【推荐1】

For thousands of years, people have been dreaming about and inventing robot machines. In the 3rd century BC, people in Ancient Greece and China built lifelike machines such as dolls and birds. People called them automatons. Automatons used power from water, steam or later–steel springs to make themselves move.

One of the earliest automatons was a wooden bird built by Greek scientist Archytas of Tarentum around 350 BC. The bird could move its wings and travel a short distance along a cable. In the late 15th century, inventor and artist Leonardo da Vinci built a human—like robot knight. His design used wheels to move the knight’s arms and head. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, people built machines to help in factories and other types of work.

In the 1920s, playwright Karel Capek first used the term ‘robot’ in his play Rossum’s Universal Robot. It was about a company that made a human—like robot that did all the work.

The invention of the computer made today’s modern robots possible. With computers, people could program robots to do jobs without human help. In the 1950s, inventor George Devol designed a roto arm. Joseph Engelberger, took this idea and turned it into the first industrial robot called the Unimate. In 1959, the first Unimate began working at a General Motors car plant. It moved pieces from a production line and connected them to car bodies. Engelberger worked hard to show how robots do dangerous jobs in factories and keep people safe. Today, he is referred to as “the father of robotics”.

Visit a middle or large size of company these days, and you’re likely to find the staff (全体职工) members sharing a large, open space. Instead of having personal offices with doors and walls, most workers sit in cubicles that are half open. Whenever workers talk on the phone, other members of staff nearby can’t simply shut their doors. In fact, sometimes they can’t help but overhear everything that’s said. At times, the best way to focus in this type of office is to reach for one’s headphones and listen to music.

The open office idea is not new. It was created by a team of consultants (顾问) from Hamburg, Germany, in the 1950s. Called the office landscape (景观) plan, the idea was created to improve communication and the exchange of ideas. The design also encouraged managers and their teams to work near each other, making it easier for managers to guide projects. Now, the open office idea is often used as an excuse for companies to save money on building costs, paying no attention to the effect on working performance.

Many start-ups have a great interest in the open office idea. Take Chartbeat for example, the company’s 50-plus staff members get to choose their desk and chair styles, and everyone shares an open space with the CEO sitting in the middle. The office space has both single workstations and informal meeting areas where workers can relax themselves on sofas. While this design may be perfect for workers in start-ups, it may not be convenient for workers who have a great need of personal space.

In 2011 Matthew Davis, an organizational psychologist (心理学家), checked over a hundred studies about office environments. He found that, to staff in open offices, it was harder to stay focused and more likely to get higher stress than those working in traditional offices. What’s worse, a study in Denmark found that workers in open offices took more sick days than those working in traditional offices.

Even though open office plans present hidden problems on worker health and personal needs, businesses probably won’t return to traditional offices. Modern office workers tend (倾向) to need both time to focus and time to work together with others. So designing offices that account for both needs may be the best way forward.

【推荐3】When the seasons change between winter and spring, many of us get sick with colds, flu, or other illnesses. These illnesses not only make us feel physically uncomfortable, but they can also influence our emotions (情绪), making us feel sad and worried. But why does this happen?

The answer has something to do with our immune (免疫的) system. When we get sick, our immune cells (免疫细胞) start to fight the illness. To do this, they send messages to other parts of our body, including our brain.

When these messages reach our brain, they can change how we feel and act. We might lose interest in the things that we usually enjoy, prefer to be alone and feel tired and hungry. We might also be more sensitive (敏感的) to bad things. ___________

This means that when we are sick, not only does the illness itself make us feel bad, but also our immune system reacts to it. This is a new discovery that helps us understand the connection between our physical and emotional health.

To find it, scientists did an experiment. They made people feel sick without causing them any diseases in fact. This helped them understand how people react when they feel sick, even if they don’t have any actual illnesses. The results showed that these people felt the same way as people who were really ill—sad and worried.

This experiment shows that it’s our immune system that causes us to feel this way when we are sick. It’s important to remember this fact when we or our friends are feeling uncomfortable. We need to be patient, understanding, and help each other deal with these terrible feelings.

【推荐1】When it comes to modern communication, security(安全) is a big problem. It seems like we’re forever hearing about hackers leaking(泄漏) emails, passwords and other important personal information.

But thanks to a breakthrough by Chinese scientists, we may soon never have to worry about our data again.

This is thanks to the satellite called Micius that uses latest technology. So what exactly makes the information sent to and from Micius so secure? Micius is the first satellite to use quanturn key distribution (量子密钥分配). This technology uses particles (微粒) that send light to communicate information from one point to another. Nowadays, it can communicate with two base stations. Both of them are located high up in the mountains of Xizang, around 1,200 kilometers apart. Data is sent between the satellite and one of the base stations in the form of a ray of light. This makes it almost impossible for data sent and received using quanturn satellite technology to be stolen because the connection will be broken if someone tries to hack it. Any eavesdropper (偷听者) on the quanturn channel can be found by the communicating users.

However, the technology does have a few limitations. For example, the process only works at night, as the information isn’t able to pass through sunlight. And there’s now only a 10-minute window each day during which Micius can communicate with each of the base stations, according to Xinhua. This is because the satellite and base station need to be close enough to each other for the information to successfully make it to and from outer space.

Though there are small problems, the scientist across the world have reacted positively to China’s achievements. “This Chinese experiment is a quite wonderful technological achievement.”