1 . Chinese scientists have identified a new protein that restricts HIV infection, a discovery that could pave the way for the development of new drugs against the virus. The protein, P-selectin glycoprotein ligand 1 (PSGL-1), which exists in human cells, can inhibit (抑制) the process by which HIV reproduces, according to research published in the science journal Nature Microbiology this month.

However, the study also showed that PSGL-1 can be negatively affected by Vpu — an accessory (附属) protein of HIV — which can neutralize the ability of PSGL-1 to resist HIV. Further research is under way to develop a drug that can inhibit the HIV protein so that PSGL-1 can restrict HIV, according to Tan Xu, a researcher at Tsinghua University's School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, a leading author of the study.

Several other proteins in human cells that could resist HIV have been discovered over the past 10 years, but the virus can also evade (避开) them. PSGL-1 shows particular promise in that it can inhibit HIV in multiple ways — especially by blocking the infectiousness of virus offspring, Tan said.

“We are starting to research into small molecule (分子) compounds in the hope of finding one that can restore PSGL-1’s anti-HIV function. In this way, we can develop a very effective antiviral drug for people with HIV/AIDS,” he said. Tan said it will require at least three to five years for the research to reach the preclinical stage, and more time after that before a clinical trial is possible. The research was conducted by researchers at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Fudan University in Shanghai and George Mason University in the United States.

Existing treatment methods for people with HIV/AIDS, which mostly rely on a combination of different drugs, can prevent the disease from progressing but cannot cure it, and long-term use of drugs can result in drug resistance.

An estimated 37 million people in the world live with HIV, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. The study provides new leads to developing antiviral drugs, Tsinghua University said in a statement.

2 . Many people think that the world is about to step into the fourth industrial revolution. This time, machines can do a lot of work in the charge of human beings, even better than human beings. In the future, the world can be more efficient and enjoy cheaper services, but unemployment will become more common.

It raises a troubling question for all of us — when will a machine be able to do my job? Katja Grace, a research associate at the University of Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute, and her colleagues from the AI Impacts project and the Machine Intelligence Research Institute, have surveyed 352 scientists and compiled (汇编) their answers into predictions about how long it may take for machines to outperform humans on various tasks.

The good news is that many of us will probably be safe in our jobs for some time to come. The researchers predict there is a 50% chance that machines will be capable of taking over all human jobs in 120 years.

“One of the biggest surprises was the overall lateness of the predictions,” says Grace. “I expected the amazing progress in machine learning in recent years, plus the fact that we were only talking to machine learning researchers, to make the estimates earlier.”

“I am a bit sceptical of some of the timelines given for tasks that involve physical manipulation (操纵),” says Jeremy Wyatt, professor of robotics and artificial intelligence at the University of Birmingham. “It is one thing doing it in the lab, and quite another having a robot that can do a job reliably in the real world better than a human.”

Manipulating physical objects in the real world — figuring out what to manipulate, and how, in a random, changing environment — is an incredibly complex job for a machine. Tasks that don’t involve physical manipulation are easier to teach.

Perhaps the hardest jobs for machines to perform are those that take years of training for humans to excel at. These often involve intuitive (直觉的) decision making, complex physical environments or abstract thinking — all things that computers struggle with.

Murphy     1     (lose) her parents in her early 20s. Two years ago, she was struggling with finding happiness in her career. During walks     2     the beach, she would talk to her parents in her head,     3     (seek) guidance about her career choices. “Since they weren’t with me physically, I would ask for little signs in the form of heart shaped rocks. When I would find one, I would feel     4     (connect)to something outside of myself.” These small treasures made her feel like she wasn’t alone.

Once, during a trip, Murphy was moved by the way tiny courtesies (礼貌) like a smile made her feel more comfortable in an     5     (familiar) country. She came back with the understanding that small acts of kindness could have a big impact.

One day, while walking on the beach, she suddenly came up with an idea of writing some encouraging    6     (message) on rocks. So, she did it. She soon learned her small action was already making ripples (涟漪). That night a friend texted her a picture of a rock and said, “Was this you?” She had suspected Murphy     7     she knew Murphy walked along that beach. Murphy     8     (touch) by the way her friend said finding that rock had made her day.

Murphy became hooked on the idea that she could spread happiness through something as simple as a rock with a message on it. She started leaving rocks in other places. With these rocks, she left a small sign encouraging others     9     (leave) a kindness rock somewhere else   “One rock, one person,” Murphy explains. “If a message hits a person at the right time, or they join, it’s like a huge connection. It’s    10     our world needs right now.”

Yours,

Li Hua

9 . There’s a Symphony Just Below the Surface — Can You Hear It?

Imagine it’s your birthday, and your friends and family pool their money to get you the best gift you can imagine: tickets for fabulous seats to see your favorite musical act. But what if you got to the venue and something terrible had just happened to you?     1    . Even while facing the prospect of extreme difficulty in your life, you are so thrilled to see your favorite group that for a couple of hours, you can put all of that behind you.

    2    . That is the ability to suspend our fears and worries and focus on what we love. In the example of the concert, we know that when the music ends, we may go back to our concerns, but while it’s playing, there is nothing we can do about them, so we might as well just give in.

Life always has its music, and we don’t need to be front-row center at a concert to hear it. Throughout our lives, no matter what else is going on, a melody is present. But we are often so focused on the present moment that we fail to hear the melody.     3    .

We can become magnificent listeners to life, with enough practice. And let’s face it, this is something we were born to do, so the skill is there, waiting for us to employ it. We can tap into the music, and when we do find ourselves distracted from it, we can use consciousness to bring us right back. It is as simple as saying, “OK, I’m distracted again; I am going to start listening again.”     4    .

Life is always playing music, but we have to listen, and we listen by being present. We can do this.     5    . When we do this, we’ll discover that the symphony inside of us is magnificent.

10 . When Alex Lin was 11 years old, he read a(an) ________ article in the newspaper, which said that people were ________ old computers in backyards, throwing TVs into streams, and dumping(丢弃) cell phones in the garbage. This was dangerous because e waste contains harmful ________ that can leak into the environment, getting into crops, animals, water supplies—and people.

Alex was really worried and decided to make it next project for WIN—the Westerly Innovations Network. Alex and six of his friends had ________ this organization to help solve community problems two years before.

But what could they do about this project with e-waste? The team spent several weeks gathering information about the harmful chemicals in e waste and their ________ on humans. They learned how to dispose (处置) of e-waste ________ and how it could be recycled. Then, they sent out a survey and found only one in eight knew what e-waste was, let alone how to dispose of it.

Alex and his friends went into ________. They advertised in the local newspaper and ________ notices to students, asking residents to bring their ________ electronics to the school parking lot. The drive lasted two days, and they ________ over 9,500 kilograms of e waste.

The next step was to set up a long-term e-waste drop-off center for the town. After some research, they’d learned that reusing is the best way to ________ electronic devices and it is seven times more ________ than recycling. So, they began learning to refurbish(翻新) computers themselves and distributed them to students who didn’t have their own. In this way, they could help students in the area and protect the environment at the same time.

For a________ solution to e waste, the drop off center wasn’t enough. Laws would have to be passed. In 2016,WIN helped ________ for an e waste bill in their town, which required companies that manufactured or sold electronics to take back e waste. The bill clearly ________ the dumping of e waste.

Because of the work of WIN, more and more people, like Alex and his team, are getting the message about safe disposal of e-waste. As Alex says, “Today’s technology should not become tomorrow’s harmful garbage.