Tornadoes(龙卷风) are one of the worst weather events on earth. Each year, tornadoes kill many people. The storms often carry homes, cars and trees from one place to another. And they can also destroy anything when they pass by.

      A tornado comes from a thunderstorm(雷雨) in the sky down to the ground. It is big at the top and small at the bottom.

      A tornado appears when winds in different directions meet in the cloud and begin to turn in circles. People can see tornadoes almost everywhere in the world. But most happen from late winter to middle summer. There is a second high season in November. During spring, warm air moves north and mixes with the cold air left from winter. In November, the opposite happens. Cold air moves south and mixes with the warm air left from summer.

      Tornadoes always come suddenly. Weather scientists have done something to predict(预测) tornadoes. But the storms often move too fast for people to protect themselves. Last year, tornadoes killed more than one hundred people in United States.

      Scientists say the best place to be in is a small room, without windows, in the middle the lowest part of a building when tornadoes come.

    What would the world be like if cars could drive themselves? Imagine seeing an empty car passing by on its way to pick up its owner, or a car full of passengers who are reading, listening to music or even sleeping. But none of them are worried about the road ahead.

    Well, all of this could be the future of driving. There are several companies, including Google, working on driverless cars. So far, no Google self-driven car has gotten a traffic ticket, bus some of them have been in accidents when other cars hit them.

    These cars are now still in the testing stages. But, if the tests are successful, these electric self-driven cars could be put into use very soon.

    The cars already have many features（特点）allowing them to take the place of drivers during certain situations. Some features include cars being able to park themselves, or slow down when they notice objects close by. They can also control the speed if there are dangerous conditions.

    Scientists and engineers believe, with the help of wireless（无线电的）signals, cameras and GPS, we are now at a stage where creating a safe self-driven car might be possible.

    The cause of deadly road accidents is usually careless drivers or dangerous conditions. The self-driven car may be able to prevent these. However, some people do not like the idea. American lawyer Whit Drake, for example, doesn't believe these cars are safe. He thinks that technologies can also be mistakes.

    The Internet joins millions of computers all over the world,and today it is used by people all over the world.It was invented in the 1960s in the USA.The American government needed a network of computers for its army.Then in the 1970s scientists and business people also wanted to use the Internet to send and receive messages.For some years,they weren't allowed to use the US network,and when they were allowed to,the messages were in very simple text without photos.

    The World Wide Web was invented by a British scientist named Tim Berners-Lee in 1989.He wanted to send documents to other scientists,so he developed the World Wide Web.This allowed him to send and receive scientific documents with text,drawings and photos(also called multimedia documents).In the 1990s,more and more people began to use the Internet and the World Wide Web.

    So what's the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web?The Internet is the hardware.It allows us to communicate with other people.The World Wide Web is the software.It allows us to create, see and read multimedia documents.

    The Web is made up of millions of documents called Web pages.These pages are held in computers all over the world.Many people have a favorite website with a number of Web pages on the same subject.

    The email is a way of using your computer to send and receive messages.It's cheaper and quicker to use emails than send normal mails.New users call the normal mail “snail mail” because it's too slow.It took 50 years for 100 million people to listen to the radio.It took 15 years for 100 million people to watch television.By the year 2000, it had taken only about three years for 100 million people to use the Internet.What will happen next on the Internet?

    When you are waiting on a phone call with a pen in your hand or feeling bored on a train, you may probably doodle(涂鸦). Consultant Graphology(笔迹咨询师)Tracey has studied the most common doodles and their meaning in a new piece of research. Here she shares the psychology(心理学)behind those doodles.