Today, AI robots play an important role in people’s daily lives. These robots work in many areas to help people.

① The word “zhiyin”, which means close friends, comes from the story of Yu Boya and Zhong Ziqi in the Warring States Period.

② Boya was good at playing guqin. The music he played was exquisite and pleasant to listen to. Although many people praised his music, he believed that he had never come across anyone who could really understand his music. One day, he was playing music on his way home on the boat. Ziqi, a woodcutter who happened to pass by was listening to him by the riverside. Boya invited him on board and played tunes (曲) that described high mountains and flowing water. To Boya’s surprise, Ziqi could understand exactly what he wanted to express through his music. Boya was overjoyed and they became good friends. Since Boya had to return to his state, they promised to meet again in the following year.

③ Unfortunately, when getting back to visit Ziqi the next year, Boya heard that his friend had died from a disease. Boya was very sad and in front of Ziqi’s tomb (墓), he played again the music he had played when they first met. The feeling of the music was so strong that it was as if the rivers and the mountains were crying. When finishing playing, Boya broke his guqin into pieces. From then on, Boya never played again.

④ People in the Song Dynasty built the Guqin Tai in Hanyang to the memory of the deep friendship between Boya and Ziqi. It became an important part of the local culture.

⑤Zhiyin culture has new development in the new period. The famous ancient Chinese classical music piece Gaoshan Liushui was performed (表演) during the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in 2016. The musical performance not only showed the beauty of traditional Chinese culture but also expressed China's willingness to develop its friendship with people from around the world.

Teenagers are advised to get eight to ten hours of sleep each night. However, most of them fail to get enough sleep because of heavy schoolwork. And plenty of young people are experiencing a sleep problem, which increases their risk of mental ill-health (精神健康状况不佳) . Have you ever thought the mobile phone can help teenagers manage their mental health by supporting a good night’s sleep?

Sleep Ninja is a free app created by the Black Dog Institute, a mental health research organization. It is the only app that is specially designed to improve teenagers’ sleep. So far, the results have been encouraging. The app helps teenagers get more sleep and reduce anxiety.

According to a study, 90% of the app users showed some improvements in insomnia (失眠) and 60% reported improvements in sleep quality. At the same time, the rate of depression (抑郁症) dropped from 77% at the start of the study to 44% after using the app.

Sleep Ninja is not only helpful but also easy to use. Those who use the app only need to set a time when they need to get up in the morning. Then the app will work backwards (向后) , deciding when they should be in bed.

It will also give them a warning to start a pre-bed habit. Seeing the warning, they’d better take a hot shower, brush teeth and get ready for sleep.

Besides, the app offers other useful ways to teenagers to help them get into a sleep habit. For example, it shows them how to set their things up in the bedroom, how to reduce terrible thoughts at night and what to do during the day to improve their sleep.

The world is not hungry, but it is thirsty. It seems strange that nearly 3/4 of the earth is covered with water while we say we are short of (短缺) water. Why? Because about 97% of water on the earth is sea water which we can’t drink or use for watering plants directly (直接地). Man can only drink and use the 3% the water that comes from rivers and lakes. And we can’t even use all of that, because some of it has been polluted.

Now more water is needed. The problem is: Can we avoid (避免) a serious water shortage later on? First, we should all learn how to save water. Secondly, we should find out the ways to reuse it. Scientists have always been making studies in the field. Today, in most large cities water is used only once and then runs to the sea or rivers. But it can be used again. Even if (即使) every large city reused its water, still there would not be enough. What could people turn to next?

The sea seems to have the best answer. There is a lot of water in the sea. All that needs to be done is to get the salt out of the sea water. This is expensive, but it’s already used in many parts of the world. Scientists are trying to find a cheaper way of doing it. So you see, if we can find a way out, we’ll be in no danger of drying up.

One August afternoon, Richard Allen dropped off his last passenger. Mrs. Carey. Lifting two grocery bags, he followed her across the yard and stood on the step of her house. Glancing up, he saw a large wasp (黄蜂) nest under the roof. Allen had heard that wasps can become more likely to sting (叮咬) in summer. He mentioned this to Mrs. Carey, who had opened the door.

“Oh, they don’t bother me,” she said lightly, “I go in and out all the time.”

Anxiously, Allen looked at the nest again—to see the wasps flying straight at him. “Hurry!” he shouted to Mrs. Carey. “Get in!”

She stepped quickly inside. Allen ran for his mini-bus. Too late: they were upon him. Just as he jumped spots showed on his arm, and he felt more on his back and shoulders.

As he was driving down the road, Allen felt as if something was burning at the back of his neck, and the “fire” was spreading forward to ward his face. An immediate anxiety took hold of him. Allen knew that stings could cause some persons to die. But he had been stung the previous summer and the after-effects soon passed. However, what he didn’t know was that the first sting had turned his body into a time bomb waiting for the next to set off an explosion.

Miles from the nearest medical assistance. Allen began to feel his tongue thick and heavy and his heartbeat louder. Most frightening, he felt his breathing more and more difficult. He reached for the radio mike (无线电麦克风), trying to call the mini-bus center, but his words were hardly understandable. Signals were also poor that far out. He knew a rescue team was on 24-hour duty at the Amherst Fire Department’s north station. So his best chance was to make a run for it.

Rushing down the mountain. Allen tried not to panic, focusing his mind on each sharp turn. He was almost through the last of them when he felt sure he was going into shock. Just then he reached for the radio mike again.

“Call fire station.” He shouted, concentrating to form the words. “Emergency. Bee sting. Emergency. There in ten minutes.”

“Five-ten,” the center replied.

Hold on, Allen thought. Keep your eyes open. Breathe. Keep awake.

At last, he reached the station. Two firemen ran out. Allen felt their hands grasp him before he hit the ground. You made it, he thought.

Scientists train AI to read human thoughts

Scientists have created a new tool that can turn people’s thoughts into words. It works by using an AI program called GPT-1 to translate brain activity words. In order to achieve this, scientists did a lot.

First, scientists got everything ready before the tests. They invited some volunteers. Each spent sixteen hours listening to stories in a scanner (扫描仪). They imagined the stories as they heard them, and the scanner recorded their brain activity. GPT-1 made connections between the ideas in the stories and the recordings of the listeners’ brain activity.

Then came the tests. The scientists did them in three different ways.

Test 1

The researchers played a new story. GPT-1 was only given recordings of the volunteers’ brain activity. But the words that GPT-1 predicted (预测) were very similar to the words in the story that they were listening to. The words weren’t exactly the same, but they often carried the same meaning. For example, when a volunteer was listening to a story about a woman who didn’t have a driver’s license (驾照), the program came up with this: “She hasn’t even started to learn to drive yet.”

Test 2

The scientists also carried out the test when volunteers imagined their own stories. “It really works at the level of ideas. The ideas are the same but expressed in different words.” says Alexander Huth, one of the scientists behind the study.

Test 3

The researchers showed the volunteers silent movies, with no spoken words at all. GPT-1 could still figure out (算出) the basic ideas.

After the tests, the scientists say that GPT-1 is the first AI program to turn what people are thinking into words without brain surgery (外科手术). The tool isn’t something that can be easily used today, mainly because of the size and the cost of the scanner. In the future, they believe, a similar but cheaper tool could help people who have lost the ability to speak because of an injury or disease.

The scientists say their tool can’t be used to “read people’s minds” without permission (允许). The tool only works if the person wants to share their thoughts.

How can you remember a song for a long time? Why does your teacher use songs to teach you English? There is a scientific reason for this.

Researchers (研究者) are studying the relationship between music and remembering a foreign language. “Singing could be a new way of learning, especially for a foreign language. The brain likes to remember things in a catchy (悦耳易记的) and relaxing way. For example, children can remember difficult words quickly when they are in a song,” said Dr. Karen Ludke. If children find it difficult to learn foreign languages, this new way may help. On his blog (博客), Dr. Ludke wrote “A listen—and—repeat singing way can help to learn foreign languages and open the door for future research in this area.”

Many language teachers know the importance of music and they often use it in teaching and learning. Hua Zhuying, a teacher at a Chinese language school in Washington DC, likes using songs in teaching Chinese. She said, “I use music all the time to teach children Chinese. For little kids usually we use English songs but teach them the Chinese lyrics. Not only does it work, but it is fun for children. Sometimes I think if I learned English that way when I was young, maybe I could speak English much better.”

Our brain likes music in learning languages, especially for remembering. If you are still having problems in learning a language, why not try singing it out?

Vani Sharma had an elder sister Anitha. When Vani was 5, her sister was sick and had to stay in hospital for a month. Vani and her parents often stayed close by, and a Ronald McDonaldHouse program near the hospital always served people some meals. It freely offered them food and a comfortable place to stay. Vani remembered eating pasta prepared by kind volunteers.

Her family were really thankful because they received a lot of support. It meant a lot to them. After Anitha got well, they all decided to be volunteers. Seven years later, they and their friends continued helping out there by preparing a meal for 50 to 70 guests once a month.

Vani now helps plan the menu and cook the food. She also tries to make guests feel welcome in many other ways. As guests eat, Vani and Anitha often play music to cheer them up.

The Sharmas enjoy bringing happiness to others during a difficult time. As Vani says, “It’s great to give back to the community and make more people feel warm.”

When I was ten years old, I signed up for a summer camp for the first time. When I went home, I had become a totally different person.

The camp taught me the ability to work together with others. At first, I wasn’t getting along with others very well, However, I still needed to be a team player. I learned how to solve disagreements peacefully and how to communicate with others whenever I needed help.

One day, I was told that I was to lead a song at the evening campfire. I felt nervous whenever I had to speak in front of a group, let alone sing a song! But that night turned out to be life-changing. It helped me to become more comfortable in group setting (环境) and I had become a role model for the other campers.

As I grew older, I took part in many other camps. I still remember the one I was asked to mop (用拖把拖) the dining hall. Right when I thought I had completed the job, my teacher kindly pointed out that I had left dirty mop strings (细线) all over the floor. Through this experience, I learned how to do a complete job.

If you are ever given the chance to attend a summer camp and are thinking about not going, think again. The experience may change your life and make you a stronger person in the process.

Harbin, located in northeastern China, is known for its freezing cold winters and fantastic ice sculptures (雕塑). Over the years, the city has changed itself into a popular tourist destination (目的地), attracting visitors from all over the world to its Ice and Snow Festival.

According to He Jing, the director of the Heilongjiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, Harbin’s popularity is not just a coincidence (巧合), but the result of a year of careful preparation. Since the beginning of 2023, the city has been developing plans to improve the tourism industry and attract attention from various social media platforms (平台). She said, “We put ourselves in the shoes of tourists. We pay special attention to the comments (评论) under social media platforms. Whatever the tourists complain about, we take action to improve at once.”

To “rescue” tourists who are not used to cold weather, Harbin has set up many heated places for them and provides free hot drinks. Local frozen pears are cut into flower shapes for tourists. The city even placed a large artificial (人工的) moon above the Saint Sophia Church for tourists to take photos. He Jing said, “We want to make visitors feel comfortable and respected.”

Touched by these “small details”, tourists share their heartwarming moments online, attracting more tourists to the city. This winter, Harbin received over 3 million tourists, generating 5.9 billion RMB. Hope more visitors will experience the city’s charm and warmth.