Life in the year 3044 is very different1 life in the 21^st century. We still do many of the things you did, but we do them 2. For example, we now have e-friends to help us and keep us company. An e-friend is a machine that looks just3a human being. It can walk and talk and can do almost4 we human beings do. My e-friend is a lot like me and we have5fun together. She helps me 6 my homework and we often go swimming.  She is programmed to take care of me if anything7, so I always feel safe when we are together.  She can also send me messages, just like old-fashioned e-mail, and I can download information from her memory. It's great8an e-friend. I am never lonely and I always have someone to talk9.

      I would like to tell you more about life in the year 3044, but I have to send my e-friend to clean up my room. Maybe10I will be able to travel back in time and visit you.

    We may learn from the news that the world is hungry. Many people in poor areas don't have enough food to eat. In fact, our world is also 1. We are still short of water though water 2 nearly 3/4 of the Earth. About 97% of water on the Earth is seawater and we can't drink it or use it to water plants 3 . People can only drink anti use the 3% of the water from rivers and lakes. What's worse, we can't use all of that because of water 4 .

    Now we are facing a serious problem-we need more water. First, we need to learn how to save water. Then we need to 5 ways to reuse water. Scientists have made a lot of studies. The 6 show that in many large cities and small villages, people 7 use water only once and then it runs to the sea or rivers. So we can reuse water. Last but not least, we should make full use of the seawater. Scientists are trying to solve the 8 —collecting clean water from seawater 9 we can do now is to save water and not to waste water. We cannot live long 10 enough clean water. So let's work together to do something.

    Animals are our friends. We can find1different kinds of animals. Some animals are living 2 big woods(森林). And some animals are living with 3. Animals are very4 to people. People can teach the elephant to do some heavy 5. And they can also teach the dog to 6the house. A watch dog is very 7 It can help people in danger(危险). So people 8dogs very much. Most of9like to go to the zoo.10there are many animals in zoos. Zoo is a good place for children to get to know animals.

    Soon computers and other machines will be able to remember you by looking at your eyes! The program works because everyone's eyes are different. So in the future you won't have to remember a number when you want to use a machine or take money out of a bank. You'll just have to look at the machine and it will be able to tell who you are.

    The eye-recognition(眼睛识别) program has already been tested in shops and banks in the USA, Britain, Spain, Italy and Turkey. Soon this technology will take the place of(取代)all other ways of finding out who people are.

    Eye-recognition is a course of recognizing iris(虹膜), which includes the following steps. First, a kind of machine needs to collect different examples of one's iris from his eyes and store them. Second, when this person goes to the bank to take out of money, this machine will have iris feature extraction(采集).Then, this machine will compare the examples kept in it with iris feature extraction. Once the examples and the feature extraction are the same, this person will be identified, and he will take out of the money from the bank successfully.

    However, scientists are also working on other systems. Machines will soon be able to know you from the shape of your face or hand or even your smell! We already have machines that can tell who you are from your voice or the mark made by your finger.

    Eye-recognition is better than other kinds because your eyes don't change as you get older, and don't get dirty like hands or fingers, and even twins have different eyes. So the eye-recognition program can be up to 94% correct, depending on how good the technology(科技)is. However, some other programs may only be 51% correct now. In Britain, it was found that 91% of people who had tried it said that they liked the idea of eye-recognition.

    In the future your computer will be looking at you in the eye. So smile!

    Workers aren't allowed to go into a big underground computer center until they step up to a machine that takes a quick picture of the tiny blood vessels (血管) inside their eyes.

    If the machine can't 1 the picture with images in its computer, the worker is stopped by security guards (保安员).

    Each person has his own way of blood vessels in his or her2.And unlike a key, the way can't be3.Old-fashioned keys and locks may soon be things of the past.High-tech security devices (安全装置) are being fixed at military (军事的) bases, computer centers and banks.Companies that 4 the machines say they'll someday be used in people's homes and cars.

    Already, a Japanese company has fixed ways that recognize (识别) people's fingerprints in 360 new homes.The machines open the doors only for the 5of the houses.The new security ways are selling well because thieves and robbers are getting better at breaking into buildings and computers that are 6 by keys and locks.Since nobody can steal or copy a fingerprint, or one's eyes, the new machines are 7.

    Other new machines recognize one's voice.Two American companies use 8 machines to keep an eye on their computers.Inexpensive voice-recognition machines may someday take the place of locks on cars.The doors would open only for the owners.The machines would 9 the owners as little as $270.Although the up-to-date machines are amazing, scientists must still solve a serious problem.How will a boy borrow his dad's car without borrowing his dad's 10?

    It says that bats (蝙蝠) are almost blind (瞎的). Do you know 1 the bat finds the way? In fact (事实上), bats find their ways 2 the help of their ears. Bats make a 3 that we can't hear at all. They cry when they fly and the echoes (回声) of these cries come back to their 4. In this way they can know where they should go. Bats fly out in the 5. In the daytime, they just stay together in their homes.

    When the evening comes, they begin to 6 and look for 7. The next morning, they come back from work to sleep 8 the evening. Some people 9 that bats are bad animals. In fact, they are very 10. They catch and eat pests (害虫). This is very good for people.