How does a young dog or cat get to know a new home? The animal uses its nose. Right away it smells its new places. Then it makes wider and wider circles, smelling all the time. Before long it can find its way home very well, even in the dark. It simply follows something it knows well.

    Stories happen about animals who found their way across land they had never smelled before. Take the case of Smoky, a small white cat. Smoky had some funny red hair around its right ear. One day Smoky and his owner began a long journey. They were moving from Oklahoma to Tennessee. When they were just eighteen miles from their Oklahoma home, Smoky jumped out of the car. Then he found his way back to the old house. There he wandered around outside for many days. Finally he disappeared.

    A year later Smoky meowed at the door of a house in Tennessee. A man opened the door. "Is that you, Smoky?" he said in surprise. At first he couldn't believe it. Then he saw the red hair around its right ear. It was Smoky!

    Soon computers and other machines will be able to remember you by looking at your eyes! The program works because everyone's eyes are different. So in the future you won't have to remember the number of your credit card when you want to use a machine or take money out of a bank. You'll just have to look at the machine and it will be able to tell who you are.

    The eye-recognition（眼睛识别）program has already been tested in shops and banks in the USA, Britain, Spain, Italy and Turkey. Soon this technology will take the place of all other ways of finding out who people are.

    Eye-recognition is a course of recognizing iris（虹膜）, which includes the following steps. First, a kind of machine needs to collect different examples of one's iris from his eyes and store them. Second, when this person goes to the bank to take out money, this machine will have iris feature extraction（采集）. Then, this machine will compare the examples kept in it with iris feature extraction. Once the examples and the feature extraction are the same, this person will be identified, and he will take out the money from the bank successfully.

    However, scientists are also working on other systems. Machines will soon be able to know you from the shape of your face or hand or even your smell! We already have machines that can tell who you are from your voice or the mark made by your finger.

    Eye-recognition is better than other kinds because your eyes don't change as you get older, and don't get dirty like hands or fingers, and even twins have different eyes. So the eye-recognition program can be up to 94% correct, depending on how good the technology is. However, some other programs may only be 51% correct now. In Britain, it was found that 91% of people who had tried it said that they liked the idea of eye-recognition.

    In the future your computer will be looking you in the eye. So smile!

    Anyone who has had a long-term illness knows that recovering at home can be lonely. This is can be especially true of children. They may feel isolated（孤立的）from their friends and classmates. Now, a small robot may help children who are recovering from a long-term illness in the hospital or at home. The robot takes their place at school. Through the robot, the children can hear their teachers and friends. They can also take part in classroom activities from wherever they are recovering – whether at home or from a hospital bed.

    The robot is called AV1.It is created by a company called “No Isolation”. AV1 goes to school for a child who is at home while recovering from a long-term illness. And the child's school friends must help. They carry the robot between classes and place the robot on the child's desk.

    Dolva, one co-funder （创始人）of No Isolation, explains how the robot AV1 works. She says, “the robot sits at the child's desk in the classroom and the child at home uses a tablet（平板电脑）or a phone to start it, control its movement with touch, and talk through it. So the robot becomes the eyes, the ears and the voice of the child at school.” The robot is equipped with speakers, microphones and cameras that make communicating easy. Moreover，The AVI was designed to be tough. It is water-resistant(防水) and can take a fall from a desk without damage. Inside AV1 is a small computer connected to a 4G network. AV1 is large and looks like a human for a reason. Dolva thinks this is important because the robot is expected to be a friend to the children.

    The robot just became available to the public. Hopefully AV1 will help some children feel less lonely while they are absent from class.

    A thirsty crow(乌鸦) comes across(偶然遇到) a bottle of water, but the water level is out of its reach. The bird then drops some stones into it and gets the water.

    "It's just a story," you may think. But new research has found that crows' brains may sometimes be better than those of 6­year­old children.

In a recent experiment, American scientist Corina Logan and her team caught six crows to test them. The crows and children had to choose between two sets of tubes(试管). They had to drop stones in and get water.

    With the red set, when they dropped a stone into a wide tube, the water level raised in a connected narrow tube. The blue set of tubes, however, had no connection between them.

    Children aged 7 to 10 were able to learn the rule. Children aged 4 to 6, however, failed. Five of the six crows failed the test. But Kitty, a 6­month­old crow, passed it. She put most of the stones into the red tubes.

    So, could a bird be more clever than a kindergartner? Don't be too quick to say no.

Abingdon School Open Day

    The Open Day this year will be on Saturday, 1 October 2011. The Open Day is for all the family, with activities and displays(展示) about all aspects(方面) of the school. All the teachers, students and parents will attend. The day starts at 9:30 a. m. and finishes at 2:30 p.m.  You are welcome to arrive at any time during the lessons in the morning and afternoon. Please read the outline of Open Day events.

    If you can't come to the Open Day, that's all right. There are many other chances(机会) to visit Abingdon School

    St Helen School and St Katharine School Open Day will be on the same date, so you can also visit those two.

    Parking at the school on the Open Day may be limited(有限的), so you can also park your cars in Lotus Supermarket's car park.  It's just a three-minute walk away.

The map of Abingdon School can be found on the school website-www. abingdon. edu.

    How to build good relationships with people from other cultures? Actually, it is important to learn some communication skill. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    Learn about the culture in advance. A little knowledge can go a long way. So if you have time before going abroad or meeting with someone from another culture, try to take time to learn the basic "do's and don'ts" of that culture. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It's very convenient.

    Be respectful and tolerant. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Signs of these may appear when you communicate with people from other cultures. However, it is not the time to judge people based on these differences during basic communication. Instead, respect them for what they are, and tolerate them.

    Speak clearly and slowly. But do not shout at others even if they don't understand you. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Instead, it can be seen as a rude behavior. What's more, even if there are difficulties in communicating with people from other cultures, do not treat other people as though they are stupid.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} In some cultures, looking another person in the eye when you speak is seen as a sign of honesty and interest. However, in other cultures, it may be disrespectful.