The Dress That Turns into a Coca Cola Machine 

    This specially designed dress looks like a normal dress，but if you unfold it and cover yourself，you may look like a Coca Cola vending machine（自动售货机）. Because there are many vending machines like that on the street，it must be easy for you to hide．If you feel that someone is following you or there is some danger，you can disappear within five seconds．But don't use it to scare your classmates．That'll be rude.
                                  

    The M-Dress is a nice black dress．It is also a mobile phone．It accepts a standard SIM card and allows the wearer to receive calls without carrying an actual(真实的) phone in their pocket or purse．You just need to bring your hand to your ear when you want to answer a phone call．When you finish talking and release your hand，the call will close．It is fashionable and useful．But it will certainly be an embarrassing moment when your dress rings in public．
  Air Conditioned Jackets 

    You will love these air-cooled jackets in summer time when it is very hot outdoors．The jacket has fans that draw air in．The fan is powered by an inside battery．Now it is possible to spend nearly every second of your day with cool air．

    No Car Day was first started by 34 cities in France on September 22, 1998. It was started to protect the environment. By now, more than 1,000 cities around the world have had a No Car Day.

    The first No Car Day in China was in Chengdu in 2001. Other cities, including Taipei, Shanghai and Wuhan, also support the day.

    In Beijing, more and more people are joining the campaign. It asks drivers to leave their cars at home for one day each month and walk or ride a bike to work. It also calls on Beijingers not to use cars on June 5(World Environment Day). The slogan for the day is, “If we drive for one less day, we can have one more nice day.”

    So far, more than 200,000 drivers have shown their support. “We can't control the weather, but we can choose not to drive,” said Wu Zonghua, a car club chairman. Beijing is trying to have 238 blue sky days this year. In the first quarter of 2012, Beijing only had 52 blue sky days. This was 11 days less than the number for the same period the year before. Much of the dust comes from the desert, but cars cause most of the air pollution. We must do more for No Car Day.

    In the Charles F. Johnson Elementary School in New York, there is a special radio. It gives people warnings about bad weather.

    One day, there came a sound from the radio. This sound brought the piece of news: a heavy storm was coming. William Tomic, principal(校长) of the school, asked teachers to bring children indoors and put them in a safe place at once.

    Minutes later, the storm came. However, because of the warning of the radio and the quick work of the principal, no one was hurt.

    "The radio really did work very well.(A)(我们对它的工作感到很满意), "William Tomic said. "The parents were happy as well."

    The U. S. government hopes there will be more such successful stories. It plans to give this kind of radio to all 97, 000 public schools in the country.

    Every year, more than 10, 000 big thunderstorms, 2, 500 floods, 1, 000 tornadoes(龙卷风) and some hurricanes(飓风) take place in the U. S., so the warning radios are very useful. They not only give people warnings about bad weather, but also give warnings about other dangerous  things.

    We all cry for water when we are thirsty. But do you know, in very hot, dry weather, plants also make very low sounds as if they are crying for help?

    You see, in a plant's stem there are several hundred "water pipes" that bring water from soil all the way up to the leaves. When the ground turns dry, it becomes harder and harder for plants to do this.

    On very hot days, plants have to get any water that they can get.

    Scientist Robot Winter has found out that when plants can get no water, their "water pipes" snap(发出声音). When that happens, the whole plant vibrates(振动) a little.

    Robot knows that healthy, well-watered plants are quiet.  He also knows that dry plants are many insects' "favourite" and they often attack(袭击) them. How do the insects know which are healthy plants and which are not? Robot thinks that the insects may hear the plants "crying" and they may come to kill them.

    Now satellites(卫星)are helping to forecast(预报)the weather. They are in space and they can reach any part of the world.The satellites take pictures of the atmosphere(大气), because this is where the weather forms(形成). They send these pictures to the weather station. So meteorologists(气象专家)can see the weather of any part of the world. From the pictures, the scientists can often say how the weather will change.

    Today, nearly five hundred weather stations in sixty countries receive satellite pictures. When they receive new pictures, the meteor- ologists compare(比较)them with earlier ones. Perhaps they may find that the clouds have changed during the last few hours .This may mean the weather on the ground may soon change, too. In their next weather forecast, the meteorologists can say this.

    So the weather satellites are a great help to the meteorologists. Before satellites were invented, the scientists could forecast the weather for about 24 or 48 hours. Now they can make good forecasts for 3 or 5 days. Soon, perhaps , they may be able to forecast the weather for a week or more ahead(提前)