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, but 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 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.

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    Animals grow up in different ways. Some newborn animals are helpless but their mothers protect them. A newborn kangaroo is very small. It is only a few centimeters(cm) long. It closes its eyes and doesn't have hair. It stays safe in its mother' s pouch(育儿袋) for a long time.A newborn monkey can not walk. Its mother carries it everywhere.

Other baby animals can walk soon after they're born. They learn to run with their mothers when danger is near. A baby zebra can run, an hour after it is born.

    Some baby animals are born in a place that is safe. Baby wolves are usually born in big holes with little light. Other baby animals are born in the open. A baby elephant is often born on open land.

    Animals that drink their mothers' milk are called mammals. A mother bear's milk is rich. Baby bears have milk for a few months. This is the same with baby zebras. As baby animals grow, they need solid(固体) food. Baby lions eat what their mother can catch!

    Life in the future will be different from life today.

    The population(人口) is growing fast. There will be more people in the world and most of them will live longer.

    Computer will be much smaller and more useful, and there will be at least one in each home. And computer science will be one of the most important subjects in school then. 

    People will work fewer hours than they do now, and they will have more free time for sports, watching TV and travel.

    Our food will be different, too. More land(土地) will be used for building new towns and houses for people. So there will be less land for cows and sheep, and meat will be more expensive. Maybe no one will eat it one day. They will eat more fruits and vegetables. 

    Work in the future will also be different. Robots will do dangerous and hard work. Because of this, many people will have no jobs to do. This will be a big problem in the future.  

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    In recent years, a number of Chinese technological innovations (科技创新) have been making waves around the world. Among them, four stand out. They are known as "four new great inventions of modern China. They have made our daily lives more convenient.

    High-speed trains

    China created its first high-speed railway line in 2008. Since then, the number of passenger trips has grown by over 30 percent every year. By 2016, more than 5 billion trips had been taken on China's bullet trains(高铁), according to Xinhua News Agency.

    China is currently working on the next-generation bullet trains that will have a top speed of 400 kilometers per hour. By 2020, one-fifth of the country's 150, 000-km railway network will be used by high-speed trains. This network will link more than 80 percent of major cities across China, said Xinhua.

    Mobile payment

    Mobile payment is turning China into a "cashless society" led by the third-party payment companies like Alipay. For example, instead of paying by cash, customers now pay for goods simply by typing a short password into Alipay app on their mobile devices.

    Users can also pay their bills through Alipay, such as their water and electricity bills. Alipay also supports cross-border(跨境的)online and in-store payment, which allows users to buy things on international websites and apps.

    Shared bikes

    Shared bike services started in Western countries. But China has surprised the world with how

quickly it has adopted dockless(无柱的) shared bikes.

    Unlike traditional bike-sharing method, dockless bikes allow users to simply pick up or park a bike on the street through GPS and smartphone app.

    To unlock a bike, you just need to scan a QR code on a shared bike with a smartphone app. After you finish riding, you can park it at available parking areas, lock it and pay for ride through mobile payment services.

    Online shopping

    With around 751 million internet users, China has been the world's largest and fastest-growing line shopping market.

    Online shopping now accounts for 15. 5 percent of total retail sales in China, according to Xinhua. Thanks to lower costs and fewer licensing requirements(执照要求), it's easier for sellers

to open an online shop in China than a brick-and- mortar shop(实体店).

    It also helped to create jobs of rural areas. In 2016, online shopping created more than 20 million jobs in rural areas, with over 8. 1 million running their own online shops, said Xinhua.

    You don't have to be a scientist to solve big environmental problems. One Dutch designer is finding creative ways to make a change—and he's inviting bikers to join him.

    Daan Roosgaarde, 38, is a designer from Holland. He uses creative ideas to improve city life. For his Smog (雾霾) Free Project, he designed a special tower that cleans air in Chinese parks. In Holland, he designed a shining bicycle path.

    Now Daan and his team are working with engineers at Chinese bike-sharing company Ofo to create a new product for public use. It's an air-cleaning machine connected to a bicycle and is part of the Smog Free Project. In smoggy weather, the machine would breathe in the air in front of the bike and blow out a stream of clean air toward the biker's face.

    It's no secret that air pollution is a big problem for China. In winter, it's common for thick clouds of haze (霾), caused largely by factory production, burning of coal and car emissions (排放物), to cover areas of China.

    In 2016, only one-fourth of Chinese cities met the country's air quality standards, according to a survey of 338 cities nationwide from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

    "Of course one tower and a few bikes won't solve China's air pollution problem," Daan said, "But smog-free bikes are an exciting idea that will hopefully inspire communities to create greener cities."

    Many environmental groups are warning that oceans of the world are in great danger. In the past 50 years, the number of water with zero oxygen(氧气) in the open ocean has increased more than four times. In the near coast water bodies, including the river mouth and seas, low-oxygen areas have increased more than 10 times since 1950.Scientists discover that oxygen continues dropping ever outside these zones as the Earth warms. To stop the drop, the world needs to control in both climate change and nutrient(养分) pollution.

    Oxygen is a must to life in the oceans. The drop in ocean oxygen is among the most serious effects of human activities on the Earth's environment.

    This is the first time for the scientists to take such a deep look at the causes, results and solutions to low oxygen worldwide, in both the open ocean and the near coast waters. About half of the oxygen on Earth comes from the ocean. However, mixed effects of nutrient loading and climate change are greatly increasing the number and size of "dead zones" in the open ocean and the near coast waters, where oxygen is too low to support most sea life.

    In the areas traditionally called "dead zones", like those in Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, oxygen drops to levels so low that many animals have trouble in breathing and die. As fishes run away from these zones, their living areas become smaller and smaller. But the problem goes far beyond "dead zones". Even smaller oxygen drops can hold up the growth in animals and lead to disease or even death. Low oxygen also can cause the release of dangerous chemicals. Although a few animals can grow well in dead zones, overall biodiversity(多样性)falls.