While household robots today do the normal housework, social robots will be much more like companions than mere tools. For example, these robots will be able to distinguish when someone is happy or sad. This allows them to respond more appropriately to the user.

The Jibo robot, arranged to ship later this year, is designed to be a personalized assistant. You can talk to the robot, ask it questions, and make requests for it to perform different tasks. The robot doesn't just deliver general answers to questions; it responds based on what it learns about each individual in the household. It can do things such as reminding an elderly family member to take medicine or taking family photos.

         Social robots are not just finding their way into the home. They have potential applications in everything from education to health care and are already finding their way into some of these spaces.

Fellow Robots is one company bringing social robots to the market. The company's “Oshbot” robot is built to assist customers in a store, which can help the customers find items and help guide them to the product's location in the store. It can also speak different languages and make recommendations for different items based on what the customer is shopping for.

          The more interaction the robot has with humans, the more it learns. But Oshbot, like other social robots, is not intended to replace workers, but to work alongside other employees. “We have technologies to train social robots to do things not for us, but with us,” said Breazeal.

    YOUR mom might cook a bowl of noodles for you on your birthday. But in the US, a mom makes a cupcake for her children on their birthday.

    Cupcakes are small, round cakes topped with frosting (糖霜). It has been an American tradition that moms bring cupcakes to the classroom to celebrate their child's birthday. But recently some doctors have called for this to be banned. They believe cupcakes contribute to child obesity. Despite their good intentions, however, some people believe that experts are interfering (妨碍) with American culture. The cupcake is seen as American as apple pie — only prettier.

    According to Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University, the cupcake is the most democratic (民主的) of desserts. As they are small enough for one person, you don't have to share your cupcake with anyone — it's all yours. They are also all of the same size, so there can't be any cries of  “she got the bigger piece!”

    Each bite can taste different depending on how much icing you have. It is a lesson in self-determination. Some people eat only a little of the frosting every time, others have it all in just one bite.

    In recent years, eating a cupcake has become as trendy as having a cup of Starbucks coffee.

    Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton jokingly promised on a talk show that if she was elected president, she would give everyone a cupcake on her birthday. Ruth Reichl, editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine, explains that the rise of the cupcake is very much about going back to American national identity in food, which is all about comfort. “People want to think about when they and their country were innocent,” she said.

    A new study of 8,000 young people in the Journal of Health and Social Behavior shows that although love can make adults live healthily and happily, it is a bad thing for young people．Puppy love（早恋）may bring stress for young people and can lead to depression (沮丧，抑郁）. The study shows that girls become more depressed than boys, and younger girls are the worst of all．

    The possible reason for the connection between love and higher risk of depression for girls is “loss of self”．According to the study，even though boys would say “lose themselves in a romantic relationship”，this “loss of self” is much more likely to lead to depression when it happens to girls. Young girls who have romantic relationships usually like hiding their feelings and opinions．They won't tell that to their parents．

    Dr Marianm Kaufman，an expert on young people problems，says 15% to 20% young people will have depression during their growing. Trying romance often causes the depression．She advises kids not to jump into romance too early. During growing up，it is important for young people to build strong friendships and a strong sense of self．She also suggests the parents should encourage their kids to keep close to their friends, attend more interesting school activities and spend enough time with family．

    Parents should watch for signs of depression—eating or mood changes—and if they see signs from their daughters or sons, they need to give help. The good news is that the connection between romance and depression seems to become weak with age．Love will always make us feel young，but only maturity （成熟） gives us a chance to avoid its bad side effects．

    I look around and can't recognize where I am. It seems familiar but distant. I see my friends gather by a stage where music is playing and I run over. As I begin running towards them, they become further and further away. I keep calling them, but no one hears me. I start hearing a distant alarm-like sound and I am transported away. I woke up in a daze sitting in my bed.

    “Oh, it was only a dream,” I said to myself. I have always had vivid and intense dreams. It feels like I haven't even slept because I have been living out my dreams during my sleep.

    Today, dreaming is being studied even more than ever. Some say that dreams are how your receptors make sense of random thoughts while you sleep. Some say that you can't dream of a face you have never seen before, so everyone you see in your dreams you have at least laid eyes on at one time or another.

    Other people think dreams are ways of expressing stress or internal feelings you may be experiencing. A lot of people say that they have dreams about being chased.

    A common interpretation of the “being chased” dream is that you are feeling threatened. Some dream interpretation websites say you should try to reflect on what or who is chasing you to get a better idea of what is making you feel this way.

    Another dream that is often experienced is flying. This dream has a much more positive interpretation, which is that you are feeling free or have broken out of a bad situation such as a relationship turned sour or a job you hate.

Unfortunately, you may forget half of your dream within five minutes of waking up and within 10 minutes, you usually forget 90 percent of it.

    Dreamologists, people who devote time to the study and interpretation of dreams, suggest if you want to try to remember and study your dreams you should keep a journal beside your bed and write down what you dreamt as soon as you wake up so you can reflect on it later.

    Eleven leatherback turtles (棱皮龟) are swimming across the Pacific Ocean to the Galapagos Islands in a "race". It will be reported online to attract people's attention to the situation of the endangered (濒危的) animals.

    People have put small tracking devices (跟踪装备) on the turtles so that they can monitor their journeys as they head south from their birthplace to their feeding grounds near the Galapagos, about 1,500 km away.

    People can choose a turtle online and track it at http://www.greatturtlerace.com. The turtle that travels furthest in two weeks' swimming will be the winner.

    There is no prize for the winner of the "race". Rather, they just want to help people take notice of the dangers facing the animal that has lived in the oceans for 100 million years.

    Scientists say 95 percent of the turtles in the Pacific Ocean have disappeared in the last 20 years, because of human activities like fishing, stealing their eggs and building near their homes.

    Thousands of leatherback turtles lived at Playa Grande 10 years ago, but the number has dropped below 100 in the last 5 years.

    The leatherback turtle "race" will not be broadcast on TV at the same time because the turtles leave Costa Rica at different times. Instead, a group will provide a day-to-day showing of the first 14 days of their journeys at the same time as if they were racing.

    The activity will collect money to protect Playa Grande.

EVENTS(赛事)

Bicycle tour and race

    A bike tour and race will be held on August 26 and 27(Sat. & Sun. ). At 5:30am, the riders will leave

    Tian'anmen Square and ride the first 35 kilometers as a training leg. Then the next 55 kilometers leg, from Yanjiao to Jixian, will be the first competitive(竞争性的)part of the tour. The riders and their bikes will then be taken from Jixian to Changli.

    The second racing leg of the tour will be from Changli to the seaside of Nandaibe, covering a distance of 20 kilometers. Saturday night includes the stay at Nandaihe and supper. Sunday morning is free for play at the seaside. At noon all the people and their bikes will be taken back to Beijing.

    Cost: 200 yuan

     Telephone: 4675027

    Brazilian footballers

    The Brazilian Football Club will play Beijing Guo'an Team at the Workers Stadium on August 26. The club has four national team players. Also coming is 1994 US World Cup star Romario who has promised to play for at least 45 minutes.

    Ticket prices: 60,100,150 yuan

    Time/Date: 4:30 pm, August 26 (Sat.)

    Telephone: 5012372

    Rock climbing

    The Third National Rock Climbing Competition will be held on August 26-27 at the Huairou Mountain-climbing Training Base. More than 10 teams from Beijing, Wuhan, Dalian, Jilin and other places will take part in it. A Japanese team will give an exhibition climbing. Free for spectators(观众).

    Take a long-distance bus from Dongzhimen to Huairou.

    Time/Dates: 9-12 am, August 26 and 27

    Telephone: 7143177, 7144850, Wang Zhenghua