Years ago I moved to Woodland Hills to take a job in a small hospital's emergency department. No one wanted to work on Christmas Eve, so the shift（轮班）went to me. I kissed my family goodbye and went off to spend the night in the hospital. It was a thankless job.

    At 9 pm, the ambulance brought in a man in his 60s who was having a heart attack. His face was pale, and he was frightened. The whole night I did my best to save his life. Before I left in the morning to spend Christmas with my family, I stopped by to see how he was doing. It was still tough, but he had survived the night and was sleeping.

    The following year I got Christmas Eve duty again. At 9 pm sharp, the ward clerk told me there was a couple who wanted to speak with me. When I approached them, the man introduced himself as Mr. Lee and said, “You probably don't remember me, but last Christmas Eve you saved my life. Thank you for the year you gave me.” He and his wife hugged me, handed me a small gift, and left.

    The following year a new doctor had joined the group, but I wanted to see if Mr. and Mrs. Lee would return. This time, I volunteered for the shift. I kept an eye on the door. Once again, at exactly 9 pm, the Lees appeared, carrying a warmly wrapped bundle. It was their new grandchild. Mr. Lee, his family and I spent 13 Christmas Eves together.

    The last year I saw him, he brought me a gift. I carefully opened the package and found a crystal bell inside. It was carved with a single word: Friendship. Now, my family, friends and I ring that bell every Christmas Eve at exactly 9 pm and offer our best wishes to the man who we won't forget.

    In 1941, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov stated the Three Laws of Robotics. These laws come from the world of science fiction, but the real world is catching up. A law firm gave Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University $10 million to explore artificial intelligence. Peter Kalis, chairman of the law firm, K&L Gates, said the development of technology had led to questions that were never taken seriously before. What will happen when you make robots that are smart, independent thinkers and then try to limit their freedom?

    Researcher Kalis said, “One expert said we'll be at a point when we give an instruction to our robot to go to work in the morning and it turns around and says, 'I'd rather go to the beach.'” He said that one day we would want laws to keep our free-thinking robots from running wild.

    With the law firm's gift, the university will be able to explore problems now appearing within automated industries. “Take driverless cars for example,” Kalis said. “If there's an accident concerned with a driverless car, what policies do we have in place? What kind of insurance policies do they have?” In fact, people can take a ride in a driverless car in Pittsburgh where an American online transportation network company uses the city as a testing ground for the company's driverless cars.

    The problems go beyond self-driving cars and robots. Think about the next generation of smartphones, those chips fixed in televisions, computers, fridges, etc., and the ever-expanding collection of personal data being stored in the “cloud”. So can Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics be used in reality? Is it necessary to have a moral guideline that everyone can understand? Whatever it is, doing no harm should be the very first one.

    FOREIGN TEACHERS ARE NEEDED ALL OVER CHINA

    Ad No.90374

    Posted Oct 12, 2016 13:27 by Amanda

    Date due: Dec 12,2016

    Beijing Language Teaching Part Time

    We are looking for Teachers, whose Native Language is English, willing to teach in China.

    Mostly schools are in South of China.

    The Benefit package for ESL Teachers includes:

    Period: 1st Mar.2017 to 1st Jul.2017

    Salary: 4,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan /Month

    Teaching load&schedule:20 teaching hours per week

    A rent-free, fully furnished apartment for living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom

    Kitchen equipment provided. Other electric appliances will be supplied: water heater, microwave etc.

    If you are interested, please read the information above and kindly send your application to attach the following documents(doc or JPEG format). The subject to be mentioned, as "Teach in China".

    ⒈Resume(简历)

    ⒉A copy of academic degree/diploma/certificate

    ⒊A copy of your valid passport

    ⒋A recent color photo

    ⒌A letter of recommendation/or release letter from your previous Chinese school(Only if you worked in China previously)

    ⒍Any other relevant information that you think might help your application

    On the night of December 8, 1992, when he was standing in a parking lot talking to friends, Tracy March jumped to the top of a car, as he had done a hundred times before. This time, though, Tracy lost his balance. His head struck the ground, hard.

    All night, Cory, Tracy's mother, stood next to her son, who was lying in a hospital bed, his brown eyes fixed in a lifeless stare. She remembered that Tracy had once mentioned organ donation. Maybe I can spare another family this pain, she thought. When the time came, she and her husband Bill signed the forms permitting his organs to be donated.

    Tracy was declared dead the next day. Twenty-four hours later, in a Boston hospital, Tracy's liver was made part of my husband, David, who was suffering from a hopeless liver disease.

    Months later, we learned from the local organ bank that the donor's parents wished desperately to meet someone who had gained life through the gift from their son. A meeting was arranged by the organ bank to bring together two families linked by the most bittersweet ties imaginable.

    The meeting was risky, but worth it. We talked for 3 hours. They showed us a picture of Tracy. We learned how he had lived and died. We learned something about Bill and Cory too.

    For the Marches, seeing David and knowing he was well seemed to ease their suffering. I'll never forget seeing David's tall figure stopped over Cory, her arms around his waist, as a mother would hug a son. For a long time they held each other tight. It was hard to know if she was saying hello or good-bye. Maybe she was saying both.

    You have just won ten million yuan in a lottery (彩票) - how would you spend it? Before you know it, ten minutes had gone on daydreaming. There is a time and a place for daydreaming, but we don't have much control over that. Isn't it worrying that an estimated 30 to 50 percent of our waking time is spent daydreaming? What if your dentist is having that lottery daydream while removing your rotten tooth?

    Some studies suggest daydreaming makes us unhappy because we are not focusing on what is around us but are instead thinking about the past or future. However, a recent study published in the journal Neuropsychologica finds that mind-wandering can be of benefit to us. The researchers measured the brain patterns of more than 100 people using an MRI (核磁共振成像) scanner. This data was compared with tests on creative ability and a questionnaire on how much their minds usually wandered. Those whose minds wandered the most scored higher in creative ability tests and had more efficient brain systems measured in the MRI machine.

    Being efficient at mind-wandering means you can zone out and then naturally switch back in without missing any important point or step. Christine Godwin, the lead author of the latest study from the Georgia Institute of Technology, says that if you are focusing on difficult tasks, your performance will drop if your mind wanders. “But when tasks are easy, people who have high cognitive ability can let their minds wander because it does not affect their performance. You may be thinking about upcoming goals or problem-solving. These are some of the positive sides to mind-wandering."

    Mind-wandering can vary between being more practical or more emotional. What mind-wandering seems to be best at, researchers say, is coming up with new solutions to old problems. So, it's not always a waste of time!

    We lived in a quiet neighborhood. One evening I heard a loud crash. Earlier my wife had asked me to the store for soft drinks. My teenage daughter Holly practiced her driving, so I sent her to the store in my truck.

    At dinner my son talked about how much he liked my truck. I enjoyed having it, but I said: "My heart is not set on that truck. I like it but it is just metal and won't last forever. Never set your heart on anything that won't last. "

    After hearing the loud noise, the whole family ran outside. My son shouted: "Holly crashed your truck."

    The accident took place in my own driveway. Holly had crashed my truck into our other vehicle(交通工具), the family van. In her inexperience, she had confused the brake(刹车) and the gas pedal(油门). Holly was unhurt physically, but she was crying, "Dad, I'm sorry. I know how much you love this truck." I held her in my arms as she cried.

    I still remembered how sad Holly was the night she crashed our truck, and how I comforted her. When Holly thinks back on her life, I want her to know that I love her a thousand times more than any piece of property(财产).

    I repaired the van, but the dent(凹痕) in my truck is still there today. Every day it reminds me of what really matters in my life.