There are some very good inventions which， for one reason or another， don't become popular. These inventions should be better known， even though I think that some of them are crazy. Let's have a look at some of these inventions and see if you agree that they should be more successful.

    The Australians had a great idea to stop people from drinking and driving. The idea was that if a driver wanted to start the car， she or he would have to blow into a bag first. If there was too much alcohol(酒精) in their breath， the car wouldn't start. It sounded like a great idea to me， but people said that they might need to drive the car in an emergency even if they had drunk too much alcohol. Another idea I liked was an invention by a scientist who thought his children watched too much TV. He linked the TV to an exercise bike so that the electricity to power the TV was generated(产出) by the bike. If the children wanted to watch a lot of TV， they had to pedal(踩踏板) very hard. I found another invention on the Internet which was intended (倾向于) to encourage good habits. Believe it or not， this invention was an ashtray(烟灰缸) which spoke to you when you lit a cigarette! The “voice” of the ashtray was activated (启动) by the heat from the cigarette and reminded you how dangerous it is to smoke.

    One of the strangest inventions I have come across is a bicycle which can cross rivers! The idea was that when you came to a river， you could inflate a huge plastic ball all around the bike. You would then get into the ball which would float on the river while you pedaled the bike inside the ball! Why not use a bridge instead? A friend of mine at school once bought a strange pair of football shoes. On the bottom of the shoes there was a rotating pad of studs (转动钉垫). The idea was that you would change direction more quickly if the studs rotated with you. The problem was that every time you stopped you changed direction whether you wanted to or not! I think he wore those shoes twice! One thing I would like is a baseball cap with a built-in radio so you can listen to sport all day with your hands free. While we are on the subject of sport， the Americans invented a kind of robot for sports fans. If you were watching your team on TV on your own， you could press a button and the robot would do “high fives” with you! Fantastic! I wonder if you have any good ideas for inventions like these.

    Anyone who has had a long-term illness knows that recovering at home can be boring. This can be especially true for children. They may feel cut off from their friends and classmates. Now, these children may have a high-tech friend to help feel less lonely. That friend is a robot.

    The robot is called Avatarl (AV1). It takes their place at school. Through the robot, the children can hear their teachers and friends. They can also take part in classes from wherever they are recovering. And the children's school friends must help. They carry the robot between classes and place the robot in the classroom.

    A Norwegian(挪威的) company called “No Isolation” created the robot. There are another two co-founders, Karen Dolva and Marious Aabel. Dolva explains how the robot works. She says from home the child uses an iPad or a phone to start it, control the robot's movements with touch and talk through it. The child can take part in classroom activities. The robot is equipped with speakers, microphones and cameras that make communication easy. So it's the eyes, the ears and the voice of the child at school. Inside AV1 there is a small computer connected to a 4G network.

    AV1 is designed to be tough. It won't allow water to pass through it and can take a fall from a desk without damage. AV1 is large and looks like a human for a reason. Dolva says it can't be just a tiny camera because the other kids can't pick it up and take it with them. This is important because the robot is supposed to be a friend to the children. Hopefully AV1 will help some children feel less lonely while they were absent from class.

    How do you pay for your meals at a fast food restaurant? With change(零钱)? Nowadays we have We Chat wallet and Alipay.

    I use my tap-and-go card(感应式信用卡). I don't even need to enter my PIN number(SIM卡密码)or a signature(签名)to pay money. It's quicker and everybody in the queue(队)is happy.

    Contactless payments(非接触式支付)are more and more popular, but the safety (安全性)still needs improving(改善). And people shouldn't pay too much at a time-in the UK it's ￡30. If you use the card a few times, you will need your PIN number.

    Some things, such as your clothes, have been combined with electric technology(与电子技术联系起来). Kenneth Cukier, the writer of the book Big Data, says, "You can take any card and put it in a coat. When you make a payment, just wave your arm in front of the terminal(终端)." This is for people who don't want to take their card out of their pocket, or use their phone or watch.

    Good, isn't it?

    So spending money is becoming easier at the time. And people are buying more and more things. But making money still needs the hard work.

    Back to work then!

Everybody dreams. But only some people remember their dreams. Our dreams often include all the senses —- smells, sounds, sights, tastes and things we touch .Sometimes we dream the same dream over and over again.

    Early in the twentieth century, two famous scientists developed their personal ideas about dreams. Austrian psychiatrist (奥地利心理学家) Sigmund Freud wrote a book called "The Interpretation (诠释) of Dreams" in 1900. Freud believed people often dream about things they want but can't have. Swiss (瑞士) psychiatrist Carl Jung worked closely with Freud for several years, but he believed dreams provide solutions to problems we face when we are awake.

    Other researchers are studying how dreaming helps our bodies work with problems and very sad emotions (感情). Robert Stickgold is a professor of psychiatry (心理学教授) at Harvard University in Massachusetts. He says that when we dream, the brain is trying to make sense of the world. He does not agree with Sigmund Freud that dreaming is the way we express our hidden feelings and wishes.

    Scientists believe it is important to keep researching dreams. Doctor Stickgold says it's more than one hundred years since Sigmund Freud wrote his important book about dreaming. Yet there is still no agreement on exactly how the brain works when we are dreaming or why we dream.