If two scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory are correct, people will still be driving gasoline powered cars 50 years from now, giving out heat-trapping carbon dioxide（二氧化碳）into the atmosphere—and yet that carbon dioxide will not contribute to global warming.

  In a proposal by two scientists, vehicle emissions (排放) would no longer contribute to global warming. The scientists, F. Jeffrey Martin and William L. Kubic Jr., are proposing a concept, which they have named Green Freedom, for removing carbon dioxide from the air and turning it back into gasoline.

  The idea is simple. Air would be blown over a liquid solution of potassium carbonate, which would absorb the carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide would then be put to chemical reactions that would turn it into fuel（燃料）: gasoline or jet fuel.

  This process could change carbon dioxide from an unwanted, climate-changing pollutant into a vast resource for renewable fuels. The cycle—equal amounts of carbon dioxide produced and removed—would mean that cars, trucks and airplanes using the synthetic (合成的) fuels would no longer be contributing to global warming.

   Although they have not yet built a synthetic fuel factory, or even a small model, the scientists say it is all based on existing technology. “Everything in the conce pt has been built, is operating or has a close cousin that is operating.” Dr. Martin said.

  TheLos Alamosproposal does not go against any laws of physics, and other scientists who have independently suggested similar ideas. Dr. Martin said he and Dr. Kubic had worked out their concept in more detail than former proposals.

  There is, however, a major fact that explains why no one has built a carbon-dioxide-to-gasoline factory: it requires a great deal of energy.

  According to their analysis, their concept, which would cost about $5 billion to build, could produce gasoline at an operating cost of $1.40 a gallon and would turn economically practical when the price at the pump hits $4.60 a gallon.

  Other scientists said theLos Alamosproposal perhaps looked promising but could not evaluate it fully because the details has not been published. “Itˈs definitely worth pursuing,” said Martin I. Hoffert, a professor of physics at New York University. “Itˈs not that new an idea. It has a couple of pieces to it that are interesting.”

    Science has a lot of uses. It can uncover laws of nature, cure diseases, make bombs, and help bridges to stand up. Indeed science is so good at what it does that there’s always a temptation (诱惑) to drag it into problems where it may not be helpful. David Brooks, author of The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement, appears to be the latest in a long line of writers who have failed to resist the temptation.

Brooks gained fame for several books. His latest book The Social Animal, however, is more ambitious and serious than his earlier books. It is an attempt to deal with a set of weighty topics. The book focuses on big questions: What has science revealed about human nature? What are the sources of character? And why are some people happy and successful while others aren’t?

To answer these questions, Brooks surveys a wide range of disciplines. Considering this, you might expect the book to be a dry recitation (背诵) of facts. But Brooks has structured his book in an unorthodox (非常规的), and perhaps unfortunate way. Instead of introducing scientific theories, he tells a story, within which he tries to make his points, perhaps in order to keep the reader’s attention. So as Harold and Erica, the hero and heroine in his story, live through childhood, we hear about the science of child development and as they begin to date we hear about the theory of sexual attraction. Brooks carries this through to the death of one of his characters.

On the whole, Brooks’ story is acceptable if uninspired. As one would expect, his writing is mostly clear and, to be fair, some chapters stand out above the rest. I enjoyed, for instance, the chapter in which Harold discovers how to think on his own. While Harold and Erica are certainly not strong or memorable characters, the more serious problems with The Social Animal lie elsewhere. These problems partly involve Brooks’ attempt to translate his tale into science.

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Visiting an apple event is a good chance to see, and often taste, a wide variety of apples. To people who are used to the limited choice of apples such as Golden Delicious and Royal Gala in supermarkets, it can be quite an eye opener to see the range of classical apples still in existence, such as Decio which was grown by the Romans. Although it doesn’t taste of anything special, it’s still worth a try, as is the knobbly(多疙瘩的) Cat’s Head which is more of a curiosity than anything else.

There are also varieties developed to suit specific local conditions. One of the very best varieties for eating quality is Orleans Reinette, but you’ll need a warm, sheltered place with perfect soil to grow it, so it’s a__pipe__dream for most apple lovers who fall for it.

At the events, you can meet expert growers and discuss which ones will best suit your conditions, and because these are family affairs, children are well catered for with apple-themed fun and games.

Apple Days are being held at all sorts of places with an interest in fruit, including stately gardens and commercial orchards(果园)．If you want to have a real orchard experience, try visiting the National Fruit Collection at Brogdale, near Faversham in Kent.

Reading can be a social activity．Think of the people who belong to book groups．They choose books to read and then meet to discuss them．Now，the website BookCrossing.com turns the page on the traditional idea of a book group．

Members go on the site and register the books they own and would like to share．BookCrossing provides an identification number to stick inside the book．Then the person leaves it in a public place，hoping that the book will have an adventure，traveling far and wide with each new reader who finds it．Bruce Pederson，the managing director of BookCrossing，says，"The two things that change your life are the people you meet and books you read．BookCrossing combines both．"

Members leave books on park benches and buses，in train stations and coffee shops．Whoever finds their book will go to the site and record where they found it．

People who find a book can also leave a journal entry describing what they thought of it．E﹣mails are then sent to the BookCrossing to keep them updated about where their books have been found．Bruce Peterson says the idea is for people not to be selfish by keeping a book to gather dust on a shelf at home．

BookCrossing is part of a trend among people who want to get back to the"real"and not the virtual（虚拟）．The site now has more than one million members in more than one hundred thirty﹣five countries．

Every week in China, millions of people will sit in front of their TVs watching teenagers compete for the title Character Hero, which is a Chinese-style spelling bee(拼写大赛). In this challenge, young competitors must write Chinese characters by hand. To prepare for the competition, the competitors usually spend months studying dictionaries.

Perhaps the show’s popularity should not be a surprise. Along with gunpowder and paper, many Chinese people consider the creation of Chinese calligraphy(书法) to be one of their primary contributions. Unfortunately, all over the country, Chinese people are forgetting how to write their own language without computerized help. Software on smart phones and computers allows users to type in the basic sound of the word using the Latin alphabet(字母). The correct character is chosen from a list. The result? It’s possible to recognize characters without remembering how to write them.

But there’s still hope for the paint brush. China’s Education Ministry wants children to spend more time learning how to write.

In one Beijing primary school we visited, students practice calligraphy every day inside a specially decorated classroom with traditional Chinese paintings hanging on the walls. Soft music plays as a group of six-year-olds dip brush pens into black ink. They look up at the blackboard often to study their teacher’s examples before carefully trying to reproduce those characters on thin rice paper. “If adults can survive without using handwriting, why bother to teach it now?” we ask the calligraphy teacher, Shen Bin. “The ability to write characters is part of Chinese tradition and culture,” she reasons. “Students must learn now so they don’t forget when they grow up.” says the teacher.

The practice of students’ endlessly copying letters and sentences from a blackboard is a thing of the past. With the coming of new technologies like computers and smartphones, writing by hand has become something of nostalgic(怀旧的)skill. However, while today’s educators are using more and moretechnology in their teaching, many believe basic handwriting skills are still necessary for students to be successful—both in school and in life.

Virginia Berninger, professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says it’s important to continue teaching handwriting and help children acquire the skill of writing by hand.

Berninger and her colleagues conducted a study that looked at the ability of students to complete various writing tasks—both on a computer and by hand. The study, published in 2009, found that when writing with a pen and paper, participants wrote longer essays and more complete sentences and had a faster word production rate.

In a more recent study, Berninger looked at what role spelling plays in a student’s writing skills and found that how well children spell is tied to how well they can write. “Spelling makes some of the thinking parts of the brain active which helps us access our vocabulary, word meaning and concepts. It is allowing our written language to connect with ideas. ”Berninger said.

Spelling helps students translate ideas into words in their mind first and then to transcribe “those words in the mind written symbols on paper or keyboard and screen, ” the study said. Seeing the words in the “mind’s eye” helps children not only to turn their ideas into words, says Berninger, but also to spot spelling mistakes when they write the words down and to correct them over time.

“In our computer age, some people believe that we don’t have to teach spelling because we have spell checks. ”she said. “But until a child has a functional spelling ability of about a fifth grade level, he won’t have the knowledge to choose the correct spelling among the options given by the computer. ”

Reading is thought to be a kind of conservation between the reader and the text. The reader puts questions, as it were, to the text and gets answers. In the light of these he puts further questions, and so on.

       For most of the time this “conservation” goes on below the level of consciousness. At times, however, we become aware of it. This is usually when we are running into difficulties, when mismatching is occurring between expectation and meaning. When successful matching is being experienced , our questioning of the text continues at the unconscious level.

Different people converse with the text differently. Some stay very close to the words on the page; others take off imaginatively from the words, interpreting, criticizing, analyzing and examining. The former represents a kind of comprehension which is written in the text. The latter represents higher levels of comprehension. The balance between these is important, especially for advanced readers. There is another conservation which from our point of view is equally important, and that is not to do with what is read but how it is read. We call this a “process” conservation as opposed to a “content” conservation. It is concerned not with meaning but with the strategies we employ in reading. If we are an advanced reader, our ability to hold a content conservation with a text is usually pretty well developed. Not so our ability to hold a process conservation. It is precisely this kind of conservation that is of importance when we are seeking to develop our reading to meet the new demands being placed upon us by studying at a higher level.

 I don't remember exactly why I occupied in this journey to learn German, but I remember I had no idea how to learn German. I spent months using a dusty grammar book removed from my grandmother's bookcase, Gothic(哥特语的) letters poured down the page begging me to repeat vacant grammar drills. I quickly lost hear.

   Then I saw a commercial on TV about a language series in 4 languages and decided to give it a go once more. After a year and a half, I met a bunch of Germans while on vacation. I will always remember their faces as they repeatedly asked, "Wie kannst du so gut Deutsch?! (How can you speak German so well?!)" this reaction and the resulting connection were enough to fuel my passion to perfect my German. From that moment on I started reading as much as possible.

   Language learning offers you great insights into your own native language. If you learn a language similar to yours, speak it from the beginning.

   Spanish and Italian are like two sisters: different and yet similar at the same time. One common saying in Italy is that Spanish is easy: that you just have to speak Italian and add an "s" to every single word. The overall structure of the two languages is similar, but there are a fair few differences in terms of pronunciation, intonation(语调) and idiomatic usage. In 2007 I did an exchange in Barcelona. Although I was absorbed in a mainly Catalan environment. I was living with a lively Spanish girl from Malaga and often went out with a lot of other Spanish people. By the time I came back to Rome. Spanish had become a part of me.

For previous generations，college was decisive break from parental control； guidance and support needed help from people of the same age and from within．In the past two decades，however，continued connection with and dependence on family，thanks to cellphones，email and social media，have increased significantly．Some parents go so far as to help with coursework．Instead of promoting the idea of college as a passage from the shelter of the family to autonomy and adult responsibility，universities have given in to the idea that they should provide the same environment as that of the home．

Moreover，the tendency for universities to monitor and shape student behavior runs up against another characteristic of young adults：the response to being controlled by their elders．If acceptable social behavior is too strictly defined（规定） and controlled，the insensitive or aggressive behavior that administrators are seeking to minimize may actually be encouraged．

It is not surprising that young people are likely to burst out，particularly when there are reasons to do so．Our generation once joined hands and stood firm at times of national emergency．What is lacking today is the conflict between adolescent’s desire for autonomy and their understanding of an unsafe world．Therefore，there is the desire for their dorms to be replacement homes and not places to experience intellectual growth．