The noise of chattering mouths subsided（平息）as the teacher entered classroom. “Good morning class. I am Riffat Monaf, and I will be your geography teacher.” Riffat Monaf, an interesting name and an even more interesting person. Her introduction took place about six years ago, and since then I have never met a more influential person in my life.

    Mrs Monaf not only conquered me with her vast knowledge of geography, but also won me over with her smile and warm eyes. It was in her class that I traveled to the highest mountains and to the deepest seas from the comfort of the classroom. I learned about the vast oceans, the erupting volcanoes, the snow-capped mountains and the green valleys. She would often relate her adventures about traveling to different parts of the world.

    Never can I forget the glory of her face when she talks about how truly beautiful this world is. If I search back my love for the environment and geography, I find her to be the source of my love for preserving nature. If one day I became an environmentalist, I know that I'll thank her for it. Apart from this, she has always greeted me with open arms and she calls her students “my children”. Mrs Monaf's morals and values rubbed off me deeply and I have always taken her advice into consideration. She has been one of the most consistently good things in my life.

    Currently, she is fighting a battle against breast cancer, and it pains me to know that after all she has done for me; I can do nothing for her except pray. Whenever I see her in school, she still keeps that kind smile and an expression so soft that it trembles my heart. Mrs Monaf still talks enthusiastically about geography, and I know that I can never see what a truly great person she has been in my life. .

Letter One

Dear Editor,

    After I finish my homework, I often go online and chat with my friends. Sometimes I play computer games. But my parents hate to see me playing games on the computer. Maybe they have heard too much news about how QQ and computer games harm children. Once I went to a net bar(网吧) to play games after school. But after that I told my parents that I was playing basketball at school. I said so because I didn't want to make them unhappy. I feel bad about it. However, I need to rest for a while by playing computer games after studying for a long time. I really want my parents to understand that. Do foreign parents do the same to their children? Please help me.

Li Ping,

Beijing

Letter Two

Dear Li Ping,

    I don't think it's strange for parents to keep their children away from anything bad. Foreign parents will do the same as your parents! They may not let their children watch TV for too long a time, or like your parents, they don't want their children to play computer games.

    Talk to your parents and be honest to them, I think. Tell them what you are doing and why you are doing so to make them understand you. It's never good to do things behind your parents. They aren't fools as you think sometimes! Our parents seem to know what is the best for us.

Remember: to be honest is the best way.

Good luck,

Rebecca

    When pups are between 2 and 3months old, their mothers will abandon them for any number of reasons. With no mother to watch out for them, infant (婴儿) mortality of pups under one year skyrockets (飞涨) to around 90%. So, only about 10% of motherless, homeless pups survive.

    Without mothers, how are these abandoned pups supposed to survive? For the study, researchers Clive Wynne at Arizona State, Nadine Chersini at Utecht University, and Nathan Hal at Texas Tech University brought in 51 college students and asked them to rate the attractiveness of headshots (头部特写) of puppies at different ages.

    The pups peaked at different ages, but they were all ranked likable between six to eight weeks, since newly abandoned pups are competing with each other for human heartstrings (怜悯), evolution says they should be most likable around 6 and 11 weeks. This is around the time they are weaned (断奶) and let go of by their mothers.

    There are a few characteristics that humans find particularly adorable across species: big, forward-facing eyes, floppy and unstable limbs (肢), and a soft, rounded body shape. We're also keen to scream when animals have large heads in comparison to their bodies, and this reaction goes back to evolution.

    Called kinderschema (婴儿萌), these qualities are also apparent in human babies and necessary for their survival. The characteristics activate the decision-making part of the brain to encourage you to protect and nurture the baby. At the same time, the brain's pleasure center releases dopamine (多巴胺). With these two reactions, your brain makes you want to protect the baby and rewards you for doing so. With your protection, the baby can survive.

BKLYN House Hotel

    This hotel features works by Brooklyn artists. The 116 rooms are good value and Manhattan is only 20 minutes away by taxi or subway. The immediate surroundings feel urban — the hotel is by a high-rise public housing project while the nearest commercial street is under elevated (高的) subway tracks — but Bushwick's best bars and cafes / restaurants are nearby.

    Doubles from $99, room only. Tel: 718 388 4433

Archer Hotel

    Visitors eager to stay in the heart of Manhattan should try one of the bargain-priced rooms at this hotel. Rates differ from great value to expensive; some start from as low as $179 a night (if prepaying in full). Rooms are small but tasteful, with nice touches such as exposed brick. Some have close-up views of the Empire State Building.

    Doubles from $199, room only. Tel: 212 719 4100

CitizenM New York Times Square

    This is the first US location for a Netherlands-based concept hotel chain — CitizenM. The hotel features self check-in at its 230 little but comfortable rooms via touch screen "MoodPads". There's a rooftop bar, a 24-hour grab-and-go cafeteria and an area with public iMac workspaces. Although New Yorkers avoid nearby Times Square, all the lights, cameras and action can make it a fun tourist experience.

    Doubles from $170, room only. Tel: 212 319 7000

EVENTS(赛事)

Bicycle tour and race

    A bike tour and race will be held on August 26 and 27(Sat. & Sun. ). At 5:30am, the riders will leave

    Tian'anmen Square and ride the first 35 kilometers as a training leg. Then the next 55 kilometers leg, from Yanjiao to Jixian, will be the first competitive(竞争性的)part of the tour. The riders and their bikes will then be taken from Jixian to Changli.

    The second racing leg of the tour will be from Changli to the seaside of Nandaibe, covering a distance of 20 kilometers. Saturday night includes the stay at Nandaihe and supper. Sunday morning is free for play at the seaside. At noon all the people and their bikes will be taken back to Beijing.

    Cost: 200 yuan

     Telephone: 4675027

    Brazilian footballers

    The Brazilian Football Club will play Beijing Guo'an Team at the Workers Stadium on August 26. The club has four national team players. Also coming is 1994 US World Cup star Romario who has promised to play for at least 45 minutes.

    Ticket prices: 60,100,150 yuan

    Time/Date: 4:30 pm, August 26 (Sat.)

    Telephone: 5012372

    Rock climbing

    The Third National Rock Climbing Competition will be held on August 26-27 at the Huairou Mountain-climbing Training Base. More than 10 teams from Beijing, Wuhan, Dalian, Jilin and other places will take part in it. A Japanese team will give an exhibition climbing. Free for spectators(观众).

    Take a long-distance bus from Dongzhimen to Huairou.

    Time/Dates: 9-12 am, August 26 and 27

    Telephone: 7143177, 7144850, Wang Zhenghua

    News anchors(主播) must have been reluctant to read out the following news: Xin Xiaomeng began working as the world's first female artificial(人工的) intelligence news anchor at Xinhua News Agency on Sunday, three months after a male robot joined the profession.

    Unlike previous news robots though, Xin does not read news like a cold machine; she reads it almost like a human being. The muscles on her face stretch and relax — and her reactions change as she continues reading. That's why many news anchors were worried: Will AI replace us in the near future?

    To find the answer, we have to analyze the technologies that support Xin at her job. Three key technologies are used to support Xin. First, samples of human voices are collected and synthesized (合成). This is followed by the collection and synthesis of human muscle movement samples. And third the voices and movements are married in a way that when the AI news anchor reads, the micro- electric motors behind her face move to make her expressions seem more human.

    Yet we need a thorough knowledge of deep learning technology to make a robot imitate a person's voice. The developer needs to collect tens of thousands of pieces of pronunciations, input them into the machine and match them with the text for the AI to learn and read. The process for imitating facial movements is similar. The developer has to analyze the movements of the 53 muscles in the human face, make a model set from the collected data for the AI news anchor to learn, and imitate the movements of facial muscles via programs

    Both the technologies used to make Xin's performance impressive are mature. The real difficulty lies in the third — the technology to match the pronunciations with facial movements so that Xin's expressions vary according to the content of the news report. In fact, Xin's expressions don't always change according to the content. As a result, her expressions look anything but human. Actually, AI is still no match for human qualities.