Modern smart phones are fast becomingthe must-have item. But what's in store for the next generation of smart phones?

    Tired of carrying around that heavy wallet? Soon you won't need to! The next generation of smart phones will have NFC technology, which lets you pay for things with your smart phones. All youdo is enter your credit card information into your phone. Then, when you are ina shop that allows NFC payments, you just wave your phone over a special instrument at the checkout. The purchase is instantly charged to your creditcard.

    Ever seen someone wearing something and wished you knew where to get it? Soon it will be easy with PicCommerce, new technology that uses image-recognition software. Here's how it works. If yousee something you like, simply take a photo of it with your smart phone. Then, your phone will send the image to a special server, which will respond with information about where you can buy it and how much it will cost.

    Sick of your smart phone battery going flat? With so many applications draining (消耗) the battery, the latest phones need tobe charged every day. But next generation smart phones will come with built-inchips that can connect to an antenna (天线) in your home. And as long as your phone is within range of the antenna, you will be able to charge your smart phone wirelessly, even if it is in your pocket.

    Worried about getting your smart phoneswet in the rain? A company called Hz0 has invented Water Block, new technologythat makes your phone completely water proof. And it's so effective that your phone will even work under water.

    Fed up with carrying a heavy phone around? Soon, you will be able to get a Paper Phone! “Flexible phones are the future,” said scientist Roel Vertegaal. So, what are the benefits of flexible phones? Well, it means that instead of carrying your phone in your pocket, you could wear it wrapped around your wrist, for example.

    Of course, there is just the problem: with so much new smart phone technology around, you will soon need to buy a newphone!

    When I was going home to India last year, I called up my mother to ask if she wanted anything from China.

    When India had not opened up its markets to the world, I carried suitcase loads of dark glasses and jeans. Thankfully, we can get all these anywhere in India now.

    Still, her answer surprised me, “Green tea.”

    As long as I can remember she didn't even drink Indian tea.

    I dutifully bought a big packet of Longjing and headed home to hear the story. My mother and her brother, both regular newspaper readers, believed that Chinese green tea was the wonder drug for all illnesses.

    At the turn of the century，China was not really familiar to the average Indians. It was a strange country.

    How things change! And how soon!

    Now every town of any size seems to have a “China Market”. And everyone is talking about China.

    The government of India has planned to send a team to China to see how things are done. A minister once said that India must open the doors for more foreign investments(投资) and such a step would “work wonders as it did for China”．

    But it's a two way street. I just heard about a thousand Shenzhen office workers who have gone to Bangalore to train in software. Meanwhile, all the Indian IT majors are setting up a strong presence in China.

    No wonder that trade, which was only in the millions just ten years ago，was expected to hit about $15 billion for last year and $20 billion by 2008, a goal set by both governments.

    No wonder，my colleague wrote some weeks ago about this being the Sino－Indian(中印) century as the two countries started on January 1 the Sino－Indian Friendship Year.

    But what is still a wonder to me is my mother drinking Chinese tea.

    There once lived in China a very foolish king and queen. One day the queen had a baby daughter. When they saw their baby, they both cried out, “My goodness! How small it is! It's hairless and toothless! It's a monster!” they sent for all the doctors in the country and ordered them to prepare some medicine for her.

    “When she drinks your medicine, she must grow to the right size and have hair and teeth,” the king said, “If you don't do this, you'll have a beating.”

    The doctors thought it impossible, but they dared not say anything against the king's order. Just then and old doctor stepped forward. “Oh, we shall certainly obey your order,” he said, but it takes time. We have to dig a mineral from the KunLun Mountains when the snow melts for the second time. The snow melts on those mountains only once in six years. So we need twelve years.”

    At last the king agreed and the doctors took away the little princess. On her twelfth birthday, they brought her back to her parents with long black hair and beautiful teeth. The king and queen were very happy and gave the doctors expensive presents.

    With 830 students aged between 12 and 8, Lochaber High School, at Fort William, is one of the largest secondary schools in the Highlands, It covers a huge area and many of the students come from small communities (社区) and travel up to 40 km to get into school each day, In the past, the school covered a much larger area and many students had to stay in one of the school dormitories, or-if older to live with local families, but other high schools have opened in the West Highlands, so the catchment area（责任区域） for Lochaber High, though still very large, is not as large as it used to be. Students travel into school by car, by bus, or by special minibus each day, and some come on foot or by bike. Most students live in Fort William itself, or in one of the surrounding villages.

    At the end of their high school life, and after getting higher or advanced higher grade exam results, most students decide to move on to some form of further education. Some students can remain, taking specialised courses at the West Highland college, but most leave home in Lochaber and go south or east to cities, Many young people in this area feel that there are not enough opportunities here, Going to a city certainly means new friends, a whole new lifestyle, and a more exciting night life.

    Even though Fort William is, in a way, small and far away from cities, as far as I am concerned, it is a great place to live. There is a real community atmosphere(氛围)here, and many people know, or are related to, many other people. There is always something to do or see in Fort William and there is no excuse for being bored! But there is one thing that is certain for everyone, that is, Highland hospitality. It is still very real, very alive! People look forward to seeing you!

    Charles Darwin lived an unusually quiet life. In 1842, Darwin and his wife Emma moved from London to Kent in southern England to have as little disturbance (烦扰) as possible. They already had two children then, and would go on to have eight more in the country.

    Darwin had very regular (有规律的) habits. He rose early and went for a walk. After breakfast he worked in his study until 9：30 am, his most productive time of the day, and then read his letters lying on the sofa before returning to work.

    At midday he would go for another walk with his dog, stopping at his greenhouse to inspect (查看) his experiments. Then he would go for another walk around an area of woodland. While walking on his "thinking path", Darwin would consider his unsolved scientific problems.

    After lunch he read the newspaper and wrote letters. His network of friends provided information from all corners of the world.

    The Darwins were not very strict parents and the children were always seen running wild. Their father worked patiently to a background of playful shouts and little footsteps walking past his study door.

After dinner Darwin played backgammon (a game for two people to play) with his wife. He once wrote, "Now the result with my wife in backgammon stands like this: she... has won only 2,490 games, while I have won, hurrah (a cheer of joy or victory), hurrah, 2,795 games!"

    Although he had poor health, Darwin continued to publish (出版)a lot of creative works until his final book in 1881. He died the following year, aged 73.

    Rather than a quiet space in the local churchyard, which he called "the sweetest place on Earth", Darwin was given a state funeral (国葬) in London's Westminster Abbey.

    A scientist working at her lab bench and a six-old baby playing with his food might seem to have little in common. After all, the scientist is engaged in serious research to uncover the very nature of the physical world, and the baby is, well, just playing…right? Perhaps, but some developmental psychologists have argued that this "play" is more like a scientific investigation than one might think.

Take a closer look at the baby playing at the table. Each time the bowl of rice is pushed over the table edge, it falls in the ground—and, in the process, it belongs out important evidence about how physical objects interact; bowls of rice do not flood in mid-sit, but require support to remain stable. It is likely that babies are not born knowing the basic fact of the universe; nor are they ever clearly taught it. Instead, babies may form an understanding of object support through repeated experiments and then build on this knowledge to learn even more about how objects interact. Though their ranges and tools differ, the baby's investigation and the scientist's experiment appear to share the same aim(to learn about the natural world ), overall approach (gathering direct evidence from the world), and logic (are my observations what I expected?).

Some psychologists suggest that young children learn about more than just the physical world in this way—that they investigate human psychology and the rules of language using similar means. For example, it may only be through repeated experiments, evidence gathering, and finally overturning a theory, that a baby will come to accept the idea that other people can have different views and desires from what he or she has, for example, unlike the child, Mommy actually doesn't like Dove chocolate.

Viewing childhood development as a scientific investigation throws on how children learn, but it also offers an inspiring look at science and scientists. Why do young children and scientists seem to be so much alike? Psychologists have suggested that science as an effort —the desire to explore, explain, and understand our world—is simply something that comes from our babyhood. Perhaps evolution provided human babies with curiosity and a natural drive to explain their worlds, and adult scientists simply make use of the same drive that served them as children. The same cognitive systems that make young children feel good about feel good about figuring something out may have been adopted by adult scientists. As some psychologists put it, "It is not that children are little scientists but that scientists are big children."