Looking good can matter a lot when you are a teenager. Of course the budget(财政） matters a lot, too. Luckily, fashion trends (流行趋势) in the UK mean that getting the right image doesn't have to cost the earth. Here's a quick guide to which looks are hot this year.

    For girls, the 70s are back. Wide-legged jeans, platform shoes and skirts that reach the feet are again in fashion among UK teens, topped off with colored, shining eyeshadow. Girls can have fun mixing and matching bright shades. Colors like pink, orange and light yellow-green are all perfectly fit. Shorts and mini-skirts are still popular in cold weather. By wearing a pair of tights underneath ( 在..底下), girls can stay warm as well as fashionable in the winter.

    How about boys? To look lively, fans of skateboards and snowboards can dress in skinny jeans accompanied by a T-shirt topped off with a baseball cap or a woolen hat. Music is often an inspiration for fashion, and hip-hop music fans like to dress in baggy jeans, T-shirts, baseball caps and sneakers. For those who can afford it, designer clothing is a must, especially if the logo is showing.

    Since 2013, Torobo, a robotic arm designed to test the limits of artificial intelligence, has had one ambition—to be admitted to the University of Tokyo. However, it has repeatedly failed. This year was no exception.

    In early November Torobo took an exam to prepare for an all-important standardized test. While Torobo's total score of 525 out of 950 was 14 points higher than in 2015，its standard score of 57.1% was slightly lower, because human students did better in the 2016 test.

    Though the score，which is higher than the national average, is enough to get the robot admitted to many other famous Japanese universities,
it falls short of the minimum required for the University of Tokyo.

    A closer analysis of the results showed that Torobo's newly programmed ability to solve complex physics problems helped increase its
year-over-year physics score from 46. 5% to 59%. The robot also dug deep into its database of information from textbooks and websites to obtain
an impressive 66.3% in world history. The average 60% scores acquired in the two math sections, were not too shabby either.

    But，while Torobo is able to handle knowledge-based questions and ones involving complex mathematical calculations, it has a hard time thinking independently. As a result, the robot is unable to fully understand multiple sentences and phrases to arrive at the logical conclusions required in the English language tests. This weakness was reflected in the weak oral and writing scores, which came in at 36.2% and 50.5%, respectively.

    Fortunately, after four tiring years, the robot's creators have decided to free Torobo from its annual test-taking suffering, the research team will instead focus on improving the robot's ability to pick out specific answers from massive sets of data—a skill that led to its excellent history scores. They believe the expertise(专业技术）will  help Torobo succeed as an industrial robot.

    If two scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory are correct, people will still be driving gasoline powered cars 50 years from now, giving out heat-trapping carbon dioxide(二氧化碳) into the atmosphere—and yet that carbon dioxide will not contribute to global warming.

    In a proposal by two scientists, vehicle emissions(排放) would no longer contribute to global warming. The scientists, F. Jeffrey Martin and William L. Kubic Jr., are proposing a concept, which they have named Green Freedom, for removing carbon dioxide from the air and turning it back into gasoline.

The idea is simple. Air would be blown over a liquid solution of potassium carbonate, which would absorb the carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide would then be put to chemical reactions that would turn it into fuel(燃料): gasoline or jet fuel.

    This process could change carbon dioxide from an unwanted, climate-changing pollutant into a vast resource for renewable fuels. The cycle—equal amounts of carbon dioxide produced and removed—would mean that cars, trucks and airplanes using the synthetic(合成的) fuels would no longer be contributing to global warming.

    Although they have not yet built a synthetic fuel factory, or even a small model, the scientists say it is all based on existing technology. “Everything in the concept has been built, is operating or has a close cousin that is operating.” Dr. Martin said.

    The Los Alamos proposal does not go against any laws of physics, and other scientists who have independently suggested similar ideas. Dr. Martin said he and Dr. Kubic had worked out their concept in more detail than former proposals.

    There is, however, a major fact that explains why no one has built a carbon-dioxide-to-gasoline factory: it requires a great deal of energy.

    According to their analysis, their concept, which would cost about $5 billion to build, could produce gasoline at an operating cost of $1.40 a gallon and would turn economically practical when the price at the pump hits $4.60 a gallon.

    Other scientists said the Los Alamos proposal perhaps looked promising but could not evaluate it fully because the details had not been published. “It's definitely worth pursuing,” said Martin I. Hoffert, a professor of physics at New York University. “It's not that new an idea. It has a couple of pieces to it that are interesting.”

    In Britain, many theatres put on shows for children at Christmas and many theatres have a theatre­in­education team working there. This team, made up of actors and teachers, writes plays for children, usually performing them in schools. They do different plays for different age groups and the children often take part in the play in some way.

    Pantomime is a special kind of Christmas show for children. It is loved by people and also allows the audience (观众) to join in.＂Pantomime＂ was the name of the Roman actor who performed shows without speaking — this is where the English word ＂mime＂ comes from.

    A pantomime is always based on a well­known children's story. But there are always certain types of characters in the show and certain situations and events. For example, a pantomime must always include a hero, known as the ＂principal boy＂ and this principal boy is always played by a pretty girl wearing a short costume (服装). Then there is the comic older woman, known as the ＂dame＂ who is played by a man. There is always a group of men and women who sing and dance and often there is a pantomime horse. The horse is played by two men who form the ＂front＂ and ＂back＂ ends inside a ＂horse＂ costume. It is funny and it usually kicks the dame when she isn't looking.

    Members of the audience have to shout a warning to one of the characters and argue (争论) with the character (usually the dame) when she does not believe them. When she shouts, ＂Oh no, it isn't, ＂ the audience always responds with ＂Oh yes, it is!＂ The audience also learns and sings a simple song and a few children are sometimes invited to help one of the characters during the show.

    Competition occurs naturally between living beings which co-exist in the same environment. In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity(繁荣). Others say that competition is bad ;that it sets one person against another ;that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.

    I have taught many children who held the belief that their self worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them playing well and winning are often life and death affairs. In their single minded pursuit(追求)of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.

    However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society.

    Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse :”I may have lost, but it doesn't matter because I really didn't try.” What is not usually admitted by themselves is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove them-selves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one's self respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve (缓解) can we discover a new meaning in competition.

    How many men do housework? Recently a European Commission tried to find out people's ideas and reactions to the women's movement. As part of their survey, they asked many men and women the question, “Who does the housework?” The men answered very differently from the women!

    The housework they asked people about were: preparing meals, washing dishes, cleaning the house and babysitting. 48% of British husbands said they did these things. 37% of Danish men helped in the house. But only 15% of Italian men said they did the housework, many of them said they never helped at all!

    But there was an interesting point of view from the wives. According to British wives, only 38% of their husbands helped in the house. And Italian wives said that their husbands hardly ever helped. The Italian and British men did not tell the truth! The Commission found that Danish men were the most trustful husbands; their answers were the same as their wives' answers.

    Do the men you know help in the house? Do you think the survey gives a true picture in your experience? Write and tell us what you think.