A busy public square in the Chinese city of Nanjing is home to an unusual experiment.

    For almost two months, the country's first “honesty bookshop” has occupied（占据） a sidewalk on HanZhong Road in the city's Gulou District.

    With no cashier or other staff, the store relies on trust for payment.

    Making money isn't the company's main goal and they don't punish those who take books without paying.

    “If they can really finish the books, it doesn't matter if they took the books for free,” Zhu Yu, the marketing director of the company says.

    “In fact, we are really happy to witness so many people taking books from the honesty bookshop.” After browsing the four wooden bookshelves, customers must drop their money in a locked box.

    Prices are set at 30% of the usual cover price. Zhu hopes that his sidewalk store, which sells, on average, 60 books a day, will make more people interested in reading. Like elsewhere, e-books are affecting sales of traditional books, and traditional books and many independent booksellers are struggling.

    Zhu got permission from the city government to use the sidewalk and says he's determined to make it a long-term project.

    He says the store is open every day, except when it rains, and it's locked up each night.

    In September last year, the company laid out 1,000 books and reading lamps on the ground and encouraged people “to go on a date” with a book.

    “Independent bookshops represent the well-being of the city.” Zhu told CNN in 2013, “when a city is losing its bookshops, it's actually losing something in its soul.”

If the success of the Honesty Bookstore is any guide, Nanjing's soul is in pretty good shape.

    The Children's Book-Show Competition is a chance for young readers to be writers.

    Reading, it seems, is coming back in fashion, if a survey by the famous National Literacy Trust (the NLT) is true. It shows that the percentage of children who admit enjoying reading has grown for the first time in the past 8 years.

    So it's a good time to launch a competition that includes a shed-load of new books for schools as prizes. The Children's Book-show Competition, backed by The Independent, is taking to the roads again from the start of next term, with a nation-wide tour of 15 big cities, featuring a line-up of a dozen children's writers and illustrators (插图画家) aiming to persuade pupils to follow their footsteps.

    The competition, launched by the children's writer and illustrator Jessica Souhami, has two categories: the under-nine's and nine to 13-year-olds.

    Children are asked to choose their favorite fairy or folk tale and set it in an extraordinary place.

    Then they are to retell it with the aid of drawings and writings—whether it is set at sea, on a distant planet, in the future or in the past. The closing date for the competition is 30th November.

    “Tell your tale in pictures and in words, ”say the organizers of the competition. “It can be in a picture book or comic-book format.”

    The winner of each competition will receive a signed copy of a book by each of the 12 authors involved in this year's tour, plus £150 worth of books for their school. The runners-up will receive a signed copy of Souhami's new book.

    With her pretty face and soulful voice, Zhang Bichen was thought a possible champion when she first set foot on the stage of the TV show The Voice of China.

    On Oct 7, 2014, the 25-year-old girl won the fierce competition and received the title of the “Voice of the Year”. Zhang's dream of being a singer star came true as last. What impressed people was not only Zhang's singing skills, but her willingness to make an effort. “I gained the opportunity to sing on The Voice of China,” she said.

    In fact, being a singer has always been her dream. She wanted to apply to a college for singing, but her parents insisted that she should have an easy job after graduation because she did very well at school. So Zhang gave in to her parents and learned French at university. However, in the first year of her college, she was discovered by a South Korean company when she entered a singing competition. To realize her dream, Zhang signed a contract（合同）with the company, started her career in South Korea, and became a member of a band.

    “My company had rules that did not allow us to use cell phones. During the first few months after I arrived in South Korea, a totally unfamiliar country, I felt terribly homesick. But I could only phone my parents in the restroom when nobody noticed.” Zhang said. “When I did not have much income, I had to eat noodles every day for months.”

    It was her positive attitude and outgoing character that helped her through. “When I feel down, I tell myself it is not winning or losing that matters. The most important things are standing on the stage and singing for people.” she said.

    Fix it on your own

    Did you know that a bowl of rice could save your iPod if you drop it in a swimming pool by accident? Or that the camera on your phone could tell you what's wrong with your TV remote control(遥控器)? The experts at Geek Squad have made a gadget (小机件) rescue guide. So, let's take a look at some of their useful advice.

    How to get more juice out of your phone battery (电池)

    If your battery goes dead but you need to get a number or send one last text, try warming it up. That may give you a tiny bit of power. Take the battery from the phone and rub it between your hands. Or warm it under your arm for a few minutes. Then try to start the phone-but use it quickly.

    What to do if your gadget gets wet

    First, try drying it out with a vacuum cleaner(真空吸尘器). If a vacuum cleaner isn't at hand, fill a pot or bowl with uncooked rice and put your wet gadget inside. The dry, uncooked rice will absorb all the water and, after a few hours, you should be able to use the gadget. Don't forget to remove the battery and SIM card before you dry it.

    What to do if your TV remote control stops working

    If replacing the batteries doesn't work, get the camera function up on your phone and point the remote at the lens (镜头). When you press a button on the remote, if it is working, the glass bobble (小球) at the front of the remote will light up when you look at it on the screen of your phone. This is because the screen on a phone or digital camera picks up infrared rays (红外线), even though your eyes don't. If the glass bobble doesn't light up, the remote is broken. If it does, the receiving device is broken.

    When people see machines that respond like humans, or computers that perform amazing feats of strategy, they sometimes joke about a future in which humanity will need to accept robot overlords. But buried in the joke is a seed of unease. Science fiction writing and popular movies have shown us about artificial intelligence (AI) that exceeds the expectations of its creators and escapes their control, eventually outcompeting and enslaving humans or targeting them for extinction(灭绝).

    Even in the real word, not everyone is ready to welcome AI with open arms. In recent years, as computer scientists have pushed the boundaries of what AI can accomplish, leading figures in technology and science have warmed about the frightening dangers that artificial intelligence may pose to humanity, even suggesting that AI capabilities could destroy the human race.

    But why are people so frightened about the idea of AI?

    Elon Musk is one of the famous voices that have raised red flags about AI, In July 2017. Musk told attendees at a meeting of the National Governors Association, I have exposured to the very cutting-edge Al, and I think people should be really concerned about it. I keep sounding the alarm bell. But until people see robots going down the street killing people, they don't know how to react, because it seems so impossible."

    Earlier, in 2014, Musk had labeled AI "our biggest existential threat," and in August 2017, he declared that humanity faced a greater risk from AI than the terrorists. Physicist Stephen Hawking, who died on March14, also expressed concerns about AI, telling the BBC in 2014 that "the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.

    Actor Warwick Davis realized he was shorter than other people when he was eight years old.  He suddenly noticed all his schoolmates were twice his size. It was then that the effect of having dwarfism hit him for the first time.

    Now aged 48, Davis says, "I have very fond memories of school but I realized I had to become a little bit louder and funnier so I wouldn't get left out of conversations. I became quite the performer, so being short was my training in acting."

    It worked. Director George Lucas cast young Warwick as the Ewok Wicket in Return of the Jedi. The actor has gone on to star in many TV shows and films, including playing Professor Flitwick in the Harry Potter films.

    Warwick's dwarfism means he is 1.07 meters tall, while the average UK adult male height is 1.78 meters. Most types of dwarfism are caused by a genetic disorder that stops some of the body's building blocks working properly.

    Davis has a positive attitude to being "different". He says, "If I had my life all over again, I would choose the same job and be the same height. I have enjoyed every minute. At school I played rugby and football and tried long jump and high jump. I wasn't very good at them but I always had a go. I defeated everyone at chin-ups (引体向上) because I had a low body weight combined with a strong upper body from climbing up to the top cupboards to reach the biscuit boxes at home."

    Warwick is supporting Jeans for Genes Day, a charity raising public concern for millions of children born with genetic disorders in the U.K. He says, "Even if you can only give a tiny amount of money, it will make such a difference to the children."