Thumbs Down to Texting (屈指发短信)

    Do you have a mobile phone? Do you send text messages to your friends and family?

    Text messaging or “texting” is becoming very popular. But, scientists have discovered that texting can give us problems with our hands. Be careful! Too much texting can cause swelling in our thumbs. Our thumbs were not made for pushing small buttons, over and over. Scientists call this problem RSI. We spoke to a doctor called Harriet Wilson, who treats many sick people with RSI. She says we need to see how much time we are spending in typing text messages. If we are spending more than 10-15 minutes at once, we could have problems in the future.

    As mobile phones develop, they are getting smaller with buttons closer together. Texting with a smaller phone is worse than using a larger phone with bigger buttons. Using a computer keyboard and playing video games can cause the same problem. So more and more people could find themselves with RSI. Among them, most are university students and teenagers, as they do not know the risks of spending so much time using computer, video games and mobile phones. If we don't do something about this, too many young people could grow up in terrible pain.

    What do you read when you are travelling by train or bus? What are other people reading? Perhaps a woman sitting near you is reading a love story. A man is reading a serious biography(自传) about a president. And there's a student reading an English textbook.

    What do their choices(选择) say about them? Do you think you can know them by what they are reading? I have got to tell you that your feelings of them may be quite wrong. The woman reading the love story could be a lawyer. She just wants a light read to take her mind off work. The man reading the biography wants you to think that he is very clever. The student reading the textbook isn't a student at all. She's an English teacher.

    Publishers(出版商) know that some people care what they read on trains or buses and so they put out different types of covers. For example， books about Harry Potter have a cartoon cover for young readers and then another more serious cover for grown—ups.

    So next time you are on a train， look around and see what other people are reading， but don't jump to any conclusions(结论). You will be wrong maybe.

Here is a sentence that you could say， “Don't judge（判断） a book by its cover”.

    A few months ago, a strange thing happened in my life. I heard a strange sound outside the window every night. I was scared and didn't know what to do. I thought there might be a thief standing outside the window was closed. I asked my parents to see what it was. But they didn't find anything. They thought it might be the wind. But I didn't think so.

    That lasted for a few days. I couldn't sleep well. Sometimes I even couldn't fall asleep, One day, I bought a flashlight(手电筒) in a market. At midnight, as soon as I heard the strange sound, I jumped out of my bed with the flashlight. I saw a black cat jumping up and down near thewindow. He might want to make friends with my pet cat, but he couldn't get into my house.

    Do you think it is strange? Have you ever had this kind of experience in your life?

⑴--⑷根据短文内容，回答问题⑸英译汉

    Don't be surprised if you see a car going down the road without a driver in Beijing these days. In March, 2018, Baidu was given a license to test its self-driving cars in Beijing, China Daily reported.

    Self-driving cars have been in development since 2010, when Google announced that it was making such cars. Since then, companies like Tesla, Uber and Baidu have been working to produce and test their own self-driving cars.

    Self-driving cars are expected to change the way we get around. They are safer and more environmentally friendly than regular cars. They can remove the stress(压力) of driving and allow disabled or blind people to get around more easily.

    But self-driving cars have their own disadvantages as well. In one test, researchers pointed a laser pointer (激光棒) at the car's sensors (感应器) while it was moving. The car mistakenly thought that the laser beam (波束) was in its way and slowed down or changed directions.

    The software (软件) that is used to direct the cars may not be safe enough. Reported Live science. Sometimes, without any reasons, it may break down when we use out computers or smart phones. If the software in a self-driving car happened to crash, the results could be deadly. Maybe improvements to the software could solve this problem.

Information Card

        ①   In some Cultures, the foot of a rabbit is Carried as an amulet(护身符) believed to bring good luck. Belief is held in many parts of the world including Europe, China, Africa and South America.

       ②   Wishing upon a wishbone is an old Custom. It includes two people who would break the wishbone and the one with a Bigger piece makes a wish. The wishbone's shape just likes the letter" Y".

       ③   A In ancient days, old Boots or shoes were said to hold the good spirit and courage of their owners. Therefore, it was a Common Belief that an old Boot was a good luck Charm.

       ④   Clover is actually a type of wild plant with flowers shaped like Cotton balls and usually has three leaves on each stem. In fact, it is very difficult to find a four-leaf Clover.