【推荐1】Ann has a problem. She wants to have some new friends but she is too shy. She doesn’t know what to do. So she feels sad and upset. What should she do?

Are you lonely in a new school? Do you have many friends? Do you want to make new friends and communicate with your friends well?     1    

Smile. Remember to smile and greet others in a friendly way when you meet them at the first time.     2    

    3     Try your best to do this when you first meet someone new. Then when you meet again, you can greet that person with his or her name politely. It will easily make both of you feel comfortable and show you care your friend.

Find a good topic. Talk about the weather, sports or news. You can also ask questions or tell jokes.     4    

Be a good listener.     5     It means you are interested in what they talk about.

Be honest. Tell people the truth. No one likes the people who are not honest.

【推荐3】It is a cold and dry winter morning. When you wake up, you feel that your throat hurts. You begin to sneeze and later you may cough. You must have a cold! Wait a moment. Could it just be a common cold or the flu（流感）that’s been going around?

A cold gives you a runny nose and cough. But it’s usually easy to deal with. Some take medicine while others drink herbal tea or chicken soup. Usually you feel better after a week.

On the other hand, the flu can be much more dangerous. It usually gives you fever. Sometimes it can cause death. According to an American magazine, the worst flu killed about 50 million people from 1918 to 1919.

Don’t worry. If you get a flu vaccine（疫苗）, it can stop you from getting the virus（病毒）. Flu vaccines work by giving the body a small amount of flu viruses. This causes your body to develop antibodies（抗体）.So next time you get the flu, the antibodies should help you.

The flu virus changes every few years. Therefore, there are so many types of flu, such as H1N1 and H5N1. The antibodies for one type of flu can’t help us against all types of flu. That’s why we need to get the vaccine every year.

However, good health habits may also help stop you developing a cold or flu. Washing your hands often helps stop you from getting viruses. It is also important to get regular exercise and eat healthy food. All these can help you strengthen your immune system（增强免疫系统）.

AI is a double-edged sword. It can help us, but also cause us harm. Who is using AI? Is AI replacing humans? What should we do to avoid the risks and dangers that AI might bring?

Artificial intelligence is set to benefit mankind in many ways. It will make everyday tasks easier and bring efficiency to various industries. It might just prove to be one of man’s greatest inventions.

And yet, like any other technology, ▲ . In February 2018, a group of AI experts got together to discuss the possible misuse of AI. What they found was that “Every AI advance by the good guys is an advance for the bad guys, too,” according to Quartz.

Their biggest concern was that criminals (罪犯) could use AI for wrongful purposes. One of the areas they looked at was the use of AI to create websites that could be used to steal people’s personal information. Another possibility is that AI programs could be taught to hack software and break into computer secure systems.

There are some other concerns as well. It is possible that AI could be used to create fake images and videos. Chinese tech giant Baidu, in fact, has developed a program called Deep Voice that can “clone” anyone’s voice by studying a 3.7-second audio sample.

Many leading figures in the tech world have expressed concern about AI. People like Bill Gates and Elon Musk have called for the industry to be more strictly regulated, as there are few laws right now on the use of AI.

However, this is set to change. In March 2018, the European Union plans to set up a group that will discuss the moral and ethical dangers of advanced AI – and hopefully, suggest some regulations that will help us keep it safe for mankind.

Beep! Beep! Barcode (条形码) technology makes it faster and easier to buy things in stores. You’ve probably seen the black-and-white zebra stripes on product packaging (包装). This year, this great invention is 51 years old!

On a Sunday afternoon in 1971, IBM engineer George Laurer came up with a code that could be printed on food labels. It became the basis (基础) for the Universal Product Code, which was used by many fields later, according to The New York Times. Before this, cashiers (收银员) had to change prices by hand.

It turns out to be a great invention. Today, barcodes are scanned (扫描) over 6 billion times every day and used by 2 million companies worldwide, PRNewswire reported.

What information does a barcode contain? Where the product comes from, where it has been, its price, expiration date. . .you name it. It can also help stores follow the information of their products. For example, if there are 10 boxes of milk and a customer buys one, it will be recorded so that the store owner knows there are nine boxes left. In the 1980s, libraries started using barcodes to keep track of books in this way.

“Its invention allowed companies to control the stock (库存) better and easier,”José María Bonmatí from AECOC, a Spanish commercial association, told El Mundo.

The next generation of barcodes, such as QR codes, can hold more information. “They can tell consumers if a product contains allergens (过敏原) or if it is organic (有机的). This provides consumers with a greater level of trust in the products they buy, ”said GS1, an organization that develops global barcode standards.

【推荐3】Did you know that when you surf the Web, many websites (网站) put secret software on your computer? The software collects a large amount of information about you and sends it to Internet companies. The Internet companies sell it to other businesses. Your personal information can also be collected from social media sites. There are many ways your information can be used.

What information do they collect and why? The companies find out where you live, what websites you visit, and what you do online. With this information, they can guess other things about you. For example, they can guess if you are male or female, how old you are, and your interests. The companies use this information to decide which advertisements are best for you.

What do they do with your information? Your personal information could also be sold. Some companies collect information just because they can sell it to other businesses. A business that collects and sells personal information is called a data broker (数据代理商). When data brokers sell your information, a lot of different companies will know your online habits. Then these companies will advertise products or other websites to you.

What online habits are tracked (追踪)? Another way your personal information can be collected is through social media. When your information is on social media, a lot of people can see it. Even if you don’t use social media, a friend might post a picture or video of you with your name on it. If someone knows too much about you, they can steal your identity (身份). Then they can buy things online and post messages while pretending (装作) to be you.

All of your online habits can be recorded. Studying people’s online habits is big business. Your personal information is very valuable to companies. That is how they know who to send their advertisements to. The Internet reaches almost every corner of the world, but the danger is that your personal information might travel that far, too.