A research has shown that nearly 90 percent of traffic accidents are caused by human errors. So our aim is a fully autonomous car that gets rid of the cause of most accidents: the driver. Researcher Hodgson points out, “For safety, the faster you can remove humans, the better, even if there are unfortunately a few accidents from new causes. It s a question of balancing the number injured or killed by autonomous vehicles with the people whose lives are potentially saved.”

It's an idea that Elon Musk, chief executive of electric car company Tesla Motors, has long believed. His company are determined to be the first to deliver a fully autonomous vehicle to consumers. Last year, Musk announced that Tesla's 2017 goal was “to do an example drive of full autonomy all the way from LA to New York…and have the car park itself.”

However, even Tesla admits that there are problems to overcome—the software needs further validation and the appropriate regulatory approval needs to be in place. Indeed, recent crashes of Tesla vehicles and Google cars confirm that the software isn't ready yet.

The UK government appears committed to encouraging the development of autonomous vehicles. It's supporting four city trials, publishing the Modem Transport Bill to reduce red tape around their introduction and adapting the legal system to take into account problems such as insurance liability when a human isn't in control of a vehicle.

    The insurance industry is similarly eager to help increase autonomy in cars. As the Association of British Insurers (ABI) points out, “More than 90 per cent of road accidents are caused by human error.” This costs motor insurers a shocking £20m per day in claims.

    A sense of humor is something highly valued. A person who has a great sense of humor is often considered to be happy and socially confident. However, humor is a double-edged sword. Sometimes it can damage self-respect and annoy others.

    People who use bonding humor tell jokes and generally lighten the mood. They're thought to be good at reducing the tension in uncomfortable situations. They often make fun of their common experiences, and sometimes they may even laugh off their own misfortunes. The basic message they deliver is: We're all alike, we find the same things funny, and we're all in this together.

    Put-down humor, on the other hand, is an aggressive type of humor used to criticize others through teasing. When it's aimed against politicians, as it often is, it's extremely funny and mostly harmless. But in the real world, it may have a harmful effect. An example of such humor is telling friends an embarrassing story about another friend. When challenged about their teasing, the put-down jokers might claim that they are "just kidding," thus allowing themselves to avoid responsibility. This type of humor, though considered by some people to be socially acceptable, may hurt the feelings of the one being teased and thus have a bad effect on personal relationships.

    Finally, in hate-me humor, the joker is the target of the joke for the amusement of others. This type of humor was used by comedians John Belushi and Chris Farley—both of whom suffered for their success in show business. A small amount of such humor is charming, but routinely offering oneself up to be embarrassed destroys one's self-esteem, and fosters depression and anxiety.

    So it seems that being funny isn't necessarily an indicator of good social skills and well-being. In certain cases, it may actually have a negative effect on interpersonal relationships.

    You may have seen many pumpkins in posters and TV shows recently since Halloween came on October 31.

    Lanterns made of pumpkins, also known as jack-o'-lanterns, are often seen during Halloween. Many people in the U.S. like to make them and put them in front of their houses. People hollow out（挖空）a pumpkin, carve a face on one side and place a candle inside to make the pumpkin glow. The lanterns can look funny or scary.

    This is not the only way in which pumpkins are part of American culture.

    During the Thanksgiving holiday, pumpkin pie is a common food. It is made from pumpkins and has some delicious spices to give it a nice flavor. People often put some cream on top of it before serving it. It is one of my favorite things to eat during Thanksgiving.

    There is also “pumpkin chucking”. It's a competition where people build machines to throw pumpkins through the air. The person whose pumpkin flies the farthest wins the competition. The world record for pumpkin chucking was set in Utah in 2010. The distance for that world record was about 1.69 kilometers!

    Finally, there are also pumpkin growing contests. For these contests, farmers try to grow the biggest pumpkins they can. The person who has the biggest pumpkin will win the first prize.

    This is a time of year when high school students and their families are thinking hard about college. As seniors, juniors, and parents identify their top choices, discussions typically focus on the college itself. Is the institution small or large? How strong are the academics? What is the social life like? Do I like the campus? Such considerations are important, but they can cover the all­important question: Where will these college years lead?

    Applicants should think seriously about which college on their list can best prepare them for the real world. They should look for campuses that offer well­structured programs to help them form a direction for their lives and develop the capacity to take steps along that path.

    One of the most striking recent phenomena about college graduates in America has been the "boomerang" student: the young person who goes away to college, has a great experience, graduates, and then moves back home for a year or two to figure out what to do with his or her life. This pattern has left many graduates — and their families — wondering whether it makes sense to spend four or more years at college, often at great expense, and finish with no clear sense of who they are or what they want to do next.

    The trend points to one of the great shortcomings of many of our nation's leading colleges and universities. Structured opportunities to think about life after graduation are rare. The formal curriculum focuses almost universally on the academic disciplines of the arts and sciences.  Advising on how various majors connect to pathways into the workplace is typically haphazard (没有条理的). Career planning offices are often shorthanded and marginal (不重要的) to college life.

    It doesn't need to be this way, and in recent years some of the country's top colleges have enriched their academic offerings with opportunities for students to gain real­world experiences.

FITNESS CENTRE

    The fitness centre offers a variety of activities for members of all ages throughout the week.

    Activities for Monday 12 July, 2017:

    Learn to swim. Classes for preschool children aged five and under start at 10:00 am. Classes last 30 minutes and parents must attend with their children. Don't forget to book in advance, as places are limited, and to pack some warm clothes for after the lesson.

    Woman's aerobics (有氧运动). Sessions are for one hour and begin at 10:45 am, led by Melissa. Come along and join us every Monday for an exhilarating hour of exercise and fun. Leave your kids at the nursery and take time out for yourself. Wear a track­suit or something similar.

    Lunchtime yoga. Take a break at lunchtime (1:00—2:00 pm) for an hour of meditation and yoga. Enjoy the peace and quiet of our meditation room, and relaxing sessions designed for active people with busy lives. Use your own mat for floor work or hire one from us for a small sum.

    Family Shootaround. 10:00—5:30 pm. Family Shootaround is open for members and guests to bring the family out for basketball. Half court games are only during this time. There are no full court games during Family Shootaround hours. All participants must sign in at the front desk and wear a wristband during the play.

Jim Curry lights a stove in the parking lot of Christ Episcopal Church in Guilford. It'll get up to 2,000 degrees, hot enough to soften the metal of shotgun parts so they can be reshaped.

A crowd is watching, and Curry picks out a 9-year-old named Oliver to help him. "This is really magic," Curry says. "Right before your very eyes, you're gonna see Oliver transform this gun, this instrument of potential harm, into something that could never be a gun ever again. It's gonna be a trowel (泥铲), which could be used to plant flowers in a garden."

"It is exciting," Oliver says. "I love the fact that you can take metal that's random and shape it into something useful."

Curry, a retired priest, is a co-founder of Swords to Plowshares (犁) Northeast, the organization putting on this event, which helps police departments manage their gun buyback programs and repurpose the weapons into gardening tools.

The finished tools are donated to community gardens and agricultural high schools and the harvested vegetables donated to soup kitchens and homeless shelters, according to the group's website.

Retired priest Mary Ann first volunteered with Swords to Plowshares when a family member fell victim to gun violence. She helps collect guns through police buybacks. "When there's such despair now in our country, people need to know that we can change. There is hope," she says.

Curry wears a constant reminder of that hope around his neck. It's two large pieces of metal molded into the shape of a cross. "It's made out of pieces of an AK-47 used for killing", he says. "But God's love breaks it apart, reshapes it, then transforms it into the sign of greatest hope — the cross. And that's why I wear it."