Have you ever dreamed about sending a letter to yourself or your friends in the future? While express mail(快递) is a fast way to send your letters, there is another type of mail appearing in China as a new business—future mail.

     “The letter should be sent next Mother's Day and not a day earlier!” Lin Xiaofan, acollege student in Shanghai, tells one of the companies offering the service.

Lin Xiao fan wrote the letter to her mother nearly a year earlier to express her love to hermother for next Mother's Day.

“Offering thisservice makes people slow down and lets them understand the meaning of ‘time'in another way,” said Zheng Zhimin, manager at a “future mail” company. Zheng thinks “future mail” letters help remind us of care, friendship and love.

      While “futuremail” is becoming more and more popular, some people are wondering what will happen if the postal address changes or if the company goes broken before theletters arrive.

     Zheng said customers are glad to sign a contract(签订合同) to make sure that they canbe compensated if their letters are lost or damaged.

    Most of the customers are college students and young white-collar(白领) workers. Psychologists (心理学家) said that young Chinese might have a new way to express their feelings through this service. Most peopleput their hopes and wishes in the letter so that they can experience the connection(联系) between the past and the present when they receive theletter.

    Jane Goodall first made friends with a chimp (黑猩猩)when she was one year old. On her first birthday her mother carried her to the zoo near her home and bought her a toy chimp. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} At age 7, Jane Gooddatl read Dr. Doolittle, a book about a doctor who could talk to animals. She wanted to be able to talk to her favorite animal, too. She expected to go to Africa some day so that she could learn more about chimps. When Jane grew up, {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. She got her wish when she was 26 years old. She went to Gombe National Park where many chimps lived in the forests.

    Jane watched the chimps closely day after day. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} They could think and make plans. They used tools. They showed their fear, pain, or pleasure. Sometimes, they fought. Often, they hugged(拥抱)and kissed. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. They knew that the relation between chimps and humans was the closest. However, they did not know they acted so much like us.

    Jane still has the toy chimp she was given as a child. She has studied her furry friends for over 30 years. Now, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. She hopes that what she has to say will make others do something to protect chimps from being hurt.

    We all cry for water when we are thirsty. But do you know, in very hot, dry weather, plants also make very low sounds as if they are crying for help?

    You see, in a plant's stem there are several hundred "water pipes" that bring water from soil all the way up to the leaves. When the ground turns dry, it becomes harder and harder for plants to do this.

    In very hot days, plants have to get any water that they can get.

    Scientists Robot Winter has found out that when plants can get no water, their "water pipes" snap(发出声音). When that happens, the whole plant vibrates(颤动) a little.

    Robot knows that healthy, well-watered plants are quiet. He also knows that dry plants are many insects' favorites and they often attack(袭击) them. How do the insects know which are healthy plants and which are not? Robot thinks that the insects may hear the plants "crying" and they may come to kill them.