【推荐2】People have got faster at typing text messages on their phones. But how fast are we at using a smart phone compared to typing words on a traditional keyboard? A team of researchers carried out an experiment.

The researchers used an Internet-based system to test the typing speed of over 37,000 volunteers on their smart phones. The volunteers spent about six hours a day using their phones. Most of them used two thumbs to type. Both Android and iPhone users were tested. They were given 15 English sentences to type out on their phones as quickly and accurately as possible.

The research team found that people wrote about 36 words per minute. It is slower than the average rate for people using a computer keyboard. In a 2018 University of Cambridge study, the average speed for computer typists was 52 words per minute. Noting the narrowing of speed rates between smart phones and computers, the team said we have become slower at typing on keyboards over the years. 75 percent of those taking part in the study had typing speeds below 44 words per minute. But the fastest phone typists reached speeds of 80 words per minute. People using two thumbs typed 38 words per minute. Those using only one finger 29 words per minute.

According to the findings, Anna Feit, a researcher at ETH Zurich, said it makes sense that younger people have higher typing speeds because they spend a lot more time on their devices. It was found that a phone's automatic correct tool can be helpful. Users were able to type faster with it. “The given understanding is that techniques like word completion help people”, Feit said. “But we found the time spent thinking about the word suggestions often outweighs the time spent typing the letters, making you slower.”

The difference between typing on a smart phone and a keyboard is called “the typing gap". They say this gap will further narrow in future as people get less skilled with keyboards and as smart methods for typing on devices continue to improve.

【推荐3】Today just as technology changed the face of industry, farms have undergone an “agricultural revolution”. On the farm of today, machines provide almost all the power.

One of the most important benefits will be the farm computer. A few forward-looking farmers are already using computers to help them run their farms more efficiently. The computers help them keep more accurate records so they can make better decisions on what crops to plant, how much livestock to buy, when to sell their products, and how much profit they can expect.   Because of the growing importance of computers on the farm, students at agricultural colleges are required to take computer classes in addition to their normal agricultural courses. There can be no doubt that farmers will rely on computers even more in the future. While the old-time farm depended on horse power, and modern farms depend on machine power, farms of the future will depend on computer power.

Another technological advance which is still in the experimental stage is the robot, a real “mechanized hired hand” that will be able to move and, in some ways, think like a human being. Agricultural engineers believe that computer-aided robots will make startling changes in farming before the end of the century. Unlike farmers of the present, farmers of the future will find that many day-to-day tasks will be done for them. The complete mobilization of the farm is far in the future, but engineers expect that some robots will be used before long.

【推荐1】A nickname is a shortened form of a person’s name. A nickname can also be a descriptive name for a person, place or thing. Many American cities have nicknames.

Los Angeles has several nicknames. One is simply the city’s initials, L.A. It is also called the City of Angels because Los Angeles means “the angels” in Spanish.

Los Angeles often has warm, sunny weather. So another nickname is City of Flowers and Sunshine. New York is called The Big Apple. So Los Angeles is sometimes called The Big Orange because of the fruit that grows in that city’s warm climate.

The American motion picture and television industries are based in Los Angeles. So it is not surprising that it is called The Entertainment Capital of the World. Many films are made in the area of Los Angeles called Hollywood. Millions of people visit the area every year.

Many movie stars live in Los Angeles. The city is sometimes called Tinseltown. This nickname comes from the shiny, bright and often unreal nature of Hollywood and the movie industry.

Another nickname for Los Angeles is La-La Land, using the first letters of Los and Angeles. This means a place that is fun and not serious, and maybe even out of touch with reality.

Many people love Los Angeles for its warm sunny weather, beautiful mountains and beaches, and movie stars. That includes Randy Newman, who sings about his hometown.

【推荐2】Las Vegas city in Nevada is built in a desert. The city may be known to the outside world for its partying. But officials have found that there are 21 square kilometers of useless grass. The grass is never laid on, played on or even stepped on. The grass is only there to look nice.

Now, the city is asking the Nevada state legislature (立法机构) to ban useless grass. It is trying to become the first place in America to ban that kind of grass often seen between streets, in housing developments and in office parks.

It is estimated that useless grass makes up 40% of all the grass in Las Vegas and it needs a lot of water to survive. Grass needs four times more water than dry climate plants like cactus. By tearing out the grass, the city could reduce yearly water usage by 15%.

In 2003, the Southern Nevada Water Authority banned developers from planting grass in front of new homes. It also offered homeowners $30 for each square meter of grass they tear out. But fewer people are now using the program. Water usage has increased in southern Nevada by 9% since 2019. And last year, Las Vegas set a record of 240 days without major rainfall. The Colorado River provides much of Nevada’s drinking water. The river could lose more water as climate change affects it.

Water officials in other dry cities said water usage needs to be reduced. But they fear the reaction to reforms like the ones in Las Vegas if their communities do not accept them. Cynthia Campbell is the water resources adviser for the city of Phoenix in Arizona. “There might come a point when city restrictions get too severe (苛刻的) for some residents (居民). They’ll say that is the point of no return for them,” Campbell said. “For some people, it’s a pool. For some people, it’s grass.”

【推荐3】With intelligent systems and new-age networks, life in the big cities will likely be happier and more efficient. After all, more than 60 percent of the world’s population is expected to live in cities by 2050, according to a UN report.

These cities will use 5G networks to make everyday life safer and more convenient. Cities like Boston, Baltimore, Amsterdam and Copenhagen are already using smart technology to improve people’s lives.

But what exactly does a smart city do? Let’s look at a few examples. In the United States cities of Boston and Baltimore, smart trash cans (垃圾箱) can sense how full they are and inform cleaning workers when they need to be emptied. In Amsterdam, the Netherlands, traffic flow and energy usage are monitored and adjusted according to real-time data gathered from sensors (传感器) around the city. And in Copenhagen, Denmark, a smart bike system allows riders to check on air quality and traffic jam as they ride.

Smart cities will be interactive, allowing their residents to feel like they’re truly shaping their environment, instead of merely existing in it. “One of the most important reasons to have a smart city is that we can actually communicate with our environment in a way that we never had in the past,” Mrinalini Ingram toldTech Republic.

Of course, it will take time and money to turn our present cities into the smart cities of the future. But as we’ve already seen, more cities around the world are already using smart technology in small ways. China, for instance, is making investments in big cities like Shanghai and Guangzhou to make them “smarter”. It won’t be long until even more cities start to develop their own smart infrastructure (基础设施).