It was a hot,humid day, and my brother Walt and I had decided that the only way to surviveit would be to go swimming in a deep swimming hole across Mr. Blickez's pasture(牧场) and through some woods.

    The onlyproblem with our plan was that this pasture was guarded by a huge, meanHereford bull. Mr. Blickez had told us that Elsie was the meanestbull in the township, maybe even the county, and we believed him. But the hotter it got, the more we thoughtthere was something fishy about his claim. For one thing, we remembered Mr. Blickez liked telling tall tales; for another, Elsie seemed like an oddname for a bull.

    Finally, Italked Mom into asking permission for us to walk through the pasture, but thenanother problem surfaced．Mom said she would talk to Mr. Blickez if we would take our cousin Joanie along with us. Joanie was almost two years older than me anda head taller. If her teasingever got around my grade school, it would be all over for me. In fact, I still had a headache from a quarrelwith her that morning.“I'm not goingswimming with that dumb girl cousin.” I told my mom.

  “Either Joaniegoes with, or you stay home alone,” Mom said in her serious tone. I gave in and we set out. On our way across the pasture, Walt yelledsuddenly. Elsie hadapproached him quietly and was licking(舔) his back. Joanie and Idove under the wire fence, but while I was on the ground I looked up and sawthat Elsie wasn't a big mean bull after all. She was going to keep licking my brother's back as long as he stoodstill.

    We had manygood days growing up and visiting our secret swimming hole guarded by theso-called “big mean bull”. And as it turned out, for a girl cousin, Joanie hasn't been too bad. She's been one of my best friends over theyears.

    Like many thickly populated urban neighborhoods, Lincoln Park also has rats. A lot of rats. “Every night when I walk down the sidewalk, I see rats, ” says 36-year-oId Kelly McGee, who has come to accept this aspect of city living. “It's an urban area; I don't know what else we can expect.”

McGee lives just down the block from the old Children's Memorial Hospital, which is about to be torn down as part of a massive redevelopment project. “Construction all over the city often disturbs rats that are living underground,” says Lincoln Park's City Council representative, Alderman Michele Smith. “Every developer has to do active rat reduction on site, ”Smith says. Already, there are poisonous and inviting food boxes all around the old hospital complex. But the developer of the hospital site still warned residents in a recent community meeting that when digging begins later this month, the rat problem could be awful.

Victoria Thomas, who lives a few miles north of Lincoln Park in Chicago's Lake View neighborhood, says she tried everything from underground fencing to poison traps to wipe out rats, but nothing worked until she got some cats. From the first day she got the cats, Thomas says the rats started to disappear.

“The cats will kill off a great deal of the initial population of the rats, ”says Paul Nickerson, who manages the Cats at Work program for Tree House Humane Society. “And through spreading their pheromones, a chemical produced by an animal, the cats will keep other rats from filling their absence.” Nickerson says that is what makes the cat program so successful in keeping rats away for the long term. ” The rats are far from stupid. They smell the cats' pheromones so they'll stay out of the cats' territory(领域).”

    After Smith highlighted the program in a recent newsletter, Nickerson and Tree House Humane Society have been getting lots of calls from people seeking their own cat colonies. That means a lot more wild cats that might otherwise be killed out of pity will be cared for while doing something that they love: hunting rats.

    While waiting for my daughter I treated myself with a coffee which I used to be so dependent on that when I stopped it I had headache for days. So while I was enjoying my rate moment, I was attracted by an old men who seemed not well

I could not see his face to be sure, as it was laid between his folded arms on the table. He had a long warm coat, and a big backpack which made me think he could be a homeless. I quit wondering, went to his table, patted him on the arm and asked him, "Are you OK?" He raised his head and said something in a whisper, nodding yes. I realized by the strong smell that he was indeed a homeless man.

I asked him if he was hungry. He responded but I could not understand his answer. However, I didn't give up and asked him if he would like some rice balls at which he raised his head saying clearly this time that he would be thankful for a rice bait Immediately I went to the nearest shop and bought a drink and a warm lunch box, and brought them to him. He said "thank you" but didn't eat right away and made no move, maybe because he was a little shy in the presence of a lady.

    So I left them on his table and changed my waiting place. When I passed again nearby, he was eating. You should have sensed my great pleasure. I was so grateful that I had the ways to help an old man even if only for a moment of his life.

    Pinewood Studios is located (位于) about twenty miles west of central London and named after the pinetrees in the grounds. Pinewood has been at the heart of both British and international film production. The house, Heatherden Hall, was bought by Charles Boot in 1934, and he and J. Arthur Rank became partners in the project to build the studios. Pinewood proved pioneering in its use of the "unit system" that allowed more than one film to be made at a time, and this enabled Pinewood to achieve the highest output of all the studios in the world. The first film to be completed at Pinewood was Talk of the Devil (1936, Reed) while the immediate postwar period saw six major productions including the praised Oliver Twist (1948, Lean) and The Red Shoes (1948, Powell and Press-burger).

    The 1950s saw countless productions including the Doctor series and medical comedy, which were the fathers to the Carry On films: the series started with Doctor in the House (1954, Thomas) and led to a further six films. Other notable films of the 1950s age include The Prince and the Showgirl (1957 Olivier) starring Marilyn Monroe, Carve Her Name with Pride (1958, Gilbert), North West Frontier (1959 Thompson) and The Thirty-Nine Steps (1959, Thomas). The Thirty-Nine Steps was a reworking of John Buchan's novel originally filmed by Hitchcock in 1935. Because of its new ideas and skills, American production companies crowded to Pinewood and a major reinvestment (再投资) was required. During the 1960s, four new stages were built to accommodate every aspect of film and television production. This period also saw the start of the association between Pinewood and the James Bond series, which started in 1962 with Dr No (Young). The studios have continued to produce imaginative and technically challenging material such as Superman (1978, Donner), Superman Ⅱ (1980, Lester), Superman Ⅲ (1983, Lester), Superman Ⅳ: The Quest for Peace (1987, Furie),and Batman (1989,Burton).

    Over the past few years, smart home tech has become more and more accessible and it's increasingly easy to find that you've bought a product that includes smart home features. So what does a modem smart home look like, and how can you start building one? You could get to start making your home smarter by the following gadgets.

    Ecobee 4

    Measuring both occupancy and temperature, its sensors signal your Ecobee to automatically switch to the right mode.

    It only takes about 30 minutes, thanks to an easy-to-follow installation guide and an in-app step-by-step walkthrough.

    Easily adjust temperature using your voice with built-in Alexa or from wherever you are using your mobile devices.

    Amazon Smart Plug

    Amazon Smart Plug works with Alexa to add voice control.

    Schedule lights, fans, and appliances to turn on and off automatically, or control them remotely when you're away.

    It's simple to set up and use. Plug in, open Alexa app, and start using your voice.

    The Philips Hue White Smart Bulb

    It works with Amazon Alexa to support dimming through voice control.

    Schedule your own custom lighting scenes. Set the smart bulbs to turn on and off at a pre-set time.

    To install, simply screw (拧) the smart bulbs into your desired light location.

    Control smart-bulb-equipped lamps and overhead lights via the Philips Hue App.

    August Smart Lock Pro

    It works with Alexa for voice control (Alexa device sold separately).

    Control keyless access. It locks automatically behind you, and unlocks as you approach.

    Install in about 10 minutes with just a screwdriver (螺丝刀) .

    Almost every second of every day an older adult falls in the United States. That's approximately 29 million falls per year and nearly 27, 000 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Still in the stating stage, the Active Pelvis Orthosis (APO) system in Switzerland wants to make a lightweight, wearable exoskeleton (外骨骼) that could detect signs of balance loss and assist with balance recovery to keep the elderly wearer from falling, only when needed.

    Other exoskeletons, either in development or on the market today, assist with movement and make heavy objects feel lighter. Mobility-impaired people can walk again. But none of these devices predict what the wearer is going to do next and take measures to correct an unsteady move.

    The 3 kilogram (6.7 pound) exoskeleton was built entirely from scratch by the research team and is designed to be worn on the lower half of the body. A waistband connects to two movable carbon fiber braces (支架), each one positioned on the outer side of a leg. Tiny motors and so-called "adaptive oscillators" (适配振荡器) in the computer circuits use a special process to detect the, wearer's unique paces. That part takes just a few minutes.

    While wearing the exoskeleton, a person may feel the braces and the motors pushing slightly on their legs. If their paces go against normal, the motors create a force in the braces that cause them to stiffen up and push a little more strongly against the legs, which provides stability.

    In the next three years, the APO hopes to develop something that is commercially available.