It is quite reasonable to blame traffic jams, the cost of gas and the great speed of modern life, but manners on the road are becoming horrible. Everybody knows that the nicest men would become fierce tigers behind the wheel. It is all right to have a tiger in a cage, but to have one in the driver's seat is another matter.

    Road politeness is not only good manners, but good sense too. It takes the most cool-headed drivers great patience to give up the desire to beat back when forced to face rude driving. On the other hand, a little politeness goes a long way towards reducing the possibility of quarrelling and fighting. A friendly nod or a wave of thanks in answer to an act of politeness helps to create an atmosphere of good will and becomes so necessary in modern traffic conditions. But such behaviors of politeness are by no means enough. Many drivers nowadays don't even seem able to recognize politeness when they see it.

    However, misplaced politeness can also be dangerous. Typical examples are the driver who waves a child crossing the street at a wrong place into the path of oncoming cars that may not be able to stop in time. The same goes for encouraging old ladies to cross the road wherever and whenever they want to.  It always amazes me that the highways are not covered with the dead bodies of these grannies (奶奶).

    An experienced driver, whose manners are faultless, told me it would help if drivers learnt to correctly join in traffic stream without causing total blockages that give rise to unpleasant feelings. Unfortunately, modern drivers can't even learn to drive. Years ago, experts warned us that the fast increase of the car ownership would demand more give-and-take from all road users. It is high time for all of us to take this message to heart.

    In China, Major Cold (大寒) is the last solar term in winter and also the last solar term in the annual lunar(阴历的) calendar. In this period, snow, rain and icy cold weather have a big influence on people's lives.

    Here are several things you should know about Major Cold.

    Eating "dispelling cold cake" (吃"消寒糕")

    During Major Cold, people in Beijing have a habit of eating "dispelling cold cake", a kind of rice cake. Sticky rice, the cake's main ingredient, contains more sugar than rice, which can make people feel warm all over their bodies. In Chinese the word "rice cake" has the same pronunciation with the word "higher in a new year", which symbolizes good luck and continual promotion.

    Eating fried spring roll（吃春卷）

    In Anqing of Anhui province, people traditionally eat fried spring rolls during Major

    Cold. They use a round, cooked, thin pancake to wrap stuffing（馅料）in a thin roll. Then it is fried in a pan with oil until it turns yellow and floats to the top. The stuffing inside the spring roll contains meat or vegetables and the flavor can be salty or sweet.

    Drinking stewed soup

    People in Nanjing of Jiangsu province like to drink stewed soup during Major Cold, which can make people feel warm from head to foot. They always stew the aged hen soup with ginseng(人参), matrimony vine(枸杞) and black fungus(黑木耳).

    Doing winter sports

    There is a saying that goes, "Dripping water freezes during Minor and Major Cold." In various regions of China, Major Cold is the perfect time for winter sports such as skiing, ice skating and sledding.

    Captain Goodfellow

    Do your children enjoy interesting stories, funny games, and exciting dances? Captain Goodfellow will be ready to teach all these things to children of all ages at the City Theatre on Saturday morning at 10:00, FREE.

    Walking Tour of the Town

    Forget your worries on Saturday morning. Take a beautiful walk and learn about local history. Meet at the front entrance of the City Hall at 9:30. Wear comfortable shoes!

    Film at the Museum

    Two European films will be shown on Saturday afternoon at the Museum Theatre. See Broken Window at 1:30. The Workers will be at 3:45. For further information, call 4987898.

    International Picnic

    Are you tired of eating the same food every day? Come to the Central Park on Saturday and enjoy food from all over the world. Delicious and not expensive. Noon to 5:00 pm.

    Do You Want to Hear “The Zoo”

    “The Zoo”, a popular rock group from Australia, will give their first US concert tomorrow night at 8 at Rose Hall, City College.

    New York City is a world capital in every sense of the word—it's a cultural and economic powerhouse, and arguably the most influential city on the planet. But it wasn't always this way, as the following cities once dominated the world around them.

    Djenne­Djenno

    In the flood lands of the Niger delta people have been building houses and other structures with clay for centuries. The town of Djenne­Djenno is made entirely out of clay. It was inhabited as far back as 250 BC, and became an important link in the trans­Saharan gold trade(跨撒哈拉黄金交易). Constructed on hills called " toguere", the city managed to escape the marshy(沼泽 ) landscape and annual floods produced by the rainy season. Djenne­Djenno is believed to be one of the earliest settlements in the sub­Saharan region, and is considered by some to be "the typical African City".

    Archeological evidence shows us a continuous human presence in the area up until the 14th century AD, when people moved to the nearby town of Djenne, founded in the 11th century. Further evidence points out that even before the city's construction, the Bozo people were growing wild rice in the region. In the 13th century AD, with King Koumboro's conversion to Islam, its palace transformed into a mosque.

    Carthage

    Legend has it that Carthage was founded by Queen Dido of the Phoenicians. She fled the city of Tyre located in present­day Lebanon in order to escape the hatred of her brother Pygmalion, who was her rival to the throne. Along with a group of settlers, she traveled a great distance by sea and landed in North Africa, where she met King Iarbas. He offered to give them land in order to build a settlement, but no bigger than the surface covered by the hide(牛皮) of an ox. They cleverly cut the hide into thin strips and were able to enclose a fairly large area of land. On this land, the mighty city of Carthage was built.

    These stories are most likely just that, but the fact that the Phoenicians built the city around 760 BC is true. Located in such a good position—in the middle of the Mediterranean, close to Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, and a pretty good distance from Egypt—helped make Carthage a leading trade center and military power. The population soon reached half a million citizens and, in order to house them all, buildings were all built five or six stories tall. Carthage was the first city in ancient times to have a centralized sewage system, linking all buildings within the city walls. The most notable of structures among the ruins was the " Thophet", which is believed to be an altar(圣坛) for child sacrifice.

    Tenochtitlan

    Tenochtitlan was the capital city of the Aztec Empire. It was built on an island surrounded by Lake Texcoco deep inside the jungles of Central America. By the time the Spanish conquerors were aware of its existence, the population was around 200，000. This was a city very different from what the Europeans were used to. Founded in 1325 AD, the Aztec capital was joined to the mainland by three causeways(堤道). It was laid out in straight street grids and had enormous pyramids at its center, which were surrounded by the skulls of the dead and ceremonial sculptures.

    Alexa is a form of artificial intelligence, or Al for short. Many people start their mornings by asking Alexa for the weather forecast or the latest news. A device (设备)that houses Alexa can also play music from your favorite playlists, keep a shopping list, order takeout food, answer questions, send voice messages and even run "smart" home controls.

    Training AI systems to respond to problems with human-like intelligence—and learn from their mistakes —can take months, or even years. Consider Alexa and similar software, such as Apples Siri. To do the tasks its human owners ask, these systems must make sense of and then respond to sentences such as, "Alexa, play my Ed Sheeran playlist" or "Siri , what is the capital of India?"

    Computers can't understand language as it is spoken by people. So AI researchers must find a way to help humans communicate with computers. The technology used to get computers to "understand" human speech or text is known as natural language processing. By natural language, computer scientists refer to the way people naturally talk or write. To teach an AI system a task like comprehending a sentence or responding to a person's last move in a board game, scientists need to feed it lots of examples.

    AlphaGO is an AI system designed by Google that has beaten a human champion, Lee Sedol, at the strategy(策略)board game Go. To train AlphaGo, Google had to show it 30 million Go moves that people had made while playing the game. Then AlphaGo used what it learned to analyze those plays as it played against different versions (版本)of itself. During this practice, the program came up with new moves —ones never seen in games between people.

    Computers, software and devices that are powered by AI can do much more, however, than just play board games and music. And one day they could make our life much easier and much more interesting.

Destination Travels

78 Soho St,

New York, NY

Dear Ms Pierce,

    Thank you for trusting Destination Travels for your honeymoon plans. This letter includes all the information regarding the flights and accommodation arrangements we have already agreed on.

    On arriving at Puerto Rico Int, Airport, a representative of The Caribbean Hotels &Resorts will be waiting for you in order to transfer you to the hotel. The transfer to and from the airport is offered by the hotel as part of your honeymoon package. The reservation has been made for a nine-night stay under your future husband's last name. The price of the newlyweds' suite includes breakfast and one more meal at the hotel restaurant. You can also use all of the hotel facilities—pool, gym, sauna, etc. for free as part of your honeymoon package. In addition, you can take scuba diving or snorkeling classes with the hotels trained staff at a reduced price—40% off.

    Thank you for choosing Destination Travels. We guarantee your honeymoon with us will be an unforgettable experience. To aid us in improving our service, please visit our website at www. destinationtravels.com and complete the questionnaire.

    Destination Travels wish you all the best.

Sincerely.

Rebecca Simms

Customer Service Manager

Destination Travels