A new concept vehicle, Pod was introduced by Toyota and Sony at the Tokyo motor show. The car is intended as a four-wheeled friend. It aims to provide affection, sympathy and encouragement. Like a dog welcoming its master, the car sits up, wags its tail and acknowledges its owner's presence using hydraulics(液压装置) and a multi-coloured LED display panel(引擎) across the front.

    While on the road, the car constantly monitors the driver's mood with pulse and sweat(汗) sensors on the joystick(操纵杆). Cameras focused on the eyes keep watch for any sigh of drowsiness. If a driver appears to be losing his or her cool, Pod will display warnings, play soft music and blow cold air at the face. Drivers are shaken awake with loud music and a shaking chair.

    To improve driving skills, Pod uses a comparison to score drivers, offer advice and rank all Pod owners. Toyota claims that the car will eventually be able to learn its owner's likes and dislikes by monitoring passenger conversations. If the car hears a favorite song being discussed, it will download the track from the Internet and play it without being asked. It will also recommend(推荐) restaurants that might suit the driver's taste and take photographs of passengers when they sound particularly happy.

    In keeping with the moodiness that is the car's main selling point, Pod expresses a form of road anger. If a driver brakes or swerves(急转弯) suddenly, the LED panel shows an angry red and the tail rises at the back.

    Anger is one of the car's ten “emotional states”. Another is sadness — a blue front with tear-shaped lights seemingly dropping from headlights — which appears after a flat tire or when gas is low.

    “We wanted to show that the cars can be cheerful and entertaining,” said Yasunori Sakamoto, part of the Toyota design team. Mr Sakamoto said Toyota has no plans to put Pod on the market. Sad, really.

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    If you need glasses to read this, you are among the majority of Chinese students. That's because most students in China are short-sighted which means they can only see things close up and distant things will be blurry. Four-fifths of high school students wear glasses and now more and more children in primary school need glasses, too.

    This epidemic of poor eyesight has two very simple causes: too much time spent indoors studying and too little time spent outdoors playing. Reading and writing for hours and hours, sometimes in poorly lighted rooms, causes eyesight to weaken. But students have to do this because there is so much pressure on them to succeed in school. And because they spend so much time indoors at school and at home, they have less time to spend outdoors enjoying the sun.

    The sun, as a consequence, is important in developing good eyesight. Exposure to daylight releases a chemical in the eyes that prevents, or at least delays, short-sightedness. According to a study by Ian Morgan of Australian National University, Australian children and Chinese children have the same level of eyesight before they start school, but once they enter primary school, Chinese children only spend about an hour a day outside, while Australian children spend three to four hours each day in the sunshine. The result is that while about 40 percent of Chinese primary school students need glasses, only three percent of Australian children do.

    Wearing glasses may not seem like a big deal. For some, wearing glasses can even be an opportunity to make a fashion statement. But poor eyesight at a young age can have serious long term consequences. As you get older, your eyesight can worsen and lead to things like macular degeneration(黄斑变性), a condition of the eyes for which there is no cure and which can eventually lead to blindness.

    With all that in mind, don't you think it's time to give your eyes a break? Try spending a little less time inside and go for a walk in the park, instead. It's the healthy thing to do and your eyes will thank you for it.

Drug problems

    If you're worried about your own or someone else's drug taking or misuse, it's good to know the facts.

Why take drugs?

    Drug users don't start using drugs with the intention of becoming addicted. But many drugs contain addictive substances(物质) and even people who use them occasionally can become dependent and need to use them regularly.

    Reasons why people start using drugs can include: to escape problems they may be having in other parts of their life, peer pressure and fitting in with another group of people, being curious about the effects of drugs.

    If you start to use drugs on a regular basis, or if you become dependent on them, it can affect your family and friends as well as having a serious impact on your own physical and mental well-being.

    Drug overdoses can be fatal. You can die instantly from misusing substances and drugs that you can buy over the counters.

Signs of drug abuse and misuse

    There is not a common list of symptoms that you can use to tell if you or someone you know is misusing drugs. That's because drug use affects different people in different ways, depending on the type of drugs they're using.

    Although anxiety, tiredness and a change in sleeping habits can be signs of drug use, they can also be caused by changes in your body, stress or other problems.

_____________________

    Drugs are categorised into three classes based on their overall level of harm. Class A drugs are the most dangerous, however, all the drugs in all three classes are harmful and addictive.

    Remember that all drugs are illegal, even Class C drugs like cannabis(大麻烟). If you're caught selling them to other people, or carrying a small amount in your pocket, it's likely that the police will get involved.

    If you're found guilty of any of these offences, you may face a fine or time in custody(拘留), with Class A drugs carrying the most severe sentences.

Worried about a friend?

    If you think that one of your friends or relatives is misusing drugs, you may want to approach them and talk about it. It's not your responsibility to make them stop, but you can tell them about how their behaviour is affecting your relationship.

    If they ask for help with their problem, then it's important to listen and help them find the right information and treatment.

National Drugs Helpline

    If you're worried about drug abuse and addiction you can call the National Drugs Helpline on 0800 776 600 for confidential advice—lines are open seven days a week. Calls are free and they won't show up on your phone bill, but you may be charged if you use a mobile.

More useful links

Information about addictions from need to know

Information about drugs, the law and human rights

    In the United States, when one becomes rich, he wants people to know it. And even if he does not become very rich, he wants people to think that he is. That is what “keeping up with the Joneses” is about. It is the story of someone who tried to look as rich as his neighbors.

    The expression was first used in 1913 by a young American called Arthur Momand. He told this story about himself. He began earning $ 125 a week at the age of 23. That was a lot of money in those days. He got married and moved with his wife to a very wealthy neighborhood outside New York City. When he saw that rich people rode horses, Momand went horseback riding every day. When he saw that rich people had servants, Momand and his wife also hired a servant and gave big parties for their new neighbors.

    It was like a race, but one could never finish his race because one was always trying to keep up. The race ended for Momand and his wife when they could no longer pay for their new way of life. They moved back to an apartment in New York City.

    Momand looked around him and noticed that many people do things just to keep up with rich lifestyle of their neighbors. He saw the funny side of it and started to write a series of short stories. He called it “Keeping up with the Joneses” because “Jones” is a very common name in the United States. “Keeping up with the Joneses” came to mean keeping up with rich lifestyle of the people around you. Momand's series appeared in different newspapers across the country for over 28 years.

    People never seem to get tired of keeping up with the Joneses. And there are “Joneses” in every city of the world. But one must get tired of trying to keep up with the Joneses because no matter what one does, Mr. Jones always seems to be ahead.

    For Chinese, it's a time for dragon boat racing and Zongzi (粽子). But across the Yellow Sea, South Korea, wrestling (摔跤) and swing play are the highlights. However, both events go by the same name—the Dragon Boat Festival—which falls on May5 of the lunar calendar.

    One festival, two cultures: does one nation have the right to call its own? It has been reported that South Korea will apply (申请) to the United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO联合国教科文组织) to make the celebration its cultural heritage (文化遗产). If successful, people from other countries may see the Dragon Festival as a Korean creation.

    As the birthplace of the yearly event more than 2, 000 years ago, China is not happy with the situation. "It would be a shame if another country successfully made a traditional Chinese festival part of its own cultural heritage ahead of China," said Zhou Heping, deputy culture minister. The Ministry of Culture is even thinking of making its own application to UNESCO, covering all traditional Chinese festivals, including the Dragon Boat event.

    Over the years, the Dragon Boat Festival has spread throughout the world. In Japan and Viet Nam, as well as South Korea, the festival has mixed with and become part of local culture. With this in mind, some experts say that it is meaningless to argue about which country the festival belongs to. "No one can deny that it came from China," said Long Haiqing, an expert from Hunan Province. "But if all the countries involved can protect culture heritage together, they will all benefit."

A great poem makes you want to get out of your chair and pace around the room. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. But if you haven't developed your. poetry taste in a while, that feeling might be a little hard to tap into. Here are four tips that can help you get there.

Read aloud and out loud

When reading a poem, it is important to remember that it is not just words on a page, but is meant to be heard or read aloud. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. It will enhance the appreciation of the piece.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}.

Approaching poetry with a perspective of finding connections between the poem and one's own life can be a valuable tool for appreciating the poem more. Connecting to the emotions, memories and even the same life experiences can help to relate more to the poem and in turn, truly appreciate it. Through this connection to the poem, we can better understand the feelings, actions and words of the poem.

Create a dialogue

More often than not, a lot of hidden or "unsaid" messages are delivered in poetry. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. A fruitful discussion about a poem can help readers to understand the poem more, through their different interpretations and opinions.

Write your own poem

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}. As you write your own poem, think about the structure you want to create, the literary devices you want to employ and the emotion you want to arouse. As you write your own poem, you will see your appreciation of the original poem rise, as you gain a sense of the effort that goes into crafting a poem. In this way, it can become much easier to appreciate the poem being read.

A. Find connections

B. Pair poetry with other art forms

C. Writing can be a great way to start your appreciation of a poem

D. It makes you want to throw your hands up and show it to somebody

E. Reading the poem aloud helps you understand the emotion of the poet fully

F. Having a discussion around a poem allows readers to bring out these messages

G. Possessing a critical eye allows readers to appreciate the art of poetry in a meaningful way