The loss of handwriting in our high-tech world saddens me. People of all ages openly admit their handwriting is becoming worse as keyboards replace pen and paper. Increasingly, schoolchildren deal with assignments on computer and struggle to write, having had little practice. I am of the generation that learnt to write with a dip pen in kindergarten and a fountain pen in high school; by the time I reached university, like everyone else, I used a functional ballpoint. Handwriting has filled every aspect of my life since I was first taught to shape letters on the lined pages of my exercise books.

    From the age of 12, I have kept a handwritten journal, recording my thoughts and feelings regarding both the significant and boring aspects of my life. Through this daily practice I connected with myself, explored experiences and found a way to interpret and make sense of my relationships. Although I rarely reread my written material, the process of writing has remained with me as a means of processing my feelings and filtering（过滤)）my experiences.

    Yet today, handwritten letters are as rare as a red panda. Few of us write letters any longer, even to those to whom we are close. We communicate differently when we e-mail or text, both methods characterised by speed and informality. The deep thinking, which accompanied a handwritten letter, is almost entirely absent. We may be communicating more frequently and with more people, but the depth and quality of our communication has reduced.

    Sadly, modern technology tends to be temporary. Few of us keep old e-mails or even print them out, so a sense of history and memory is lost. Archivists（档案管理者）report that more information has been lost in the past decade than in the previous 150 years. It is too easy to press the delete button.

    In many other areas of records, material is now in the digital format. Yet saving material in a digital format only is extremely unstable. How it will survive the future remains a problem.

    In this digital world of text, e-mails and instant messaging, the perceived value of writing is no longer obvious and the case for retaining the practice of writing needs to be made. Should we save the humble pen and paper when laptops and mobiles are functional, universal and unstoppable? Should children continue to be taught to write with a pen and paper?

    With its passing, a good mode of self-expression is being lost. I invite readers to engage with handwriting and become aware of this special skill that has created civilization for centuries.

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The current{#blank#}1{#/blank#} of handwriting   

▲    Students {#blank#}2{#/blank#} to computers to complete their homework.

▲    With little practice, students have{#blank#}3{#/blank#} writing.

▲    We seldom write letters even to people we are close to.

The author's link with handwriting

▲    The author{#blank#}4{#/blank#} himself to handwriting from kindergarten to university.

▲    The author kept {#blank#}5{#/blank#} of his thoughts and feelings by keeping writing journals.

▲    The author also takes {#blank#}6{#/blank#} of writing to process his feelings and filtering his experiences. The {#blank#}7{#/blank#} with modern communication methods

▲    There is an{#blank#}8{#/blank#} of depth and quality in e-mails and texts.

▲    The temporariness of modern technology tends to give {#blank#}9{#/blank#} to the loss of some history and memory.

▲    Saving materials only in a digital format is not very stable.

▲    A style of self-expression is being lost.

The author's {#blank#}10{#/blank#} to people for handwriting  

Write as much as possible and realize the importance of this special art.

They Just Can't Help It

    My theory is that the female brain is mainly built for empathy — the ability to understand other people — and that the male brain is mainly built for building systems. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} For example, women are more likely to read magazines on fashion and parenting, while men will choose magazines that feature computers and sport.

    You may think that these preferences are influenced by the way people are taught to behave when they are growing up. However, this is not the case. A new study carried out at Cambridge University shows that newborn girls look longer at a face, and newborn boys look longer at a mobile. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It has also been observed that girls are better at noticing signs of changes in other people's feelings. Boys, however, seem to enjoy building toy towers and playing with toys which have clear functions. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} People whose jobs are in the construction industries are almost male. Math and engineering, which require high levels of systems-thinking, are also male-chosen disciplines. Why do men and women have the difference? Actually women have four times as many brain neurons (神经) that connect the right and left part of their brains. Because of it, women have a better ability to multitask than men. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Men tend to focus on a limited number of problems at a time. They will separate themselves from problems and view tasks as independent from one another.

    Some people may worry that I am suggesting one gender (性别) is better than the other, but this is not the case. My theory says that males and females differ in the kinds of things that they find easy, but that both genders have their strengths and weaknesses. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} It is not true. The study simply looks at males and females as two groups, and asks what differences exist, and why they are there.

A. Generally speaking, there are clear differences.

B. Their preference for building systems may change over time.

C. You can see the same kind of pattern in the adult workplace.

D. They will consider many sources of information at the same time.

E. It is important to stress that the female brain may be built more for empathy.

F. That suggests certain differences between male and female brains are biological.

G. Others may think the theory creates a belief of what a particular type of person is like.

My students and I were ready for a challenge — a trip to Costa Rica. As we were waiting at the airport, we talked about our hopes and fears for our ten-day trip. My students worried about homesickness and felt uneasy with their homestay families. But strange foods or meeting new people didn't concern me. What terrified me was the best part of the trip — a zip lining (滑缆绳) flight over the jungle valley bordering Arenal Volcano. I made a secret pact (协议) with myself to find an excuse to get out of it at the last minute.

    When the fateful day arrived, we got to the peak to enjoy the breathtaking view of the volcano. When seeing the activity, my students raised a cheerful shout. How I wished I had had the same feeling as them. However, I was afraid of heights.

    My student Eileen sidled up to me. Her face was pale. "I'm scared," she whispered. "Will you stay back with me?" Here was my chance! I could get out of zip lining and still save face!

    "I'm scared, too," I said quietly.

    "Yeah," she said. "I thought you would be the right person to ask because you are really white, and you are sweating." Her words woke me up, and something clicked into place. If I couldn't step outside of my comfort zone, how could I ask the kids to do so?

    "Maybe we should give it a try," I said. I felt a little sick, but I couldn't believe my body was actually moving toward the launch point.

    "Come on," I said.

    "OK," she agreed.

    Eileen zipped past me, screaming with fear or delight, which I was not sure of. Once she was across, I followed. The attempt was not as terrible as I had thought. From that moment on, I knew there was nothing to fear as long as I walked out of my comfort zone and had a try.

China's Entering a New Era of AI

They have beaten us at chess and co-written a Europop album with human beings. Now computers are taking a step into a very human territory: the reading comprehension test, a headache of schoolchildren everywhere. Alibaba on Monday said its artificial outperformed mortals (凡人) in a global reading comprehension.

Luo Si, chef scientist of natural language processing at Alibaba's research department, the Institute of Data Science of Technologies, called the machines' victory "a milestone".{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Some of these uses are already being handled by chatbots globally.

In the test administered last week, companies subjected their artificial intelligence systems to questions from the Stanford Question Answering Dataset, which assessed reading comprehension. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}In top place were

Microsoft, the US software giant, and Alibaba, the Chinese tech group that began with e-commerce and is - like its peers at home and abroad investing more funds into AI.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Baidu made an early bet on AI. and is leading its rivals in autonomous driving, some of which was on show at Customer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Tencent, which boasts of I billion monthly active users on its social media WeChat app, and Alibaba have adopted AI in operations such as customizing news and ads, and are investing in new fields.

China aims to make use of its vast treasures of data, collected from its 1.4 billion population including 730 million who are online, and deep pockets to overtake the US in creating a SI50 billion industry that is seen as the next industrial revolution. Excitedly, AI is already being applied in many fields from driverless cars to text analysis. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}The most asked ones include "Where's my package?" especially on Alibaba's Single Day shopping festival.

A. Though China s drive is led by government, it is cultivating homegrown tech giants to leap ahead of the US.

B. Private investment in the AI sector has been expanding 62 percent a year on average for the past four years.

C. The technology has many applications, from customer service to museum tutorials to medical inquiries.

D. The computers' answers to the questions were compared against average human responses and ranked.

E. For example, this technology has already been used to answer general questions on e-commerce platforms.

F. Like all utilities, AI will be boring, even as it transforms the Internet, the global economy, and civilization.