People and animals often enjoy loving relationships with each other. When people adopt domesticated (家养的) animals into their families as pets, animals give humans the blessings of companionship and fun in return. In the wild, animals sometimes carry out dramatic rescues of people in dangerous situations, miraculously (奇迹般地) sensing human needs and jumping in without fear to help.

    In 2000, a 6-year-old boy unified Elian Gonzalez left Cuba on a boat bound for Florida in the United States, but the boat sank and everyone aboard drowned except Elian and two adults. Elian and the other two survivors held onto inner tube for 48 hours to try to stay afloat in the sea. After a while, however, Elian began to lose strength, slipping under the water and then grabbing the tube again as he fought to stay alive.

    A small group of dolphins noticed Elian struggling and swan over to him to help. The dolphins formed a circle around the inner tube and took turns using their noses to lift Elian until fishermen working in the area discovered and rescued Elian and the two adults who floated nearby. The fishermen reported that, when they discovered Elian, he was repeating a prayer that his mother had taught him before drowning, asking guardian angels to protect him.

    Miraculously, the dolphins knew that a child would need more help than adults, so they focused on Elian — and they figured out exactly what needed to be done and cooperated to carry out that plan successfully. They made it!

    ARNOLD Schwarzenegger is back, once again taking on his iconic killer robot role, the T-800, in August's new movie Terminator Genisys. While the T-800 model—even if it can be evil—has a fond place in moviegoers' hearts, the reality of autonomous machines is no joke, according to scientists.

    Autonomous weapons use artificial intelligence (AI) to choose targets without human help. They were described as “the third revolution in warfare, after gunpowder and nuclear arms” in an open letter signed by over 1,000 important technology figures in July. The list included British scientist Stephen Hawking and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak. They asked governments around the world to ban autonomous weapons, warning that killer robots could start ethnic cleansings and an arms race.

     “They will look like tanks. They will look like battleships. They will look like jet fighters,” UK robotics professor Noel Sharkey told CNET, a leading technology website.

    But unlike these machines, which require a human hand in their action, so-called “killer robots” would have some decision-making abilities and the ability to act on their own.

     “If any major military power pushes ahead with AI weapon development, a global arms race is almost inevitable,” said the letter released at the 2015 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

    The idea of an automated killing machine was made famous by Schwarzenegger's first Terminator movie in 1984. While no red-eyed robots have been sent after human beings, the idea of AI being used as a weapon has gotten much more likely in the years ever since. The US military is already developing autonomous flying vehicles that can carry out all the steps of a strike mission without a human controlling them, according to a May report in Nature magazine.

    Scientists have even painted a destructive picture of autonomous weapons falling into the hands of terrorists or warlords hoping to carry out ethnic cleansings.

     “The development of full artificial intelligence could lead to the end of the human race,” Hawking said to the BBC in 2016.

Authorities are gradually waking up to the risk of robot wars. Last May, for the first time, the United Nations brought governments together to begin talks on autonomous weapons systems.

    Still, a ban on autonomous weapons is “easier said than done”, commented The Guardian. The dual (双重的) uses of the AI technology—for harm and for good—is difficult to manage. This is because the exact same technology can be used in a wide range of ways, the paper said.

    Emily and Zach are confused! Their parents told them they could choose between Massachusetts and Arizona for their vacation this summer.

    Emily has always wanted to visit Boston, the capital of Massachusetts. Zach and she both agree that walking along the Freedom Trail would enable them to see Boston's most famous places of historic interest, like the site of the school Ben Franklin attended and the Old State House. If Emily and Zach went to Massachusetts, they could spend a few days at the beaches on Cape Cod. Emily loves body boarding, and Zach is great at body surfing. They both enjoy building sandcastles .

    Zach finds learning about Native Americans wonderful and has always wanted to travel along the Apache Trail in Arizona. This mountain highway passes Native American ruins in Tonto National Forest. Emily is not as interested in traveling along this trail as Zach, but they both would like to visit Phoenix, the capital, and then travel to Grand Canyon National Park and Meteor Crater (陨石坑). Zach learned in science class that Meteor Crater is a hole over 4,000 feet wide and 520 feet deep that was created when a huge object from space fell to Earth. The object went so deep that it has never been found. Zach would really like to try to discover it. But Emily thinks if experienced scientists and researchers cannot find it, Zach might as well not even bother (费工夫) to try.

    The only drawback for Zach and Emily if they choose Arizona would be the heat. It is very hot and dry in this southwestern state. Massachusetts, on the other hand, is in the northeastern United States. Here Zach and Emily and their parents could enjoy mild (温和的) temperatures. Their parents love hot weather, but Zach and Emily do not really like to sweat.

    How will they ever decide to which state they should travel? If only they could take two trips!

Inventor, physicist, surveyor, astronomer, biologist, artist... Robert Hooke was all these and more. Some say he was the greatest experimental scientist of the 17th century. In the course of his work, he cooperated with famous men of science like Isaac Newton, and the great architect, Christopher Wren.

Hooke's early education began at home, under the guidance of his father. He entered Westminster School at the age of 13, and from there went to Oxford, where he came in contact with some of the best scientists in England. Hooke impressed them with his skills at designing experiments and inventing instruments. In 1662, at the age of 28, he was named Curator of Experiments at the newly formed Royal Society of London — meaning that he was responsible for demonstrating new experiments at the society's weekly meeting. Hooke accepted the job, even though he knew that the society had no money to pay him!

Watching living things through a microscope was one of his favourite pastimes. He invented a compound microscope for this purpose. One day while observing a cork under a microscope, he saw honeycomb­like structures. There were cells — the smallest units of life. In fact, it was Hooke who invented the term "cell" as the box­like cells of the cork reminded him of the cells of a monastery．

Another achievement of Hooke's was his book Micrographia, which introduced the enormous potential of the microscope. It contains fascinating drawings of the thing he saw under the microscope. The book also includes, among other things, ideas on gravity, light and burning that may have helped scientists like Newton when they were developing their own theories on these phenomena.

Hooke made a valuable contribution to astronomy too. A crater on the moon is named after him in honour of his services to this branch of science.

Jean was a teacher who taught first grade. She drove an old Jetta with dull blue paint and worn seats. It wasn't the speediest tool, but Jean was never late to work. In fact, each school day she was the first teacher to arrive and the last teacher to leave.

She took great care to plan instruction, create assessments, and decorate her classroom. Parents in the neighborhood would beat down the principal's door to have their children arranged to her class. Jean could teach a mouse to read, and all her students passed into second grade with advanced vocabularies and language skills.

One August, two sisters in high school did not want to enter foster care (家庭寄养). They contacted their first grade teacher, Jean. Jean lived in quite an ordinary home with her son. Yet, she took the sisters in. Packed with children, the little blue Jetta sputtered (劈啪作响), but they had a good laugh.

One day, Jean spoke about her car, which she had driven for many years and had been old enough to retire. It was kind of dangerous for students to ride in such a car. She wanted a van. However, a new van was not within her ability. As a good friend, I listened to her concerns. Then, an idea came to me. I wrote a letter to The Oprah Winfrey Show, sharing Jean's story and her wish.

A month passed. Jean was invited to attend The Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah hugged the teacher and told the details of Jean's story. Oprah announced that Jean deserved a new van.

The year was 1999. Six hundred miles away, I watched the joy of it all from the television. Jean's big heart taught me many lessons that year. One of them is that the simplest acts (like writing a letter) can require a strong faith. And nothing impossible.

The recent few weeks have been the perfect time for a good book and here are some good ones that allow readers to get completely lost in another world.

Watch Me Disappear

If you like mysteries with family drama, Janelle Brown's best-selling thriller is for you, The story follows a wealthy wife and mom who goes on a hike and never returns. Her lonely husband and teenage daughter, Olive (who's dealing with her own problems), are confused with sorrow while trying to find out what happens.

The Boy from the Woods

If you pick up one of Harlan Coben's books, you won't be able to put it down. His misty stories keep readers fascinated. The Boy from the Woods, is sure to satisfy fans of his twisty, heart-racing plots filled with interesting and exciting atmosphere. This is the book to read if you love masterful surprises.

How to Walk Away

Katherine Center's best-selling novel follows a young woman, Margaret, with her perfect fiance, a pilot who takes her on a upsetting flight that changes her life forever. Readers adore Margaret's wisdom and humor as she faces a changed world and figures out what love really looks like.

The Last One Left

This novel, first published in 1967, still attracts readers decades later. Novelist Dean Koontz wrote the introduction to the recent edition, where he describes reading each of John D. MacDonald's novels" at least three times, some of them twice that often. "This is your next read if you want to be swept away by a master of mystery and excitement.