You use her as a shoulder to cry on. She texts you back with casual jokes. But she, Xiaoice, is only a virtual chatbot（虚拟聊天机器人）.

    Xiaoice, Microsoft's latest artificial intelligence robot, was briefly released in 2014, and returned to WeChat in 2015, where she became a big hit. Millions of young Chinese now exchange messages with her daily, The New York Times reported. On WeChat, Xiaoice is an official account. After following it, users can start text-based conversations with Xiaoice.

    “Her incredible learning ability was why people loved to talk with Xiaoice,” Liu Jinchang, a researcher at High-tech Research and Development Center under the Ministry of Science and Technology, told China Daily. Apart from her ability to identify photos and send emojis（表情符号） in conversations, Xiaoice gains 45 percent of her knowledge from interacting with users, China Daily reported.

    Chatbot programs first appeared in the mid-1960s in the US. Driven by top tech companies, they are becoming smarter and more common. For instance, IBM's latest artificial intelligence program served as an academic consultant at Australia's Deakin University, answering students' questions about course schedules and financial aid. Apple's Siri and Amazon's Alexa have been used as voice assistants who can read news, play music and even make jokes for their users.

    These programs are expected to move beyond smartphones, into televisions, cars and living rooms, The New York Times pointed out. However, it may take decades before scientists develop a “Samantha”, the advanced chatbot seen in the fiction film Her. In the film, Samantha has a romantic relationship with her user played by US actor Joaquin Phoenix. Many viewers were enthusiastic about this fantasy of virtual soul mates.

“Birds” and “airports” are two words that, paired together, don't normally paint the most harmonious picture. So it really raises some eyebrows when China announces plans to build an airport that's for birds.

Described as the world's first-ever bird airport, the proposed Lingang Bird Sanctuary(保护区) in the northern coastal city of Tianjin is，of course，not an actual airport. Rather, it's a wetland preserve specifically designed to accommodate hundreds — even thousands — of daily takeoffs and landings by birds traveling along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Over 50 species of migratory (迁徙的）water birds, some endangered, will stop and feed at the protected sanctuary before continuing their long journey along the flyway.

Located on a former landfill site, the 61-hectare (150-acre) airport is also open to human travelers. (Half a million visitors are expected annually.) However, instead of duty-free shopping, the main attraction for non-egg-laying creatures at Tianjin's newest airport will be a green-roofed education and research center, a series of raised “observation platforms” and a network of scenic walking and cycling paths and trails totaling over 4 miles.

The proposed Bird Airport will be a globally significant sanctuary for endangered migratory bird species, while providing new green lungs for the city of Tianjin,” Adrian McGregor of Australian landscape architecture firm McGregor Coxall explained of .the design. Frequently blanketed in smog so thick that it has shut down real airports, Tianjin is a city — China's fourth most populous — that would certainly benefit from a new pair of healthy green lungs.

    A long-term American study shows the importance of early education for poor children. The study is known as the Abecedarian Project. It involved more than one-hundred young children from poor families in North Carolina.

    Half of the children attended an all-day program at a high-quality child-care center. The center offered educational, health and social programs. Children took part in games and activities to increase their thinking and language skills and social and emotional development. The program also included health foods for the children.

    The children attended the program from when they were a few weeks old until the age of five years. The other group of children did not attend the child-care center. After the age of five, both groups attended public school.

    Researchers compared the two groups of children. When they were babies, both groups had similar results in tests for mental and physical skills. However, from the age of eighteen months, the children in the educational child-care program did much better in tests.

    The researchers tested the children again when they were twelve and fifteen years old. The tests found that the children who had been in the child-care center continued to have higher average test results. These children did much better on tests of reading and mathematics.

    A few years ago, organizers of the Abecedarian Project tested the students again. At the time, each student was twenty-one years old. They were tested for thinking and educational ability, employment, parenting and social skills. The researchers found that the young adults who had the early education still did better in reading and mathematics tests. They were more than two times as likely to be attending college or to have completed college. In addition, the children who received early education were older on average, when their first child was born.

    The study offers more evidence that learning during the first months and years of life is important for all later development.

    The researchers of the Abecedarian Project believe their study shows a need for lawmakers to spend money on public early education. They believe these kinds of programs could reduce the number of children who do not complete school and are unemployed.

    In recent years, much of the sea ice that polar bears use as a hunting platform for seal meals has melted, forcing some bears — particularly young males — farther north or onto land, where they are not as skilled at hunting. When stuck on land for months, a polar bear typically is forced to survive on its own fat reserves.

    The bears were listed earlier this year as a threatened species under the U. S. Endangered Species Act as populations have declined. Meanwhile, snow geese are booming near the western Hudson Bay, and there are in fact too many of them. Their eggs can be a good food source. The geese nest on tundra (冻原；苔原) that some bears have retreated to.

    "Over 40 years, six subadult (接近成年的) male bears were seen among snow goose nests, and four of them were sighted after the year 2000," says Robert Rockwell. "I've seen a subadult male eat goose eggs whole or press its nose against the shell, break it, and eat the contents."

    Ice is melting, on average, 0.72 days earlier each year in the region studied. Snow geese are hatching eggs about 0.16 days sooner each year, according to Rockwell and his graduate student Linda Gormezano. Current trends indicate that the arrival of polar bears will correspond to the average hatching period in 3.6 years, and egg consumption could become a viable option, which the researcher concluded in a statement released today.

    A polar bear, the largest land carnivore (食肉动物), would need to consume the eggs of 43 nests to replace the energy gained from the average day of hunting seals, but Rockwell and his colleagues figure that while many polar bears may starve in coming years, the resourceful animals just might survive disappearance.

    Polar bears survived a warm period about 125,000 years ago, when sea level was 12 to 18 feet higher than it is now and trees lived above the Arctic Circle, the scientists point out.  "They've been through the warm period before，" Rockwell said.

    The polar bears' potential movement to a diet of more eggs brought to mind a quote by Ilkoo Angutikjuak, an Inuit who lives in the Canadian province of Nunavut, in the February 2008 issue of Natural History magazine, Rockwell said. Angutikjuak said: "The animals will adapt. I've heard that because they depend on sea ice, polar bears will disappear, but I don't believe it. They are very adaptable. As the sea ice changes, polar bears might get skinnier and some might die, but I don't think they will disappear."

    Dyeing eggs has long been an Easter tradition, but it's the dyeing of baby chicks that is upsetting in some states.

    The dye, which is often ordinary food coloring, is either injected into eggs being hatched or sprayed onto newly hatched chicks. Although hatchery owners say the practice is harmless, critics argue that spraying the birds with color is stressful and that dyeing the animals transforms them into something attractive that can be thrown away when their colorful feathers disappear.

    “These are living creature and dyeing them sends out a message saying that they are more of a new and unusual object than a living animal,” said Dr. Marc Copper, senior scientific manager for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Dyed chicks — and sometimes rabbits — have been a traditional part of the Easter holiday in some parts of the world, but the practice has gone largely underground in the U.S. because many people view it as cruel.

    Today, about half of U.S. states ban the dyeing of animals, but last month the Florida Legislature passed a bill to remove the state's 45-year-old ban. The drive to end the law wasn't related to Easter chicks; it was done at the request of a dog groomer(美容师) who wanted to enter pet beauty contests.

    Florida governor Rick Scott must agree to remove the ban, which would be lifted July 1, but the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida(ARFF) has asked him not to remove the ban. In addition to allowing animals dyeing, the law would also lift a ban on selling baby animals as pets, and the organization fears that next year the state could see hundreds of dyed baby chicks on the market.

As long as the dye is not poisonous, experts say the birds' health isn't affected, and there are scientific reasons to dye animals. Wildlife researchers often inject eggs with dye to track birds in the wild, and teachers have dyed chicks for educational purposes. However, animal advocates are quick to point out that dyeing baby chicks for Easter isn't educational — it's done simply to earn profits.

    Long Beach, a 28-mile stretch of beach, lies in southwestern Washington, and it is generally called Long Beach Peninsula (半岛). Communities there take you back to old days of a simple and slow-paced life style. Here, visitors can relax and enjoy the good of total rest.

    Bird Watching

    There are different kinds of birds in Long Beach. It is best if you observe them from a distance and do not try to frighten them. The Southwest Loop Trail Map can be gotten through the Long Beach Peninsula Visitors Bureau Office by calling 1-800-451-2542.

    Horses

    A popular activity in Long Beach is horseback riding. Two businesses in the city of Long Beach offer guided horseback tours along the beach: Back Country Wilderness Outfitters and Skipper's Equestrian Center. You may also bring your own horse. Among the adventures offered with horses is a wagon (四轮马车) ride along the beach, a carriage ride through Sea view or Long Beach, a back country (偏远乡村) packing trip, or a sunset ride by horseback on the beach.

    Camping

    RV (娱乐车) and tent camping aren't allowed on the beach, but there are private camp­ grounds and RV parks in the area, as well as Cape Disappointment State Park. Camp fires are allowed within 100 feet of the beach, but must be away from the dry grass.

    Swimming and Other Activities

    Swimming is allowed, but you must be careful. The waters are very cold and dangerous. Surfing is advised only for experienced surfers. Beach driving is allowed at certain spots on the beach. The speed limit is 25 mph. Building sand castles, digging sand to find something, bicycle riding, and flying kites are also popular activities in the area.

    You can find right hotels easily in the area. Enjoy your trip to Long Beach, Washington!