Your next car might drive itself. After years of trials on city streets, driverless vehicles are now nearing the live phase. Last moth, a driverless bus began carrying passengers through Lyon, France, Most in the automobile industry think self-driving vehicles will be on the road by 2020 or before.

    Driverless cars will at first be huddled with human-driven cars. But the first places where they will become dominant（统治的）are dense urban areas — precisely the spots most damaged by the automobile age. Many advanced cities are already reducing the role of human-driven cargo. Driverless cars will quicken that process and will bring us enormous benefits.

    Driverless cars will reduce accidents by around 90 percent. That's big—the annual death toll on the world's roads is about 1.2 million a year. Pollution and carbon emissions will drop, because urban driverless cars will be electric. The old, otherwise they would stay at home most of the time and the disabled and teenagers will suddenly gain mobility.

    On the other hand, driverless cars will bring catastrophe. The best thing about the automobile age was that it employed tens of millions of people to make, market, insure and drive vehicles. Over the next 20 years, the mostly low-skilled men who now drive trucks, taxis and buses will see their jobs reduced. Carmakers are especially scared. The few cars of the future might be made by tech companies such as Apple, Baidu and Google. Imaging the impact on Germany, where the automotive sector is the largest industry.

    Dramatic change is coming, and driverless cars could arrive by 2020. But governments have barely begun thinking about it. Only 6 percent of the biggest US cities have factored them into their long-term planning.

    A decade ago anyone hardly saw the Smartphone coming. It has bought an epidemic of mass addiction. Let's hope we do a better job of handling the driverless car.

    In a historic moment on June 26, the US Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is a legal right across all 50 states. The Supreme Court justices ruled states cannot deny gay men and women the same marriage rights. The decision means the 13 states with bans on same-sex marriage are no longer able to enforce them.

    Same-sex couples “ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law”. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion: “The Constitution grants them that right.”

    The decision came after decades of litigation（诉讼） and activism. It set off celebrations across the US. In affected states including Georgia, Michigan, Ohio and Texas, same-sex couples rushed to wed, while officials in Mississippi and Louisiana said marriages had to wait until procedural issues were addressed, reported the BBC.

    According to “The New York Times”, the ruling came against the backdrop of fast-moving changes in public opinion in the US, with polls indicating that most Americans now approve of same-sex marriage.

    US President Barack Obama welcomed the ruling, saying it “affirms what millions of Americans already believe in their hearts.” “Today,” he said in a press release, “we can say, in no uncertain terms, that we have made our union a little more perfect.”

Another win.

    This was the second time the Supreme Court took up same-sex marriage, according to an article in “Business Insider”. The first time, in June 2013, the court made a decision that allowed the US federal government to recognize same-sex marriages in states where they were already legal.

    But at that time, the Supreme Court declined to rule on the broader question about gay marriage: Is there a constitutional（宪法的） right to same-sex marriage? The June 26 ruling gave a positive answer to that question.

Justice Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion that the Constitution should evolve with societal changes.

    “The nature of injustice is that we may not always see it in our own times,” he wrote. “The generations that wrote and ratified the “Bill of Rights” and the “Fourteenth Amendment（修正案）” did not exactly know the extent of freedom in all of its dimensions, and so they hoped the future generations can protect the right of all persons to enjoy liberty as we learn its meaning.”

    The Fourteenth Amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the law. In the June 26 ruling, the Supreme Court declared that the equal protection clause of the amendment requires marriage rights be extended to same-sex couples, too.

    Annie Oakley was born in 1860 in Darke County, Ohio. Her family was very poor. She decided to help family even when she was young, so she learned to use a gun, and began hunting animals for food. She could shoot them without losing the important parts of the meat.

    Soon her shooting ability became well known. When she was sixteen, she was invited to a competition with a famous marksman(神枪手) , Frank Butler. Annie surprised everyone by winning the competition. Later that year she and Frank married.

    In 1882 Annie Oakley and Frank Butler started putting on shows together. Frank Butler was the star of the show and she was his assistant. The famous native American leader, Sitting Bull, thought so highly of her shooting ability that he called her "Little Sure Shot". Later Annie Oakley became the star of the show and Frank Butler was her assistant. Posters （海报）for the show called her the "Champion Markswoman".

    During World War I, Annie Oakley wanted to train a group of women volunteers for the army, but the United States did not accept it. She gave American soldiers shooting lessons, and traveled across the country visiting many training camps. She gave shooting performance and raised money to support the American soldiers.

    Annie Oakley died on November 3, 1926. Eighteen days later, Frank Butler died too.

    Even before my father left us, my mother had to go back to work to support our family. Once I came out of the kitchen, complaining, “Mum, I can't peel(削皮) potatoes. I have only one hand.”

    Mum never looked up from sewing. “You get yourself into that kitchen and peel those potatoes,” she told me. “And don't ever use that as an excuse for anything again!”

    In the second grade, our teacher lined up my class on the playground and had each of us race across the monkey bars, swinging from one high steel rod(杆) to the next. When it was my turn, I shook my head. Some kids behind me laughed, and I went home crying.

    That night I told Mum about it. She hugged me, and I saw her “we'll see about that” look. The next afternoon, she took me back to school. At the deserted playground, mum looked carefully at the bars.

    “Now, pull up with your right arm,” she advised. She stood by as I struggled to lift myself with my right hand until I could hook the bar with my other elbow. Day after day we practiced, and she praised me for every rung(横杠) I reached.

    I'll never forget the next time, crossing the rungs; I looked down at the kids who were standing with their mouths open.

    One night, after a dance at my new junior high, I lay in bed sobbing. I could hear Mum came into my room. “Mum,” I said, weeping, “none of the boys would dance with me.”

    For a long time, I didn't hear anything. Then she said, “Oh, honey, someday you'll be beating those boys off with a bat.” Her voice was faint and cracking. I peeked(偷看) out from my covers to see tears running down her cheeks. Then I knew how much she suffered on my behalf. She had never let me see her tears.

Land of fire and ice: Iceland

    Join an unforgettable tour of Iceland's splendid landscapes, timed to arrange four days filled with volcanic and geological adventure, and evening opportunities to see the Aurora Borealis.

    Day 1: Vatnajokull Glacier (冰川)

    Today you'll take a walk on Europe's biggest ice cap-Vatnajokull-which has around 30 glaciers flowing out from it. No experience is necessary to take part in the hike. It's discouraging to think that the glacier is retreating due to rising world temperatures, and in future years the glacier may be gone. If you prefer a relaxing morning you can explore the surroundings of the farm stay and head to the Thorbergur Centre.

    Day 2: Secret lagoon (泻湖) and Reykjavik

    This morning we make our way to the Lava Centre which is an interactive, high-tech educational exhibition describing volcanic activity, earthquakes and the creation of Iceland over millions of years. After our visit, we will continue to the Secret Lagoon natural hot springs, located in the small village called Fludir, giving you the opportunity to relax in the warm waters before travelling to Reykjavik.

    Day 3: Reykjanes peninsula (半岛)

    Head out to the Reykjanes Peninsula. It is a land-born highly volcanic counterpart of the Mid-Atlantic Spreading Ridge where two tectonic plates part at an average rate of 2.0-2.5 cm/yr. Four volcanic systems and fissure (裂缝) groups line the peninsula from SW to NE. They contain open fissures, normal faults, high-temperature fields and volcanic fissures.

    Day 4: Depart Reykjavik

    Today is departure day and time to say "sjaumst". Your group departure transfer will take you to the airport for your flight home.

In 1998, people in Na Doi, a quiet village in northwest Thailand, noticed that their fish catches in the nearby Ngao River were declining. The fish they did manage to net were also getting smaller. Together, Na Doi's 75 households decided to try a new solution: they would set aside a small stretch of river to be strictly off-limits to fishing.

The rules are usually simple: no fishing of any kind in an agreed-upon area marked by flags or signs. While freshwater reserves won't solve everything, in places where fish populations are under pressure, they can give species much-needed breathing room to rebuild their numbers, ultimately making them better able to weather other environmental problems.

Na Doi was the second village in the Ngao River valley to adopt this pioneering approach to freshwater fisheries management. Since the late 1990s, at least 50 other villages there have done the same. As a whole, the entirely grassroots-led reserves have been surprisingly successful, according to findings recently published in Nature. Most importantly, the Thailand case provides probably the best real-world proof that fisheries reserves can benefit not just oceans, but freshwater, too

In 2012. Aaron Koning, then a doctoral student at the University of Wisconsin, began investigating the Ngao River valley reserves to see how widespread and successful they truly were. Koning found, not surprisingly, that older and bigger reserves were more successful, because they offered more time and space—including more kinds of habitat—in which to rebuild fish populations and re-establish rare species. But even reserves established in the last couple of years showed clear benefits from being spared intense fishing pressure. "Reserves that were located closer to a village tended to have an advantage," Koning says, "probably because villagers were better able to enforce the rules."

By comparing different systems and approaches around the world, Koning and his colleagues hope to identify common factors for success that could be tailored to diverse rivers and lakes.