Scientists today are making greater effort to study ocean currents (洋流) . Most do it using satellites and other high-tech equipment. However, ocean expert Curtis Ebbesmeyer does it in a special way -- by studying movements of random floating garbage. A scientist with many years' experience, he started this type of research in the early 1990s when he heard about hundreds of athletic shoes washing up on the shores of the northwest coast of the United States. There were so many shoes that people were setting up swap meets to try and match left and right shoes to sell or wear.

    Ebbesmeyer found out in his researches that the shoes — about 60,000 in total — fell into the ocean in a shipping accident. He phoned the shoe company and asked if they wanted the shoes back. As expected, the company told him that they didn't. Ebbesmeyer realized this could be a great experiment. If he learned when and where the shoes went into the water and tracked where they landed, he could learn a lot about the patterns of ocean currents.

    The Pacific Northwest is one of the world's best areas for beachcombing(海滩搜寻) because winds and currents join here, and as a result, there is a group of serious beachcombers in the area. Ebbesmeyer got to know a lot of them and asked for their help in collecting information about where the shoes landed. In a year he collected reliable information on 1, 600 shoes. With this data, he and a colleague were able to test and improve a computer program designed to model ocean currents, and publish the findings of their study.

    As the result of his work, Ebbesmeyer has become known as the scientist to call with questions about any unusual objects found floating in the ocean. He has even started an association of beachcombers and ocean experts, with 500 subscribers from West Africa to New Zealand. They have recorded all lost objects ranging from potatoes to golf gloves.

    Eve was waiting in the corridor outside her class. She was feeling sick. She had two exams that day and physics was first. She really hated physics. It was her worst subject. Lisa looked back at her, and then looked away quickly. Eve thought she looked guilty. She didn't have a problem with physics. She didn't have a problem with anything... Miss Perfect!

    "Hi, Eve! So what's wrong with you and Lisa?" asked Tina, "I thought you were friends." "Yes, so did I," said Eve. "But she hasn't spoken to me for two weeks now. She promised to help me review for the physics exam too, but then she's ignored all my calls and texts."

    While in the exam, Eve found Lisa was holding her phone on her knee under the table and reading from it. Eve couldn't believe it! Is that how Lisa always got such good grades? She thought about telling the teacher, but she hesitated. The next exam was history. That was Eve's favorite subject but she couldn't concentrate. She didn't know what to do about Lisa. Just then, Mr. Reed, their teacher, walked past. "Mr. Reed…"

    Lisa was called to the teachers' office and there waited Mr. Reed…

    The history test was over. Eve was walking towards the school gate when she heard footsteps behind her. It was Lisa. Eve could see that she had been crying. "Listen," said Lisa. "I'm really sorry I haven't answered your calls, but my dad had a heart attack two weeks ago and he's in hospital. He had a big heart operation today and I was very worried about him. So I was reading texts from my mum, but Mr. Reed caught me. He thought I was cheating. He believes me now, but I have to take the exam again. I'm sorry I didn't tell you what was happening. Will you forgive me?"

    Last week my youngest son and I visited my father at his new home in Tucson. Arizona. He moved there a few years ago, and I was eager to see his new place and meet his friends.

My earliest memories of my father are of a tall, handsome, successful man devoted to his work and family but uncomfortable with his children. As a child I loved him; as a school girl and young adult I feared him and felt bitter（仇恨的）bout him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A's and unhappy with my boy friends if their fathers were not as "successful" as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.

    On the first day of my visit, we went out with one of my father's friends for lunch at an outdoor cafe. We walked along that afternoon, did some shopping ate on the street table, and laughed over my son's funny facial expressions. Gone was my father's critical(挑剔的)air and strict rules. Who was this person I knew as my father, who seemed so friendly and interesting to be around? What had held him back before?

    The next day my dad pulled out his childhood pictures and told me quite a few stories about his own childhood. Although our times together became easier over the years, I never felt closer to him at that moment. After so many years, I'm at last seeing another side of my father. And in so doing, I'm delighted with my new friend. My dad in his new home in Arizona, is back to me from where he was.

    Three important changes that will affect people's everyday life in the future.

    The cashless society

    Cash and bank notes will disappear almost completely. They will be replaced by smart cards with microchip (微芯片) "loaded" with some money. When we pay for goods, we will put our smart cards into a payment terminal (终端) and money will be transferred (转) from our cards to the retailer's (零售商的) card. When all the money is used up, we will be able to "reload" it by inserting it into a telephone, dialing our bank account and putting money to the card from the account. If we want to transfer money from our cards to a bank account, we will use the same method. Smart cards will be able to hold several different currencies at the same time. So if we go abroad, we will be able to use our smart cards in the same way.

    Interactive telephones

    Human telephones will be replaced by talking computers. These computers will recognize speech, ask us what information we need, find the information and change it to speech. If we want to book a flight or pay a bill by phone, we will ask a talking computer to do it. Of course, this won't happen until all the technology is in place, but when it is we will soon get used to using computers in this way.

    ________________

    Traffic congestion (拥挤) in cities will be reduced because drivers will use electronic maps to find the quickest way to their destinations and avoid traffic jams. Because people have to pay to drive in cities, they will stop using their cars and use public transport instead. Speed control systems will be built into cars. These systems will control the speed of the car according to the traffic and weather conditions and prevent accidents.

Perhaps you know them as "taters", "spuds", or "Kennebees", or as "chips", "Idahoes", or even "shoestrings". No matter, a potato by any other name is still a potato — the world's most widely grown vegetable. As a matter of fact, if you are an average potato eater, you will put away at least 100 pounds of them each year. 

That's only a tiny amount grown every year, however. Worldwide, the annual potato harvest is over 6 billion bags. Each bag contains 100 pounds of potatoes, some of them as large as four pounds each. Here in the United States, farmers fill about 400 million bags a year. That may seem like a lot of "taters", but it leaves the United States a distant third among world potato growers. Polish farmers dig up just over 800 million bags a year, while the Russians lead the world with nearly 1.5 billion bags. 

People eat potatoes in many ways-baked, mashed, and roasted, to name just three. However, in the United States most potatoes are devoured in the form of French fries. One fast-food chain alone sells more than $1 billion worth of fries each year. No wonder, then, that the company pays particular attention to the way its fries are prepared. 

Before any fry makes it to the people who eat at these popular restaurants, it must pass many separate tests. Fail any one of these tests and the potato is rejected. For example, only Russet Burbank potatoes are used. These Idaho potatoes have less water content than other kinds, which can have as much as 80 percent water. Once cut into "shoestrings" shapes, the potatoes are partly fried in a secret blend of oils, sprayed with liquid sugar to brown them, steam dried at high heat, then flash frozen for shipment to individual restaurants. 

So, now that you realize the enormous size and value of the potato crop, you can understand why most people agree that this part of the food industry is no "small potatoes". 

About two years ago, Coronavirus(新冠病毒) showed up(出现). So many great people are fighting it to protect(保护) us. One of them is Zhong Nanshan. He's 84 years old, but he's still fighting the virus. Thanks to them, China is getting better(情况好转). But this virus is really dangerous. We must be careful all the time. Here are some ways to protect ourselves.

Wear a face mask(口罩).

Wash your hands often.

Don't touch your face, eyes, nose and mouth before washing your hands.

Do some exercise to keep healthy.

China is a very big and old country. Over 5, 000 years, we faced many problems. Fighting this virus is just another one of those problems. At last(最终), we will win.