【推荐1】Facial-recognition cameras are everywhere — even in your smartphone. Many people use this technology to unlock (解锁) their phones, open doors or make quick payments. But there is a problem: Someone wears masks. What a headache!

Scientists are trying to solve this problem. For example, Engineering and Technology (E&T) magazine reports that Hanwang, a tech company in Beijing, has made a new system. It can recognize (辨认) 95% of people when they wear masks.

What’s the secret? It’s all about your eyes. Marios Savvides from Carnegie Mellon University studies facial-recognition. As we get older, he says, our faces change shape. But the area around our eyes doesn’t. It stays the same — even if we put on weight. As long as there are enough data from the area of our eyes, the cameras can recognize us.

Tech5 is another facial-recognition company. The Swiss company’s products scan (扫描) the shape of your face. They also scan your iris (虹膜), which is the colored part of your eyes. Tech5 hopes to ignore (忽略) all of the face below the nose.

This kind of software is more important than just unlocking your phone. “It can discover criminals (罪犯), even when they wear masks.” said Huang Lei from Hanwang. Hanwang’s technology is used by Chinese police in places like subway stations and airports. Similar technology is used by the United States Air Force.

Huang pointed out one big weakness: It fails when people wear both a mask and sunglasses. “In this situation, all of the key facial information is lost.” Lei said to E&T.

A．	B．
C．	D．

【推荐3】When we talk about intelligence (智力), we do not mean the ability to get good scores on certain kinds of tests or even the a ability to do well in school.     1     If we want to test intelligence, we need to find out how a person acts instead of how much lie knows what to do.

For example, when in a new situation, an intelligent person thinks about the situation, not about himself or what might happen to him.     2     He probably isn’t sure how it will all work out, but at least he tries. And if he cannot make things work out right, he doesn’t feel ashamed (羞愧) that he failed, he just tries to learn from his mistakes.     3    

If you look at children, you’ll see great difference between what we call “bright” children and “non-bright” children.     4     For example, the bright child really wants to find out about life.

    5     But the unintelligent child keeps more to himself and his own dream-world: he seems to have a wall between him and life in general.

【推荐2】Can you remember a time when you woke up from a fantastic, scary or strange dream?

Were you scared to turn on the light or was it so good that you wanted to stay in it longer?

Our dreams come from a part of the brain with our thoughts and memories. A person can have up to six dreams a night and each dream usually lasts from 10 to 40 minutes. Everyone dreams, but not everyone remembers their dreams. Most people forget half of their dreams within five minutes of waking up. After ten minutes, 90 percent of their dreams are usually gone. Most people dream in color, usually with a sound. And we usually dream about ourselves and the people we know.

But why do we dream? Alan Siegel is a scientist who studies dreams. “Dreams help us get in touch with our deeper feelings,” he says. “They can tell us a lot about ourselves and can help us find out problems.” Another scientist, Robert Stickgold, thinks dreams come from our memories. He believes we dream to remember because our memories are useful to the brains. Robert says the purpose of dreaming through these memories is to help us to learn from the past.

Here are some types of dreams and what people think they mean.

Dream 1. You meet someone in your pajamas: Sometimes people dream that they meet someone they know while wearing their underwear! This dream may be the result of an embarrassing event in your life. Some people think we dream about embarrassing situations if our brains are trying to deal with an event in our own lives.

Dream 2: You are in the air: If you dream about flying, you are probably quite happy. This is a good period in your life. You may feel you are able to do anything and that other people see you as a leader.

Dream 3: You didn’t study for a test: This probably means you are worried about an important event coming in your life. If you’re not prepared for the event, your dream may be telling you. “It’s time to get to work!”

Dream 4: Some disasters happen: It might be an earthquake or a fire. They may probably show that you are feeling scared by events out of your control.

【推荐3】Why would someone decide to stop eating? We know that the body needs food in order to work well. However, many peoplefastat some time during their lives. Why is this?

Some people fast for political reasons. In the early 20th century, women in England and the United States weren’t allowed to vote(投票). So many women went on fast. They hoped that fasting would bring attention to it. Mohandas Gandhi, the famous Indian leader, fasted 17 times during his life. In 1943, he fasted to bring attention to his county’s need for independence(独立). For 21 days, he went without food. Another famous faster was Cesar Chavez. In the 1960s, he fasted for three weeks to bring attention to the terrible working conditions of farm workers in the United States.

Fasting is also a practice in many religions(宗教). Every year during the month of Ramadan, which is a religious holiday, Muslims(穆斯林) fast from sunrise to sunset. Many Indians fast at special time, and there was also a fasting holiday in ancient China.

Of course, not everyone fasts for political or religious reasons. People sometimes fast just because it makes them feel better. The American writer Mark Twain thought fasting was the best medicine for common illnesses. Whenever he had a cold or a fever, he stopped eating completely. He said that this always made his cold or fever go away. Another American writer, Upton Sinclair, discovered fasting after years of eating too much and headaches. His first fast lasted for 12 days. During this time, his headaches and stomachaches went away. Sinclair said that fasting also made him more energetic.

Choosing to go without food can be very dangerous. However, that doesn’t stop people from fasting for political, religious or health reasons.