A busy public square in the Chinese city of Nanjing is home to an unusual experiment.

    For almost two months, the country's first “honesty bookshop” has occupied（占据） a sidewalk on HanZhong Road in the city's Gulou District.

    With no cashier or other staff, the store relies on trust for payment.

    Making money isn't the company's main goal and they don't punish those who take books without paying.

    “If they can really finish the books, it doesn't matter if they took the books for free,” Zhu Yu, the marketing director of the company says.

    “In fact, we are really happy to witness so many people taking books from the honesty bookshop.” After browsing the four wooden bookshelves, customers must drop their money in a locked box.

    Prices are set at 30% of the usual cover price. Zhu hopes that his sidewalk store, which sells, on average, 60 books a day, will make more people interested in reading. Like elsewhere, e-books are affecting sales of traditional books, and traditional books and many independent booksellers are struggling.

    Zhu got permission from the city government to use the sidewalk and says he's determined to make it a long-term project.

    He says the store is open every day, except when it rains, and it's locked up each night.

    In September last year, the company laid out 1,000 books and reading lamps on the ground and encouraged people “to go on a date” with a book.

    “Independent bookshops represent the well-being of the city.” Zhu told CNN in 2013, “when a city is losing its bookshops, it's actually losing something in its soul.”

If the success of the Honesty Bookstore is any guide, Nanjing's soul is in pretty good shape.

    Robots make me nervous—especially the ones which seem to think for themselves. I was embarrassed to admit this till I heard that Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, felt the same way.

    Gates said in an interview with the social networking and news website Reddit: "I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence. First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent．That should be positive if we manage well. A few decades after that, though, the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern."

    Well, maybe I don't have to worry about my computer and kitchen equipment yet. After I use them I can always pull the plug. But in the future, machines might find a way to prevent us from switching them off. There's a terrible thought!

    Maybe the problem with computers too clever for us is not that they are evil like some we've seen in sci-fi movies. What could put us in danger is that they might be too efficient. That's what philosopher Nick Bostrom from Oxford University believes. He says that machines are indifferent to humans and in pursuit of their own goals，the destruction of people might be just additional damage. Bostrom gives us an example: A machine which might have its only goal to produce as many paperclips as possible might look at human bodies as extra material for paperclips and go after you. Because it is, well, a machine, it would not take pity on you.

    It's a good thing that American writer Isaac Asimov thought about how far robots can go and left us his three rules of robotics. They state that a robot may not hurt a human being or allow the human being to come to harm.

    I'm glad my machines at home are "dumb". All my cleaner wants to take over is the carpet in my living room. Let's hope they don't create an appliance which wants to take over the world!

    In my memory, winters always used to be really unpleasant. You had to dress like a bear just to keep warm when you went outside. You were often cold, wet and no more than one step away from the thin ice on the lake. If you worked over time and went home in the dark, you would arrive home to an ice-cold house. And that would mean turning on the heating and waiting.

    Fortunately, things don't have to be so challenging any more. Technology, engineering and design have developed, giving us new solutions to old problems. It means dealing with winter needn't be like skating on thin ice.

    With a smart thermostat(恒温器), our homes can be toasty when we need them to be. Many models go with smartphone APPs that allow you to regulate temperature from a distance, so we can warm up the house before we arrive home. According to techradar.com, a large technology news and reviews website, Tado's model has a voice control function, while the Nest “learns” your habits and heats the house for you.

    Clothes have been given an upgrade, too. Electronic heated jackets and trousers heat up when you turn them on. What better way to keep warm in the dead of winter? At the touch of a button, or through an APP on our phones, the clothes produce heat from materials placed inside. Many models offer three levels of heating which stay warm for over 12 hours.

    Finally, there is the headgear(头部装备) - Hats that have speakers which are included in the cloth using Bluetooth technology, so we can listen to our favourite music or, in some cases, have a phone call using the in-built microphone. All while keeping the head warm and avoiding coldness.

    For many, the thought of winter used to be enough to make their blood run cold. But using technology, life needn't freeze up. There's no reason why winter can't be really, really cool.

    Many facts suggest that children are overweight and the situation is getting worse, according to the doctors. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    Some people blame the fact that we are surrounded by shops selling unhealthy, fatty foods, such as fried chicken and ice cream at low prices. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, then probably children would buy less take-away food.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. I agree with this, because good eating habits begin early in life, long before children start to visit fast food shops. If parents often give their children fried chicken and chocolate rather than healthy food, they will go for sweet and salty foods, and children will find it hard to get rid of the habit.

    There is a third reason for this situation. Children these days take very little exercise. They do not walk to school. When they get home, they sit in front of the television or their computers and play computer games. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. What they need is to go outside and play active games or sports.

    The above are the main reasons for this problem. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}, as well as forcing them away from fast food shops and bad eating habits.

A. There is another argument that blames parents for allowing their children to become overweight

B. Adults are becoming fatter and unhealthier too

C. If there were fewer of these restaurants

D. So we have to encourage young people to be more active

E. Not only is this an unhealthy pastime (消遣), it also gives them time to eat more unhealthy food

F. I feel there are a number of reasons for this

G. It's a good idea to allow children to eat what they choose

    Changing your life can come in small, easy steps. You can transform yourself and live a better life by making positive changes along the way. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Choose to change bad habits.

    Some bad habits seem to stick around without us even realizing it. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} You can overcome them, find better alternatives, and get through your struggle to become a better you! Do it for yourself more than anything.

    Choose to grow.

    It's easy to get stuck in a fixed way of life. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} In choosing to grow, you build character, develop your strengths, become aware of what needs improvement, and turn into the well-rounded person you need to be to succeed.

    Choose to seek a balanced life.

    Where do you need balance? Are you all work, no play? Or the opposite? {#blank#}4{#/blank#} If you're spending too much time working or locked away alone, find the time for social interaction (社交) and having fun. If you haven't committed to a schedule in a while, make the decision to start following one.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    This is vital to human existence. We need the loving bonds created by family members and friends. Personal relationships are key to emotional growth and social stability.

A. Choose to spend time with those you love.

B. Choose to organize your schedule flexibly.

C. Make the choice today that you won't be ruled by them.

D. Here are some choices that will lead to your transformation.

E. Neither extreme will lead you to a pleasant life for very long.

F. However, with re-evaluation and growth comes a beautiful freedom.

G. It's good to change, and you've only got so many years to refresh yourself.

    Diet pills, diet Coke, diet Pepsi, no-fat diet, vegetable diet… We are surrounded by the word "diet" everywhere we look and listen. We have so easily been attracted by the promise and potential of diet products that we have stopped thinking about what diet products are doing to us. We are paying for products that harm us psychologically and physically.

    Diet products significantly weaken us psychologically. On one level, we are not allowing  our brains to admit that our weight problems lie not in actually losing the weight, but in controlling the consumption of fatty, high-calorie, unhealthy foods. Diet products allow us to jump over the thinking stage and go straight for the scale (秤) instead. All we have to do is to swallow or recognize the word "diet" in food labels.

    On another level, diet products have greater psychological effects. Every time we have a zero-calorie drink, we are telling ourselves without our awareness that we don't have to work to get results. Diet products make people believe that gain comes without pain, and that life can be without resistance and struggle.

    The danger of diet products lies not only in the psychological effects they have on us, but also in the physical harm that they cause. Diet foods can indirectly harm our bodies because consuming them instead of healthy foods means we are preventing our bodies from having basic nutrients. Diet foods and diet pills contain zero calorie only because the diet industry has created chemicals to produce these wonder products. Diet products may not be nutritional, and the chemicals that go into diet products are potentially dangerous.

    Now that we are aware of the effects that diet products have on us, it is time to seriously think about buying them. Losing weight lies in the power of minds, not in the power of chemicals. Once we realize this, we will be much better able to resist diet products, and therefore prevent the psychological and physical harm that comes from using them.