Have you ever lost your direction? Then you might find satellite navigation(satnav) systems(卫星定位系统) helpful.

    A satnav system uses groups of satellites. They send information to a receiver(接收器), such as your smartphone. Then they can find where you are.

The earliest satnav system is the Global Positioning System(GPS) of the United States. The US has put 24 satellites into space to make sure GPS can locate(定位) a person correctly and globally. Likewise, Russia's GLONASS and European Union's Galileo can also work globally.

    But China is catching up, building its own BeiDou Navigation Satellite System. BeiDou is China's homegrown satnav system, reported Xinhua. It was set up in 2000, when China sent BeiDou's first navigation experiment satellite into space. With it, China became the third country to build a satnav system after the US and Russia.

    BeiDou can find you wherever you are. It helps you go faster by finding shortcuts(捷径) and using correct directions. When you are in trouble and call the police, they will know exactly where you are if you have a cellphone that uses BeiDou.

    Today, there are more than 20 BeiDou satellites above our heads. And the system is able to offer open services to the Asia-Pacific region(亚太地区).

    In November, China plans to send more BeiDou-3 satellites into space. BeiDou-3's position accuracy(准确度) is less than five meters, Ran Chengqi, a senior designer of the satellite navigation system, told China Daily.

    By 2020, BeiDou is planned to have 35 satellites and begin serving globally, reported Xinhua.

    More and more birds are flying to settle at Qinghai Lake, one of the highest inland lakes in China, thanks to the protection efforts of local governments. Covering an area of over 4,000 square     kilometers. Qinghai Lake is also the country's biggest salt­water lake. Located in Northwest China's Qinghai Province, the lake is famous for the two islands at its northwest point—Cormorant Island and Egg Island. The two islands have plenty of floating grass and various schools of fish, offering rich food sources for birds. The islands have become a paradise for different kinds of groups of birds and have been called“Bird Islands”．

    Each March and April, when ice and snow covering the Qinghai­Tibet Plateau starts to melt, over 20 kinds of birds fly to the Bird Islands to lay eggs.  During the months, flocks of birds cover the whole sky over the islands and birds eggs can be found everywhere. Visitors can hear the singing of birds from miles away. These have become a world famous symbol of the lake.

    To protect this paradise for birds and support calls for ecological protection, China set up the Qinghai Lake Natural Protection Zone at the end of 1997.Meanwhile, the State has pointed out the Bird Islands and Spring bay of the Qinghai Lake as central protection zones.

    Inspection officials and management employees often patrol the lake, improving local residents' knowledge of related laws and spreading knowledge about animal protection to visitors. They are making great efforts to call on people to love and protect the birds. At the same time, they have built special fences around the island area to prevent wolves, foxes and other carnivorous animals, as well as illegal hunters from breaking up the birds' nest­building, egg­laying and breeding. As a result, more and more birds are coming to the islands for sheltering and breeding.

    Everyone takes drugs. Sometimes a drug might be called a herb but the effect is the same. Drugs and herbs can make life better for they are used to improve health. From the simplest headache to a cure for cancer, people believe that certain drugs can help them. But there is danger if the drugs are not used in a proper way.

    American teenagers sometimes use certain drugs to feel good. They call this “getting high”. The problem is that once a young man or a young woman has the feeling of “getting high”, they want to do it often. If school is boring or too hard, students might get depressed and a drug or herb might help them feel better. If the student takes too much of a drug, the body may change in a wrong way such as a confused mind, poor sight, a headache, and an uncomfortable stomach.

    Schools now have D．A．R．E．program which means Drug Abuse Resistance Education. This program was started so that young students from age 10 to 18 might understand how a drug affects their bodies. The main point of the program is education. Once a student understands certain drugs can cause ill health，he will know he should not use them.

    Education is the key to good nutrition as well. If a student eats correctly, he or she will be full of energy which leads to good study habits and good grades. Poor nutrition may cause the need for more sleep and poor concentration. Proper food is similar to the proper use of drugs. Both allow a healthy body to grow while misuse of them prevents a person from developing normally.

Electric Cars

    Where do cars get their energy from? For most cars, the answer is petrol. But some cars use electricity. These cars have special motors that get their power from large batteries.

    Most people tend to think of electric cars as a new invention, but they have been around for a long time. They were popular when the technology for petrol engines was not very advanced. Recently, electric cars have again become popular because people want cars that pollute less.

    Electric cars are better than petrol cars in several ways. The biggest benefit is reduced pollution. In areas where there is a high percentage of electric cars, there is less pollution. But it is important to understand that electric cars still cause pollution. Remember that the electricity to power electric cars has to come from somewhere, which is most likely a power station. Unless these power stations run on solar or wind energy, they are most likely burning coal and oil to make electricity. The second benefit of electric cars is a reduction in the dependence on foreign oil.

    There are several countries, including the United States, which don't want to rely on oil coming from other countries to power their transportation systems. They want the power to come from within their country, and since electric cars can run on electricity from coal or nuclear power stations, there is less of a need to import oil.

    Despite the benefits of electric cars, there are some problems with them as well. One disadvantage is that electric cars are more expensive than petrol cars. This is mostly due to the high cost of the batteries these cars need. Electric cars run on batteries, just like a mobile phone does. But unlike a mobile phone, you cannot charge your electric car's battery by plugging it into a wall. They need to be charged in special places. Now, there is a lack of places where people can charge the batteries. Another problem is that electric cars cannot travel as far as petrol cars. Some people are afraid that the battery will run out of electricity (and the car will stop) before they reach their destination.

    Despite these problems, many people, including automobile industry experts, believe that the percentage of electric cars will increase in the future.

    My first visit to London was one and a half years ago. It was a wonderful trip. I stayed in the city for three weeks, and I had many impressions. I visited all the famous places. I'd like to tell you about some of the places I visited in this beautiful city.

    First, I went to the Tower of London, and I want to say that it is a very interesting historical place. I found out that a long time ago, it was a prison. Later it became a castle for the royal(皇家的) family. Or maybe it is the reverse; I'm not sure, but later they left this place and lived in Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace.

    I also enjoyed visiting the House of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, two very popular places for tourists. They are very old and beautiful. The Abbey is built in a kind of Gothic style; it is fantastic.

    In London, you can also enjoy nature. There are many parks such as Hyde Park, Green Park, and Holland Park. These parks are wonderful green, quiet places where you can relax and escape the noise of the city.

    Trafalgar Square is a popular place for students and other young people. You will find lots of pigeons(鸽子) there. If you have time, you can feed them and they will be very happy. You can buy special food for them, but be careful! Tons of birds are going to surround you if you feed them.

    Another special place in London that I like is St. Paul's Cathedral which was designed by Sir Christopher Wren. I also was impressed with the museums in London. They're very popular. I found them interesting because you can learn about the history of England.

    I had a wonderful time in London. I really liked it because it is a city that is rich in history.

    A new officer with the Huntington Park Police patrols (巡逻) local parks 24 hours a day seven days a week. He doesn't need rest, coffee breaks, a salary or medical insurance, and that is because it is a Robocop.

    The main function of the Robocop is to scan and film the surroundings. Besides cameras with night vision that report 360 degrees, it also has a distress button which is located here, so if somebody is to need assistance or they want to contact the communication center, they can do it by way of that distress button. There are people that are monitoring on the other end.

    This newest police employee is self-charging. It's easy to program it and make changes to the software if necessary. Its maintenance (维护) costs are roughly 75 thousand dollars a year. It travels the entire park. It is a programmed path, but the police are able to change the path and adapt it.

    The Robocop can record the license plates (车牌) of passing cars and check them against an online database of stolen cars. It can also help locate a lost iPhone because it is able to determine a smartphone's MAC address. The police can see from the robot if something wrong happens and then come and figure it out.

    The Robocop can't replace its human handlers. The whole goal is to give police more time to do things machines can't do. The police have been having some concerns about safety of the parks and want an extra set of eyes that will help patrol a 24/7.Robocop's creators believe this model known as K5 is best used for providing security at public places like hospitals, parking lots, parks and airports. So far, it seems to be working out just fine.