Robots seem to be getting cleverer and cleverer. Here are four examples.

    The evening of September 29, 2011, China launched (发射) its first space lab module Tiangong-1 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.

    President Hu Jintao praised the success of China's first space lab module Tiangong-1, and shook hands with the staff of the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center.

    Premier Wen Jiabao and He Guoqiang also shook hands with the staff at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to congratulate on the success.

    Tiangong-1, which is plannedtoconnect with the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft later this year, will get ready for building China's first space station.

    During its two-year service life, Tiangong-1 will mainly carry on four tasks, such as experiments of autonomous rendezvous(自主交会) and connection with the Shenzhou-8, -9, and -10 spacecrafts in the coming launches, which is going to set up the country's first space lab, according to Wu Ping, spokesperson for China's National Space Administration.

    According to the plan for China's manned space program, the Shenzhou-10 will be a manned spacecraft that is going to carry a female Chinese astronaut.

    Tiangong-1 is expected to become China's first space laboratory when it connects to the above mentioned spaceships.

    Bananas are the perfect snack. Not only are they sweet and delicious, but they are easy to carry around, so you can take them anywhere. Best of all, bananas provide different things that the human body needs!

    Bananas grow best in warm places that get lots of rain. They grow on plants that look like trees.

    The banana plant, however, is considered a herb rather than a tree because it doesn't have a strong, woody stem(茎，干). The plants can grow as high as 30 feet. When they reach their full height, flowers grow out from the stem. These flowers produce bananas.

    Two or three times each year, the plants produce fruit. The bananas grow together, which seem like "hands". A hand is made up of 10 to 20 bananas. Growers sometimes call bananas "fingers".

    Each bunch(丛) of bananas has about 15 hands, and so a whole bunch may have as many as 200 bananas and can weigh more than 100 pounds.

    After about three months, the bananas are ready to be picked. At this point, they still aren't the sunny yellow color of bananas. Farmers pick them when they're green. That's how they're shipped to stores. They turn yellow along the way and are ready to be sold.

    If you love bananas, you've got a lot of company. Americans have been enjoying bananas since the first shipment arrived in the United States in 1876. Today, American eat more bananas than any other fruit. More bananas are sold than apples and grapes together. Every American eats over 26 pounds of bananas each year!

    You and I can tell one face from another easily, but can computers do the same with few mistakes? At an earlier time, many thought it was impossible, but progress in facial recognition(识别)software has made it come true. Technology is quickly catching up with the human ability to read faces.

    Some facial recognition systems use a digital picture and measure(测量) different points on the face. Measurements include the distance between the eyes, the width of the nose, the length of the jaw(下巴) line and more. A detailed map, or faceprint, of the face is developed, stored and later used as a basis for comparison and matching.

    Some government agencies, airports and banks use facial recognition technology for safety purposes. Apple and Facebook use it to provide their users with added convenience. For example, Apple's new iPhone is expected to use it to unlock the home screen. Other companies use it to help them in better recognizing their customers' needs. For example, some stores are checking into the use of the technology to catch sight of return customers. Then they can offer special deals, based on the customers' buying habits.

    In America, facial recognition is used by universities to check students' attendance. This year Welsh police used it to catch a terrorist outside a football game. In China it checks on the identities of ride-hailing drivers, permits tourists to enter some places of interest quickly and lets people pay for things with a smile.

    While some systems are used with the knowledge of the persons, others aren't, and that raises worries. For many people, however, convenience outbalances the worries, in other words, meaning that facial recognition technology is likely here to stay.