I grew up in a big family with my parents, my elder brother and sisters. They did all the things that I should do, including cleaning the house, washing clothes, making the bed and so on, so what I did at home was eat and sleep. As time went on, I formed the habit of throwing my things everywhere. Once my family were out, what a mess my room was! My parents were worried about how I could manage myself when I had to leave home.

That day approached. This summer I was admitted by the best boarding school in our county. It was required that two students share one room. My roommate, Jenny, was a gentle and quiet girl. I was not very neat. On the contrary, Jenny was extremely organized. Each of her objects had its place, but mine always hid somewhere. She even labeled (贴标签) everything. I always looked for everything. Over time, Jenny got neater and I got messier. She would push my dirty clothing over, and I would lay my books on her tidy desk. We both got tired of each other.

War broke out between us one evening. Jenny came into the room. Soon, I heard her screaming, “Take your shoes away! Why under my bed!” Deafened, I saw my shoes flying at me. I jumped to my feet and started shouting. She shouted back louder.

The room was filled with anger. We could not have stayed together for a single minute but for a phone call. Jenny answered it.

From her end of the conversation, I could tell right away that her grandma was seriously ill. When she hung up, she quickly crawled (爬) under her covers, crying. All of a sudden, a warm feeling of sympathy (同情) rose up in my heart. The only thing that I needed to do was tidy up the room to show my care.

Unknowingly, Jenny sat up.

A voluntary activity

Best wishes.

Yours,

I was in a rush as always, but this time it was for an important date I just couldn't be late for! I found myself at a checkout counter behind an elderly woman seemingly in no hurry as she paid for her groceries. A PhD student with not a lot of money, I had hurried into the store to pick up some flowers. I was in a huge rush, thinking of my upcoming evening. I did not want to be late for this date.

We were in Boston, a place not always known for small conversation between strangers. The woman stopped unloading her basket and looked up at me. She smiled. It was a nice smile—warm and reassuring(安慰的)-and I returned her gift by smiling back.

''Must be a special lady, whoever it is that will be getting those beautiful flowers," she said.

''Yes, she's special," I said, and then to my embarrassment, the words kept coming out. ''It's only our second date, but somehow I am just having the feeling she's the one'' jokingly, I added, ''The only problem is that I can't figure out why she'd want to date a guy like me. ''

''Well, I think she's very lucky to have a boyfriend who brings her such lovely flowers and who is obviously in love with her," the woman said. ''My husband used to bring me flowers every week-even when times were tough and we didn't have much money. Those were incredible (难以置信的)days； he was very romantic and-of course-I miss him since he's passed away. ''

Para. 1 There was no doubt in my mind as I walked up to her.

Para. 2 It took her a moment to realize that I was giving her the flowers I had just purchased.

10 . 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.”