When I was in my fourth year of teaching, I was also (and am still) a high school track and field coach(田径教练). One year, I had a student, John, who entered my class when he was a junior. John changed to our school from Greece, and seemed to be interested in sports, so I encouraged him to join our track team. I explained to him that even though he had never taken part in it before, I did believe that he could do well in any event, and I would be willing to coach him at whichever ones interested him. He accepted the offer, and began to work hard at every practice.

    About a month later, I had found out from other sources that John was a first-class tennis player, winning various junior awards in his home country. I went to him asking, "John, I really appreciate that you came out for the track team, but why didn't you play tennis instead? It seems that would interest you a lot more, since you're so good at it." John answered, "Well, I like tennis, but you told me that you believed in me, and that you thought I could do well in track, so I wanted to try it for that reason."

    From then on, I often remember my student's reply. I told it to a friend and she suggested I write it down to share somewhere with more teachers. No matter how critical (不满的) students can be of them-selves, I've found that a simple "I trust that you can do it!" can go a long way!

    It is quite reasonable to blame traffic jams, the cost of gas and the great speed of modern life, but manners on the road are becoming horrible. Everybody knows that the nicest man would become fierce tigers behind the wheel. It is all right to have a tiger in a cage, but to have one in the driver's seat is another matter.

    Road politeness is not only good manners, but good sense. It takes the most cool-hearted drivers great patience to give up the desire to beat back when forced to face rude driving. On the other hand, a little politeness goes a long way towards reducing the possibility of quarrelling and fighting. A friendly nod or a wave, or thanks in answer to an act of politeness helps to create an atmosphere of good will and becomes so necessary in modern traffic conditions. But such behaviors of politeness are by no means enough. Many drivers nowadays don't even seem able to recognize politeness when they see it.

    However, misplaced politeness can also be dangerous. Typical example is the driver who waves to a child crossing the street at a wrong place into the path of oncoming cars that may not be able to stop in time. The same goes for encouraging old ladies to cross the road wherever and whenever they want to.

    An experienced driver, whose manners are faultless, told me it would help if drivers learnt to correctly join in traffic stream without causing total jams that give rise to unpleasant feelings. Unfortunately, modern drivers can't even learn to drive, let alone master the roadmanship(驾车技能). Years ago, experts warned us that the fast increase of the car ownership would demand more give-and-take from all road users. It is high time that all of us took this message to heart.

    On July 1, 2017, Canada turned 150. That day, more than half a million people visited Ottawa for the country's biggest birthday celebration ever. At the same time, hundreds of parties, fireworks displays, and performances took place across Canada to mark the occasion.

    As we all know, native people like the Inuit have lived in Canada for thousands of years. About 500 years ago. French and British people started arriving there. They claimed some of the land for their countries. The two countries often fought over control of the land. The British won full control of the area in 1763. But French remains one of the official languages, along with English. Canada became fully independent of Britain in 1982.

    Over the years, it is now the second-largest country in the world. At more than 5,500 miles, its border with the US is the longest border between the two nations.

    Canadians are proud of their country. Canada even made the list of the 10 happiest countries, according to a 2017United Nations report. Located not far from the North Pole, its cold and icy north is home to about two-thirds of the world's polar bears. Its icy and snowy land also helps explain why some of its popular sports are ice hockey, skiing and curling(冰壶)

    They are also very proud of the country's history of welcoming people from around the world and of the diverse population. “It reminds us of the values that unite us—openness, and deep respect for our differences,” says Prime Minister Trudeau. “Today, and every day, let us celebrate the differences that make Canada strong, diverse and proud.”

    “Mayday! We got Mayday!” Frank Pisano screamed over the microphone to the air control tower at the airport. One of the two engines on his plane had failed, and he was now going down towards one of the busiest highways in America—Interstate 405, just south of Los Angeles—and there was no stopping it.

    Driving south on the 405, near the airport's runway, was John Meffert, a fire department captain. He was heading home from his shift when suddenly a low—flying plane caught his eye. After he took a second glance, a thought crossed his mind：“This plane's going to hit me.”

    He was right. The plane slammed into the road, popped up a few feet, and then clipped the front of Meffert's car. It finally stopped after hitting the divider(隔栏). Meffert pulled over. He was unhurt, and his car had received only a large scratch, so he turned his attention to the plane. He ran towards the smoke, and then he saw Frank's wife, Janan Pisano, pop her head up on the passenger side.

    By the time Meffert reached the aircraft, part of it was on fire and Janan, who was covered in blood, was on the wing trying to pull her husband from the wreck. Meffert, afraid the plane would explode, guided her to safety behind it. Then, he ran back for Frank, who had been knocked out by the initial crash, lying across both seats.

    Meffert carefully positioned himself under the pilot's arms and lifted him from the cockpit. Then he dragged the pilot off the wing and carried him to safety, where they could see the plane in flames.

    The Pisanos spent three weeks in the hospital. Remarkably, Meffert's car was the only one hit by the plane. Had Meffert been a second or two faster, Frank said, the left propeller(螺旋桨))would have ripped the top off his car and killed him.

    “I play all the what-ifs—going slower, going faster. It could have been a very different result,” Meffert said. “We just had a lot of angels.”

Preparing Cities for Robot Cars

    The possibility of self-driving robot cars has often seemed like a futurist's dream, years away from materializing in the real world. Well, the future is apparently now. The California Department of Motor Vehicles began giving permits in April for companies to test truly self-driving cars on public roads. The state also cleared the way for companies to sell or rent out self-driving cars, and for companies to operate driverless taxi services. California, it should be noted, isn't leading the way here. Companies have been testing their vehicles in cities across the country. It's hard to predict when driverless cars will be everywhere on our roads. But however long it takes, the technology has the potential to change our transportation systems and our cities, for better or for worse, depending on how the transformation is regulated.

    While much of the debate so far has been focused on the safety of driverless cars (and rightfully so), policymakers also should be talking about how self-driving vehicles can help reduce traffic jams, cut emissions (排放) and offer more convenient, affordable mobility options. The arrival of driverless vehicles is a chance to make sure that those vehicles are environmentally friendly and more shared.

    Do we want to copy—or even worsen—the traffic of today with driverless cars? Imagine a future where most adults own individual self-driving vehicles. They tolerate long, slow journeys to and from work on packed highways because they can work, entertain themselves or sleep on the ride, which encourages urban spread. They take their driverless car to an appointment and set the empty vehicle to circle the building to avoid paying for parking. Instead of walking a few blocks to pick up a child or the dry cleaning, they send the self-driving minibus. The convenience even leads fewer people to take public transport—an unwelcome side effect researchers have already found in ride-hailing (叫车) services.

    A study from the University of California at Davis suggested that replacing petrol-powered private cars worldwide with electric, self-driving and shared systems could reduce carbon emissions from transportation 80% and cut the cost of transportation infrastructure (基础设施) and operations 40% by 2050. Fewer emissions and cheaper travel sound pretty appealing. The first commercially available driverless cars will almost certainly be fielded by ride-hailing services, considering the cost of self-driving technology as well as liability and maintenance issues (责任与维护问题). But driverless car ownership could increase as the prices drop and more people become comfortable with the technology.

    Policymakers should start thinking now about how to make sure the appearance of driverless vehicles doesn't extend the worst aspects of the car-controlled transportation system we have today. The coming technological advancement presents a chance for cities and states to develop transportation systems designed to move more people, and more affordably. The car of the future is coming. We just have to plan for it.

    It's natural to think about what goes into producing the food in your daily lunch bag. But have you ever stopped to consider the production techniques behind the bag itself? At the center of it is a woman named Margaret Knight.

    From her earliest years, Knight was a restless creator. In the article titled "TheEvolutionoftheGroceryBag", its writer mentions a few of her childhood projects. She was "famous for her kites", and "her sleds were the envy of the town's boys."

    To support her mother, she took a job at a cotton factory when she was 12. That same year she invented a shuttle system which helped to prevent injury. At the time,  she had no concept of patenting(得到……的专利权) her idea. What strengthened her place in history was her working experience at the Columbia Paper Bag Company. Here, instead of folding every paper bag by hand, Knight wondered if she might be able to make them cleanly and rapidly via an automated machine. The result was a working model of her elegant paper-folding machine. But this time, she wanted to go to the extra step and secure a patent on her creation, a brave move for a woman in the 19th century, when an extremely small percentage of patents were held by women.

    Not only did Knight file for a patent, she bravely defended her ownership of the bag machine idea. A man named Charles Annan said the creation was his own, arguing no woman could be able to design such a machine. Knight fought a legal battle against him and handed Annan a courtroom(法庭) defeat by presenting her detailed hand－drawn blueprints. Finally, Knight received her rightful patent in 1871.

    After making the machine, she continued to invent many other things like a paper feeding machine and a skirt protector. Knight, at the age of seventy, worked twenty hours a day on her 89th invention.