In ancient Egypt, a shopkeeper discovered that he could attract customers to his shop simply by making changes to its environment. Modern businesses have been following his lead,with more tactics（策略）.

One tactic involves where to display the goods. Foe example, stores place fruits and vegetables in the first section. They know that customers who buy the healthy food first will feel happy so that they will buy more junk food（垃圾食品）later in their trip. In department stores, section is generally next to the women's cosmetics(化妆品) section：while the shop assistant is going back to find the right size shoe, bored customers are likely to wander over cosmetics they might want to try later.

Besides, businesses seek to appeal to customers' senses. Stores notice that the smell of baked goods encourages shopping, they make their own bread each morning and then fan the bread smell into the store throughout the day. Music sells goods, too. Researchers in Britain found that when French music was played, sales of French wine went up.

           When it comes to the selling of houses, businesses also use highly rewarding tactics. They find that customers make decision in the first few second upon walking in the door, and turn it into a business opportunity. A California builder designed the structure of its houses smartly. When entering the house, the customer would see the Pacific Ocean through the windows, and then the poll through an open stairway leading to the lower level. The instant view of water on both levels helped sell these $10 million houses.

Dear Sir,

    I am writing to express my concern about the plans to build a motorway near our village.

    Haldersham is one of the loveliest villages in England. It is peaceful and quiet, and it is situated in a very attractive valley. There are also several beautiful countryside walks in the surroundings, with a view of many rare trees and plants.

    Most of the people who live in Haldersham have moved here from other places, often from London and other big cities. They have bought houses here to live in a place far away from the noise and the stress of the big city. They paid a lot of money for their houses, but they knew they would get a high quality of life for it.

    If the planned motorway is built, life in Haldersham will change greatly. There will be a lot of noise around us, and nobody will want to go on the walks. House prices will certainly go down, because nobody will want to buy houses in a place close to a motorway. Haldersham will become an ugly place.

    I don't think any of the people living in this beautiful village want that, and we all believe exposure to noise pollution can have a direct influence on our health. So, let's all tell the politicians who support the motorway plans what we think about them!

Yours faithfully,

Hilary Riley

    Every day, we are inching closer to some kind of artificial intelligence. Advances in big data, machine learning and robotics are going to give us a world where computers are effectively intelligent in terms of how we deal with them. Should you be scared by this? Absolutely, but not in the usual “robot overlords” (机器人帝国) kind of way. Instead, the real fear should be about getting human beings wrong, not getting AI right.

    The key to the technology is the ability of computers to recognize human emotions based on the ‘‘activation” of muscles in the face. A computer can identify the positions of facial muscles and use them to infer the emotional state of its user. Then the machine responds in ways that take that emotional state into account.

    One potential application of it is to provide “emotional robots” for the elderly. Having a machine that could speak in a kind way would comfort a lonely older person. That is a good thing, right? But that won't also relieve us from questioning how we ended up in a society that takes care of the elderly because we don't know what else to do with them? Can't we have more humane solutions than robots?

    “Emotion data” aren't the same thing as the real and vivid emotional experiences we human beings have. Our emotions are more than our faces or voices. How can they be pulled out like a thread, one by one, from the fabric of our being?

    Research programs can come with much philosophical concern, too. From the computers' point of view, what the computing technology captures are emotions, but at its root is a reduction of human experience whose outward expressions can be captured algorithmically (计算上). As the technology is used in the world, it can reframe the world in ways that can be hard to escape from.

    The technology will clearly have useful applications, but once it treats emotions as data, we may find that it is the only aspect of emotion we come to recognize or value. Once billions of dollars floods into this field, we will find ourselves trapped in a technology that is reducing our lives. Even worse, our “emotion data” will be used against us to make money for someone else. And that is what scares me about AI.

    When I was in the fifth grade and Mr. Gardner asked a question, my hand would often shoot up in enthusiasm. After giving me a few opportunities, he would try to give other students a chance. My hand, though, would remain in the air, and after some time, I'd start waving it around. Then, there was the time I entered drumming classes. But all we were allowed to do in the first class was practice one beat over and over again. I never went back.

    I would have done terribly in the Stanford Marshmallow(果浆软糖) Experiment. In this classic study, researchers gave children a choice between one marshmallow right away and two later. The results showed that those who could wait 15 minutes ended up scoring 210 points higher on the SAT, an examination that American high school students take before they go to college.

    So clearly, delaying(延迟的) gratification or bearing up under pain have their benefits. It needs patience, which keeps us from being stuck to ideas formed previously, and helps us let go of our strong desire for consequences. We come to accept that we don't always or immediately know what is best, and learn to recognize that our reality is in constant changes. Patience improves our understanding of deeper truths and helps us expand our views.

    The journey of patience is rooted in knowing that our present reality will finally give way to changes. But changes won't always happen when we think they should, and patience with ourselves comes from accepting that there are things we can control and things we can't. And though we must make great efforts to keep pushing the boundaries of our awareness and to improve our ability to rest in comfort in the present moment, how fast we develop isn't up to us.

    That same fifth grader who couldn't wait to speak out answers now sees the value of meeting questions with a heart of patience.

    With smart technology increasingly influencing all aspects of our lives, it is only a matter of time before someone invents “smart” shoes—ones that can be made based on personal needs. Called “ShiftWear”, the sneakers are the brainchild of a team of businessmen, and engineers led by New York-based designer David Coel.

    The adaptable shoes can be customized by using a smart phone app. Shoe owners will have the option of selecting a design from a variety of HD pattern by famous artists or creating one themselves. The company's founders imagine a marketplace where artists can not only share but also sell their designs to others. Despite being electronic, the designs are clearly visible even in the brightest sunlight. What's even cooler is that by switching on a backlight, users can even show off their designs in the dark!

    According to Coel, the sneakers will keep their charge “forever” if only images are displayed. Though they will need periodic recharging, active users have nothing to worry about. That's because the shoes are equipped with special walk-n-charge technology that powers the shoes—with every step. Inactive users also have options of charging the sneakers without using wires.

    The bottom part of the shoes is covered with Kevler fibers, a kind of strong material, reducing normal wear and tear. Even better? They are completely waterproof (not let water through) and can even be thrown into an ordinary laundry machine for a quick wash! The company predicts that the shoes will range the price from $150 to $1000 depending on the size of the E-panels where the designs are displayed.

    This is not the first time that electronics and shoes have combined. Lithuania-based iShuh Technology has come up with a similar concept that connects e-reader panels to a smart phone app via the Bluetooth. Whether these smart shoes become as popular as our smart devices remains to be seen, though they surely are attractive.

    Standing in line for the latest iPhone at the Apple store  queuing for tickets to the match or even just waiting at the post office might just have got a lot easier.

Japanese car-maker Nissan announces that it has just the thing to relieve the painful legs of tired queuers.

    The new system of self-driving chairs is designed to detect when someone at the front of the queue is called, and automatically move everyone else one step forward in line.

    The new invention is shown in a company video, which shows a busy restaurant with customers waiting outside. In the video, diners are sitting in a row of chairs, but will not have to stand when the next hungry diner is called to a table. Instead, the chairs, equipped with autonomous technology that detects the seat ahead, move along a path toward the front of the line. When the person at the front of the queue is called, the empty chair at the front can sense it is empty and so moves out of line. Cameras on the remaining chairs then sense the movement and follow automatically.

    “The system, which is similar to the kind used in Nissan's autonomous vehicle technology, will be tested at select restaurants in Japan this year," Nissan said. "It appeals to anyone who has queued for hours outside a crowded restaurant: it rids the boredom and physical pain of standing in line,” Nissan added.

    Although Tokyo has some 160,000 restaurants, long queues are not uncommon. Chosen restaurants that meet the criteria will be able to show the chairs outside their restaurants next year. Nissan also released a short video showing the chairs being used in an art gallery, moving slowly in front of the various paintings to let viewers appreciate the art without the need to stand up.