A small group of people around the world have started implanting(移植) microchips to link the body and the computer.

    Mr. Donelson and three friends, who had driven 100 miles from their homes in Loockport, New York, to have the implants put in by Dr. Jesse Villemaire, whom they had persuaded to do the work, are part of a small group, about 30 people around the world, who have independently put in microchips into their bodies, according to Web-based reports.

    At a shop William Donelson was having a four-millimeter-wide needle put into his left hand. “I'm set,”he said with a deep breath. He watched as the needle pierced(刺穿) the fleshy webbing between his thumb and a microchip was set under his skin. At last he would be able to do what he had long imagined: strengthen his body's powers through technology.

    By putting the chip inside—a radio frequency identification device (RFID)—Mr. Donelson would have at his fingertips the same magic that makes safety gates open with a knock of a card, and bridge and tunnel traffic flow smoothly with an E-Zpass. With a wave of his hand he plans to connect with his computer, open doors and unlock his car.

    Implanting the chip was relatively simple task but very meaningful to Mr. Doneselson, a 21-year-old computer networking student so interested in the link between technology and the body that he has data-input jacks(数据输入插空) inside his body. They might lead to an imagined future when people can be connected directly into computers. His new chip is enclosed in a glass container no bigger than a piece of rice and has a small memory where he has stored the words “Technology”.

    Some doctors have done the piercing in people's homes, and others have implanted chips in their offices after patients signed forms showing the fact that long-term studies have not been done on their safety. Piercers treat the implants much like any other medical operation steps, instructing people to keep the site dry, and advising them that swelling and redness should last a week.

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    It's generally believed that people act the way they do because of their personalities and attitudes. They recycle their garbage because they care about the environment. They pay $5 for a caramel brulee latte because they like expensive coffee drinks.

    It's undeniable that behavior comes from our inner dispositions(性情), but in many instances we also draw inferences about who we are, as suggested by the social psychologist Daryl Bern, by observing our own behavior. We can be strangers to ourselves. If we knew our own minds, why should we need to guess what our preferences are from our behavior? If our minds were an open book, we would know exactly how much we care about the environment or like lattes. Actually, we often need to look to our behavior to figure out who we are.

    Moreover, we don't just use our behavior to learn about our particular types of character — we infer characters that weren't there before. Our behavior is often shaped by little pressures around us, which we fail to recognize. Maybe we recycle because our wives and neighbors would disapprove if we didn't. Maybe we buy lattes in order to impress the people around us. We should not mistakenly believe that we always behave as a result of some inner disposition.

    Whatever pressures there can be or inferences one can make, people become what they do, though it may not be in compliance(符合) with their true desires. Therefore, we should all bear in mind Kurt Vonnegut's advice: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”

    I think that a great friend is like a great artist who can change my feeling about life greatly. When I talk about the person who influenced(影响) me most. I must think of my best friend quickly.

    When I was in my university, one of my classmates sat beside me. His name is Wang Tao. He is my unforgettable friend in my life. He is good at study and handsome. Everyone knows that he is a genius(天才) of my university. Besides, he is kind-hearted and is always ready to help others.

    I remembered that my maths was poor at that time, but he was excellent in solving(解决) maths questions. He often got high scores. Since we talked all day long, he was patient and polite to answer my maths questions. Slowly, I made great progress. I passed the examination finally. Then we became friends naturally.

    We know that we live in a society, so we need a lot of friends. There are two kinds of friends, good and bad, bad friend may make our life failed, while good ones make our life successful. To me, Wang Tao is a very good friend. I learned so many lessons from him, and I became more and more excellent.

    We separated three months ago. Now I miss him very much, and I hope that our friendship will continue to be just as strong after we graduate.

    The Renaissance marks a period of human awakening. In this article we are going to explore the inventions during this period which have helped change the life and progress of mankind.

    Clock

    The first mechanical clock was invented in the early 1300's. Galileo, an Italian scientist, discovered the pendulum (钟摆) around 1602. The pendulum greatly improved the movement of the hands of a clock. The average error with the pendulum varied only by seconds each day. Before this the error was from 10 to 15 minutes a day.

    Eyeglasses

    In the late thirteenth century, paintings first appeared with people wearing or holding eyeglasses. From these paintings, we know that eyeglasses were invented in Italy. Around 1300 the Venetian Glassmaker's Guild made it illegal for cheap glasses to be made. By 1352, eyeglasses were only worn by well-educated rich men. In 1456, the invention of the printing press allowed books to become widespread. Once people owned books, reading glasses began to be seen in the hands of common people. In 1623, the Spanish invented the first graded eyeglasses.

    Flush toilet (抽水马桶)

    Sir John Harrington, godson to Queen Elizabeth, made the first flush toilet for himself and his godmother in 1596. He was teased by his friends and never made another one.

    In 1775, Alexander Cummings reinvented the flush toilet more commonly called the water closet. Two years later in 1777, Samuel Prosser applied for and received a patent for it.

    Wallpaper

    In 1496, the first paper factory came into operation in England. English artists soon make wallpaper for decoration. For the next 200 years England was a large producer of wallpaper for Europe. Before wallpaper was invented, only wealthy people could afford to decorate the walls of their houses.

    If you're planning on travelling, there are a few simple rules about how to make life easier both before and after your journey.

    First of all, always check and double­check departure (起程) time. It is amazing how few people really do this carefully. Once I arrived at the airport a few minutes after ten. My secretary had got the ticket for me and I thought she had said that the plane left at 10：50. When I arrived at the airport, the clerk at the departure desk told me that my flight was closed. Therefore, I had to wait three hours for the next one and missed an important meeting.

    The second rule is to remember that even in this age of credit cards, it is still important to have at least a little of the local currency (货币) with you when you arrive in a country. This can be necessary if you are flying to a place few tourists normally visit. Once I arrived at a place at midnight and the bank at the airport was closed. The only way to get to my hotel was by taxi and because I had no dollars, I offered to pay in pounds instead. "Listen! I only take real money!" the driver said angrily. Luckily I was able to borrow a few dollars from a clerk at the hotel, but it was embarrassing.

    The third and last rule is to find out as much as you can about the weather at your destination before you leave. I feel sorry for some of my workmates who travel in heavy suits and raincoats in May, when it is still fairly cool in London or Manchester, to places like Athens, Rome or Madrid, where it is already beginning to get quite warm during the day.

Many people have long believed that bright lights draw, or attract flying insects. But that is not exactly what is going on, a new study suggests.

Researchers believe that artificial lights at night may cause problems with flying insects' natural navigation systems. As a result, the creatures fly in confusion around porch lamps, street lights and other artificial lights. "Insects have a navigational problem," said Tyson Hedrick of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He added, "They're accustomed to using light as a cue（提示）to know which way is up."

Insects do not fly directly toward a light source, but actually "tilt（倾斜）their backs toward the light," said Sam Fabian of Imperial College London. Fabian was a co-writer of the study that appeared recently in Nature Communications. This tilting action would make sense if the strongest light source was in the sky. But in the presence of artificial lights, the result is midair confusion.

For the study, researchers attached very small sensors to moths and dragonflies in a laboratory. They then filmed "motion-capture" video of flight—similar to how filmmakers attach sensors to actors to follow their movements. Researchers also used high-resolution cameras to film insects flying around lights at a field in Costa Rica. Such films permitted researchers to study in detail how dragonflies circle endlessly around light sources, positioning themselves with their backs facing the light. Researchers also documented that some insects fly upside down—and often crash land—in the presence of lights that shine straight upward like search lights. Insect flight was least disrupted by bright lights that shine straight downward, the researchers found.

"For millions of years, insects oriented themselves by sensing that the sky is light, the ground is dark—until people invented artificial lights", said Avalon Owens of Harvard University.