【推荐2】Once you get close enough to someone, it’s easy to assume they’ll be a friend for life — but friendships take work, too, and it’s important that you make time to cultivate these relationships as well.     1    . Read on to discover some questions you should ask your close friends.

1. “How do you think we’ve both changed since we became friends?”

There’s a good chance that you’ve been friends with those closest to you for some time, which means you’ve both changed in certain ways over the years. Shari, founder of Imperfectly Perfect Life, says it’s important to reflect on that change. “    2    ,” she shares.

2. “    3    ”

“You don’t have to just focus on your own friendship. People vary greatly in what makes them feel most connected to others — for some it’s sharing something exciting together, while for others, it’s doing daily tasks together,” Julia, a clinical psychologist, notes.

3. “What is the best advice you’ve ever received?”

Another way you can “gain a deeper understanding of your friend’s values, beliefs, and the lessons they’ve learned along their journey” is by asking them about the best advice they’ve ever received. “This provides an opportunity to share wisdom that has had a significant impact on their personal growth,” Natalie shares. “    4    , fostering mutual understanding within your friendship.”

4.“What are your biggest dreams for your life?”

    5    , if you are truly committed to being friends for life. “Many friendships keep the friends locked in to their current reality,” Moore cautions. “But knowing your friend’s goals can create the space for your friendship to grow.”

【推荐2】Hartley got to Gentral Slalion nearly an hour before his train was due to leave. A lifetime in the theatre had given him a healthy — indeed excessive (过分的) — sense of punctuality; a lifetime of unwanted cups of coffee, constant checking of the time, yet another turn around the block before that all too often pointless, tiresome audition (试镜).

Hartley was 75 — pretty fit for his age, legs holding lip, memory still ticking over nicely — though the occasions for punctuality were now rather fewer. But he was a creature of habit and couldn’t change now.

He repaired to the restaurant purchased a coffee and a blueberry muffin, tired and failed to find a litter-free table. The coffee was awful, the muffin was stale — but the coffee was always awful, the muffin always stale. Hartley refused to let himself be annoyed. His visit to the city had not been without its pleasures. Lunch with an old actor-chum (好友), then a film — regrettably not utilizing (利用) his own talents — had rounded out an agreeable day.

Hartley was a good actor, although the calls on his talents were now infrequent. But really, he thought draining his awful coffee, he’d had a reasonably good career. Something to be proud of. But he’d never had that break-through part.

He headed for his platform. Just as the train was about to pull out a man ran down the platform, jumped aboard as the door slammed shut and sank into the seat next to Hartley.

“Cutting it a bit fine”, he said.

“Indeed”, Hartley replied. “A close run thing”.

The man — forty-ish, amiable looking — gave him an amused glance.

This brief exchange served as an adequate ice-breaker and they chatted their way through the outer suburbs and into the countryside. Having satisfactorily disposed of the sad state of the railways, country versus city living, his neighbour asked Hartley what he did—or had done—for a living.

Hartley hated telling people he was an actor. He was not ashamed of his job. Not in the least, but he had long tired of reactions ranging from “what have I seen you in” to “how do you learn all those lines”.

So in situations like this he simply selected an occupation from a former role. Bit risky, of course. You say you’re a doctor and find yourself meeting the quizzical（疑问的）gaze of a heart surgeon. But he’d never been caught out and it was harmless enough game, Hartley felt. It amused him, and he’d given some damn good performances too.

“I’m a lawyer”, he replied. “Retired several years ago. Property law. Bit of criminal stuff”.

The train was slowing down. The man glanced out of the window.

“My station. I had you quite wrong then”.

He stood and took down his briefcase from the overhead rack.

“Yes, I’d have said you were an actor. The voice especially. Still, lawyers are actors in a way, don’t you think? Plenty of drama in a courtroom”.

The train drew into the station.

“I’m a film director. Casting a feature at the moment. You study faces. On the train. Everywhere. Always on the lookout. Anyway, enjoyed our chat. Bye.”

【推荐3】Modern technology has a strong influence on every part of our life, including the education in the universities.

Ashok Goel, a professor of Georgia Institute of Technology, says he uses the Internet in almost all of the classes he teaches. Every term over 300 graduate students take his class on artificial intelligence (人工智能). The students never meet in person. All of the classes take place online — through a website, which lets students ask questions and complete their work from anywhere in the world.

Having hundreds of students in a class means Ashok Goel has to answer thousands of questions. He has eight teaching assistants to help him. But even that is not enough to give all the students the help they need.

So, in January, Goel had an idea. He decided to try an experiment. At the start of the spring 2016 term, he added a new member to his teaching team: Jill Watson. She was able to answer questions faster than most other teaching assistants. And she was available 24 hours a day.

It was only at the end of the term that Goel’s students learned Watson’s true identity: she was not a real person like the other teaching assistants. Jill Watson was an AI computer program.

And it seems Goel’s stories will become more common in the universities.

A website called Campus Technology publishes stories about how colleges and universities use new technology. In August, the site published a survey of over 500 professors and their use of technology. Fifty-five percent of the professors asked students to use study materials online before coming to class. And, more than 70 percent combined (使相结合) online materials and face-to-face teaching in their classrooms.