2 . A robot created by Washington State University (WSU) scientists could help elderly people with dementia (痴呆) and other limitations live independently in their own homes.

The Robot Activity Support System, or RAS, uses sensors installed in a WSU smart home to determine where its residents are, what they are doing and when they need assistance with daily activities. It navigates (定位) through rooms and around obstacles to find people on its own, provides video instructions on how to do simple tasks and can even lead its owner to objects like their medication or a snack in the kitchen.

“RAS combines the convenience of a mobile robot with the activity detection technology of a WSU smart home to provide assistance in the moment, as the need for help is detected,” said Bryan Minor, a postdoctoral researcher in the WSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Currently, an estimated 50 percent of adults over the age of 85 need assistance with every day activities such as preparing meals and taking medication and the annual cost for this assistance in the US is nearly $2 trillion. With the number of adults over 85 expected to triple by 2050, researchers hope that technologies like RAS and the WSU smart home will relieve some of the financial strain on the healthcare system by making it easier for older adults to live alone.

RAS is the first robot researchers have tried to incorporate into their smart home environment. They recently published a study in the journal Cognitive Systems Research that demonstrates how RAS could make life easier for older adults struggling to live independently.

“While we are still in an early stage of development, our initial results with RAS have been promising,” Minor said. “The next step in the research will be to test RAS’ performance with a group of older adults to get a better idea of what prompts, video reminders and other preferences they have regarding the robot.”

As is known to all, art     1     (influence) by the customs and faith of a people. Styles in Western art have changed many times.

In the 5th century, the art of the Middle Ages came into being and the main aim of     2     (paint) was to represent religious themes.     3     a result, some pictures at this time were full of religious symbols,     4     (create) a feeling of respect and love for God. During the   Renaissance,   people   began   to concentrate     5     (little) on religious themes and adopt a more humanistic attitude     6     life. In the late 19th century, some painters became the Impressionists. And they were the first painters     7     (paint) outdoors. Paintings can reflect the     8     (develop) of civilization, and it is interesting to predict     9     styles of paintings there will be in the future.     10     not try to visit some art galleries to appreciate different styles of paintings?

5 . With only about 1，000 pandas left in the world，China is desperately trying to clone the animal and save the endangered species.That's a move similar to what a Texas A & M University researchers have been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah's Ark”．

Noah's Ark is aimed at collecting eggs，embryos(胚胎)，semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen.If certain species should become extinct，Dr.Duane Kraemer，a professor in Texas A & M's College of Veterinary Medicine，says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.It is estimated that as many as 2，000 species of mammals，birds' reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years.The panda，native only to China，is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.

This week，Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit.They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.

“The nuclear transfer(核子移植) of one species to another is not easy，and the lack of available panda eggs could be a major problem，” Kraemer believes.“They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy (having a baby)．It takes a long time and it's difficult，but this could be groundbreaking science if it works.They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk，so it is worth the effort，” adds Kraemer，who is one of the leaders of the Project at Texas A & M，the first－ever attempt at cloning a dog.

“They are trying to do something that's never been done，and this is very similar to our work in Noah's Ark.We're both trying to save animals that face extinction.I certainly appreciate their effort and there's a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do.It's a research that is very much needed.”