Salt plays an important role in our daily diet. Even a small reduction(减少) in salt in the diet can be a big help to the heart. A new study used a computer model to predict -how just three grams less a day would affect heart disease in the United States.

    The result: Thirteen percent fewer heart attacks. Eight percent fewer strokes（中风）. Four percent fewer deaths. Eleven percent fewer new cases of heart disease. And two hundred forty billion dollars in health care savings. Researchers found it could prevent one hundred thousand heart attacks and ninety-two thousand deaths every year．

    The study is in the New England Journal of Medicine. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo at the University of California San Francisco was the lead author. She says people would not even notice a difference in taste with three grams, or one-half teaspoon, less salt per day. The team also included researchers at Stanford and Columbia University.

    Each gram of salt contains four hundred milligrams of sodiu(钠), which is how foods may list their salt content．

    The government says the average American man eats ten grams of salt a day. The American Heart Association advises no more than three grams for healthy people. It says salt in the American diet has increased fifty percent since the nineteen seventies, while blood pressures have also risen. Less salt can mean a lower blood pressure.

    New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is leading an effort called the National Salt Reduction Initiative. The idea is to put pressure on food companies and restaurants. Critics call it government interference(干预).

    Mayor Bloomberg has already succeeded in other areas, like requiring fast food places in the city to list calorie information. Now a study by the Seattle Children's Research Institute shows that the calorie information on the menu can influence what parents order for their children. Ninety-nine parents of three to six year olds took part. Half had calories between the two groups for foods that the parents would have chosen for themselves. McDonald's menus clearly showing how many calories were in each food. Parents given the counts chose an average of one hundred two fewer calories when asked what they would order for their children. Yet there was no difference in calories between the two groups for foods that the parents would have chosen for themselves.

    Study leader Pooja Tandon says even small calorie reductions on a regular basis can prevent weight gain over time. The study was published in the journal Pediatrics.

    Oh my God, the robots are taking over! We're doomed! Doomed! Now that I've gotten that out of my system, it's become clear that while we may or may not be doomed, the robots are taking over. The latest example is the government's new guidelines for self-driving cars.

    Tesla, Google and Uber are already testing driverless cars in cities across America. Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick is among those predicting that by 2021, self-driving cars will play a big part in urban settings.

    Nearly 40,000 people died last year in this nation in automobile-related accidents, and we believe driverless cars can save tens of thousands of lives annually.

    It makes sense. Robot drivers are less likely to get drunk, drive without a license, text while driving or feel agitated at the scene of a traffic jam. On the other hand, I wonder how these highly sensitive cars will react with walkers constantly dashing into the street. Will they jam on the brakes every 10 seconds?

    But there's a bigger picture. Not only are robots replacing humans behind the wheel, but behind the work desk, in warehouses, senior homes, you name it. Robots aren't just taking over in the workplace.

    The question is, where can't a robot function better than a human? How about writing songs? A robot can go through every combination of notes in record time and come up with a pleasing melody. The lyrics might be a different story. Is a Grammy-winning song co-written by Hank Human and R-3071 in our future?

    Finally, it's only a matter of time until we have robot politicians and presidential candidates. Why not? They can be programmed to be experts in world and domestic affairs and come up with the best solutions without corruption and bad humors.

    Actually, it's too bad such technology isn't available in 2018. Pretty sure the robot would win in a landslide.

    At times my mom has been uncomfortable seeing these qualities in me. For example, when I was 12, I went to Puerto Rico all by myself to stay with my grandmother for the summer. My mom was extremely nervous about it. She kept telling me how things were different in Puerto Rico, to always put on sunscreen, not to wander away from my grandmother, and other warnings. She helped me pack and did not leave the airport until she saw my plane take off.

    Despite her worries, she let me go on my own. As I moved into my teens, she continued to give me space to grow and learn, even when it might have been difficult for her. When I reached my senior year, I decided to move away for college. Once again I found that I differed from my peers: while many of them wanted to stay close to home, I couldn't wait to be out in the world on my own. While my mom may not have been happy at the thought of my going away, she was supportive and excited for me.

    One big thing I realized during my senior year when my mom granted me more freedom was that she actually believed in me and trusted me. That meant a lot. In most time of my life, and especially when I was little, the main person I tried to impress in my schoolwork or other things was my mother. I knew she expected nothing but the best of me. Sometimes it was hard to live up to her standards; getting a single B on my report card would make me feel bad because I knew she wanted me to have all A's.

    I know that her high standards have helped me stay focused on what's important, like education, and made me who I am. I am thankful for her support and involvement in my life. Most of all I respect her. She is the strongest woman I know and that's why I have turned out so strong and independent.

    Earthquake rescue robots have experienced their final tests in Beijing. Their designers say that with these robots, rescue workers will be able to have more time to save more lives during an earthquake.

    This robot looking like a helicopter（直升机）, is called the detector-bot . It's about 4 meters long, and it took about 4 years to develop the model. Its main functions（作用）are to collect information from the air, and send goods of up to 30kilos, to people stuck in an earthquake.

    This robot has a high quality 360 degree panoramic camera. It can work day and night and will also be able to send the latest pictures from the quake area. Dr. Qi Juntong, Chinese Academy of Science, said, "Unlike other automatic machines, the most important feature of this robot is that it doesn't need a distant control. We just set the information of the earthquake-struck area on it, and then it takes off, and lands by itself. It flies as high as 3,000 meters, and as fast as 100 kilometers per hour. "

This robot has a different function — it can change as the environment changes. Its main job is to search for any signs of life in places where human rescuers are unable to go.

    As well as a detector（探测器）that finds victims（遇难者）and detects poisonous gas, a camera is placed in the 40 centimeter long robot, which can work in the dark.

    Another use for the rescuers is the supply bot, with its 10-meter-long pipe. People who are caught in the ruins will be able to get supplies including oxygen and liquids.

    Experts have said that the robots will enter production, and serve as part of the national earth- quake rescue team as soon as next year.

    Some students prefer a part-time job after class to earn some money and improve themselves. Here are some good companies:

    IN-N-Out Burger

    It is the best hamburger shop in the west of America. Regarded as one of the best employers, it offers flexible hours and the highest part-time salaries(薪水). Above all, the company treats its employees the way they would like to be treated like family. However, there is no discount offered to its employees.

    Position: selling assistant (experience required)

    Website: www.in-n-out.cm

    Starbucks Coffee

    Starbucks has been at the forefront(前沿) of the United States' coffee revolution. Working hours are flexible. Fit twenty hours of work into your week. There is also a 30% discount and a free pound of coffee or box of tea every week.

    Position: assistant coffee taster(experience required)

    Website: www.Starbucks.Com

    Whole Foods Market

    Whole Foods Market is the world's largest natural and organic food selling company. With its focus on organic ingredients, Whole Foods Market is all about health. Working hours are flexible. Benefits include paid-time off and a 20% discount so you can eat like a king or at least like a top chef in training. There are also training courses on health and food every week.

    Position: secretary

    Website: wwww.wholefoodsmarket.com.

    Lands' End

    Lands' End is a Wisconsin-based clothes store that focuses on casual comfort and warmth for the great outdoors. Employees(even part-time employees) have the chance to go to a company-owned entertainment centre and get a 25% discount on theme parks and movies, and an invitation to the yearly company picnic. Besides, for part-time employees, working hours are flexible and they can come to work anytime they like as long as they work for 4 hours a day.

    Position: salesperson

    Website: www.landsend.com

    You often can choose a private setting when you browse(浏览) the internet. But be forewarned: It may not afford nearly as much privacy as you expect. That's the finding of a new study.

    Major web browsers, such as Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari, often a private-browsing option. It's sometimes referred to as “incognito.” This option lets you surf the Internet browser and saves a record into its history of each page that you visited. And what sites you visit won't affect the suggestions your browser makes the next time you're filling out an online form.

Many people believe—incorrectly— that the incognito setting protects them more broadly. Most believe it even after reading a web browser's explanation of the incognito mode.

    For instance, a new study had 460 people read web browsers' descriptions of private browsing. Each person read one of 13 descriptions. Then the participants answered questions about how private they thought their browsing would be while using this tool. The volunteers didn't understand the incognito mode. This was true no matter which browser explanation they had read. The researchers reported their findings on April 26 at the 2018 World Wide Web Conference in Lyon, France.

    More than half of the volunteers thought that if they logged into a Google account through a private window, Google wouldn't keep a record of their search history. Not true. And about one in every four participants thought private browsing hid their device's IP address. That's wrong, too.

    Blase Ur was one of the study's authors. He's an expert in computer security and privacy in Illinois at the University of Chicago. Companies could clear up this confusion by giving better explanations of the incognito mode, his team says. For example, the browsers should avoid vague（模糊).The web browser Opera, for instance, promises users that “your secrets are safe.” Nope Firefox encourages users to “browse like no one's watching.” In fact, someone might be. (If you'd like to know more about the research information, please click here.)