

    What this all means is that whether having music playing in the background helps or hinders performance depends on the task and on the type of music, and only understanding this relationship will help people maximize their productivity levels.

    After shopping for deals in stores on "Black Friday", or online on "Cyber Monday", Americans and people worldwide are preparing for newly popular "Giving Tuesday". Starting in 2012, now the global event that is celebrated annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving is the brainchild of 92^nd Street Y, a cultural center in New York City and the United Nations Foundation.

    As the name indicates, "Giving Tuesday" is meant to restart the charitable season and therefore observed by raising funds for local nonprofits and schools, organizing food and clothing drives, and conducting random acts of kindness. In 2015, 700,000 people from 71 countries came together to donate $116.7 million in cash. An additional $1.08 million was spent on gifts.

    While the easiest way to participate is by donating to your favorite charity, this day can be celebrated in many other ways too. You can give back by volunteering at your local shelter or food bank, or even by donating blood. If all else fails, a purchase from the growing number of organizations that give a portion of their sales to charity will do the trick.

    But perhaps the best way to celebrate the day is by helping those nearest and dearest to you. Assist a family member with a simple chore like folding laundry, cooking dinner, or even reading to a younger sibling. No matter what you do, be sure to share your good deed on social media and inspire others to celebrate "Giving Tuesday" as well!

    Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is gaining global popularity. According to a government white paper, TCM has been introduced in 183 countries and regions around the world.

    Westerners' understanding of TCM, however, may be limited to acupuncture, cupping and massage (按摩). For instance, the purple, injury-like marks left on US swimmer Michael Phelps' back from cupping for the purpose of relaxing his muscles and reducing pain became the center of attention during the Rio Olympics in 2016.

    As a matter of fact, Chinese herbs play a more important role in curing diseases and keeping people in good health in the TCM treatment system than physical treatment. It is therefore disheartening to know that while 103 World Health Organization member countries have approved the practice of acupuncture, not many recognize Chinese herbal medicine. TCM falls far behind Western medicine owning partly to the slow development of Chinese herbs.

    Herbs are made into pills, powder and soup, and the kind of herbs used, their quality and quantity, and the processing of the ingredients (原材料) jointly determine the effectiveness of the prescription. Compared with Western medicine, which has standardized drug production processes and treatment methods, TCM lacks standardization, with the chemical composition and functions of its medicines being unclear and their effects being unstable. Standardization has improved in recent decades, with an increasing number of factories producing patented TCM drugs.

    Another factor that has prevented the development of TCM prescription drugs is the lack of creativity. While Western medicine-making companies come up with new products every year, TCM drug producers tend to make medicine according to prescriptions handed down from the past. Chinese chemist Tu Youyou's winning the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her research into malaria (疟疾) treatment may drive creativity to some extent in China's TCM industry. However, the current state of affairs cannot be changed within a short time.

    Consuming food can be a pleasurable thing-we enjoy the mix of tastes and textures (结构) and it stops us feeling hungry too. Of course, food also gives us energy and the vitamins and minerals that our body needs. It's no wonder we spend so much time preparing and eating food. But what many of us don't consider is how our emotions are affected by what we put into our bellies.

    For me, it's the unhealthy foods that put a smile on my face-chocolate, cakes and ice cream. It might seem obvious that food that's bad for our waistline, usually makes us happy, at least in the short term. But dieticians tell us that eating bad food long term, not only makes us put on weight but can lead to other health conditions such as diabetes (糖尿病), and it can also affect our mental state and bring on depression.

    The link between our mind and food has been looked at by scientists. They've recently found that it's the bacteria in our gut that affects our mood. It's thought we have 39 trillion of these simple, small organisms (生物体) in our body. Researchers at McMaster University in Canada have found that certain "good" bacteria help reduce anxiety in mice. Experts believe that, for us humans, this means food with "good" bacteria can improve the way we feel.

    Many food products are claiming to be high in this "good" bacteria and some of the best types are homemade food like miso soup, yoghurt and sauerkraut (泡菜). Doctor Michael Mosley would agree. He says the best food to cheer us up is in a "Mediterranean diet". Olive oil; oily fish, full of omega 3, which is really good for the brain; whole grains; lots of fruits and vegetables. Sugar: terrible for you! There are other factors that can change our mood but it seems we have some ability to improve how we feel by controlling what we put on our plate. Does your diet affect your mood?

There's a new frontier in 3D printing that's beginning to come into focus: food. Recent development has made possible machines that print, cook, and serve foods on a mass scale. And the industry isn't stopping there.

Food production

With a 3D printer, a cook can print complicated chocolate sculptures and beautiful pieces for decoration on a wedding cake. Not everybody can do that—it takes years of experience, but a printer makes it easy. A restaurant in Spain uses a Foodini to" re-create forms and pieces" of food that are" exactly the same," freeing cooks to complete other tasks. In another restaurant, all of the dishes and desserts it serves are 3D-printed, rather than farm to table.

Sustainability(可持续性)

The global population is expected to grow to 9.6 billion by 2050, and some analysts estimate that food production will need to be raised by 50 percent to maintain current levels. Sustainability is becoming a necessity. 3D food printing could probably contribute to the solution. Some experts believe printers could use hydrocolloids( 水解胶体)from plentiful renewables like algae(藻类) and grass to replace the familiar ingredients(烹饪原 料). 3D printing can reduce fuel use and emissions. Grocery stores of the future might stock "food" that lasts years on end, freeing up shelf space and reducing transportation and storage requirements.

Nutrition

Future 3D food printers could make processed ood healthier. Hod Lipson, a professor at Columbia University, said, "Food printing could allow consumers to print food with customized nutritional content, like vitamins. So instead of eating a piece of yesterday's bread from the supermarket, you'd eat something baked just for you on demand."

Challenges

Despite recent advancements in 3D food printing，the industry has many challenges to overcome. Currently, most ingredients must be changed to a paste( 糊状物)before a printer can use them, and the  printing process is quite  time-consuming, because ingredients interact with each other in very complex ways. On top of that, most of the 3D food printers now are restricted to dry ingredients, because meat and milk products may easily go bad. Some experts are doubtful about food printers, believing they are better suited for fast food restaurants than homes and high-end restaurants.

A new type of robot could help industries to cut costs and make better products.

Industrial robots have long been dangerous, caged creatures. But in recent years, the barriers between robots and humans have been coming down. A friendlier type of robot has begun appearing on the factory floor – and with it, a new way of working that could cut costs in many industries.

One area that has benefited hugely is the car industry. "In a car plant, a vehicle is produced every minute, and approximately 1,000 cars are made a day," said Adolfo Suarez Roos, the Airbus Group expert who works with robotics on the French National Research Agency project ICARO. On the project, robots are able to help workers with repetitive tasks.

Suarez is hopeful the same success can be enjoyed while making planes. But given that robotics isn't as widely used, the challenges are very different. "When making cars, a robot has 40 seconds to do its job and the complete programming task takes about a month," he said. "At Airbus, we produce 1.5 aircraft per day, so we have to look at tasks that will last several hours. We need mobile robots and a very simple way to program the robot."

At Cranfield University, the EPSRC Centre in Intelligent Automation is trying to make this a reality for flight. An important part of the work is understanding how tasks can be divided between industrial robots and human operators to make use of the skills of both. When man and machine are working together over long periods of time, engineers are looking at how human can improve the robot or the robot can improve the human.

The project, called Futurassy, last year began introducing the robots to perform the processes that could be used across other sites by Airbus, an aircraft company.

The first robotic unit bought by Airbus arrived last year, and is now used at the A380 station, where humans now work with the robot. Key to the success of this project is safety, and making sure that the barriers between human and robot are just enough to still allow a productive working relationship.

Prof Phil Webb claims there is no doubt that the number of robots putting together aircraft will increase significantly over the next few years. Cost pressures placed on the traditional centers in North America and Europe mean they soon won't have a choice but to move ahead with robotics.

In 2015, Chennai was destroyed by one of the worst floods in over a century, leaving thousands without food, water and supplies. During the flood, many heroes arose, one of whom was Santosh, a young man who owned a take-out restaurant in Chennai.

When the first flood hit in November, he got a call from a company called Naga Rava. The company asked him to prepare 5,000 packets of food and give them to the flood victims. He, with his partners, took the order, cooked for 14 hours and delivered(递送) them. But that night, as they sat together discussing the event of the day, they actually felt ashamed(羞愧). "Here was a man not even from Chennai and he was going out of his way to help the affected people. We, while living here, had not really done anything ourselves for our own people," said Santosh later.

He then began the groundwork for a collection to help cook more dishes. Little did he know that the November flood was just the beginning, and the real show was about to begin. The December flood affected them all. His own house got flooded and his family was trapped on the second floor. They lost phone connection and electricity. In spite of this, Santosh went back out into the flood, creating a kitchen and preparing food all by himself for the victims.

He did not sleep for four days, taking a one-hour break every day as he kept on cooking. As word got out about this man's effort, others stepped out to join him. From children to the elderly, strangers came to help him in cooking, packing and transporting food. Up to 300 volunteers worked together to make it all happen. By the time the fourth day finally came to an end, Santosh and his team had prepared 170,000 food boxes and delivered them to people in need.

Research is done all the time and most of it goes straight by us, but sometimes we come across some results that are too interesting not to share. It can be fun to find out about new facts, but sometimes you come across things you'd rather not have known. Luckily, we've got some fun facts for you today! It turns out that your hand can tell you a lot about your personality. It's really quite strange. This research mostly focuses on your fingers.

The secret lies in your ring finger and index finger (食指). It can say a lot about what kind of man you are. Yes, this test only applies to men because the length of these fingers indicates the level of testosterone (睾酮)in men. There are three types: A, B and C.

A. The ring finger is longer than the index finger

We're talking about handsome men here. They're charming and can get along with everyone. Yet they are a little more aggressive and are quick to take risks. This also means that these people often make more money than their colleagues with a shorter ring finger.

B. The ring finger is shorter than the index finger

Men with these hands are very confident and can even be a little self-loving. These people have no trouble being alone often and don't like being disturbed. When it comes to love, they do not take a risk out there a lot. They're not the ones to make the first move.

C. The ring finger and index finger are the same lengths

Maybe this says enough already. Men with these hands are good mediators (调停者), devoted and loving. Everything is balanced with these people. They're calm and everything seems to run smoothly, as if it's all organised.

Chinese Culture Shown to the World with Love Li Ziqi, a short video blogger specializing in traditional Chinese cooking and handicrafts has gained worldwide popularity.

Li has about 20 million followers on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent to Twitter，plus 7 million followers on overseas social media networks. Many foreigners say they have got to know traditional Chinese food culture via her channel.

It is the spirit of craftsmanship (技艺) behind her works that makes Li's video clips attractive. She strictly follows the authentic traditional steps and procedures in making traditional Chinese food and handicrafts, such as peach flower wine and silk, and goes to great lengths to ensure her videos are accurate. Sometimes she spends several months producing one of her videos.

Li has been inheriting (继承) traditional Chinese culture in a rather creative way. A closer look at her videos will show that they are never with any "analysis" that makes people feel bored. They just show the audience each and every detail of traditional Chinese culture so that the latter knows how Chinese live their beautiful and elegant lives. It is that universal appeal that makes her works so attractive. Thanks to Li's efforts, many intangible cultural heritages that only existed in memories and written records now appear before our eyes. Via her short videos, Li presents the image of a beautiful and friendly China.

With the growth of the Chinese economy, people overseas are showing more interest in traditional Chinese culture. Li has shown how to satisfy that interest in a good way, namely showing the best parts of traditional Chinese culture with her heart.

To effectively present the beauty of Chinese culture to the world, we need more Li Zigi.

With 60 miles of canals and nearly 7,000 buildings dating from the 18th century or earlier, Amsterdam is one of Europe's best preserved cities. Here are some of our favorites.

The Concertgebouw

A free classical concert in one of the world's greatest concert halls? Sounds too good to be true, but every Wednesday at lunchtime that's exactly what's on offer at the Concertgebouw. The latest series just started up again this month and will run through June. You can pick up a free ticket (one per person) on the day of the show starting at 11:30 a.m.; the concert takes place from 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m.

Rijksmuseum Gardens

Take a walk in the beautiful formal gardens of the Rijksmuseum, which are dotted with fascinating artworks. There's a life-size chessboard, a fountain by contemporary Danish artist Jeppe Hein, and post-war climbing frames by architect Aldo van Eyck. The gardens also host sculpture exhibitions — currently there are 21 sculptures on show by the Spanish artist Joan Miró until October 11.

The Muziektheater

This important opera, dance and music venue has free weekly lunchtime concerts by top performers on Tuesdays from 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m. in the entrance hall, from September to May. Once or twice a month, the concert is followed by a free tour of the theatre — check the website for details.

Central Library

At the Netherlands' biggest library, the Centrale Bibliotheek, you can read the international papers for free, and while Wi-Fi isn't completely free, you can purchase 30 minutes for little more than a dollar by using one of the ticket machines. Upstairs on the 7th floor there is a café with a balcony that boasts wonderful city views.

That youngsters were glued to online games on their smart phones was a great concern for Ngurang Meena, a school teacher in Nirjuli. The 30-year-old social science teacher, who ran the Ngurang Learning Institute, an adult literacy centre, said that she felt disheartened when she read student papers. "The graph of student performance is falling every year. It breaks my heart whenever I see answer sheets — basic grammar skills are missing and there's an absence of any cohesive (连贯性的) expression. They lack guidance and reading culture is almost zero," Meena said. When her school and the centre she ran had to close due to infectious diseases, she planned to do something to address the problem.

Inspired by a similar proposal in Mizoram, Meena set up a bookshelf with around 80 books as well as some benches on the side of the road in Nirjuli on August 30th, 2020, where passers-by could spend time reading. The selections included motivational books, biographies and novels as well as comics for young children. "I have to please the minors with sweets to sit and read, but that is okay," she laughed.

Meena's bookshelf became a hit among youngsters who spent hours in the reading corner. Within two months, her effort became the talk of the town.

Now, generous contributions of books come in from the public and she is even receiving requests to set up such libraries in other parts of the state, including one in the capital, Itana-gar. Since the tiny libraries are far from the main town, she also lends books out to those who want to read at home.

"I never thought that this would become such a big inspiration," Meena said. "Since childhood, we have been told that books are our best friends. The next generation of kids is focused on games and other things. I don't want them to head on the wrong track," she added.

My violin is like a soulmate that whispers words of wisdom to me. Together, we've gone through both tears and happiness.

About 12 years ago, I made acquaintance with it following an order from my mom. Many hours of boredom were spent practicing it. And to make things worse, the disappointment in my teacher's eyes as I played the wrong notes was like an invisible hammer, striking on my heart. One day, I finally decided: I hate it!

By chance, things changed when I was seven. I was at home lying on the sofa, wondering how those famous violinists dealt with this terrible dilemma(进退两难). I searched online for the E-minor Concerto, a well-known violin work by German composer Felix Mendelssohn, and listened to it.

A beautiful and mysterious sound came from the violin as the bow moved across it. It was like the music slid over the flowers, rose up, and started to fill the air. The violin's voice woke up the sun, made the trees green, and freshened the air. As the music changed, the sky turned back to gray. A gloomy shade covered the grass as all the sunshine disappeared. I could hear children crying and men shouting. It was like an invisible claw(爪子)had grabbed my heart tightly, making it unable to beat.

That glorious day set off my passion and interest in violin — I grabbed mine and never let it go. Before the memories faded, I stared at my instrument. Without hesitating, I picked it up, rosined the bow, and began to play. Peace filled my heart.

My violin has been by my side for 12 years. When I feel happy, an energetic tune makes it even better; when I'm deep in sorrow, a peaceful tune washes it away； when I'm walking on air, feeling especially pleased with my achievements, solemn tunes calm me down. Gradually, it has become a part of my life.

My violin, shall I compare you to a summer's day?

Some termite (白蚁) species have figured out how to enjoy the shelter of the huge complex nests that the insects build without contributing to their construction. They avoid the full anger of their builder hosts by being extremely easy-going.

Animals that live in the nests of another species without affecting them are known as inquilines. Inquiline termites are unique among termites in being unable to make their own nests. Instead, they live in the hallways built by another termite, Constrictotermes cyphergaster. Until now, it has been unclear how the two parties kept peaceful in such tight quarters because termites are typically very aggressive towards outsiders.

Helder Hugo at the University of Konstanz in Germany and his colleagues collected Constrictotermes cyphergaster's nests in the Brazilian Cerrado and brought them into the laboratory. They then placed host and tenant (房客) termites in either open or narrow areas and used video to track and record the ways in which the two species reacted to each other.

Right from the start, the inquiline' termites moved around less than their hosts and interacted little with them, even in the much narrower area. “Many times,” says Hugo, “when two unrelated groups are put together in a limited space—such as an experimental area—the outcome is conflict with losses from both sides.” But that didn't happen here. Despite attacks from host termites, the tenant termites were obedient. Hosts would bite or attack the inquilines with strong chemicals, but their targets never responded in the same way, choosing to flee. Some ignored the hosts completely.

“We did not expect that they would never fight back ” says Hugo, noting that the inquilines are capable of protecting their own place with mouths. “By preventing conflict going worse, inquiline termites may considerably improve their chances of living together with their host termites peacefully.”

“Passiveness does not necessarily lead to defeat, but can be a very useful strategy, saving energy and resources,” she adds. “Nature may not always be red in tooth and claw, and aggression is not any more successful a strategy than 'cowardice' (儒弱).”

 Born in London in 1825, Thomas Henry Huxley was one of the greatest men of the nineteenth century. In 1846 Thomas Henry Huxley was appointed assistant doctor aboard H. M. S. Rattlesnake. The ship had been asked to survey areas of the Great Barrier Reef and the neighboring seas. This gave Thomas Henry Huxley an opportunity to study animal life and was the start of his biological career. The voyage lasted four years, during which time he gathered much information on plankton (浮游生物).  

 On his return from the voyage, Thomas Henry Huxley was made a member of the Royal Society in recognition of his scientific work. Although he continued to publish papers about plankton, his interest was turning towards vertebrate (有脊椎的) animals. For some time Thomas Henry Huxley and his workmates had been discussing the possibility that animal species had evolved (进化), one from another. No satisfactory theories had been put forward, but in 1859 Darwin's Origin of Species appeared. Thomas Henry Huxley at once realized  its importance and how the theory of natural selection provided "the working hypothesis (假说) we sought".  

 For the rest of his life Thomas Henry Huxley struggled to ensure the full recognition of Darwin's work. In 1863 Thomas Henry Huxley published Man's Place in Nature in which he compared man and great apes (猿). He clearly showed similarities.  

 Despite his many achievements, he was given no award by the British state until late in his life. From about 1870, Thomas Henry Huxley was too involved in other things to continue actual research. He had always been interested in education. He pioneered the teaching of biology and his method of selecting "type animals" is still followed today. He spent the last ten years of his life writing essays mainly on biology.  

Betty and Harold have been married for years. But one-thing still puzzles old Harold. How is it that he can leave Betty and her friend Joan sitting on the sofa, talking, go out to a ballgame, come back three and a half hours later, and they're still sitting on the sofa?

Talking? What in the world, Harold wonders, do they have to talk about?

Betty shrugs(耸肩). Talk? We're friends.

Researching this matter called friendship, psychologist Lillian Rubin spent two years interviewing more than two hundred women and men. No matter what their age, their job, their sex, the results were completely clear: women have more friendships than men, and the difference in the content and the quality of those friendships is "marked and unmistakable."

More than two-thirds of the single men Rubin interviewed could not name a best friend. Those who could were likely to name a woman. Yet three-quarters of the single women had no problem naming a best friend, and almost always it was a woman. More married men than women named their wife/husband as a best friend, most trusted person, or the one they would turn to in time of emotional distress(痛苦). "Most women," says Rubin, "identified at least one, usually more, trusted friends to whom they could turn in a troubled moment, and they spoke openly about the importance of these relationships in their lives."

"In general," writes Rubin in her new book, "women's friendships with each other rest on shared emotions and support, but men's relationships are marked by shared activities. ""For the most part", Rubin says, "interactions between men are emotionally controlled-a good fit with the social requirements of "manly behavior. "

"Even when a man is said to be a best friend," Rubin writes, "the two share little about their innermost feelings. While a woman's closest female friend might be-the first to tell her to leave a failing marriage, it wasn't unusual to hear a man say he didn't know his friend's marriage was in serious trouble until he appeared one night asking if he could sleep on the sofa. "

The first time I used the TV to distract my daughter, I felt like a bad parent; I convinced myself I was a "bad" mom—these days I believe the opposite to be true. Screen time makes me a better mom.

Now I know what most of you might be thinking: That's ridiculous. Only crappy(糟糕的) parents rely on the screen to care for their kids. Then again, experts suggest parents limit media use. And while I do not doubt experts, there are things they fail to consider.

Like most 6-year-olds, my daughter gets worked up and excited easily and watching a cartoon gives her a chance to shut off her mind. And there are other reasons—more selfish reasons. I am a work-from-work mom, and giving her screen time gives me "me" time. I'm able to write while she watches TV. And while this may sound bad, I believe I am helping my daughter realize she should rely on herself. When Mommy works, she gets her own snacks, drinks and toys.

There are other benefits, too. TV has also taught my daughter. Thanks to "super Why", she knew her alphabet at 2, and thanks to "Sesame Street", she was able to count to 20 by age 3. And I use the screen as a great incentive. My daughter earns "tablet time" when she completes tasks, e. g., making her bed earns 15minutes while doing her homework gets her 30.

Of course, I have a few rules. During meals, the TV is off; all programs must be supervised; on weekdays, she is limited to two hours maximum. So remember: It doesn't matter what our kids watch; it matters what they do, what they say, what they feel and how they act, and only you know what is best for them.

Fahad Azad, an engineer in India, invented a robot named DuctBot. The toy-car sized DuctBot measured 23 centimeters in length, 19 centimeters in width and 9 centimeters in height and weighed just two kilograms.

The robot is designed to snake through dark, narrow air conditioning ducts(管道) and clean them. A pair of LEDs fitted on the robot light up the dirty scenery, so it can be captured (抓拍) by a camera.

In order to control it more easily, Mr. Azad chooses to fix DuctBot on wheels. The robot can clean off lots of dirt, as well as dead pigeons and insects. Keeping indoor air in good quality and monitoring carbon-dioxide levels in buildings with central air conditioning is a challenge. It is important in some places where clean air can mean a difference between life and death, such as hospitals. Dirty air has a bad influence on peopled health.

EPSCO, a Dubai-based company which specializes in improving indoor air quality, read about Mr. Azad's invention in a national newspaper after he had won an international robotics competition. EPSCO had cleaning equipment, but it needed someone to get into those ducts to do the dirty, dangerous work. Across India, for example, the task still falls to children. They are small enough to go through those ducts.

In 2005, Mr. Azad who was still at university decided to do something about it. Six years later his own company, Robosoft Systems, has Bluestar, EPSCO and the Indian Navy, some leading air condition makers, as partners.

Mr. Azad and his ten employees are currently exploring robot designs to examine oil tanks or sewage(污水) pipes. Their biggest challenge is to make the robots user-friendly enough. Mr. Azad hopes that the robot could eventually be operated not by engineers but by workers. There will be lots of difficulties they need to overcome in the future.