The world's most human-like robot has begun work as a university receptionist. And scientists positively predict the new technology will 1 provide childcare and offer 2 to lonely elderly people.
With her soft skin and flowing dark-brown hair, Nadine does not only meet and greet3, smile, make eye contact and 4 hands, but she can even5 past guests and get into conversation based on 6 chats.
Unlike 7 robots, Nadine has her own personality and 8 . She can be happy or sad, 9 on the topic.
Powered by intelligent 10 similar to Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana, she is the creation of scientists at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and is based on her creator Prof Nadia Thalmann.
Prof Thalmann, the director of the Institute for Media Innovation who led the development said robots such as Nadine are bound to become more visible in offices and 11 in future.
“Robotics technologies have 12 significantly over the past few decades and are already being used in manufacturing and logistics,” she said.
“As countries worldwide face 13 of an aging population, 14 robots can be one solution to 15 the shrinking(缩小的) workforce, become personal 16 for children and the elderly at home, and 17 serve as a platform for healthcare services in future.”
“Over the past four years, our team at NTU have been 18 cross-disciplinary(跨学科的) research in social robotics technologies— involving engineering, computer science, linguistics, psychology and other19 — to transform a virtual human(虚拟的人), from within a computer, into a 20 being that is able to observe and interact with other humans.”
A small boy at summer camp received a large package of cookies (饼干) in the mail from his mother. He ate a few, and then 1 the rest under his bed. The next day, after lunch, he went to his tent to get a cookie. The box was2
That afternoon a camp teacher, who had been 3of the theft (失窃), saw another boy sitting behind a tree eating the stolen 4 “That young man,” he said to himself, “must be taught not to 5”
He returned to the group and met the boy 6 cookies had been stolen. Billy, he said, “I know who stole your cookies. Will you 7 me teach him a lesson?”
“Well, yes —8aren’t you going to punish him?” asked the puzzled boy.
“No, that would only make him 9 you,” the teacher explained. “I want you to call your 10and ask her to send you another box of cookies.”
The boy did 11the teacher asked and a few days 12 received another box of cookies in the mail.
“Now,” said the teacher, ‘“the boy who stole your cookies is down by the lake.” Go down there and13your cookies with him.
“But,” protested (抗议) the boy, “he's the14”
“I know. But 15 it - see what happens.”
Half an hour later the camp teacher saw the two come up the hill,16 The boy who had stolen the cookies was 17 to get the other to accept his jackknife (折叠小刀) in18for the stolen cookies, and the victim was just 19the gift from his new friend, saying that a few old cookies weren’t that 20 anyway.
Most people nowadays arebusy with their lives that they do not have time to enjoy a healthy and (balance) diet. For most individuals, asresult of eating foods rich in fats and sugar several years, they choose(go)on a diet but do not succeed at the end. Be sure to be with a strong awareness(意识） that you areyou eat! Therefore, maintaining a healthy diet not only(provide) your body with energy but also numerous health benefits. One is that you will keep a healthy weight and is also the easiest and most (benefit) way in which you can be energetic and protect yourself a number of diseases when（grow）old. Another benefit is that you will meet your everyday nutritional requirements(要求). Basically speaking, you should ensure that you take good amount of vegetables, grains, milk and proteins. In most cases, a healthy diet can help you decrease the risk of(get) some diseases like diabetes and cancer.
We've heard it before—we've heard it on the news, from teachers, from parents －children and teenagers today are growing up too fast. There are not too many people that will 1 with that statement. Teenagers are faced with serious problems and decisions at an early 2. In fact most teenagers' daily schedules are as 3 as those of an adult's.
I have been working since I was thirteen, and always in 4 in which I was working with adults. I have had to learn to think and 5 like an adult to be taken seriously. So, I count myself as one who has grown up too fast. I just graduated from high school, and have recently spent some time reflecting on the 6 eighteen years－thinking about myself, what I have gained, and what 7 I have yet to achieve.
We are expected to work hard, get excellent 8 , be in a good relationship, and know what we want to do 9 . The list goes on and on. But the 10 is clear: We live in a society today that is 11 our childhood. We no longer have many years to be careless and fancy-free. We are expected to 12 the strict school rules and to excel （擅长）in everything we do.
I've known these things for a long time, and knew that they 13 me. But, I never really admitted it until last night, when I learned a 14 lesson, taught to me by my boss where I work. We had finished a job at a remote site. It was about 11:30 at night, and we had 15 to his house. We were talking about the 16 he had been making to his home. One of the things he said was "I 17 my basketball hoop（圈）. "Then he threw a basketball to me.
I hadn't 18 a basketball in five years.
We proceeded to shoot hoops for about 40 minutes. Both of us were terribly bad at it, but we spent the whole time 19 like children. Then I realized something: I am still a child. Oh, the law says I'm an adult. But, we are still really and truly children. We all need to have 20 once in a while.
During the Nov. 11 shopping event, many people tend to buy more than they need because of sales promotions or just plain urge. But what normally 1the shopping madness is not2but regret. That's because many people just buy things to fill the 3in their hearts, but buying more things 4 indicates the burden in their minds.
The concept of Danshari may provide a(n)5 to the problem. Danshari was based on three Chinese characters, duan she li, which 6 refusal, disposal (清除) and separation. It promotes the idea of getting rid of 7 things and separating oneself from the drive to own8possessions. There are two basic rules that9whether you should keep something—the relationship between you and the item under10as well as the timing. So before you 11 your payment password for something, ask yourself two questions: Do I 12 it now? Does it suit me?
Danshari encourages you not only to 13 things, but to give up the unreasonable desire associated with owning them. Nowadays, people need to learn to14 their daily lives. Buy only the necessities and 15 items, regularly16 things you don't need any more, then you'll get freedom in your heart.
However, it doesn't mean that you should 17 your desire and live a less interesting life. Instead, you should 18 yourself rather than material things. Through 19 what to buy and what to get rid of, you can see a deeper reflection of yourself, 20 learning to make wise decisions about more important things.
One of the founding fathers of the Internet has predicted the end of traditional television. Vint Cerf, who helped to build the Internet while working 1 a researcher in America, said that television was 2its "iPod moment".
In the same way that people now 3 their favorite music onto their iPod, he said that viewers would soon be downloading most of favorite programs 4their computers.
Mr Cerf, who is now the vice-president of Google, says that, "You're still going to need5television for certain things—like news, sporting events and emergencies—but 6it is going to be almost like the iPod, where you download content to 7at later."
Although television on demand has not yet become a 8activity in the UK, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 have all invested vast 9of money in technology which 10 viewers to watch their favorite shows 11 their computers.
But some critics(批评家),12some Internet service providers, have warned that the Internet will collapse 13 the stress of millions of people downloading programs at the same time. But Mr. Cerf dismissed the warnings, saying that critics had predicted 20 years ago that the net would 14 when people all around the world started to use it all together.
"In the past 30 years it has 15a million times...We're 16exhausting the capacity," he said." It's a 17worry when they see huge amounts of information being moved around online."
18 out his vision for the future of the Internet, he said he wanted it to reach as 19 people as possible.
"I want more Internet," he said. "I want everyone on the planet to be 20 to connect to the Internet."
Meeting your family's nutritional needs may seem difficult considering today's busy lifestyle. But it doesn't have to1.Even a new emphasis 2more fruits and vegetables doesn't 3 mean more preparation time if you 4 the convenience of canned foods.
When you open a5 of fruit or vegetable at home you have at hand fresh-packed nutritional produce, with no man-made ingredients, no preservatives(防腐剂).And all the work has been 6 for you: the slicing(切片),the peeling,7 the cooking. Canned fruits and vegetables leave you the 8 to be creative. And with the variety of fruits and vegetables available these days, you can serve different combinations, create new dishes, and 9 new tastes to old recipes. Canned foods are good as well. A United States Department of Agriculture and National Food Association co-sponsored study shows canned vegetables to be just as 10 as fresh or frozen. Because canned vegetables are 11 within hours of being packed, they generally retain(保留) 70 to 90 percent of their 12 .
Fruit and vegetable canning is as13 as when your grandmother “put up” tomatoes and other things from the garden. Fresh produce is taken from the field at just the right time, 14 to the cannery, checked, washed, sealed, and sterilized(消毒).All this generally 15 in less than 24 hours to 16 the best quality and nutritional value without the need for any preservatives.
Use the liquids that vegetables are17 in as a substitute for 18 in recipes to get that last drop of good nutrition.
Most major brands of canned fruits and vegetables include nutritional19 and ingredient statements on their 20. This is especially important to those on calories-conscious or restricted diets.
Clowns hold a confusing place in the human mind. They make some people roar with 1; they make some people scream in horror. For the past few months a series of frightening sightings of people dressed as 2 have been reported around the world. So we asked ourselves: What is it about these painted people that 3 us? It turns out that 4 may have the answer.
Clowns date back to ancient Egypt and evolved into the court jesters (朝廷弄臣) in the Middle Ages. These jokesters were paid to be funny and did whatever it took to 5 people.
The 6 clowns didn't arrive until the 1800s when joseph Grinmaldi, a London clown, painted his face white and his cheeks red, and wore strange and colorful costumes. Although Grinmaldi's clown life caused a lot of laughter, his life behind makeup was anything but 7. Sadly, he died penniless and an alcoholic.
8, in France, Jean-Gaspard Deburau became famous for creating a clown called Pierrot. However, Deburau's mime act was not what made him world-famous. The white-faced clown 9a boy with a cane just because the child had laughed at him. 10 he was eventually acquitted (宣判无罪) of the crime, the 11 of the killer clown stayed in people's mind.
Perhaps the most 12 clown in history was John Wayne Gary, who was found guilty of the murder of more than 35 men in the 1970s. When asked about his 13, Gary said, "You know clowns can get away with murder."
So it's no 14 that even horror movies and television shows featuring clowns can still give many of us nightmares. It seems like a few 15 examples have influenced the public's opinions of clowns.
Earthquakes are common; thousands of them happen each day. But most are too 1 to feel. During a 2 earthquake, there is often a great noise first. Then the earth 3 terribly and many houses 4 down. Railway tracks break and trains go 5 lines; a great many factories are 6; thousands of deaths are caused, and many more lose homes… 7 the great damage and deaths caused by the earthquake 8, other disasters such as fires often 9. More buildings are destroyed and more 10 caused.
Man knows the 11 of a possible earthquake, and for centuries man has been making researches on earthquakes. More than 2, 000 years ago, 12, a Chinese scientist named Zhang Heng 13 a machine which could find out from which 14 the seismic waves had come, and this machine is still 15 by scientists today. Now we know much more about earthquakes and 16 they happen, but we still cannot 17 exactly when and where an earthquake will happen, and cannot 18 it from happening. So earthquakes are among the 19 disasters in the world.
No one can stop natural earthquakes. 20, scientists can help stop earthquakes destroying whole cities and causing too many deaths.
I believe in miracles(奇迹) because I've seen so many of them. One day, a patient was referred to me who was one hundred and two years old. "There's a1in my upper jaw," she said. "I told my own dentist it's nothing, but he 2I come to see you."
Her eighty-year-old son accompanied(陪伴) her. He would3to add something, but she stopped him. She wanted to tell everything herself. I found a large cancer that spread over much of the 4of her mouth. A careful examination later 5that it was a particularly bad sort of cancer.
During her next appointment, I explained to her the6of the problem She held my hand in hers and said, "I know you're worried about me, but I'm just7."
I thought otherwise. After a great deal of 8on my part, and kindness on her part because she wanted to 9me, she agreed to have me refer her to a cancer surgeon. She saw him, but as I expected,10treatment.
About six months later she returned to my office, still energetic and11.
"How are you?" I asked.
"I'm just fine, honey," she responded in 12 spirits. "When can I get started on fixing my dentures(假牙)?"
Surprised to see her at all, I answered 13 ,"Let me take a look in your mouth and we'll see about it. "
I couldn't believe my eyes. The cancer that had 14 nearly the entire roof of her mouth was gone—only one small area of redness 15.
I had read of such things happening, but had 16seen them with my own eyes. That was my first miracle. Since then I've seen many others, because they keep getting 17to see. In fact, miracles are daily events for me now. And people are in miracle,18through them we have a chance to know ourselves and to19the miracles of one another.
Since my first miracle, I've come to understand that a miracle is20we choose to find it.
Have you ever had problems in your life and don't know how to be happy? If 1 , you will find "Being a Happy Teenager" by Australian writer Andrew Matthews 2.
In his book, Matthews 3 us how to have a happy life and answers the 4 of teenagers.
Matthews writes about many 5 in the book, such as parents and friends, and the book 6 we should stop being angry and learn to forgive. The book tells us of useful skills 7 how to put what you have learned into pictures of your mind to 8 your memory better.
Many teenagers think 9 happiness comes from a good exam result, 10 praise from other people. But you can 11 be happy even when there are no such "good" things. Success comes from a(n) 12 attitude. If you 13 from problems, you will have success in the future.
Some school students have 14 of being too tall or too short. But Matthews tells us that 15 comes from thinking about things in a positive 16. If you are 17, people notice you and you can get a 18 view at the movie; if you are short, your clothes and shoes 19 less room in your bedroom! This is Matthews' most important 20: you choose to be happy!
Few Americans stay in one place for a lifetime. We 1 from the city to the suburbs，from high school to college in a different state, from a job in one region to a better job 2, from the home where we 3 our children to the home where we plan to live in 4. With each move we are 5 making new friends, who become part of our new life.
For many of us the summer is a special time for forming new 6. Today, millions of Americans go on vocation 7, and they go not only to see new sights but also — in those places where they do not feel too 8 — with the hope of meeting new people. No one really 9 a vacation trip to produce a close friend, but the beginning of a friendship is possible. Surely in every country people 10 friendship？
The word "friend" to American people can be 11 to a wide range of relationships — to someone one has known for a few weeks in a new place, to a close business companion, to a childhood playmate, to a man or woman, to a 12 colleague. There are real 13 among these relations for Americans — a friendship may be 14, casual, situational or deep and lasting. But to a European, who sees only our surface behavior, the differences are not clear.
As Europeans see it, all kinds of "friends" flow 15 of Americans' homes with little ceremony. They may be parents of the children's friends, house guests of neighbors, members of a committee, business associates from another town or even another country. 16 as a guest into an American home, the European visitor finds no 17 differences. The atmosphere is 18. Most people, old and young, are called 19 first names. Americans' characteristic openness to different styles of relationship makes it possible for us to find new friends abroad with whom we feel 20.
China's "Cultural Heritage Day" falls on the second Saturday of June every year. Many celebrations are held and all cultural relic protection sites are 1 to open for free to the public on the day. There is no 2 that different kinds of celebrating 3 across the country will arouse(唤醒) public 4 of the importance of cultural heritage protection and 5 the young people to love the fine 6 culture of the motherland.
China faces a heavy task to protect and rescue its cultural 7. We need to consider seriously the 8 of the lack of awareness about cultural heritage protection. 9, Heritage Education is one of our main approaches(方法).People cannot 10 value cultural heritage if they do not know 11 it is important or how to protect it. Over the past seven years, CHP has 12 over a hundred educational seminars(研究会) to different groups, 13 as schools, government offices, 14 the general public. Many people have attended CHP seminars. Typically, each seminar lasts two to three hours and 15 of an informative presentation, 16 by a longer questionandanswer session and discussion. Each attender 17 limited knowledge of cultural heritage 18 it to be just the Forbidden City(紫禁城) and the Great Wall. People often think that the duty only 19 to the government. So "Cultural Heritage Day" will be a welcome 20 to educate a wide public on world heritage protection.
The term "staycation" means vacations that you take at home or near your home rather than traveling to another place. It is closely connected with less pollution, saving money and not contributing to the overwhelming disorder that takes place in some of the world's most touristic areas.
The concept of staycation was born at the time of the 2008 market1in the United States. Because of it, many households were forced to2their expenses and consequently limit their vacation budget. The shortage of money to travel abroad is at the origin of why many people started to (re) discover their most3surroundings
At the same time, awareness of the4impacts of tourism, especially on what concerns the impacts of transportation, started to increase too. And so did the perception that some of the main cities (abroad) are increasingly overloaded with people-- with places such as Barcelona, Venice, or the Seychelles planning on 5a tourist cap.
Staycation appears like a great solution for the6above mentioned. It is a great way of spending joyful vacations while helping one's7and the environment. 8staying close to home eliminates the budget for accommodation and transport.
Apart from the financial 9gained by leaving behind expensive plane tickets or by not booking hotel rooms that aren't cheap, staycation also has the benefit of keeping harmful 10in the ground. Cars, boats, and planes are not (or are less) used; 11other means of transport such as public transport, bicycles, electric scooters or just walking are favored.
This allows people's carbon footprints not to12as much as they would if long distances had been traveled.
A staycation is a form of alternative tourism that is fully in line with the slow tourism trend. Slow tourism invites you to live in the13moment. It encourages you to take your time, discover nearby landscapes, reconnect and spend more time outdoors in nature with the people you enjoy. There are no fully-booked days, and there is no14to go from one activity to another just to stay busy all the time.
Given the multiple15of local tourism, you no longer have a reason to be embarrassed at the coffee machine at work when you are asked where you are going on vacation this year.
When we clean the bathroom, we've got all kinds of stuff to help us out: a cleaning solution that removes dirty marks from the shower walls and something in a squeeze bottle that makes the toilet sparkling clean. When all is done, the room is neat and clean,1dirt and bacteria. There's just one problem—the2we used to clean can be harmful to people and the environment. For this reason, many people say that traditional cleaners should be3and replaced with less harmful "green" products.
The problem4the fact that some cleaning products contain harsh chemicals that just aren't healthy for humans, animals, or the planet. Think of the5coming from a factory and getting into the air. The smoke creates air pollution, which harms the environment and makes us feel ill when we breathe it in.6, the chemicals in cleaning products pollute the air and can hurt us when we breathe them in or when they get on our skin. However, not all cleaning products are harmful. Green products, which do not contain harsh chemicals, are said to be good7because they are effective at cleaning and are safe for people and for the planet.
8about chemicals has led many states to require schools and government buildings to use environmentally friendly cleaning products instead of products containing poisonous chemicals. Last year, 10 states required the use of green products and at least 5 other states were considering9in support of these products. A proposed bill would apply to bathroom and floor cleaners, hand soap, toilet paper, paper towels, and etc.
Many green cleaning products are widely available at prices10traditional products. In some cases, manufacturers receive green certifications for products they have long had on the market, and the prices of these products remain low. But not everyone shares the view about the 11of green products. Toilet paper, trash bags and paper towel made from recycled materials can cost up to 20% more than traditional products, said Stephen, director of the Green Cleaning Network.
So,12of the proposed legislation are concerned about the potentially higher costs for some green products. These critics say that states should not determine which products13institutes and agencies must buy, especially if they increase costs, since many universities are already struggling financially. Some states have made compromises (妥 协) to help14concerns about costs. In Wisconsin, a recent adjustment to the bill would give schools and agencies three years instead of one to begin using green products. It would also15 them to quit if they could show that their costs would increase.
This is Warsaw, where lunch is usually a slab of meat with a side order of sausage. But at Krowarzywa — which means "cow alive" and 1 the word warzywa, meaning vegetables — no animals were harmed in the making of food. The bestselling "vegan pastrami" is made of seitan, a wheat-based meat 2.
Warsaw has almost 50 vegan restaurants. That does not mean it has all that many vegans. Kassia, a 20-something professional in the queue, says she has no ethical 3 to eating meat. She comes to Krowarzywa because she likes the food. Kornel Kisala, the head chef, thinks that most of Krowarzywa's clients eat meat, but it does not worry him. "Animals don't 4 whether you eat a vegan burger because it is fashionable or because it is tasty." According to the survey, 60% of people 5 say they plan to cut back on meat this year. Eating vegetarian and vegan meals now and then is one of the ways some choose to do so.
Two years ago Eric Schmidt, a Silicon Valley figure, called plant-based meat substitutes the world's most important future technology, he foresaw them improving people's health, reducing environmental degradation and making food more 6 for the poor. The founder of the first vegan society said in 1944 that "In time people will view with disgust the idea that men once fed on the products of animals' bodies." Ever since the number of people 7 his hope has been increasing. Perhaps their time is coming at last.
If so, it is a 8 coming. Meat consumption worldwide has been 9 consistently by almost 3% a year since 1960, mostly because people get richer. In the early 1970s the average Chinese person, 10, ate 14 kg (31lb) of meat a year. Now they eat 55 kg a year.
In America, Nielsen found in 2017 that 3% of the population called themselves vegans and 6% vegetarians (people who avoid meat, but eat eggs and/or dairy products). But more detailed research by Faunalytics puts the numbers at just 0.5% for vegans and 3. 4% for vegetarians. Fully a quarter of 25-to 34-year-olds in America claim to be either vegan or vegetarian, 11 studies by Faunalyties find the median age of American vegans to be 42. It seems that a fair amount of ambitious self-discipline, terminological inexactitude (术语的不准确) or simple hypocrisy (伪善) is at play.
Overall, though, it seems 12 to say that the number of people sometimes or regularly choosing to eat vegan food is growing much faster than the growth in people deeply 13 to a meat-free life. Patrice Bula, a vice president at Nestle, says that a 14 proportion of the people buying his company's vegan meals are true vegetarians or vegans. People in this larger group are often called "flexible vegetarians", who 15 back and forth between omnivorous (杂食的) and vegetable diets. The true vegan trend lies in casual, part time veganism.
My name is Gillian Healy. I run a small start-up company in Dublin called Gut Instinct, and we 1 a fermented (发酵的) drink called kombucha. It originated in China around 200 BC and later spread across Asia and into Europe. It's been quite 2 in America and Australia for a number of years 3 it's just hitting Ireland now.
People are becoming more health-conscious today, and kombucha is very good for your gut (肠). I first got into kombucha because I 4 soft drinks, but if I had too many, I wouldn't feel great and my skin would break out. Then I found that kombucha was a really good 5. I think people buy our kombucha mainly for one reason: they're increasingly aware of the 6 connection between a healthy stomach and a healthy mind.
I spend part of most days going out to customers, 7 the product is selling well and finding out if they'd like me to do a promotional tasting for them. That's a(n) 8 side of the business for us at this stage because it's such a niche product (利基产品). A few potential customers will be familiar with kombucham, but 9 won't, which is why it's good to let people see if they like it before they 10 a bottle.
11, we'd like to go into export markets, but I want to get our 12 established in our home market first. England is already quite a(n) 13 market, with a number of kombucha microbreweries (小型酿造厂) there. However, I think that when we're 14 to look abroad, Germany will be one of the first places we'll 15. After all, a lot of their foods are fermented.
Almost all animals sleep, but do they dream? We certainly can't ask animals if they dream, but we can at least1the evidence that they might. There are two ways in which scientists have gone about this seemingly 2 task. One is to look at their physical behavior during the various stages of the sleep cycle. The second is to see whether their sleeping brains work similarly to our own sleeping brains.
The story of how we 3 how to look into the minds of sleeping animals begins in the 1960s. Back then, reports began to appear in medical journals describing people acting out 4 in their dreams. This was curious, because during so-called REM sleep (rapid eye movement), our muscles are usually paralyzed.
Researchers realized that causing a similar state in 5 could allow them to explore how they dream. In 1965, French scientists Michel Jouvet and J F Delorme found that removing a part of the brainstem, called the pons, from a cat's brain6 it becoming paralyzed when in REM. The researchers called the condition "REM without atonia "or REM-A. Instead of lying still, the cats walked around and behaved aggressively. This hinted they were dreaming of 7from their waking hours.
8 movement is not the only way of looking into dreams, though. Researchers can now 9 look into the electrical and chemical activities of brain cells in animals while they sleep. In 2007, MIT scientists Ken way Louise and Matthew Wilson recorded the activity of neurons in a part of the rat brain called the hippocampus, a structure known to be involved in the formation and encoding of memories. They first recorded the activity of those brain cells while the rats ran in their mazes. Then they looked at the activity of the very same neurons while they slept. Louise and Wilson discovered similar patterns of firing during 10 and during REM. 11 , it was as if the rats were running the maze in their minds while they were sleeping. The results were so clear that the researchers could infer the rats' precise 12 within their mental dream mazes and map them to actual spots within the actual maze. Does the behavior of cats in science experiments actually 13 dreaming? Do rats have any subjective awareness that they're running their mazes in their minds while they nap? We can say with a reasonable amount of 14 that the physiological and behavioral features of dreaming in humans have now been seen in cats, rats, and other animals. Yet what it's actually like to 15 a dream if you're not human remains a mystery.
In 1965, 17-year-old high school student Randy Gardner stayed awake for 264 hours to see how he'd cope without sleep. On the second day, his eyes stopped focusing. Next, he lost the ability to 1 objects by touch. By day three, Gardner was moody and uncoordinated. At the end of the experiment, he was 2 to concentrate, had trouble with short-term memory and started hallucinating(出现幻觉). Although Gardner recovered without long-term psychological or physical 3, for others, sleeplessness can result in hormone(激素) imbalance, illness, and even death.
Sleep is 4. Adults need 7 to 8 hours of sleep at night, and adolescents need about 10. In the United States, it's estimated that 30% of adults and 66% of adolescents are 5 sleep deprived. When we lose sleep, learning, memory, mood, and reaction time are affected. Sleeplessness may also cause inflammation, hallucinations, high blood pressure, and it's even been 6 to diabetes and obesity.
How can sleep 7 cause such enormous suffering? Scientists think the answer lies with the 8 of waste products in the brain. During our waking hours, our cells are busy using up our day's energy sources which get broken down into various by-products, including adenosine(腺苷酸). As adenosine builds up, it increases the 9 to sleep, also known as sleep pressure. In fact, caffeine works by 10 adenosine's receptor pathways. Other waste products also build up in the brain, and if they're not cleared away, they collectively 11 the brain and are thought to lead to the many negative symptoms of sleep deprivation.
So, what's happening in our brain when we sleep, to prevent this? Scientists found something called the Lymphatic System, a clean-up mechanism(机能) that removes this build-up and is much more 12 when we're asleep. It works by using cerebrospinal fluid(脑脊髓液) to flush away toxic by-products that accumulate between cells. Lymphatic vessels, which 13 pathways for immune cells, have recently been discovered in the brain, and they may also play a role in 14 the brain's daily waste products. While scientists continue exploring the restorative mechanisms behind sleep, we can be sure that sleeping is a(n) 15 if we want to maintain our health and our sanity.
A new study, carried out by The American Automobile Association of America (AAA), has found that driver assistance systems fail to perform some actions in real-world test situations.
The experiments aimed to recreate common driving situations to measure the1 of the assistance systems. All of the four test models had systems designed to provide emergency stopping assistance.2 , they were built to help keep vehicles within a lane and to back up speed control systems. AAA said the test vehicles repeatedly3 on public roads when dealing with some real-world situations.
Separate tests were carried out in a4 environment off public roads. In those tests, all vehicles were able to5 stay in a lane and to recognize the presence of another vehicle entering into traffic. However, three out of four vehicles6 a test in which a lead vehicle changed lanes, causing a stopped vehicle to suddenly appear. AAA said in this test, each of the three cases required a driver to be involved to7 an immediate crash.
Automakers usually warn that the ability to8 a stopped vehicle after a lead vehicle changes lanes is a design limitation for driver assistance systems. But AAA's director of automotive engineering, Greg Brannon said vehicles had been expected to notice the stopped cars and react in time. Brannon said one reason for the9 could be that several manufacturers use the word pilot in the names of their systems. "Confusing vocabulary may lead someone to10 a system's capability, unintentionally placing the driver and others on the road at risk." He added.
