The Internet, mobile phones and Ipads are part of our lives now. Technology is greatly affecting all ways of our lives, from the ways we work to the ways we play. And it even causes a number of social problems such as cloning humans.

      We have had lots of technology and it has changed our lives a lot. There is no doubt that humans will continue to use more and more technology. Here are some examples of modern technology that will change our ideas and will affect our lives greatly.

     Global positioning system (GPS) (全球定位系统)

      It's a system that uses radio signals from satellites to show exact information. It tells you where the user is on the earth in all weather conditions. It's made up of three parts: satellites, control equipments(设备) on land and receivers.

     Space Technology

      Russian and American scientists have worked together for the international Space Station (ISS) for a long time. They hope the ISS will provide a long-lasting lab. Such a lab will bring humans limitless (无限的) advantages. It's even hoped that one day space technology will take humans to their new houses in space.

     Underwater Robot

     Hercules is a kind of underwater robot with some high technology equipments. It will be used to look for ancient ships which were destroyed into the deep sea during their journey long ago.

     The world is changing so quickly that it's hard for us to catch up with all the new inventions because they seem to come out every month. It's important for us to learn about new technology and the role that it plays in our lives. So we should be willing to accept modern technology, or we will fall behind the times.

    We all cry for water when we are thirsty. But do you know, in very hot, dry weather, plants also make very low sounds as if they are crying for help?

    You see, in a plant's stem there are several hundred "water pipes" that bring water from soil all the way up to the leaves. When the ground turns dry, it becomes harder and harder for plants to do this.

    On very hot days, plants have to get any water that they can get.

    Scientist Robot Winter has found out that when plants can get no water, their "water pipes" snap(发出声音). When that happens, the whole plant vibrates(振动) a little.

    Robot knows that healthy, well-watered plants are quiet.  He also knows that dry plants are many insects' "favourite" and they often attack(袭击) them. How do the insects know which are healthy plants and which are not? Robot thinks that the insects may hear the plants "crying" and they may come to kill them.

    Many people know Shanghai's beautiful night view(景色), especially the colorful lights from the buildings. Light helps us see and makes the environment more beautiful. However, too much light becomes a kind of pollution but many of us pay little attention to this pollution or even ignore it. In fact, it causes a lot of problems. Light pollution can be almost as bad as carbon dioxide pollution.

    Too much light can do harm to our health. First, it can make us feel bad and we can't sleep well. Second, lights need electricity, and creating electricity will give off greenhouse gases. This affects the air and causes breathing problems. Third, study shows people living under bright light for long can have cancer more easily.

    Too much light may be even harmful to wild animals. Thousands of birds die from it each year. Some hit into the light buildings, because they can't see clearly in the strong light. Some birds sometimes lose their ways in the bright light Sea turtles(海龟) can't find the dark beaches to lay their eggs.

    To protect humans and wildlife, we should take measures to reduce the use of lights at night.

    When we talk about the universe, we mean not only the earth, the sun and the moon, but also the stars and space between them. There are millions of stars in our sky. The sun is one of them. Around it there are eight big planets moving, including the earth. The moon is our nearest neighbor in space. If you look at the sky on a clear night, it is possible to see about 3, 000 stars. They look small, but they are really very big hot balls of burning（燃烧着的）gas. Some of them arc huge（巨大的）, but others are much smaller like our planet Earth. The biggest stars are very bright, but they can only live for a short time. Every day new stars are born and old stars die.

    All the stars are very far away. The light from the nearest star（except the sun）takes more than four years to reach the earth.

    Hundreds of years ago, people used stars, like the North Star, to know which direction（方向）to travel in.

Today you can still see that star.

    The Wandering Earth(流浪地球), China's first successful movie whose background is space, as shown on February 5. It is based on(基于)a short story of the same name by Liu Cixin, China's top  science—fiction writer.

    ⒈Capsule(太空舱)—a core(核心)element(要素)

    The space capsule used in the film has made the audience(观众)interested. "This was the first time anything like that was done, "said Wang Hong, the producer(制片人)of the movie. At first, the production(制作)team planned to use a small space capsule that had appeared in an earlier film, but found that it could not meet their needs for filming.

    ⒉Giant vehicles(巨大的车辆)—key to the film

    Giant vehicles are the key element in the film. Famous actors, Ng Man—tat and Wu Jing, said they could not even imagine what these vehicles would be like before filming, because the idea was far ahead of our time.

    The production team made about 10, 000 props(道具)to show the space better, including the giant vehicles.

    ⒊Saving planet itself

    In the film, the earth itself is pushed forward by 10, 000 giant

thrusters(推进器). It carries 3.5 billion people about 4.2 light years

through space in order to avoid destruction(破坏)by the dying sun.

In Liu's story, each thruster is 11, 000 meters in height.

    ⒋Amazing opening

    At the beginning of the film, it shows the environment and life in an

underground city—a big tree growing upside down, busy bookstores and snack bars and so on. There are also many snow scenes (片段)throughout the whole film.

    The biggest secret about inventing is that anybody can do it! Perhaps this sounds crazy, but it's true. Maybe you have the wrong idea about inventing, so read on to discover the truth.

    Wrong idea No. 1: An invention has to be something completely new.

    Inventing means creating something "new", but the idea could come from something that already exists(存在). The Wright brothers, for example, got the idea for building a "flying machine" from watching birds.

    Wrong idea No. 2: Inventors are born, not made.

    There are a lot of factors(因素) that make invention possible. Take Mazart, for example. He was born with a talent for musical composition. But other factors were also important for his creativity. His father was a music teacher, and Mozart practiced for hours every day, from the time he was four years old. Thomas Edison said that being an inventor was "99% hard work and 1% inspiration"!

    Very successful creators don't give up when they get something wrong. As one inventor said, "A failure is the right answer to the wrong question."

    Wrong idea No. 3: Inventors are always old people.

    Don't believe that you can't invent something when you are young. Here are two examples of young inventors: Louis Braille went blind when he was a child. When he was fifteen, he invented a system of reading and writing for blind people that is still used in most countries today.

    As a young man, George Nissen was watching some artists performing in a show. He watched how they fell into the safety net and then jumped back up again. This gave him an idea, and he invented the trampoline(蹦床).