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    This month, Germany's transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, proposed the first set of rules for autonomous vehicles(自主驾驶车辆). They would define the driver's role in such cars and govern how such cars perform in crashes where lives might be lost.

    The proposal attempts to deal with what some call the “death valley” of autonomous vehicles: the grey area between semi-autonomous and fully driverless cars that could delay the driverless future.

    Dobrindt wants three things: that a car always chooses property(财产) damage over personal injury; that it never distinguishes between humans based on age or race; and that if a human removes his or her hands from the driving wheel — to check email, say — the car's maker is responsible if there is a crash.

    “The change to the road traffic law will permit fully automatic driving,” says Dobrindt. It will put fully driverless cars on an equal legal footing to human drivers, he says.

    Who is responsible for the operation of such vehicles is not clear among car makers, consumers and lawyers. “The liability(法律责任) issue is the biggest one of them all,” says Natasha Merat at the University of Leeds, UK.

    An assumption behind UK insurance for driverless cars, introduced earlier this year, insists that a human “ be watchful and monitoring the road” at every moment.

    But that is not what many people have in mind when thinking of driverless cars. “When you say ‘driverless cars', people expect driverless cars.”Merat says. “You know — no driver.”

    Because of the confusion, Merat thinks some car makers will wait until vehicles can be fully automated without operation.

    Driverless cars may end up being a form of public transport rather than vehicles you own, says Ryan Calo at Stanford University, California. That is happening in the UK and Singapore, where government-provided driverless vehicles are being launched.

    That would go down poorly in the US, however. “The idea that the government would take over driverless cars and treat them as a public good would get absolutely nowhere here,” says Calo.

    If you feel like you've been listening to the same three songs on a loop（循环地）, maybe it's time to discover some new songs. With these apps (almost all of which are free, by the way) and some patience, you might just find your new favorite songs:

Indie shuffle

    Allows you to browse through lesser-known artists' music based on genre（类型）, release date and various other categories（类别）. You can save songs or artists you like and find bands with similar sounds.

Rormix

    Rormix searches your music library to find out what genres and artists you already listen to. Based on its findings, the app suggests music videos you might like just as much. It's an easy way to find new artists without getting too far away from the genres you know and love.

Band of the day

    Provides you with new lesser-known artists and groups to listen to every single day! Download the app, turn on notifications, and you'll get a daily recommendation.

Bandsintown

    If you live for live music, Bandsintown will automatically download your library and suggest concerts you might like based on that list. If a new concert is announced in your area, you will get an automatic e-mail with the details. Basically, you will never miss another show. Here is the best part: You can buy tickets through the app.

Soundcloud

    It is the place to find up-and-coming musicians and remixed singles. Anyone can share and ad music, leading to endless possibilities. The app is a streaming（流媒体）service, online community, and creative outlet. For fans, it makes it possible to keep up with your favorite artists' latest releases.

    I had just moved to San Antonio, Texas. I worked for the tour bus service taking tourists on a short tour of the city's historic places and would end up at the Alamo.

    I was driving back from my last tour on a cool February day on my way back from the San Femando Catholic church with no one on my bus when I saw a man dressed in rags, thinking this person must be an actor or something walking around. I stopped and asked him, “Need a ride?” Without saying anything he just walked on broad and sat down in seat behind me.

    “Where are you heading?” I asked him. He looked up into the mirror at me and replied. “I've got to get to the fort(要塞)and report to Colonel(上校)Travis that the Mexicans are here!” I laughed to myself thinking that this man was a serious actor.

    “I'm guessing you mean the Alamo?” I said back to him. I looked up and saw he wasn't smiling nor laughing. All throughout the ride he was staring in amazement at all the towering skyscrapers and the buildings along the street.

    “I remember when this town was nothing more than a little trading village!” He finally said to me.

    “So what's your name?” I asked him.

    “Daniel Cloud, yours?”

    “David Zime.” I replied as I turned the corner of the street and laid eyes upon the Alamo.

    I pulled up to the sidewalk and opened the door. Cloud got out of his seat and came up to me.

    “Thanks for the ride.” He said extending his hand. I took his palm and it was freezing cold like he just stepped out of the freezer.

    “Not a problem, Mr. Cloud, and don't worry about the fee. It's on the house.” He nodded his head in gratitude like all us Texans do and walked away.

    It wasn't until then that I noticed that he was soaked(浸；泡)to the bone in dripping water and we had not a single drop of rain in a month or more. I just shook my head and closed the door behind him. When I turned around. Discovered amazingly how fast Cloud had gone away!

    A few days later I was reading a book about the Battle of the Alamo when I discovered the most shocking thing I had ever discovered. The names of the 183 defenders of the Alamo were listed on the roll of honor, including Daniel Cloud, who spotted the Mexicans before they took over the streets of San Antonio in February of 1836, and his post was on top of the San Femando Church where I had picked him up!

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    As the weather costs you a loss on trains and flights, we look at your rights.

Cancelled trains

    On a single ticket, a passenger will usually receive 25% of the fare if the train is delayed by 15 minutes. If the delay reaches 30 minutes, the compensation（补偿金）rises to 50%, and if it's over an hour you should be able to reclaim the whole cost. Clear arrangements vary according to train operators（运营商）.

    If you were due to travel, to say Aberdeen from London, your train is cancelled and you decide not to travel, you can get a full compensation. If you had a non-cancelable ticket with one operator, and failed to make that train because the connecting train was delayed, you can take the next available train.

Flights

    If your flight is cancelled because of the snow you have the right to s full compensation of the ticket, or to be rerouted home on a later flight.

    But you will have no right to get a delay or cancellation compensation under EU rules, because the snow is an extraordinary circumstance beyond the airline's control. If you don't take the compensation and choose to be rerouted, and it means you are stuck at the airport overnight, it's the airline's duty to pay for a reasonably priced hotel room and meals.

    The airline has to reroute you at the earliest opportunity, or at the passenger's free time, you are supposed to take the availability of seats.

    If you choose to be rerouted or if your departure is delayed by more than two hours, airlines also have to provide assistance such as food. The airlines keep this quiet and getting the money out of the low-cost operators can be a hard job. Keep evidence of cancellations, all receipts, and use your mobile to video any offer to pay by airline staff.

    From now, if all goes well, a high-tech spacecraft will land in the South Pole of the moon. There, it will drill 66 feet down into the surface(表面) and collect samples of the mantle(地幔样本) to bring back to the earth.

    But before it leaves, it will have a two-part time capsule(时光胶囊): a public part, full of the Earth's history, and a private part, full of digital(数码的) memory boxes created by individuals(个人). These memory boxes can hold digital files — records of family trees, videos or actual DNA in the form of human hair. Not everyone can have a digital memory box, though. The boxes are only delivered for the people who donate the money to the project.

    The project, called Lunar Mission One, has already raised more than half of its ￡600,000 goal since its launch(启动) just a few days ago. The founders thought that it would succeed because of the attraction of both exploring the moon surface and leaving a time capsule behind. The mission was a technical action, but it was also an emotional one, bringing the excitement of knowing that something humans built on the Earth reached somewhere else in space.

    Still, it does seem risky(冒险的) for a person to donate￡60 to keep a digital memory box for a project that won't come true until 2024. What if the project never takes off? What if the technology isn't good enough? What if those digital memory boxes break on the moon's surface? And how will anybody ever even know if that happens? Ian Crawford, a professor at Birkbeck College in London and scientific advisor to the mission, says it is not necessary to worry about these. The plan to leave a time capsule on the moon isn't really about physically leaving something on the moon — it's more an opportunity to encourage people's interest in space.

    “Attention, everyone!” Miss Dalrymple looked at her class of ten-year-olds. “Today we are going to create a special card for Father's Day, which falls on this weekend.” Then she busied herself handing out the paper and art materials to her noisy pupils.

    They were a mixed punch. Some came from the rich side of the town, but the majorities were from parents who struggled to get jobs. So she had not been eager to carry out this activity.

    “Think about all the things that your dad does that make him special,” she said loudly as she approached the last table. “You can write a poem or short story thinking of the positive characteristics that make your dad special. The written part of this activity should be completed before you start to decorate your card.”

    Andrew looked at the blank page. He had never met, spoken to, or been hugged by his dad, so how could he write about him? Once when he was looking in his grandma's photo box, he had seen an old black and white photo but it was badly creased(弄皱) and difficult to recognize any clear features. She had quickly taken it from him and buried it deeply among the rest, never to be found again. After thinking for a while, he wrote:

Dear Dad,

    You are a person I do not know and would probably not recognize as I only saw an old photo of you a long time ago. I think and wonder about you often, especially when I have no one to talk to about the Saturday fixtures(体育活动). One day when I grow up I will do an Internet search to find you, but I am not sure whether I will be successful as several attempts by the Child Support Agency have not been successful. Happy Father's Day, Dad.

Love,

Andrew