【推荐2】Brooke wanted a dollhouse and some sugar cookies. So the 6-year-old asked Alexa to get them. Alexa wasn't her mom or babysitter. It was a voice-activated home assistant powered by artificial intelligence(AI). Alexa comes with the Amazon Echo device. And it made Brooke's wishes come true. After being reported on' TV, Alexa devices in many listeners' homes woke up and tried to order dollhouses!

Alexa isn't the only Al willing to order up treats for you. Apple Homepod has Siri, Google Home has its Assistant, and the upcoming Galaxy Home device will have Bixby. People who own these devices use them mainly for listening to music, checking the weather, and setting timers. According to a report from The Information, people don't often do voice shopping. They do it mainly to order simple things like paper towels. But many experts predict a boom in voice shopping in the near future.

Convenience is the main benefit of voice shopping. You can shout out an order as soon as you think of it, even if you're cooking or driving. Besides, people who are unable to use a keyboard or mouse can shop without assistance.

But voice shopping has its downsides. Unwanted things aren't the biggest problem. It's usually very easy to cancel an order or return items. The surprising thing is that these assistants are always listening. They have to be able to respond when you want them. So they listen for "Alexa" or "OK Google" or another command. When they hear it, they start recording the conversation. Some have worried about what happens to these recordings. Should companies be allowed to use them to learn about people's shopping habits? What if someone hacks the device? What if someone hacks smart TVs to turn them into spies that listen all the time?

【推荐1】How do you pay for things in a shop? Perhaps you like the touchable reliability of hard cash? Maybe the financial flexibility of a credit card suits you better? Or perhaps you prefer the simple convenience of a smartphone?

Whatever you use today, experts believe all these methods could soon become outdated. Instead, we will use our bodies: our eyes, our fingerprints, even our mere presence in the store. In fact it's happening already. Amazon are trialing stores which have no checkouts, where   technology tracks the items you've taken from the shelves and deducts（扣除） the total from your   account when you leave the shop.

French supermarket Monoprix takes a different path: you choose your groceries and leave them with a human cashier. You then leave the shop while the cashier adds up your bill,   charges your account, and organizes delivery to your home.

Amir, CEO of Barclaycard predicts that such new developments mean the end of the plastic credit card. Instead, wearable items such as rings, necklaces and key chains will carry chips（芯片） that allow shoppers to shop, going between the web, an app or in store.

And while all the above payment methods are supported by accounts held in traditional currencies, let's not forget the rise of alternatives such as Litecoin. Virtual（虚拟） currencies can rise in value very quickly. One such possibility is explored in the movie In Time. It imagines a futuristic society in which the currency is time itself, where people trade the amount of time they have left to live.

Or perhaps we'd do better to wind back the clock to the simpler financial world of the equal exchange economy. While the term recalls images of bags of grain and herds of sheep being exchanged in ancient times, there are signs that are making a comeback in today's world of modern technology. Maybe the only thing we know for certain is that money will keep updating.

【推荐2】What will man be like in the future? How about in 5,000 or even 50,000 years from now? We can only make a guess, of course, but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today.     1    

Let's give an example. Man, even 500 years ago, was shorter than he is today. Now, on the average, men are about three inches taller. 500 years is a relatively short period of time, so we may guess that man will continue to grow taller. Again, in the modern world we use our brains a great deal. Even so, we still make use of only about 20% of the brain's capacity(容量). As time goes on, however, we shall have to use our brains more and more---and finally we shall need even larger ones!     2     The head, in particular the forehead, will grow larger.

    3     In fact, we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses. But over a very long period of time it is likely that man’s eyes will grow stronger. On the other hand, we tend to make less use of our arms and legs.     4     At the same time, however, our fingers will grow more sensitive because they are used a great deal in modern life.

But what about hair? It will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future, then, both sexes are likely to be bald.

Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at!     5     He will still be a human being, with thoughts and emotions similar to our own.

【推荐3】We don’t know how different our life will be in the future. We can only try to imagine it.

At first we think about human relationship. In the year 2050, we will use computers almost every day. We will make new friends through the Internet—even our husbands or wives will be met in this way. It will be much faster and easier for us. On the other hand, our relationships with people won’t be as important as they are today—we will feel a little lonely.

Computers will also help us in many other activities in 2050.For example, they will be used by the children at school to make their learning easier. In addition, there will be much more other machines which will play a similar role as computers, like robots which will do the housework for us.

Spending holidays will also be completely different. Traveling to other planets or to the moon will be available for everyone. Means of transport will, of course, change, too. We will use solar-powered cars, which will be much cleaner.

We could expect that the faster technological progress would lead to a more polluted environment. But it isn’t true. We will pay more attention to protecting the environment. And, scientists will probably find cures for many dangerous diseases, like cancer or AIDS. Therefore, our surroundings as well as health will be in better condition.

Although we can’t predict the exact changes which will be made in the world, we often think about them. We worry about our and our children’s future；we have expectations, hopes as well as fears. But I think we should be rather hope about our future. We should be happy and believe good things will happen.

【推荐2】Do you ever get the feeling that you’re being watched? Well, you might be right.

According to a study published in Nature on June 23, astronomers have found that 1,715 stars have had a direct view of Earth since humans have been here.

In order to do this, scientists used a previous method that looked for life on other planets. But instead, they changed the method so it could try to determine what places could see us.

The team looked at 331,312 stars within 326 light-years of Earth, with each light-year equaling 9.4 trillion kilometers. Out of all those stars, only 1,715 of them could see Earth within the last 5,000 years, with an extra 319 stars that will be able to see us in the next 5,000 years.

“When I look up at the sky, it looks a little bit friendlier because it’s like, maybe somebody is waving,” said Lisa Kaltenegger, director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University, US, and the study’s lead writer.

If a planet circling around one of those 1,715 stars is home to advanced life, they could easily see that there is life here because of the oxygen on Earth. If that didn’t give it away, then the radio waves we have sent out into space would also be an indicator. In fact, human-made radio waves have already travelled through 75 of the closest stars on Kaltenegger’s list.

Why haven’t we heard from anyone yet, then?

It takes a long time for messages to travel between star systems. By the time a message could be received, that advanced civilization would probably not exist anymore.

Alan Boss, a scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science in the US who wasn’t part of the study, wrote in an email that this long time would limit the chances for different life to exchange “emails and TikTok videos”.

“So we should not expect aliens to show up anytime soon,” Boss said.

【推荐3】When I was a child, I often dreamed of the time when I could leave home and escape to the city. We lived on a farm and, in the winter especially, we were quite cut off from the outside world. As soon as I left school, I packed my bags and moved to the capital. However, I soon discovered that city life has its problems too.

One big disadvantage is money---it costs so much to go out, not to mention basics like food and housing. Another disadvantage is pollution. I suffer from asthma(哮喘), and at times the air is so bad that I am afraid to go outside. Then there is the problem of traveling round. Although I have a car, I seldom use it because of the traffic jams. One choice is to go by bicycle, but that can be quite dangerous.

Of course there are advantages. First, there is so much to do in the city, whatever your tastes in culture or entertainment. Besides, there are wonderful jobs and greater chances of moving to a more important job or position. Finally, if you like shopping, the variety of goods is very surprising --- and , what is more, shops are often only a short walk away.

Is life better then, in the city? Perhaps it is , when you are in your teens or twenties. However, as you get older, and especially if you have small children, the peace of the countryside may seem preferable. I certainly hope to move back there soon.