Life in the year 3044 is very different1 life in the 21^st century. We still do many of the things you did, but we do them 2. For example, we now have e-friends to help us and keep us company. An e-friend is a machine that looks just3a human being. It can walk and talk and can do almost4 we human beings do. My e-friend is a lot like me and we have5fun together. She helps me 6 my homework and we often go swimming.  She is programmed to take care of me if anything7, so I always feel safe when we are together.  She can also send me messages, just like old-fashioned e-mail, and I can download information from her memory. It's great8an e-friend. I am never lonely and I always have someone to talk9.

      I would like to tell you more about life in the year 3044, but I have to send my e-friend to clean up my room. Maybe10I will be able to travel back in time and visit you.

Empathy(同情心) lets us feel another person's pain and drives us to help. Do any other animals feel empathy? Scientists recently found that rats(老鼠) do, too.

    Most people don't like rats. In many people's eyes, rats are only bad. But Jean Decety and his partners at the University of Chicago did an experiment. It showed that rats are kind, warm-hearted animals. They can feel each other's pain.

Scientists placed pairs of rats in plastic cages(笼子) for two weeks. During this time they got to know each other. Then they put one of the rats from each pair into a small container(容器) in the cages. The small container had a door. It was so designed as to fall to the side when the free rat touched it. Many of the trapped(困住的) rats squeaked(吱吱叫) to show their discomfort. The other rats of the pairs could see their suffering friends clearly.

In most pairs, the free rats would become very worried about their friends. They kept trying to save their friends again and again throughout the month. Scientists put the rats' favorite chocolate in the cages, but the rats didn't eat it until they had saved their friends successfully. Scientists also found that female rats seemed to act more empathetic than male rats.

    “The results are the first to show that rats take action in response to another's trouble,” Decety said. “Monkeys and chimpanzees have similar behavior. But unlike those animals, rats can be ready used in laboratory studies. They will help us to learn which parts of the brain lead to empathy and helping behavior and whether empathy is natural.”

    BEIJING—The sky is gray and air smells strange．It's another day of smog．On Saturday，heavy haze (霾) still covered north and east China．Highways were closed and1 couldn't take off on time．

    The smoggy weather 2 the country's land from north to south，including Beijing, Hebei， Shandong，and 60ther provinces．People could only see clearly 3 than 50 meters in some areas．

    Cities 4 Shanghai and Nanjing have been covered by the gray sky for the past several days．Many walkers in the street had to wear 5 ． In the Lukou airport in Nanjing more than 60 flights were canceled on Saturday 6 the haze，which also made primary and middle schools and kindergartens stop 7on Thursday and Friday in Nanjing．

    The office worker of Environmental Protection said earlier this week that there were several 8 reasons behind the widespread haze：unpleasant weather conditions making9 difficult for smog to disappear，automobile exhaust(尾气)，and coal use for winter heating．

    To fight pollution，the Chinese government now plans to clean up the air by cutting coal use，10 some factories，and removing 6 million old cars from the roads．

     “We must face up to the facts，”said Yan Naiqiang，a professor of environmental science at Shanghai Jiao Tong University．“The treatment of smog will be a long fight． From now on，if we use buses or cars less and do more tidin9，we believe a clear sky is not a faraway dream．”

    Traveling is very interesting. Many people love traveling. There are many ways to travel: by plane, by train, by ship or by car. Everyone has their favorite way.

Greg:

    My favorite way of traveling is by car. I can bring my pet dog along. I can travel three hundred miles or only fifty miles a day. I can stop at a good restaurant to enjoy a good meal or at a hotel to spend the night.

Eliza:

I love traveling by train best! It's very exciting. I traveled most of Europe in 5 months by train. It's the best way to talk with the local people and make new friends on the way. Trains make even the longest trip enjoyable. The train ride to me is just like a big moving party.

    I also like traveling by ship. It is a very great way to spend a vacation. I can go to parties and movies on the ship, and enjoy the blue sky and water.

Danny:

    Planes are my favorite. It's the fastest way of traveling. I can quickly get to another country. Planes have very comfortable seats. I can have something to drink and to eat. I can also read some free magazines and newspapers.

    Have you heard of STEM education? STEM 1 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. It means students can learn these 2subjects in one class. And they work on many projects to practice 3 they learn STEM education is very 4 in the US.

    Now more than 600 5 middle schools bring in STEM education, according to the paper, en. Beijing, Yuying School is one of them.

    The school 6 the course in May. It invited college teachers to teach more than 80 students programming, robotics and other interdisciplinary(跨学科}的) knowledge.

    The teaching style is quite 7, Once teachers finish teaching basie knowledge, studentes will practice it 8. For example, after learning about electrie circuits(电路),students are required to design one that could control three lights 9.They have many projects to improve their hands-on 10 as well. Once, they had a "smart home" model design project. All the students competed to design a 11 model and make it "smart" .Liu Tianyou, 12, with 12 teammates, used computer programs and sensors to finish it. "If you open the door of the house, the lights will 13 automatically, "he said. Their work won the third prize.

    The class, develops students' creativity as well. 14 Learning mechanies and programming in the class, Zhao Hngyi, 14, made a Lego robot himself in eight 15.From assembling(组装)to testing he finished it on his own. The robot can catch things and walk on certain tracks under orders. " It's cool to make my idea come to life," he said.