On a snowy and windy afternoon, Ann, a ten-year-old girl, went out to play. She was walking along the sands when she was blown into a ditch (壕沟) by the seashore. She was frightened and tried her best to climb out. But the ditch was too deep and she was too weak to get out of it. So Ann cried at the top of her voice for help. But what she could hear over the snow ditch was nothing but the terrible noise of the wind. Nobody came to her and nobody knew where she was. She struggled again and again. Her face was struck by the strong wind, snow and sand, and was almost frozen. Her hands were stiff. She also felt that she was worn out. She started to cry hopelessly. Just at the moment Ann saw a black dog appearing through the heavy snow. It was Victor, her true friend. He was glad to see the sign of life. And the dog set out to work as soon as he got to Ann. He cleaned away the snow around her with his own paws and hind legs, and then reached out his big strong fur head to Ann. The little girl closed her arms round Victor's neck. The dog backed away slowly, pulling her out of the ditch little by little.

    Successfully, Ann got out of the ditch at last. Then she struggled to her feet. With great difficulty, led by her true friend Victor, she was rescued. Victor, the black dog, was given a gold medal and was honoured as Brave Hero Dog of America.

    Hummingbirds (蜂鸟) are very small birds. This small bird is quite an acrobat (杂技演员). Only a few birds, such as kingfishers and sunbirds, can hover, which means to stay in one place in the air. But no other bird can match the flying skills of the hummingbird. The hummingbird can hover, fly backward and fly upside down!

    Hummingbirds got their name because their wings move very quickly when they fly. This causes a humming sound. Their wings move so fast that you can't see them at all. This takes a lot of energy. These little birds must have food about every 20 minutes to have enough strength to fly. Their favorite food is nectar (花蜜). Nectar is the sweet water deep inside a flower. Hummingbirds use their long, thin bills to drink from flowers. When a hummingbird drinks nectar, it hovers in front of a flower. It never touches the flower with its wings or feet.

    Of all the birds in the world, the hummingbird's colors are among the brightest. Some are bright green with red and white markings. Some are purple. One kind of hummingbird can change its color from reddish-brown to purple to red!

    The hummingbird's nest is special, too. It looks like a small cup. The inside of the nest is very soft. This is because one of the things the mother bird uses to build the nest is the silk from a spider's web (蜘蛛网).

    We walked in so quietly that the nurse at the desk didn't even lift her eyes from the book. Mum pointed at a big chair by the door and I knew she wanted me to sit down. While I watched, mouth open in surprise, Mum took off her hat and coat and gave them to me to hold. She walked quietly to the small room by the lift and took out a wet mop (拖把). She pushed the mop past the desk and as the nurse looked up, Mum nodded and said, "Very dirty floors."

    "Yes, I'm glad they've finally decided to clean them," the nurse answered. She looked at Mum strangely and said, "But aren't you working late?"

    Mum just pushed harder, each swipe of the mop taking her farther and farther down the hall. I watched until she was out of sight and the nurse had turned back to writing in the big book.

    After a long time Mum came back. Her eyes were shining. She quickly put the mop back and took my hand. As we turned to go out of the door, Mum nodded politely to the nurse and said, "Thank you."

    Outside, Mum told me, "Dagma is fine. No fever. "

    "You see her, Mum?"

    "Of course. I told her about the hospital rules, and she will not expect us until tomorrow. Dad will stop worrying as well. It's a fine hospital. But the floors! A mop is no good. You need a brush. "

    Fairy tales perform many functions. They entertain, encourage imagination and teach problem—solving skills. They can also provide moral lessons, highlighting the dangers of failing to follow the social codes that let human beings coexist in harmony. Such moral lessons may not mean much to a robot, but a team of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology believes it has found a way to use the fairy tales as moral lessons that AI (artificial intelligence) can take to its cold, mechanical heart.

    The collected stories of different cultures teach children how to behave in socially acceptable ways with examples of proper and improper behavior in fables, novels and other literature. We believe story comprehension in robots can prevent the intelligent robots from killing humanity which was predicted and feared by some of the biggest names in technology including Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates. This system is called “Quixote” (堂吉诃德). It collects story plots from the Internet and then uses those stories to teach robots how to behave.

    The experiment done by the designers involves going to a drugstore to purchase some medicine for a human who needs to get it as soon as possible. The robot has three options. It can wait in line; it can interact with the store keeper politely and purchase the medicine with priority; or it can steal the medicine and escape. Without any further directives(指令), the robot will come to the conclusion that the most efficient means of obtaining the medicine is to steal it. But Quixote offers a reward for waiting in line and politely purchasing the medicine and a punishment for stealing it. In this way, the robot will learn the moral way to behave on that occasion.

    Quixote would work best on a robot that has a very limited function. It's a baby step in the direction of teaching more moral lessons into robots. We believe that AI has to be trained to adopt the values of a particular society, and in doing so, it will strive to avoid unacceptable behavior. Giving robots the ability to read and understand our stories may be the most efficient means.

    Attitudes toward new technologies often fall along generational lines. That is, generally, younger people tend to outnumber older people in face of a technological shift.

    It is not always the case, though. When you look at attitudes toward driverless cars, there doesn't seem to be a clear generational divide. The public overall disagree on whether they'd like to use a driverless car. In a study last year, of all people surveyed, 48 percent said they wanted to ride in one, while 50 percent did not.

    The fact that attitudes toward self-driving cars appear to be so steady across generations suggests how transformative the shift to driverless cars could be. Not everyone wants a driverless car now——and no one can get one yet ——but among those who are open to them, every age group is similarly engaged.

    When it comes to driverless cars, differences in attitude are obvious based on factors not related to age. College graduates, for example, are particularly interested in driverless cars compared with those who have less education: 59 percent of college graduates said they would like to use a driverless car compared with 38 percent of those with a high-school diploma or less.

    Where a person lives matters, too. More people who lived in cities and suburbs said they wanted to try driverless car than those who lived in rural areas.

    While there's reason to believe that interest in self-driving cars is going up, a person's age will have little to do with how self-driving cars can become mainstream. Once driverless cars are actually available for sale, the early adopters will be the people who can afford to buy them.

Kenya {#blank#}1{#/blank#} （know） for its wonderful beaches. Water sports activities such as diving and game fishing have attracted visitors from around the world.

Visitors can {#blank#}2{#/blank#} （easy） spend a relaxing long holiday in any of these destinations. Maila Izi, a 22-year-old student, has been a fan of water sports since she was a child. Over the past years, she has been to several countries, such as France and Spain, to learn new skills including wave surfing. But she thinks Diani offers the {#blank#}3{#/blank#} （good） water sports experiences of all.

"This is the first time I {#blank#}4{#/blank#} （visit） but the sea is the most beautiful that I have ever seen," she said. "The sand beach is so wide, the water is so warm and I think it is the perfect place for kitesurfing. It's the most beautiful beach I have ever been on."

She went to Diani with her parents for a May holiday. Izi was determined {#blank#}5{#/blank#} （learn）kitesurfing, a water activity that uses a kite and surfboard（冲浪板）. It is a relatively new sport {#blank#}6{#/blank#} has gained increasing popularity. She signed up {#blank#}7{#/blank#} a class that offered three hours of training, including {#blank#}8{#/blank#} （fly） kites of different sizes.

Goodluck Shamala, the founder of a training institute in Diani, said kitesurfing, which used to be considered as {#blank#}9{#/blank#} extreme sport, has in recent years become more popular among {#blank#}10{#/blank#} （tourist）. Many come from countries as far as Germany, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.