Mrs. Strickland did not talk much, but she had a pleasant gift for keeping the conversation general; and when there was a pause she threw in just the right remark to set it going once more.

    "Why do nice women marry dull men?"

    "Because intelligent men won't marry nice women. "

    Mrs. Strickland had the gift of sympathy.

    There was another thing I liked in Mrs. Strickland. She managed her surroundings with elegance(优雅). Her flat was always neat and cheerful with flowers. The meals in the little dining room were pleasant; the table looked nice; the food was well cooked. It was impossible not to see that Mrs. Strickland was an excellent housekeeper. And you felt sure that she was an admirable mother. There were photographs in the drawing room of her son and daughter. The son—his name was Robert—was a boy of sixteen at Rugby. He had his mother's fine eyes. He looked clean, healthy, and normal.

    “I don't know that he's very clever,” she said one day, when I was looking at the photograph, “but I know he's good. He has a charming character.”

    The daughter was fourteen. Her hair, thick and dark like her mother's, fell over her shoulders, and she had the same kindly expression and untroubled eyes.

    “They both look like you,” I said.

    “Yes, I think they are more like me than their father.”

    “Why have you never let me meet him?” I asked.

    “Would you like to?” she smiled and her smile was really very sweet.

    “You know, he's not at all literary,” she said. “He has no interest in literature.”

    “He's on the Stock Exchange(证券交易所), and he's a typical broker(经纪人). I think he'd bore you to death.”

    “Does he bore you?” I asked.

    “You see, I happen to be his wife. I'm very fond of him.” She smiled to cover her shyness, and her eyes grew tender.

    “He doesn't pretend to be a talent. He doesn't even make much money on the Stock Exchange. But he's awfully good and kind.”

    “I think I should like him very much.”

    “I'll ask you to dine with us quietly some time, but mind, you come at your own risk; don't blame me if you have a very dull evening.”

    When thinking about placing a human being in space, one of the most important questions was how to design special clothing needed to protect a person from the dangers of the space environment. The cold of space will freeze skin in a short time. The fierce heat of the sun can cause serious burns. The lack of atmosphere can cause gases in the body to expand(扩大) and even burst. With no oxygen to breathe, a human being will die in only a few moments. Radiation from the sun is another risk in space. So is damage from small pieces of rock and objects like meteoroids (陨石).

    In 1933, an American flyer, Wiley Post, designed one of the first successful devices to protect a pilot at extreme heights. It was a large device that looked like a can surrounded the pilot's head. Astronauts in the American space agency (NASA) flew the first American space flights in the early 1960s. The clothing was similar to that invented by Wiley Post.

    Today, astronauts wear very different protective clothing. It lets them move, do useful tasks, and stay outside their spacecraft in comfort and safety for several hours. The spacesuit is called the shuttle extravehicular mobility unit or EMU. It was designed to endure longer and to permit more movement than earlier spacesuits.

    The EMU has a number of parts that an astronaut can link together by using only one hand, which makes it possible for each astronaut to select the parts that fit correctly.

    Nowadays, NASA scientists are also considering the kind of spacesuits that would be needed for exploration on the planet Mars. Because of the gravity on Mars, spacesuits may have to be designed to be lighter than suits used in orbit or on the moon. The equipment may also have to protect astronauts from dust carried in the winds on Mars. And, they must be easy to repair and keep clean during a longer flight to and from the red planet.

    If you're a fan of smart technology, you may have had some sleepless nights lately.

    That's because Alexa, the artificial intelligence (AI) behind US company Amazon's Echo smart speakers, has been "letting out an automatic, creepy (令人毛骨悚然的) cackle," for no apparent reason, according to BBC News.

    Many social media users shared their stories of Alexa scaring them with the seemingly unprompted laugh.

    "Every time Alexa laughs, an angel dies," Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk joked on social media.

    On March 7, Amazon released an update that fixed the problem, saying that the laugh was triggered (引发) by Echo devices mistakenly thinking that users had said the command "Alexa, laugh".

    However, what should have been a funny story raised the ongoing topic of man versus machine.

    With the rise of artificial and robotic technology, "Digital machines have started to demonstrate (展示) broad abilities in pattern recognition, complex communication, and other fields that used to only belong to human," wrote Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee in their book The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress, and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies. They believe that AI will "do more and more, and our lives will get better".

    However, ever since the earliest days of AI, there have been concerns that some day, software will take over the world, leaving the fate of humans unknown.

    "With artificial intelligence we are summoning (召唤) the demon ," Musk told students during a meeting at MIT in 2014. "If I had to guess at what our biggest existential threat is, it's probably that. So we need to be very careful."

    Many scientists have shared the same concern. The late British physicist Stephen Hawking said at a technology conference in Portugal in November that "computers can, in theory, imitate human intelligence, and exceed it… AI could be the worst event in the history of our civilization." If creators are to safely control AI, however, Hawking suggested that they "employ best practice and effective management".

    "I am an optimist and I believe that we can create AI for the good of the world," he said at the conference. "We simply need to be aware of the dangers, identify them, employ the best possible practice and management, and prepare for its consequences well in advance."

    Wong Fuk-wing, a Hong Kong volunteer at an orphanage (孤儿院) in Yushu, was killed in the earthquake when he was trying to save others on April 14, 2010.

    Wong managed to run safely out of the building with some children when the first quake happened at 7:50 am on April 14, but he went back inside to rescue three other children and three teachers inside, although he knew the danger of aftershocks (余震).

    At 10 am, all the children and one of the teachers were saved. However, Wong was buried under the fallen building and died. The other two teachers were still waiting to be rescued.

    46-year-old Wong was a truck driver, who often said he could only give his efforts to charity instead of money, as he did not earn a lot. His tragic (悲剧的) end touched the hearts of many people both in Hong Kong and on the mainland.

    Wong began volunteering in 2002. In 2003, Wong was told by the doctor he got serious illness, which gave him a great blow. However, the illness did not deter the warm-hearted man. When the earthquake struck Wenchuan is Sichuan Province in 2008, Wong rushed to the disaster area of Shifang to offer his help though his family did not want him to go.

    In fact, Qinghai is a place Wong had often visited since 2006. As a volunteer, he gave out medicine and clothing to the orphanage there. No one could expect that Wong would die helping others.

    Hong Kong Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen said he had “the highest respect” for the hero who gave his life for others. “What he did has shown the Hong Kong spirit.” The citizens of Hong Kong called him “the pride of Hong Kong's people” and people on the mainland have also praised him as “a true hero”.

Adults check their phones, on average,360 times a day, and spend almost three hours a day on their devices in total. The problem for many of us is that one quick phone-related task leads to a quick check of our emails or social media feeds, and suddenly we've been sucked into endless scrolling.

It's an awful circle. The more useful our phones become, the more we use them. The more we use them, the more we lay neural（神经的） pathways in our brains that lead to pick up our phones for whatever task is at hand-and the more we feel an urge to check our phones even when we don't have to.

What we do know is that the simple distraction of checking a phone or seeing a notification（通知）can have negative consequences. This isn't very surprising; we know that, in general, multitasking does harm to memory and performance. One of the most dangerous examples is phone use while driving. One study found that merely speaking on the phone, not texting, was enough to make drivers slower to react on the road. It's true for everyday tasks that are less high-risk, too. Simply hearing a notification "ding" made participants of another study perform far worse on a task-almost as badly as participants who were speaking or texting on the phone during the task.

It isn't just the use of a phone that has consequences-its me re presence can affect the way we think.

In one recent study, for example, researchers asked participants to either put their phones next to them so they were visible（like on a desk）, nearby and out of sight（like in a bag or pocket）, or in another room. They were found to perform far better when their phones were in another room instead of nearby-whether visible, powered on or not.

Four Top Family Camping Trips

Camp Clearwater: White Lake, North Carolina

Camp Clearwater in White Lake, North Carolina, features its own 1, 100-acre lake complete with 1, 300 feet of shorefront. On-site facilities here include a mini-golf area, sports fields and a park that allows pets. Further, the family campground hosts various activities, including games, cornhole tournaments and golf cart parades. Overnight campsites run from $40 to $60 per night. 

A Tiny House Resort: Cairo, New York

Those cager to try tiny living in a natural setting should check out this tiny location in the heart of the Catskills Mountains region. There are on-site facilities including a pool, a dog park, kayaks, massage services and even goat yoga. You can spend your time walking on the waterfront trails or relaxing on a boat. Rates start at $295 per night for tiny homes that sleep two, but some tiny homes with more space for additional guests or amenities（便利设施） cost more. 

Meeman-Shelby Forest: Memphis, Tennessee

The Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park features 12, 539 acres of outdoor space along the Mississippi River. This area is known for its magnificent trees as well as the many endangered and protected plants that call it home. You can camp here in a two-bedroom cabin（小木屋） or on one of the 49 campsites. Cabin rentals start around $110 per night, and you can rent a camping spot for as little as $25 per night. 

Flamingo Adventures at the Everglades: Florida Keys

Families within close driving distance to the Florida Everglades have plenty of outdoor options to consider, including houseboat and eco-tent rentals through Flamingo Adventures. Houseboat rentals sleep four adults and two kids maximum and prices start at $350 per night. Eco-tents, which sit on platforms and feature bed linens, electricity, sitting areas and plenty of storage, start at $50 per night.