I have learned something about myself since I moved from Long Island to Florida three years ago. Even though I own a home in Port St, Lucie just minutes from the ocean, an un-controllable urge wells up to return to Long Island even as others make their way south. I guess I am a snowbird stuck in reverse. Instead of enjoying Florida's mild winters, I willingly endure the severe weather on Long Island, the place I called home for 65 years.

    I'm like a migratory bird (候鸟) that has lost its sense of timing and direction, my wings flapping against season.

    So what makes me fly against the tide of snowbirds? The answer has a lot to do with my reluctance to give up the things that define who I am. Once I hear that the temperature on Long Island has dipped into the range of 40 to 50 degrees, I begin to long for the sight and crackling sound of a wood fire. I also long for the bright display of colors-first in the fall trees, and then in the lights around homes and at Rockefeller Center. Floridians decorate too, but can't create the special feel of a New England winter.

    I suppose the biggest reason why I return is to celebrate the holidays with people I haven't seen in months. What could be better than sitting with family and friends for a Thanksgiving turkey dinner, or watching neighbors children excitedly open gifts on Christmas? Even the first snowfall seems special. I especially enjoy seeing a bright red bird settling on a snow-covered branch. (My wife and I spend winters at a retirement community in Ridge, and I'm grateful that I don't have to shovel.)

    While these simple pleasures are not unique to Long Island, they are some of the reasons why I come back. Who says you can't go home?

    Everyone looks forward to progress, whether in one's personal life or in the general society. Progress indicates a person's ability to change the way he is living at the moment. Progress must lead a better way of doing things. All these, however, remain true only in so far as people want to accept technology and move forward by finding new and more efficient ways of doing things.

    However, at the back of the minds of many people, especially those who missed the “good old days”, efficiency comes with a price. When communication becomes efficient, people are able to contact one another no matter where they are and at whatever time they wish to. The click of a button allows people miles apart to talk or to see each other without even leaving their homes. With the communication gadgets, such as mobile phones and ipads, people often do not take the effect to visit one another personally. A personal visit carries with it the additional feature of having to be in the person's presence for as long as the visit lasts. We cannot unnecessarily excuse ourselves or turn the other person off.

    With efficiency also comes mass production. Such is the nature of factories and the success of industrialization today. Factories have improved efficiency. Unskillful tasks are left to machines and products are better made and produced with greater accuracy than any human hand could ever have done. However, with the improvements in efficiency also comes the loss of the personal touch when making these products. For example, many handcrafts are now produced in a factory. Although this means that supply is better able to increase demand, now that the supply is quick and efficient, the demand might fall because mass production lowers the quality of the handicraft and it is difficult to find unique designs on each item.

    Nevertheless, we must not commit the mistake of analyzing progress only from one point of view. In fact, progress has allowed tradition to keep up. It is only with progress and the invention of new technology that many old products can be brought back to their old state. New technology is required for old products to stay old.

    It is people's attitude towards progress that causes the type of influence that technology has on society. Technology is flexible. There is no fixed way of making use of it. Everything depends on people's attitude. The worst effects of progress will fall on those who are unable to think again about their attitudes and views of society. When we accept progress and adapt it to suit our needs, a new “past” is created.

    My wife and I went to this vegan(严格的素食主义的)restaurant to give it a try.As we were eating our pepper and salt tofu, a young lady named Debra walked in. She wasn't aware that the place is vegan and was looking for some meat. My wife and I talked up the place and invited her over to try some of our tofu. Debra tried it, nodded and went out.

    After a few minutes, she and her mother both walked back in. We were having the rest of our meal at that time, so we told her what we had ordered. Debra then asked the waitress to just repeat our order for them. Next, Debra said, "And we want to pay for their meal", pointing to my wife and me. We tried to say no, but Debra wouldn't listen.

    That was not the end of it. Hugs were in order. Debra came over to our table and my wife got up to hug her. Debra hugged my wife and put $100 into her hand. My wife firmly said NO, but Debra insisted. Debra kept talking about our kindness, and we did the same about hers and her mother's. With tears in the eyes, the workers were blown away by this whole exchange between four strangers. I left the waiters a tip that would cover all of our meals and we were on our way.

    I've been witnessing so much kindness, especially over the last few years, as I began to pay more attention. We now have a new favorite restaurant and every time we go there my plan is to pay for someone else's meal.

    A typical school day in the UK starts around 8:30 am. This is often even earlier elsewhere in the world, with students sitting down to their first lesson at 7:30 am in the US. The average teenager ideally needs eight to nine hours' sleep each night, but in reality a lot of teenagers struggle to get this much. A lot of the problems happen because our sleep patterns are not fixed, and they change as we grow.

    So a later school start time could help to solve this problem, by ensuring to get their eight plus hours of sleep and react properly to their body's natural rhythms(规律). There has been a general change over the past 25 years to shorten the school day. This is not at the cost of teaching time (which has remained constant) but at the cost of natural breaks, which has led to reduced lunch time and lesson breaks.

    Later start times could help teens' grades and health. This is mainly because it makes the management of children easier. Managing hundreds of children "playing" requires effective staffing. And there is always the fear that behavior worsens during breaks. So the theory goes that having them in class and strictly managed must be better.

    But this means that students barely have enough time to absorb what they were doing in maths before suddenly they are forced to study ancient history. And teaching staff also move through from one class to another, with hardly a rest or time to refocus.

    Clearly rethinking the school day could benefit everyone included. Anyway, it could also lead to better achievement in teenagers and less of a struggle for parents in the mornings. For teachers, it could also mean a less stressful day all around and what could be better than that?

    As Artificial Intelligence(AI) becomes increasingly sophisticated(复杂的), there are growing concerns that robots could become a threat. This danger can be avoided, according to computer science Professor Stuart Russell, if we figure out how to turn human values into a programmable code.

    Russell argues that as robots take on more complicated tasks, it's necessary to translate our morals into AI language.

    For example, if a robot does chores around the house, you wouldn't want it to put the pet cat in the oven to make dinner for the hungry children. "You would want that robot preloaded with a good set of values," said Russell.

    Some robots are already programmed with basic human values. For example, mobile robots have been programmed to keep a comfortable distance from humans. Obviously there are cultural differences, but if you were talking to another person and they came up close in your personal space, you wouldn't think that's the kind of thing a properly brought-up person would do.

    It will be possible to create more sophisticated moral machines, if only we can find a way to set out human values as clear rules.

    Robots could also learn values from drawing patterns from large sets of data on human behaviour. They are dangerous only if programmers are careless.

    The biggest concern with robots going against human values is that human beings fail to so sufficient testing and they've produced a system that will break some kind of taboos(禁忌).

    One simple check would be to program a robot to check the correct course of action with a human when presented with an unusual situation.

    If the robot is unsure whether an animal is suitable for the microwave, it has the opportunity to stop, send out beeps(嘟嘟声), and ask for directions from a human. If we humans aren't quite sure about a decision, we go and ask somebody else.

    The most difficult step in programming values will be deciding exactly what we believe in moral, and how to create a set of ethical rules. But if we come up with an answer, robots could be good for humanity.

Many families take their children on vacation. They will usually travel for a few days or weeks during school breaks. But Julie and Tim Smith planned a longer vacation with their two children. The Smith family is on a one-year trip around the world. They plan to visit 30 countries in all. Right now, the four travelers are about halfway through their trip. Ms. Smith says they are trying to see as much of the world as they can.

Mr. Smith says one of the most interesting experiences of the trip has been meeting new people. He says people have been extremely friendly, very welcoming and love their kids. Eleven-year-old Tyler says he has enjoyed learning about the people they have met. He said, "I learned in Africa that people have very different lifestyles than in America. "His sister, 9-year-old Kara, discovered that she liked Thai food. Ms. Smith says that the trip teaches the children a lot.

It took the family a year to prepare for the trip. They had to sell their house and cars. Ms. Smith left her job and her husband is using unpaid leave. They carry small bags filled with lightweight clothing and whatever else they need. Ms. Smith says she enjoys being able to carry everything she needs on her back. She says she does not miss the things she has back home. "What has become more important is making these memories as a family and taking those with us instead."

The Smiths will continue to head east for the next six months.