Because plants cannot move or talk, most people believe that they have no feelings and that they cannot receive signals from outside. However, this may not be completely true.

    People who studied plants have found out that plants carry a small electrical charge (电荷). It is possible to measure this charge with a small piece of equipment called “galvanometer”. The galvanometer is placed on a leaf of the plant, and it records any changes in the electrical field of the leaf. Humans have a similar field which can change when we are shocked or frightened.

    A man called Backster used a galvanometer for his studies of plants and was very surprised at his results. He found that if he had two or more plants in a room and he began to destroy one of them —perhaps by pulling off its leaves or by pulling it out of its pot—then the galvanometer on the leaves of the other plants showed a change in the electrical field. It seemed as if the plants were signaling a feeling of shock. This happened not only when Backster started to destroy plants, but also when he destroyed other living thing such as insects (昆虫).

    Backster said that the plants also knew if someone had destroyed a living thing some distance away, because they signalled when a man who had just cut down a tree entered the room.

    Another scientist, named Sauvin, achieved similar results to Backster's. He kept galvanometers fixed on his plants all the time and checked regularly to see what the plants were doing. If he was out of the office, he telephoned to find out about the signals the plants were sending. In this way, he found that the plants were sending out signals at the exact times when he felt strong pleasure or pain. In fact, Sauvin could cause a change in the electrical field of his plants over a distance of a few miles simply by thinking about them.

    There is a breakthrough in building aircrafts. Bendable wings covered with overlapping(部分重叠) pieces resembling fish sizes could be used to build swifter, fuel-efficient aircraft, a new study finds.

    Nowadays, conventional aircrafts typically rely on ailerons (副翼) to help control the way the planes tip as they fly. However, when the Wright brothers flew the first airplane, Flyer 1, over a century ago, they used no ailerons but wires and pulleys that twisted the wood-and-canvas wings, to control the plane.

    Scientists have long sought to develop aircrafts that can alter their wings during flight, just as birds can. However, most previous attempts have failed because they relied on heavy mechanical control structures within the wings. These structures were also complex and unreliable, said Neil Gershenfeld, a physicist and director of the Center for Bits and Atoms at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

    The new wing consists of a system of tiny, strong, lightweight modules. The shape of the wing can be changed uniformly along its length using two small motors, which apply a twisting pressure to each wingtip. These wings are covered in “skins” of overlapping strips of flexible material resembling fish sizes. These strips move across each other as the wings alter, providing a smooth outer surface, the researchers explained.

    Wind-tunnel tests of these wings showed that they at least matched the aerodynamic properties of conventional wings, at about one-tenth the weight. Initial tests using remotely piloted aircrafts made with these wings have shown great promise, said Benjamin Jenett, a graduate student at the Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT.

    The new modular structures the scientists developed could be manufactured quickly in mass quantities and then installed by teams of small robots. These modular structures also can be disassembled more easily, making repairs simpler.

    “Still, the first aircraft built using this strategy will not be a passenger jet, ”Gershenfeld said. “Instead, the technology will likely first be tested on unmanned aircraft, leading to drones (无人机) that can fly for a long time, to help deliver internet access or medicine to remote villages and do some rescue works.”

    Although problems are a part of our lives, it certainly doesn't mean that we let them rule our lives forever. One day or the other, you'll have to stand up and say – problem, I don't want you in my life.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Problems with friends, parents, girlfriends, husbands, and children – the list goes on. Apart from these, the inner conflicts within ourselves work, too. These keep adding to our problems. Problems come in different shapes and colors and feelings.

    But good news is that all problems can be dealt with. Now read on to know how to solve your problems.

    Talk, it really helps. What most of us think is that our problem can be understood only by us and that no talking is going to help. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Talking helps you move on and let go.

    Write your problems. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} When you write down your problems, you are setting free all the tension from your system. You can try throwing away the paper on which you wrote your problems. By doing this, imagine yourself throwing away the problems from your life.

    Don't lose faith and hope. No matter what you lose in life, don't lose faith and hope. Even if you lose all your money, family，you should still have faith. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} 

    Your problems aren't the worst. No matter what problem you get in life, there're another one million people whose problems are huger than yours. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Your problems might just seem big and worse, but in reality they can be removed.

    Go about and solve your problems because every problem, however big or small, always has a way out.

A. When we have a problem, a pressing, critical, urgent, life-threatening problem, how do we try and solve it?

B. But the truth is that when you talk about it, you're setting free the negative energies that have been gathering within you.

C. Having a personal diary can also be of huge help if you don't want a real person to talk with.

D. We can often overcome the problem and achieve the goal by making a direct attack.

E. Of course, we've been fighting troubles ever since we were born.

F. With faith and hope, you can rebuild everything that you lose.

G. Tell yourself: when they can deal with them, why can't I?

    Whenever something looks interesting or beautiful, there's a natural impulse(冲动) to want to own and preserve it — which means, in this day and age, that we're likely to reach for our phones to take a picture.

    Though this would seem to be an ideal solution, there are two big problems associated with taking pictures. Firstly, we're likely to be so busy taking the pictures that we forget to look at the world whose beauty and interest drove us to take a photograph in the first place. And secondly, because we feel the pictures are safely stored on our phones, we never get around to looking at them, so sure are we that we'll get around to it one day.

    These problems were noticed right at the beginning of the history of photography, when the average camera was the size of a grandfather clock. The first person to notice them was the English art critic, John Ruskin. He was a traveler who realized that most tourists make a boring job of noticing or remembering the beautiful things they see. He argued that humans have a natural tendency to respond to beauty and wish to have it, but that there are better and worse expressions of this desire. At worst, we get into buying souvenirs or taking photographs. But, in Ruskin's eyes, there's one thing we should do and that is attempt to draw the interesting things we see, no matter whether we have any talent for doing so.

    Ruskin was very upset by how seldom people notice details. He strongly disliked the travelers who prided themselves on covering Europe in a week by train. "If he be truly a man, no harm to go slow; for his glory is not at all in going, but in being."

    It is now possible to watch live sport on television on any day of the week, and the present amount of reporting will undoubtedly increase further in years to come. This is certainly having an influence on the live sports events themselves, and there are both benefits and shortcomings to this.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} For one thing, with digital broadcasting, there are now many more TV channels than there were even ten years ago. Moreover, sport has become an important form of entertainment, attracting both men and women.

    What are the benefits of this televised sport? {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Large football clubs benefit financially (财政上) from TV income and the top players can be well paid. Less popular sports also receive money that can be used in training and advertising. What's more, there is a health benefit to some of the population. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    However, there will be some disadvantages if so much sport is on television. Considering football again, many small clubs have suffered financial losses recently, as they cannot compete with the large ones. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Fewer people watch live matches nowadays, preferring to watch from the comfort of their living room. And ticket prices have risen greatly.

    In a word, watching live sport on television has both good and bad effects. Televised sport has created many chances and benefited certain people and clubs very much. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

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