Walking through an airport is never easy. Now imagine doing it if you were blind. That’s the problem faced by Chieko Asakawa, a computer scientist and IBM researcher. Asakawa often flies between the US and Japan, making the journey monthly. If traveling alone she has to be helped at both ends of the flight, which sometimes includes endless waiting. Searching for a better replacement led Asakawa to invent a high-tech suitcase that helps get her to the place she wants to go safely.

“I never relax when I travel alone,” she says, “I always think about what technology will help me travel more easily, quickly and comfortably.” It was this restlessness that led to the AI suitcase.

The idea has been in development since 2017 through research between IBM, other Japanese companies, and Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. Asakawa says there are hopes to commercialize the suitcase and a pilot scheme (试验计划) is planned to use it in an airport, a shopping mall and other public spaces. “Though the suitcase is too full of tech to hold any clothes, that could change in the future,” she says.

A runner, Asakawa, held Olympic dreams as a child, but a swimming accident at the age of 11 caused her to gradually lose her sight until, aged 14, she became totally blind. As a grown-up she has paid attention to developing accessibility technology. Among her creations is “aDesigner”, whose aim is to make designers’ websites more user-friendly, and “IBM Home Page Reader”, the first voice browser to allow Internet access for blind people. Asakawa has won industry and government awards and been introduced into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame.

“The blind people usually use a white cane (手杖) or a guide dog. It will open up many doors for blind people, because we’d be able to go anywhere by ourselves. Without new technology, we cannot make our society more inclusive (包容的),” Asakawa says. “A smart suitcase is a great showcase for how AI and technology can change the lives of the blind.”

Shanghai residents passing through the city’s eastern Huangpu district in October might have astonished at an unusual sight: a “walking” building. An 85-year-old primary school has been lifted off the ground in its entirety and relocated using new technology named the “walking” machine.

In the city’s latest effort to preserve historic structures, engineers used nearly 200 mobile supports under the five-story building. The supports act like robotic legs. They’re split into two groups which in turns rise up and down, imitating the human step. Attached sensors help control how the building moves forward.

The Lagena Primary School, which weighs 7,600 tons, faced a new challenge — it’s T-shaped, while previously relocated structures were square or rectangular. Experts and technicians met to discuss possibilities and test a number of different technologies before deciding on the “walking machine”.

Over the course of 18 days, the building was rotated 21degrees and moved 62 meters away to its new location. The old school building is set to become a center for heritage protection and cultural protection. The project marks the first time this “walking machine” method has been used in Shanghai to relocate a historical building.

In recent years, China’s rapid modernization has seen many historic buildings razed to clear land for skyscrapers and office buildings. But there has been growing concern about the architectural heritage loss as a result of destruction across the country.

Shanghai has been China’s most progressive city when it comes to heritage preservation. The survival of a number of 1930s buildings in the famous Bund district and 19th-century “Shikumen” houses in the repaired Xintiandi neighborhood has offered examples of how to give old buildings new life. The city also has a track record of relocating old buildings. In 2018, the city relocated a 90-year-old building in Hongkou district, which was then considered to be Shanghai’s most complex relocation project to date.

The world has a water problem which is simple to understand but not to solve. The amount of water in the world is limited. Water usage in the world has increased during the past 10 years. Usages will continue to increase as the population grows and uses more water. A third of the world’s population lives in countries that have too little water.     12    

It’s strange to think that there is more than enough water available for everyone’s basic needs.     13     Some countries are much drier than others, for example Sudan in Africa. The UN says that people need a minimum of 50 litres of water a day for drinking, washing, cooking and sanitation (卫生). In 1990, over a billion people did not have even that. Water shortages can mean long walks to get water, high prices to buy it, food insecurity and disease from drinking dirty water.     14    

Governments that try to improve water supplies need to think carefully about how to do this.     15     But in many cases, the environment and the habitats of   plants and animals are threatened by the dams as a result.

    16     New technology can help, especially by cleaning up pollution and so making more water usable, and in agriculture, where water use can be made far more efficient. For millions of people around the world, solving the problem is a matter of life and death.

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word “hero”? Is it someone who________ a cape(披风) and can ________ in the air? There are super heroes in the film, and also________ heroes in our lives.   But what ________ a person a hero?In general, a hero is someone selfless and ________.These qualities ________ heroes to help others in times of need, even if they are ________ when something bad happens.   “The heroes are people that generally go above and ________ the call of duty. They do things that are ________,” said Nick Carden, a psychologist. Nick Carden said, heroes are made. “They ________ are people that have been helped by or have been modeled or raised to have those as values.”

Ordinary people are heroes in their own way, simply just by ________ their part for their families and communities. Cleaners, doctors and bus drivers—the ________ goes on and on. Sometimes, when there are accidents, these ________ people show courage and bravery to help ________ strangers in need. To act heroically is a choice that many of us will be called upon to ________ at some point in time.