If you are a fruit grower—or would like to become one—take advantage of Apple Day to see what's around. It's called Apple Day but in practice it's more like Apple Month. The day itself is on October 21, but since it has caught on, events now spread out over most of October around Britain.

    Visiting an apple event is a good chance to see, and often taste，a wide variety of apples. To people who are used to the limited choice of apples such as Golden Delicious and Royal Gala in supermarkets, it can be quite an eye opener to see the range of classical apples still in existence, such as Decio which was grown by the Romans. Although it doesn't taste of anything special，it's still worth a try，as is the knobbly(多疙瘩的) Cat's Head which is more of a curiosity than anything else.

    There are also varieties developed to suit specific local conditions. One of the very best varieties for eating quality is Orleans Reinette, but you'll need a warm, sheltered place with perfect soil to grow it, so it's a pipe dream for most apple lovers who fall for it.

    At the events, you can meet expert growers and discuss which ones will best suit your conditions, and because these are family affairs, children are well catered for with apple­themed fun and games.

    Apple Days are being held at all sorts of places with an interest in fruit, including stately gardens and commercial orchards(果园)．If you want to have a real orchard experience, try visiting the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale，near Faversham in Kent.

    Robots make me nervous — especially the ones which seem to think for themselves. I was embarrassed to admit this till I heard that Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, felt the same way.

Gates said in an interview with the social networking and news website Reddit: "I am in the camp that is concerned about super intelligence. First the machines will do a lot of jobs for us and not be super intelligent. That should be positive if we manage well. A few decades after that though the intelligence is strong enough to be a concern."

    Well, maybe I don't have to worry about my computer and kitchen equipment yet. After I use them I can always pull the plug. But in the future, machines might find a way to prevent us from switching them off. There's a terrible thought!

    Maybe the problem with computers too clever for us is not that they are evil like some we've seen in sci-fi movies. What could put us in danger is that they might be too efficient. That's what philosopher Nick Bostrom from Oxford University believes. He says that machines are indifferent to humans and in pursuit of their own goals, the destruction of people might be just additional damage. Bostrom gives us an example: A machine which might have as its only goal to produce as many paperclips as possible might look at human bodies as extra material for paperclips and go after you. Because it is, well, a machine, it would not take pity on you.

    It's a good thing that American writer Isaac Asimov thought about how far robots can go and left us his three rules of robotics. They state that a robot may not hurt a human being or allow the human being to come to harm.

I'm glad my machines at home are "dumb". All my cleaner wants to take over is the carpet in my living room. Let's hope they don't create an appliance which wants to take over the world!

    According to the Guinness World Records, a Sitka Spruce (锡特卡云杉) growing on New Zealand's southernmost island is the loneliest tree on Earth. Not only is it the only tree on Campbell Island, but the nearest other tree can be found over 200 km away on the Auckland Islands.

    Bluff, Campbell Island is one of the harshest places in the world. With strong winds blowing almost all year round and less than 600 hours of sunshine, it's not exactly a good place to live in, which is probably why, except for occasional visits by research scientists, it, has remained deserted for over half a century.

    It is believed that the Sitka Spruce on Campbell Island was planted by Lord Ranfurly, a former governor of New Zealand, sometime between 1901 and 1907. It's not clear why he decided to plant there, but according to some sources he said that the island was not productive, and took the first step to cover it with forestry. His idea was never going to work because of the harsh climate of the area, but somehow the Sitka Spruce survived.

    Apart from its reputation as the loneliest tree on Earth, the Sitka Spruce of Campbell Island has a series of other particularities. First of all its shape makes it look more like a giant cauliflower than a tree. This is believed to have been caused by repeatedly cutting down its trunk every year, for decades. Another interesting thing about the world's loneliest tree is that, though it is over 100 years old, it has never produced cones (球果).

    Who knew a lonely tree growing 200 km away from its nearest cousins could be so interesting?

    Shark nets in place across Australia, specifically in New South Wales(NSW) and Queensland, to protect beachgoers should be dropped as they have caused more harm than good, a study has found.

    The measures was carried out by some governments, including nets and traditional drum lines, and provided beachgoers with a false sense of safety. The study found the effectiveness if nets was difficult to evaluate, while the significant damage they cause to other marine(海生的)wildlife was clear. Researches desire for non-deadly shark control measures such as eco barriers, sonar(声呐)technology, and various shark-spotting techniques.

    Researchers said while the risk coming across a shark was rare, any shark-related deaths and injuries caught huge public and media attention.

    One of the arguments in support of using shark nets is that just one shark-related death has been reported in Queensland since the 1960s. Similarly, since the 1930s, NSW has had only one shark-related death. But there have been at least 13 people killed by sharks at beaches without nets in the NSW north coast over the past two years.

    The Human Society International' head of campaigns, Nicola Beynon, said the government needed to move away from outdated methods. Deadly shark nets and drum lines are more than 50 years behind scientific and animal welfare standards for dealing with marine wildlife,” said Beynon.

    The NSW Greens' marine spokesman, Justin Field, said, People are 100 times more likely to drown at the beach than to be killed by a shark in Australia. Therefore, millions of dollars going into the shark net program should be directed to observation towers for our lifeguards and improving the beach devices.”

    In the online world, it's very difficult to talk to Chinese people without using emojis. However, did you know that people in different age groups have totally different preferences for choosing their emojis? The result is based on a report released by Tencent's WeChat, China's most popular messaging app, on its official weibo account on Wednesday.

    Specifically, for users who were born in the 2000s, their favorite WeChat emoji would probably be the widely used "facepalm", rumored to be based on the famous Hong Kong movie star Stephen Chow. They also may be a night owl without much sleep, while iced beverages and desserts are their cup of tea.

    For China's post-90s WeChat users, they are likely to get out of bed later in the morning compared with other groups, and the emoji "face with tears of joy" may rule their online social life. Also, their reading materials have shifted from entertainment and gossip three years ago to the current relationship and lifestyle pieces.

    For those born in the 1980s, their tastes have remained the same, as they are still fond of reading news on national affairs. And "smiling widely" is their emoji of the year.

    WeChat users born in the 1970s are called the optimistic group, who like to use the emoji "laughing quietly" and go through their moments frequently every day. Their bed time usually takes place around 11:30 pm.

    Users over 55 are the early-bird group with rich entertainment activities in WeChat platforms, such as looking through moments, reading and shopping. They like to cheer up other age groups, so their favorite emoji is "giving a thumbs-up".

    The report also indicates that WeChat boasts more than 1.08 billion active users with 45 billion messages being sent and 410 million calls getting through the app each day in 2018. In addition to covering users' socializing, WeChat has gradually come into our daily lives. Compared to the year before, people used WeChat 4.7 times more to purchase public transport tickets, and 2.9 times more to pay for medical expenses. Also, the app was used 1.5 times more over the previous year to pay for meals, with Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen ranked as the top three cities in dining purchases through WeChat.

    With more and more people swimming at beaches every year, the problem of sharks (鲨鱼) takes on new importance. There are people who still insist that sharks never attack human beings unless they are bleeding or wounded, but this belief has not been clearly proved. In the past few years, on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, there have been cases of shark attacks which resulted in death. And just how many of the swimmers who have disappeared were victims of shark attacks will never be known. Clearly, these violent fish can be dangerous. Several species are known to attack human beings, and it is believed by some experts that certain sharks, once having tasted human blood, develop a taste for it.

    The chances that one will come across a shark are small, but certain precautions should be taken by everyone. (A precaution is something you do in order to prevent something dangerous or unpleasant from happening.) Putting hands or legs over the side of a boat in warm waters is to be avoided. Swimming far out from beaches is inviting trouble. No swimmer should go great distances from shore alone, or go into the water when nobody else is about. Skin divers, particularly those who go deep down in the water or among rocks and ledges (暗礁) that serve as hiding places for sharks, are taking unnecessary risks.

    If one is in a boat that is rubbed against by a shark, he should remember the creature is not trying to upset his boat; it is probably trying to rub off sea lice (海虱). A blow, especially on the nose, will drive it off. If a swimmer comes across a shark, he should swim away as quietly as possible, trying to avoid making it angry. He should also head for shore (岸) as quickly as possible.