With the development of science and technology, new inventions, especially new electronic products, have made people's lives easy and convenient. But as the saying puts: A coin has two sides.

    One day, I was walking in the park with a friend and his cell phone rang, interrupting our conversation. There we were, walking and talking on a beautiful sunny day and…I became invisible, absent from the conversation.

    The telephone used to connect you to the absent. Now it makes people sitting next to you feel absent. Why is it that the more connected we get, the more disconnected I feel? Every advance in communications technology is a tragedy to the closeness of human interaction. With email and instant messaging over the Internet, we can now communicate without seeing or talking to one another. With voice mail, you can conduct entire conversations without ever reaching anyone. If my mom has a question, I just leave the answer on her machine.

    As almost every contact we can imagine between human beings gets automated, the alienation(疏远) index goes up. You can't even call a person to get the phone number of another person any more. Directory assistance is almost always fully automated.

    Pumping petrol at the station? Why say good morning to the attendant when you can swipe(刷)your credit card at the pump and save yourself the bother of human contact?

    Making a deposit at the bank? Why talk to a teller who might live in the neighborhood when you can just insert your card into ATM?

    Pretty soon you won't have the burden of making eye contact at the grocery shop. Some supermarket chains are using a self-scanner so you can check yourself out, avoiding those check-out people who look at you and ask how you are doing.

    I am not against modern technology. I own a cell phone, an ATM card, a voice mail system, and an email account. Giving them up isn't wise…they're a great help to us. It's some of their possible consequences that make me feel uneasy.

    More and more, I find myself hiding behind e-mail to do a job meant for conversation. Or being relieved that voice mail picked up a call because I didn't really have time to talk. The communications industry devoted to helping me keep in touch is making me lonelier.

    So I've put myself on technology restriction: no instant messaging, with people who live near me，no cell phoning in the presence of friends, no letting the voice mail pick up when I'm at home.

    Wherever she goes, Molly leaves her mark. Without saying a word, she speaks to people with her kind eyes. Even when she walks away, she leaves an impression. Molly's mark is a smile, stamped into the ground by the horseshoe at the bottom of her false leg．

    A few years ago, Molly was badly attacked by a dog. The dog bit all four of Molly's legs and left large cuts in her face. Molly's owner, Kate Harris, took her to an animal hospital. Doctors there were able to save Molly's life, but soon one of her legs became very infected (感染).

    At first, doctors thought Molly would have to be put to sleep. But Molly changed their minds. This pony, doctors noticed, shifted her weight, and rested her good leg from time to time. Doctors knew that Molly had amazing intelligence, and that she wanted to live.

    Several doctors operated on Molly, and removed her infected leg. A false leg was made for her. The leg was a hollow cast with a pole at the bottom for balance. Doctors gave Molly a special horseshoe at the bottom of the leg. This horseshoe she had had a stamp of a smile face in it!

    After the operation, Molly walked around on all four legs, as if nothing had ever happened to her! Now, with every step she takes, she stamps a smile in the dirt. But she leaves her mark in other ways, too.

    Kaye Harris took Molly to the false leg center. There were children there who, like Molly, had artificial arms or legs. They were amazed to see a pony with a false leg. Molly made them smile and gave them hope. Soon, Molly began to visit schools, nursing homes, army bases and hospitals. A book was even written about Molly!

    How often do you let other people like a bad driver, a rude waiter, or an angry boss, change your mood?

    Sixteen years ago I learned a lesson. I got in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station. We were driving in the right lane when all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver used his brakes, the tires made a loud noise, and at the very last moment our car stopped just 3cm from the back of the other car.

    I couldn't believe it. But then I couldn't believe what happened next. The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, turned his head around and he started shouting at us. I couldn't believe it!

    My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. So, I said, “Why did you just do that? This guy could have killed us!” And this is when my taxi driver told me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck”. He said, “Many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of anger and disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they look for a place to dump it. And if you let them, they'll dump it on you.”

    So I started thinking how often I let Garbage Trucks run right over me and how often I take their garbage and spread it to other people.

    I began to see Garbage Trucks. I see the load people are carrying. I see them coming to dump it. And like my taxi driver, I don't take it personally. I just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on.

    Now is the best time for Hong Kong shopping lovers, as most shops and markets are having their seasonal sales. With the same amount of money, you can find different kinds of foods in this city. Women, young and old, rarely resist the attraction of this shopping paradise(乐园,天堂) at this time of year. Lovers will surely have an exciting Christmas and   New Year's Eve celebrations at the Time Square or in the western styled bars. Spending your holiday in Hong Kong will be easy too, as several package tours are available from GZL Travel Service, with four-day tours for less than 15 000yuan.

    Tour package 1(3200yuan):a four-day-tour including three nights' accommodation(膳宿供应), scenic helicopter flight, night ferry tour of Victoria Harbor and shuttle bus to the Peak to view the city at night.

    Tour package 2 (1880yuan): a four-day-shopping-tour including three nights' accommodation, tours to Golden Beach and the Vexwork Museum, shuttle bus to the Peak and shopping opportunities.

    Tour package 3(1480yuan):a four-day-DIY-tour including three nights' accommodation in a four-star hotel and total freedom to do what you want.

    Looking for new and creative ways to reach your fitness goals? Now's the time to check out the following hottest fitness apps for the new year.

    Hot5

    Platform: iOS

    Cost: Free

    Hot5 contains pages and pages of 5-minute video workouts that are easy to follow. You can find video workouts of all varieties and difficulty levels that will work you out with only five moves. Hot5s are modern. It is also beautifully designed and user friendly.

    GymPact

    Platform: iOS, Android

    Cost: Free

    We all need a little motivation when it comes to working out, and GymPact is a perfect way to get inspired. Make a commitment to working out a certain number of times a week. Choose the amount of money you are willing to risk. If you don't achieve your goal? Your credit card gets charged. Achieve your goal? You get paid!

    Fitocracy Macros

    Platform: iOS

    Cost: Free

    More than just a calorie-counting app, Fitocracy Macros tracks only the calories you take in. You'll have to research how many calories are actually in the food you eat. That aside, it's a simple and easy app that will help you achieve your dieting goals.

    Zombies, Run! 2

    Platform: iOS, Android

    Cost: 25yuan

    Zombies, Run! 2 mixes games and stories into your run as you complete missions in a world full of zombies. Whether you're gathering supplies, saving a fellow human, or avoiding a crowd of the undead, this app adds excitement to your normal jog with imagination and competition.

    Despite what so many people would love to believe, NASA hasn't discovered any evidence of past or present intelligent life on Mars. Therefore, when the Curiosity rover (好奇号探测器) found something suspicious on the Red Planet's surface, they were not only surprised but also a little bit worried.

    The thin fragment(碎片) was suspicious enough to guarantee its own name, with NASA's Curiosity rover team calling it the "Pettegrove Point Foreign Object Debris", named for where it was discovered. With no idea what it was or where it came from, the rover's handlers began to worry that it might actually be a piece of the rover itself, suggesting some unseen damage or other issue with the robot. Thankfully, those concerns seem to have been unfound.

    In a new update from NASA the object has now been identified as a natural piece of rock rather than a piece of any man-made craft or vehicle. The team analyzed the unusual object with a tool called the Chem Cam RMI. The instrument uses a laser (激光器)to sniff out the makeup of anything that is pointed at, and the results for this particular piece of debris revealed that it's actually just a very thin piece of rock.

    NASA describes the inspection: The planning day began with an interesting result from the previous plan's Chem Cam RMI analysis of a target that was referred to as "Pettegrove Point Foreign Object Debris"(PPFOD)，and supposed to be a piece of spacecraft debris fact. In fact it was found to be a very thin slice of rock, so we can all rest easy tonight. Curiosity has not begun to shed its skin!

    How this particularly thin sliver of rock got to where it is—and why it seems to be a different colour than the surrounding sand and debris—remains unexplained, but at least the rover isn't falling apart.