Computer technology has become an important part of people's life. This technology has its own special words. One well-known computer word is Google. It's the name of a popular “search engineer(引擎)” for the Internet. People use the search engineer to find information about almost any subject on the Internet. The people who started the company named it Google because in math Google is a very large number-One hundred zeros follow the number one. When you “Google” a subject, you can get a lot of information about it.
    If you Google someone, you might find that person's name on a blog (博客). A blog is short for a Web log. It's a personal Web page. Some people write blogs to express their opinions and ideas over the Internet. Some use them to share their lives with faraway friends or family. Others write blogs to help them deal with sickness, money problems or to choose movies to see or books to read. Some people add information to their blogs every day. People who have blogs are called bloggers.

    Several Asian hospitals are doing experiments with tele-medicine. Tele-medicine is a technology that allows doctors to "see" patients without them being in the same place. This is made possible through high-speed communication networks(网络). At both ends of the line, the way of video-meeting lets them see and talk to each other. Blood pressure (血压) and body temperature are directly shown on computers.

    Tele-medicine is already in wide use in some places such as the United States and Germany. Among other uses, village doctors hold "consultations (会诊)"with far-away experts(专家). The experts can also help them during operations.

    Tele-medicine has been slow to reach Asia because of high costs besides other reasons. When things improve, this technology will develop very fast. Chinese University of Hong Kong's medical school has joined a big hospital in Beijing, and Thailand is building a tele-medicine station connecting 20 areas.

    Tele-medicine will do good to patients because doctors from different places can see them and give their medical advice. The help is quite important if the disease is an unusual one. It also helps spread medical knowledge among experts.

    As tele-medicine develops well, its costs will be lower and it will become very popular in the medical field.

    Many scientists find that colors can change people's feelings. It's very interesting. Some colors can make people feel relaxed, and some colors can make people feel nervous. Now, this kind of knowledge is being used in many places. For example, school walls are always painted green because green makes students feel relaxed. It is also good for the students' eyes. Some books are also green or light blue for the same reason. Restaurant owners not only have to know how to make food, but also have to know how to make money. Here are some things they've learned from scientific studies. The color red makes people hungry. Many fast food restaurants have red furniture or walls. Soft colors like pink and light blue make people feel relaxed, so they spend more time eating. Loud music may be nice at first, but it soon makes people want to leave. Hard seats also make customers want to eat quickly and leave. Many restaurants, especially fast food restaurants, use this knowledge to make customers eat faster.

    You and I can tell one face from another easily, but can computers do the same with few mistakes? At an earlier time, many thought it was impossible, but progress in facial recognition(识别)software has made it come true. Technology is quickly catching up with the human ability to read faces.

    Some facial recognition systems use a digital picture and measure(测量) different points on the face. Measurements include the distance between the eyes, the width of the nose, the length of the jaw(下巴) line and more. A detailed map, or faceprint, of the face is developed, stored and later used as a basis for comparison and matching.

    Some government agencies, airports and banks use facial recognition technology for safety purposes. Apple and Facebook use it to provide their users with added convenience. For example, Apple's new iPhone is expected to use it to unlock the home screen. Other companies use it to help them in better recognizing their customers' needs. For example, some stores are checking into the use of the technology to catch sight of return customers. Then they can offer special deals, based on the customers' buying habits.

    In America, facial recognition is used by universities to check students' attendance. This year Welsh police used it to catch a terrorist outside a football game. In China it checks on the identities of ride-hailing drivers, permits tourists to enter some places of interest quickly and lets people pay for things with a smile.

    While some systems are used with the knowledge of the persons, others aren't, and that raises worries. For many people, however, convenience outbalances the worries, in other words, meaning that facial recognition technology is likely here to stay.

    When your pen is broken, the battery in your toy runs out, or you have some leftover food, what do you do with these things? You will probably throw them all into one trashbin. But actually, all of these pieces of trash need to be sorted (分类) separately.

    Garbage sorting is a big problem worldwide. In recent years, some Chinese cities have been working hard on it.

    Shanghai has worked with Alipay to create a "green account (账户)" service for its residents (居民). Account holders get points by correctly sorting their garbage. Through the Alipay app, they can exchange the points for milk, phone cards and other products. The city is asking all of its residents to sort their garbage into four groups: wet, recyclable (可回收的), harmful and dry.

    Wet waste is also known as household waste. "They are things you don't want but that pigs can eat," Guangzhou Daily explained.

    Paper, metal (金属), glass and other things that can be reused are recyclable waste.

    Harmful waste includes things like medicine, batteries and fluorescent bulbs (荧光灯泡).

    Finally, any waste that's not wet, recyclable or harmful will go in the "dry waste" bin.

    Many other Chinese cities are also using this method to sort their garbage. For example, Shenzhen has been sorting its garbage into the same four groups since 2012. Students there also receive waste-sorting guidebooks that they must study.

    China is improving its waste-sorting efforts. There is still a long way to go. But it's never too late to learn how to sort your trash properly and protect the environment.

    If you don't sort your garbage, all of it will go to a landfill (垃圾填埋场) and be buried together. These landfills can take up large areas of ground that could have been used for planting trees. The electronic waste you throw away, such as batteries, can pollute the soil and water. Other pieces of garbage, like the metal part of a pen, can be used to make other things if they are properly recycled.