Car companies are developing vehicles that will plug into electric sockets, ust like many laptops, digital cameras, cell phones and Mp4 do. Called “plug-in vehicles”, these cars will get most of their power from electricity. Their drivers won't have to stop at gas stations as often as usual.

    The technology is more than just cool. In our car-filled world, plug-in vehicles could reduce the amount of gas we use, which keeps rising in cost now and then. Besides, driving around in these vehicles may even help the environment. Gas-burning cars produce a lot of greenhouse gas, which causes global warming.

    The first company-produced plug-in vehicles could hit the roads by 2020. But engineers still have a lot of work to do to make the technology practical and inexpensive.

    Batteries are the biggest challenge. In the plug-in-vehicle world，Li-ion(锂离子)batteries are getting the most attention. These batteries can store a large amount of energy in a small package, and they last a longer time between charges. Li-ion batteries can fit laptops, cell phones, heart instruments and other similar pocket ones.

    But because cars are so big and heavy, it would still require a suitcase-sized Li-ion batteries to power about 12km of driving. What's more, the batteries are much expensive.

    “A car filled with batteries could go a long distance,” says Ted Bohn, an electrical engineer in Chicago. “But it couldn't pull any people, and it would cost $100,000.” So researchers need to work out how to make batteries smaller and cheaper, among other questions.

    “The answers don't exist yet,” Bohn says, “As a kid, I thought someone someplace knows the answer to everything. All of these questions haven't been decided. That's what engineering is about-making a guess, running tests and getting fine results.”

I have had just about enough of being treated like a second-class citizen, simply because I happen to be that put-upon(被欺骗的) member of society — a customer. The more I go into shops and hotels, banks and post offices, railway stations, airports and the like, the more I am convinced that things are being run merely to suit the firm, the system, or the union. There seems to be an deceptive(欺骗的) new motto for so-called “service” organizations — Staff Before Service.

    How often, for example, have you queued for what seems like hours at the Post Office or the supermarket because there were not enough staff on duty to equip all the service grilles(窗口) or checkout counters? Surely in these days of high unemployment it must be possible to hire cashiers and counter staff. Yet supermarkets claim that bringing all their cash registers into operation at any time would increase expenses. And the Post Office says we cannot expect all their service counters to be occupied “at times when demand is low”.

    It is the same with hotels. Because waiters and kitchen staff must finish when it suits them, dining rooms close earlier or menu choice is cut short. As for us guests, we just have to put up with it. There is also the nonsense of so many friendly hotel night porters having been thrown out of their jobs in the interests of “efficiency” and replaced by coin-eating machines which offer everything from beer to medicine. Not to mention the creeping threat of the tea-making set in your room: a kettle with a mixed collection of tea bags, plastic milk cartons and lump sugar. Who wants to wake up to a raw teabag? I do not, especially when I am paying for “service”.

    Can it be stopped, this worsening service, this growing attitude that the customer is always a nuisance(令人讨厌的事物)? I angrily hope so because it is happening, sadly, in all walks of life.

Our only hope is to hammer home(尽力让人理解) our anger whenever and wherever we can and, if all else fails, bring back into practice the other, older slogan — Take Our Custom(买卖) Elsewhere.

Pride and Prejudice for the Modern Woman

    Let us imagine how Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's most famous work, might be updated, 200 years on. Austen's popularity is rooted in her intelligence. But today she would certainly have had a very different life, as would her characters(角色). Here's my own suggestion…

    It is a truth finally and universally acknowledged that a single woman with brains deserves to have equal opportunities to men, however disadvantaged she may feel by sexism.

    "My dear husband," said his hopeful wife one day," have you heard that the local store, standing empty for so long, is taken over by a bright young businesswoman?"

    Her dull and indifferent (漠不关心的) husband replied that he had not. "But it is, it is," she replied excitedly. Mr. Dull-Husband made no reply.

    "Don't you want to know her plans?" she cried with some impatience.

    "Well, clearly you think it matters to your silly little head, so I'd better listen."

    "Well, my dear, the rumour (传言) is that she has already set up a string of successful businesses in northern England, though how a woman can know anything about that is beyond me". She will move in herself next month." "What is her name?" "Bingley."

    "Is she married or single?"

    "What a question! And none of your business. But her coming will be a fine thing for our five boys." "How so? How can it possibly affect them?"

    "My dear love; those lazy boys need something to wake them up. There are bound to be jobs going."

    "Is that her point in settling here? Surely as a woman she has simply taken a fancy to the place."

    "Nonsense, my love, how little you've noticed the world has changed. She's got a first-rate degree and some sort of business qualification, I'm told. She surely needs one of our boys! Perhaps you might give her a call."

    "Me? No. Perhaps you can take an interest. You still have your looks, after all. She may even offer you a job." "Oh, that's not likely. These new chances belong to the younger generation. But now you mention it, I think I'll go along all the same."

    And Mrs Bennet went along. That was 10 years ago. She is now managing director of a FTSE-listed company.

    It would remain the case, of course, that Mrs Bennet would be one of very few women on the company board, that her salary would be lower than her male colleagues, her bonus of a more "female" dimension(方面) and her lifespan (年限) among the city's business leaders shorter than theirs. Still, she'd no doubt have enjoyed Davos(达沃斯经济论坛)—and might even have hobnobbed (攀谈) with influential figures.

Four things that you can't miss in Macao

    Go Bungee Jumping at the Macao Tower

The Macao Tower, 338 meters tall, is the world's 10th highest tower, with kinds of activities, such as eating and entertainment. One of the activities is the bungee jump. The Macao Tower Bungee Jump is 233 meters high, making it a Guinness World Record as the highest commercial bungee jump in the world. Raise your arms and off you go! If you are not daring enough to jump that height, you can try the sky walk on the 57th floor—it's still amazing. Take this chance and tick off this item on your list.

Enjoy a traditional Portuguese dinner

    Macao was once colonized (殖民) by Portugal before 1999. As a result, Portuguese culture has deeply affected Macao.

    Many Portuguese settled and opened Portuguese restaurants here, but it is more adaptable to Chinese people.

    Visit a museum

    Macao, as a little city with only an area of 30.5 square kilometers, has 23 eye-catching museums. Due to its special history, both eastern and western historical relics can be found. Many of them are preserved for cultural relics, tourist spots or museums, such as the Grand Prix Museum, Maritime Museum and Wine Museum.

Go into an entertainment place

    Well known as the “Las Vegas of the Orient”, Macao has 33 entertainment places. You can find different themed entertainment places with their hotels and attractions around every corner of Macao, especially on Taipa Island. Among all, The Venetian is the most popular. With a huge shopping mall and Vegas-style design, it is a must-go place for both tourists and locals to shop and enjoy free time. So when you come to Macao, just walk around and you will still be amazed.

    Why do we dream? It's a question researchers have been studying for years. Now new research suggests that some dreams may result from the brain's effort to keep learning, even as we sleep.

In a study in Boston,100 volunteers were trained for an hour on a maze(迷宫). They tried to find their way through the difficult puzzle as quickly as possible. Then half of the volunteers were allowed to sleep for 90 minutes. The other half stayed awake, reading or relaxing. The ones who slept were asked to describe their dreams when they woke up.

    After the rest, the volunteers were asked again to solve the maze. Those who hadn't slept showed no improvement or did even worse after the break. Sleepers who didn't report any maze­related dreams did better but showed only a little improvement. However, four nap­takers who reported dreaming about the maze showed a surprising improvement. They scored 10 times higher after sleeping and dreaming about the maze.

    Even though the number of dreamers was small, the researchers noted that the gap in learning between the dreamers and non­dreamers was so wide that the finding was significant(有意义的).

The dreamers had all performed poorly on the test before dreaming about it. That suggests that struggling with a task might be the trigger that leads the sleeping brain to focus on it and work on how to deal with it.

    "It's almost as if your brain is going through everything that happened today," Dr Stickgold, a scientist at Harvard Medical School, said. "The things you're obsessed(迷住) with are the ones that your brain forces you to continue to do with."

Friends play an important part in our lives, and although we may take friendship for granted, we often don't clearly understand how to make friends. While we get on well with a number of people, we are usually friends with only a very few — for example, the average among students is about 6 per person. In all the cases of friendly relationships, two people like one another and enjoy being together, but beyond that, the degree of intimacy between them and the reasons for their shared interests vary greatly. As we get to know people, we take into account things like age, race, economic condition, social position, and intelligence. Although these factors are not of great importance, it is more difficult to get on with people when there is a marked difference in age and background.

Some friendly relationships can be kept on argument and discussion, but it is usual for close friends to have similar ideas and beliefs, the same opinions and interests — they often talk about "being on the same wavelength". It generally takes time to reach this point. And the more intimately involved people become, the more they depend on one another. People who want to be friends have to learn to put up with annoying habits and to stand differences.

In contrast with marriage, there are no friendship ceremonies to strengthen the association between two people. But the supporting and understanding of each other that results from shared experiences and emotions does seem to create a powerful bond, which can overcome differences in background, and break down barriers of age, class or race.