How much do you know about A.I. (Artificial Intelligence)?Artificial means‘man-made', and intelligence means‘the ability to learn. understand and think about things'. A.I. is about making machines think, talk, do and see. A.I. is used in many fields from、playing games to helping doctors. Many machines around us work very well because they work with the help of A.I. Man has always dreamed of building‘thinking machines'. In 1770, Wolfgand Kempelen(1 734—1804)built a wooden robot called Turk that was able to play chess(SUR). It played very well and even beat some of the top chess players of the time! Later it was found that Turk was not real. Inside the box machine was a chess player.
John McCarthy(1927—)is thought as the‘Father'of A.I. He invented the word‘A.I.'and the LISP computer programming language that many A.I. developers use today. How does A.I. work?
A.I. uses ideas from many fields:

      Do you know how many pandas there are in the world? World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has spent four yours counting pandas in the world. It says there are 1,590 now. In the 1980s, there were only 1,100.

So we may say that pandas are lucky because people around the world love them and are trying their best to help them. However, we also say that pandas are unlucky because they are still facing a lot of problems now.

Pandas are not good at making babies. Even in the wild, scientists have found that female pandas give birth only every 28 months. That's why the number of pandas goes up so slowly.

Pandas need bamboos for food, but bamboo dies every 10 to 100 years. It can take up to 20 years to provide(提供) food for pandas. When bamboo dies, pandas have to move to other areas. In the past, this was easy. However, the number of people keeps growing, people cut down more forests and built more villages. It's more difficult for pandas to find bamboos and homes than before.

In the past years, WWF made great efforts to protect pandas. And some Chinese scientists are also always trying to find ways to help pandas.

    Sitting too much is now listed with smoking and junk food as a bad habit that increases your risk of heart disease.

    New Australian research shows that half-an-hour in the gym will not make up for the waist-expanding damage caused by spending the rest of the day sitting.

    But the good news is that doing chores(家务杂事) in the house or gently walking around the office while on the phone might be enough to keep you fit.

    The study joins the growing body of evidence suggesting too much sitting might undo the benefits of exercise.

    The study measured the intensity(强度)of physical activities in 168 subjects over seven days. If found that, regardless of how much exercise they did or their total sitting time, those who took more breaks from sitting had lower risk of thick waists and lower levels of blood lipids(脂质).

    “Higher levels of blood lipids have been linked to a heightened risk of heart disease,”principal researcher Genevieve Healy of the University of Queensland said. "What the study shows is that there are benefits in just getting up regularly and interrupting your sitting time."

    Researchers behind the Stand up Australia project have written to the Rudd Government requesting $ 3.5 million for a two year study into how long sitting affects the health and productivity of workers.

    The latest study builds on work that is shifting the health promotion focus from purposeful exercise, such as running, to lower intensity activities throughout the day.

    The Australian research bas been backed up US studies, which show standing up is enough to double the metabolic(新陈代谢) rate and the amount of calories burnt.

    “To hold a body that weighs 77kilograms upright take a .fair amount of energy from muscles", said professor Marc Hamilton from the University of Missouri. "There is a large amount of energy associated with standing every day that cannot be easily replaced by, 30 to 60minutes in the gym."

    DNA is the whole" map" of the human body. It is something that all humans have, and it tells the body what to do. DNA is the reason that we look like our parents, because we get some of their DNA to make our own.

    People have been trying to understand the human body for a long time. In 1860, Mr. Mendel discovered why we look the same as other people in our family. It is because of small things called "genes" (基因)in our body. In 1953, two scientists, Watson and Crick, found out that genes are really messages. They're written in the DNA with a special language.

    In 1961, another two scientists found the first" word" that they could understand in that language. It shows how DNA tells the cell(细胞)to build its parts. So far, scientists have found all the words in the DNA map, but we still don't understand what they all do. By understanding what just one" word" means, we can help to save people from several illnesses. So the more we understand, the more doctors will be able to do.

    Most people hope that this can help to make better medicine to help sick people. Other people worry that when we learn more" word" and find out more information, we will use it in the wrong way. Just to make people more attractive, or stop sick people getting jobs.

    Bamboo(竹子) is one of nature s most surprising plants. Many people call this plant a tree, but it is a kind of grass.

    Like other kinds of grass, a bamboo plant may be cut very low to the ground, but it will grow back very quickly. A Japanese scientist reported one bamboo plant which grew 1.5 metres in 24 hours! There are more than 1, 000 kinds of bamboo. Bamboo grows almost everywhere in the world, but in Europe, they can't grow.

    Not all bamboo looks the same. Some bamboo plants are very thin. They may only grow to be a few centimetres wide while others may grow to be more than 30 centimetres across. This plant also comes in different colours, from yellow to black to green.

    Bamboo has been used to make many things such as hats and kitchen tools. Because it is strong, bamboo is also used to build buildings.

    Many Asian countries have used bamboo for hundreds of years. They often use bamboo for buildings and supporting(支撑) new buildings and bridges while they are being built.

    In Africa, poor farmers are taught how to bring water using bamboo. These African countries need cheap ways to bring water because they have no money, and their crops often die from no rain and no water. Bamboo pipes(管子) help poor farmers bring water to their thirsty fields without spending much money.

Everyone needs friends. All of us {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (期盼) to feel close to someone. It's nice to have a friend to talk, have fun, and do so many things {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (一起). In fact, it's not easy to make friends. It is just like taking a long {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(旅行;旅程) and it takes time. Of course, sometimes we need to be alone. But we would feel sad {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(如果) we never had a friend.

No two people are the same. Sometimes friends don't get along well. That never {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(意味着) that they no longer like each other. Mostly, they will go on being friends. There is one of the worst {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(情况). Some friends move far away and we don't have time to be with each other. {#blank#}7{#/blank#}(然而), we can call them or send emails to them. Maybe we would never see them again. And we can make new friends. It's {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(惊人的) to find out how much we like new people when we get to know them.

For many people, having good friends isn't just a {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(普通的;一般的) thing. Can you believe that families sometimes enjoy {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(给······取名) their children after a very good friend? There's more good news for people who have friends. Why? It could be that they are happier!