【推荐1】Supposing you are living in a moving house. Inside the house, there is a small kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. Everything you need is close at hand.

In the US, you can really see these moving houses on the road. They are called recreational vehicles (RV). People call them houses on wheels. When it's holiday time, the whole family often gets into this lovely house and hits the road for a trip across the country.

Compared to a real house, this home on the road is small for a family who has to spend every hour of every day together. But the best thing about it is that it changes your journey into a free exploration.

You can drive as long as you like without worrying about finding hotels. Or you can just stop somewhere nice and stay for a few weeks. You may also come across other families who are on road trips. Together, you take out your tents and snacks. It's camping time with a lot of chat and laughter.

Of course, RVs are not always convenient(便利).They can sometimes break down and you have to spend time mending them. But this type of road trip still wins people's hearts because they can go whenever and wherever they want.

【推荐2】Last July, my parents and I went to visit my aunt and uncle in Seattle, a city on the northwest American coast. Dad did some research and had no difficulty in finding us cheap tickets online.

On the day of our flight, we had to wake up very early. When we checked our bags in, we found that one bag weighed too much, so we had to pay a fine. After that, dad insisted that we go and have some breakfast at the airport restaurant. We had a lot of fun watching many different people there. Then we realized it was getting late, so we rushed to the gate. It took one hour for everyone to get on the plane, but finally the door was shut and we were on our way!

I think my favorite experience during our trip was our visit to Mount Rainier, a volcano near Seattle. It was nothing like I had expected. Before we left, my aunt lent us hats to protect us from getting sunburned, so I supposed that it would be very hot. Imagine my surprise when we drove up the mountain and I discovered the top was covered with snow and ice.!

My uncle led us to a small path beyond the main trails to increase our chances of seeing wildlife. We walked over a small hill, and suddenly before us there appeared a field of snow. Small wild flowers grew up through the snow; underneath the snow we could hear rushing water—a small stream. Little animals stood still to avoid being noticed; tiny birds rose into the air. It was the most beautiful sight that I’d ever seen.

【推荐3】The time that cars could go completely driverless is coming “very soon”, according to Jianxiong Xiao, CEO and founder of AutoX, a Shenzhen-based start-up developing autonomous driving technology.

Now, most regulations across various cities in China still require the presence of a safety driver in vehicles, but the company foresees that as more data gets captured over time, that requirement would be reduced, Xiao told CNBC's “Street Signs Asia" on Wednesday.

The autonomous driving tech firm chose to partner with Alibaba's AMAP — a Chinese mapping service provider --- to roll out its RoboTaxi ride hailing service in Shanghai on Monday. AMAP is a "super mobility app" with almost 500 million active monthly users, according to Xiao.

AutoX had received support from Shanghai authorities to roll out a fleet of 100 autonomous ride-hailing cars in Shanghai's Jiading district in September last year.

Earlier this month, AutoX announced that it had set up an 80,000 square feet RoboTaxi operations center in Shanghai to help facilitate (使容易)operations of its driverless fleet, as well as act as a center to collect data from daily operations.

Backed by investors such as Alibaba, Shanghai Motor and Dongfeng Motor, AutoX is one of the players in the trillion U.S. dollar Chinese autonomous driving vehicles market alongside others like DiDi Chuxing.

Xiao said they were working with the technology to ensure the vehicles were "very, very safe" and are carrying out a lot of testing.

Over a hundred vehicles have been arranged on roads daily to obtain enough data needed to validate the software and system, according to Xiao.

He added that the company was also running a hundred times more simulations (模拟)in the car every day, and the “huge amount of data" would help to prove that the vehicles could be used in "full safety".

“Our goal is not to just make (it) as safe as human beings, but going one step forward to really make...a superhuman safety standard; (cars) that (can) drive much safer than any human being ever,“ Xiao said.

【推荐1】Vox’s online store

You can find Vox’s online store here. From the much-requested Weeds mug (马克杯) to a Missing Chapter sticker and a Vox crewneck, we invite you to take a step further into the Vox family and proudly announce you are a Vox fan to everyone you see.

The items you see in our store today are just the beginning. We'll be adding more items next year, and we’d love to hear about the goods you’d like to see. Click https://store.dfiba.com/collections/vox to hand in your ideas.

We’ve partnered with DFTBA (“Don’t Forget To Be Awesome”) because the company shares similar values to our own. DFTBA works with suppliers to produce and ship goods. The majority of DFTBA’S clothes come from Bella+ Canvas because of its shipping, water saving and energy saving practices.

This is a new project for Vox, but something we’ve looked forward to sharing with our fans for a while now. Let us know how we’re doing by clicking here, and please see below for a brief FAQ.

Can I receive my order internationally?

Yes. DFTBA ships internationally via United States Postal Service. There are a few service disruptions (中断), which you can see by clicking Service Alerts.

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【推荐2】“Barefoot Mike” gets a lot of attention when he shows up at the beginning of a race. He loves to run and has been running since he was a kid. He loves to and often competes in 10K races. But That’s not the reason he gets so much attention. People notice him because when he runs, “Barefoot Mike” runs barefoot.

Running barefoot has become a huge trend in the world of running. “I didn’t set out to be a trend setter,” laughed “Barefoot Mike”, otherwise known as Mike Whitaker. “I’ve always been a runner, but until a few years ago, I always wore shoes. Then one day I was running after a rainstorm. I stepped off into the grass to avoid a puddle (水坑) on the sidewalk, and accidentally stepped into a huge muddy puddle that had been hidden in the grass. I tried to keep running, but the wet and dirty shoe made it really hard. I figured the best solution was to just get rid of the shoes.”

Mike took off his shoes and dropped them into the nearest trash can. “Then I started running. At first I went really slowly because I was watching out for rocks or other things that could hurt my feet, but there really weren’t any problems.” He started going faster. “It felt so good!” Mike said. “My knee, which always ached, didn’t ache. My foot was able to spread out so I had better balance. And my feet didn’t feel all hot and sweaty. It was awesome!”

“There are actually potential health benefits to running barefoot” said Dr. Nancy Bower, a podiatrist (足科医师).

A recent study agrees. A team of researchers recently videotaped several people running—first wearing shoes and then barefoot. In almost every case, when wearing shoes, the runners tended to land on the heel of their foot, which they call “heel-striking.” Many runners have impact injuries such as knee pain. Heel-striking may be the cause of these injuries or may make an existing injury worse. When running barefoot, the runners tended to land on the middle part of the foot. The force is spread out throughout the foot. The ankle, shin (胫部), knee and hip don’t get the shock of a hard landing with every step.

【推荐3】“Pepper, a ‘culturally competent robot,’ was tested on care home residents in Britain and Japan — those persons who used it for up to 18 hours over the course of two weeks saw an improvement in their mental (精神上的) health,” researchers found.

Pepper was part of a large global study known as CARESSES, which investigated the use of artificial intelligence (A) in caring for the elderly. The scientists behind the study also found that “after two weeks of using the system there was a small but positive effect on loneliness among users.”

Pepper is fully autonomous, meaning that it is not controlled by a person. Pepper, which can play music and entertainment, does not just ask and answer questions but can actually join in and continue conversation.

It has been designed to be “culturally competent,” meaning that it can respond to the culture-specific needs of older people.

Dr. Chris, principal lecturer in public health at the UK’s University of Bedfordshire, was the lead author of the three-year project. He described the study as “groundbreaking.” adding: “The results show that using the CARESSES artificial intelligence in robots such as Pepper has real potential (潜在的) benefit to a world where more people are living longer with fewer people to look after them.”

“The project has now shown that the system could and did improve mental health and reduce loneliness,” Dr. Chris said. “However, it is just at a prototype (最初形态) level and there are many technical limitations.”

He thought it would take a further two to three years of research, before robots such as Pepper could actually be introduced to care homes.

“We really believe that this isn’t about replacing care — a robot can’t do what a human can do. But they can be a useful helper for people’s mental health,” Dr. Chris said.