China's “four great new inventions”

In ancient times, the Four Great Inventions in China had a great influence on the whole world. Recent years, China once again has showed its ability     1     the world with its “four great new inventions”: high-speed railways, bike-sharing, cashless payment (无现金支付), and online shopping.

The “our great new inventions” are related to (与…有关) China's high-tech innovation (创新). For example, China's newest high-speed train is Fuxing. It's now the fastest train in the world. There were 2,595 high-speed trains     2     across China by 2016, making up 60 percent of the world's total high-speed trains. Chinese companies have also built more than 10 high-speed railways in Europe, Southeast Asia and South America. Overseas (在国外), the high-speed train has become a new name     3     for China.

Another example is bike-sharing. The operating model of bike-sharing is based on satellite navigation system (导航系统), mobile payment, big data (数据) and     4     high technologies. This shows that China's high-tech innovation has     5     improved the quality of people's lives. China has entered a new innovative era (纪元,时代),     6     to the large amounts of money that China has spent in encouraging innovation. China is beginning to lead     7     innovation in some ways.

Cashless payment (无现金支付) has     8     a lifestyle choice in China, Even a street stall (摊位) selling fruit has QR codes (QR,二维码). Thomas Derksen, from Germany, spent an entire day in Hangzhou without any cash     9       bankcards last year. In July he told China Daily it was something he could not imagine doing back home in Europe.

It seems that China is really leading in some ways. And we have every reason to believe in an even     10     future.

Many actions have been taken to fight     1     food waste, but one young man is making a big difference with technology.

Liu Jichen, 23, a student from Tsinghua University, has     2     a WeChat mini-program called “Clear Your Plate (光 盘 打卡)”. After a meal, users can open the mini-program and take a picture of     3     empty plates. Once the photo is identified (识别) by the AI, users can     4     scores. What’s more, they can use these scores to buy gifts or pay for meals that can be given to the hungry in poor areas.

The idea to develop such a mini-program     5     from Liu’s experience in a restaurant. When he ate in a restaurant, he found that the restaurant would give customers     6     finished off their food a card and offer some small gifts.

“It’s a good way to     7     food waste by technology,” Liu thought. So he organized a team of 20 members to work on the project after that. They met many     8     in research and development. But they didn’t give up and worked     9     hard. To solve the AI’s problem of identifying photos of     10     plates, they spent half a year     11     over 100,000 samples (样本) in restaurants. “We hope it can help encourage everyone not to waste food,” Liu said. And now, the mini-program has more than 5 million users.

Robots seem very new to some people,     1     in fact they have a long history. The     2     robot was made by a Greek inventor (发明家). You may often see robots in lots of movies. The robots in the movies are stronger, faster and cleverer     3     people. In real life, most robots are used in     4    . They are used to do many dangerous, difficult or boring jobs. Some people can’t look after     5     and robots are used to help them. For example, some people can’t see. They use dogs to help themselves move around. These dogs are     6     guide dogs. Scientists are making robots to help them. In the future,     7     dogs might take the place of these guide dogs.

Robots are also used in American hospitals. At one hospital, a robot takes meals from the kitchen to the sick people’s rooms. It never    8     its way because it has a map of the hospital in its computer system (系统).

In the future, robots     9     in space. Robots will never take the place of humans,     10     they can help us in a lot of different ways.

Life in the year 3044 is very different from life in the 21st century. We still do many of the things you do, but we do them differently. For example, we now have e-friends to help us and    1    . An e-friend is a machine that looks just like a human being. It can walk and talk and can do almost everything we human beings can do. My e-friend is like me a lot and we     2    . It helps me with my homework and we often go swimming. It is programmed to take care of me if anything happens, so I always     3     when we are together. It can also     4    , just like old-fashioned e-mails, and I download information from its memory. It's great to have a friend like this — I am never lonely and I always     5    .

I would like to tell you more about life in the year 3044. Maybe one day I will be able to travel back and visit you.

Now, it may be difficult to predict (预测) the future, but many people believe that we will live on Mars by the year 2100. Our own planet, Earth, is becoming more and more     1     and polluted. Well, what problems do we need to solve before we can get to Mars?

First of all, transport should be much     2    . At present, humans need to spend several months going to Mars     3     spaceship. However, by 2100, spaceships may travel at half the speed of light. Then, it would only take us two or three days to get there! Without     4    , humans need food, water and air to live. Scientists should develop plants     5     can be grown on Mars. These plants will produce food, water and air. However, there is no answer for all these problems right now.