Oyster

What is an Oyster card?

    Oyster is the easiest way to pay for journeys on the bus, Tube, tram, DocklandsLight Railway (DLR), London Overground and National Rail journeys in London Youcan store your travel cards, Bus & Tram Pass, season tickets and credit topay for journeys as you go.

Where to get an Oyster card?

There are a number of ways for you to get an Oyster card:

• At over 3,900 Oyster Ticket stops

• At Tube and London Overground station ticket offices

• At some National Rail stations

• At London Travel information Centres

• Online at tfl. gov. uk/oyster

How to use an Oyster card?

    To pay the correct fare on the Tube , DLR, London Overground andNational Rail services, you must always touch in on the yellow Oyster cardreader at the start of your journey, and touch out at the end. If you don't, amaximum cash Oyster fare will be charged. When using the bus or tram, you mustonly touch in at the start, but not at the end of your journey.

   What happens if I don't visit London very often?

    Don't worry. Any pay as you go credit on your card will notexpire (过期), so you cankeep it for your next visit or lend it to a friend.

Fares

Traveling by Tube from Central London (Zone l)to Heathrow (Zone6)

Adult Oyster single fare

£ 4. 20 Monday to Friday 06:30 - 09:30 and 16:00 - 19:00

£ 2. 70 at all other times including public holidays

Adult single cash fare £ 5.00

For further information，visit tfl.gov.uk /fares.

When a leafy plant is under attack ，it doesn't sit quietly. Back in 1983, two scientists, Jack Schultz and Ian Baldwin,reported that young maple trees getting bitten by insects send out a particular smell that neighboring plants can get. These chemicals come from the injured parts of the plant and seem to be an alarm.What the plants pump through the air is a mixture of chemicals known as volatile organic compounds,VOCs for short.

Scientists have found that all kinds of plants give out VOCs when being attacked .It's a plant's way of crying out.But is anyone listening?Apparently.Because we can watch the neighbours react.

    Some plants pump out smelly chemicals to keep insects away.But others do double duty .They pump out perfumes designed to attract different insects who are natural enemies to the attackers. Once they arrive, the tables are turned. The attacker who was lunching now becomes lunch.

    In study after study,it appears that these chemical conversations help the neighbors .The damage is usually more serious on the first plant,but the neighbors ,relatively speaking ,stay safer because they heard the alarm and knew what to do.

Does this mean that plants talk to each other? Scientists don't know. Maybe the first plant just made a cry of pain or was sending a message to its own branches, and so, in effect, was talking to itself. Perhaps the neighbors just happened to “overhear” the cry. So information was exchanged, but it wasn't a true, intentional back and forth.

    Charles Darwin, over 150 years ago, imagined a world far busier, noisier and more intimate(亲密的) than the world we can see and hear. Our senses are weak. There's a whole lot going on.

    I really love my job because I enjoy working with small children and like the challenges and awards from the job. I also think my work is important. There was a time when I thought I would never have that sort of career.

    I wasn't an excellent student because I didn't do much schoolwork. In my final term I started thinking what I might do and found I didn't have much to offer. I just accepted that I wasn't the type to have a career.

    I then found myself a job — looking after two little girls. It wasn't too bad at first. But the problems began when I agreed to live in so that I would be there if my boss had to go out for business in the evening. We agreed that if I had to work extra hours one week, she'd give me time off the next. But unfortunately, it didn't often work out. I was getting extremely tired and fed up, because I had too many late nights and early mornings with the children.

    One Sunday, I was in the park with the children, and met Megan who used to go to school with me. I told her about my situation. She suggested that I should do a course and get a qualification（资格证书）if I wanted to work with children. I didn't think I would be accepted because I didn't take many exams in school. She persuaded me to phone the local college and they were really helpful. My experience counted for a lot and I got on a part-time course. I had to leave my job with the family, and got work helping out at a kindergarten.

    Now I've got a full-time job there. I shall always be thankful to Megan. I wish I had known earlier that you could have a career, even if you aren't top of the class at school.

    One Sunday, my son asked me if he could ride up to his elementary school on his bike and meet his friend. He wanted both of them to ride back to our house so they could play video games and jump on the trampoline (蹦床). I have to admit, part of me wanted to say no. We could go to pick him up or his parents could bring him over here. I thought. But my son is eleven years old now. And after all, I do let him ride his bike to school. But I also drive my daughter to school and I can see him on the way, making sure he is getting there safely.

    My husband thinks I am overprotective. I don't dare to let my children walk anywhere without one of us going along. As you go out of our neighborhood, there is a shopping center across the street. My son always asks if he can ride his bike or walk over to the drugstore by himself. But crossing that street is just too dangerous. The cars fly around the comer like they're driving in a car race. What if he gets hurt? What if some teenager bullies are hanging out in the parking lot? I want so much to give my children the freedom that I enjoyed having when I was growing up but I hesitate to do so, because there are dangers around every comer. Too many kidnap, too many robberies and so on.

    I honestly don't think my mom worried about such things when her children were young. Growing lip in the 1970s was indeed very different. I never wore a helmet (头盔) when I rode a bike. We were all over the neighborhood, on our bikes and on foot, coming home for dinner and then-back out again until dark. We rode in the back of the truck and didn't wear seat belts. I walked to and from school every day.

    First-time shoppers at Seattle-based Amazon Go may feel as though they were stealing. That's because the 1,800 square-foot grocery store, which opened its doors to the public on January 22, has no cashiers or even checkout counters. Instead, as the name indicates, customers merely grab what they need and go! But before you start celebrating, the goods are not free—the cost of the purchase(s) is/are calculated electronically using “Just Walk Out” technology.

    The process is simple. Upon entering the store, shoppers “sign-in” by scanning their smartphones. Every item selected gets added to the bill automatically. If the customer changes his mind, all he has to do is return the purchase to the shelf, and it will be removed from the final bill. Though consumers will not find everything they need, they will be able to buy basics like bread, milk, and drinks. There are also numerous ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner choices made by chefs in the on-site kitchen. Those that prefer to cook at home can select from the wide variety of Amazon Meal Packages.

    Once the customer exits the store, the system processes the purchases and charges the cost to their Amazon account. Within seconds, the customer is notified of the deal with a digital receipt that lists each item bought, as well as the time spent in the store. The accurate tracking is possible thanks to multiple smart cameras that monitor everything the shopper is doing. Kumar explains,“Cameras figure out which interactions(互动) you have with the shelves. Computer vision figures out which items are taken. Machine-learning also determines which item it is.” The company insists that the system is so accurate that shoplifting(偷盗) is impossible. And they should know, considering that Amazon employees have been shopping there since 2015!

    The store has raised some concern about the jobs of the over 3.5 million cashiers in America. However, Amazon officials say they have nothing to worry about because human employees are not being displaced. They are simply assigned other essential tasks, like preparing meals, restocking shelves, assisting customers, and solving technical issues.

    Bottled water is a booming industry in New Zealand, but it's terrible for the environment —each bottle thrown away adding to the 190,000 tons of plastic New Zealanders throw into landfills each year.

    But now one company has created water storage that they hope will prove to be just as convenient as a plastic bottle—but contains no actual plastic.

    Skipping Rock Labs make Oohos, flexible membranes filled with water that are constructed using a seaweed extract—meaning they, re totally edible and biodegradable, wrapping and all.

    There aren't any known side effects from digesting the membranes, which are tasteless—though Ooho! says flavors can be added to make them more appetizing.

    The company took to crowdfunding site CrowdCube with the idea, and it has since gone viral— with more than 900 investors bagging them A£ 751,700 to develop and launch the Ooho! balls ( $ 1.35 million).

    Skipping Rock Labs create the balls by dipping ice into brown algae and calcium chloride, with the membrane taking shape around the ice—and while that may sound complicated, the company says it, s more cost-effective than producing a plastic bottle.

    A layer atop the membrane can be peeled off just before drinking, for hygiene purposes. Skipping Rock Labs are hoping their new product takes off—and that it starts to put a dent into the plastic packaging industry.