You're happy to let your best friend borrow your mountain bike, but would you be willing to loan it out to a total stranger if you could make some money from the arrangement?

    That's the idea behind peer-to-peer (P2P) renting, a new model concluded by sites such as eBay and Craigslist. Instead of selling an idle (闲置) thing, you loan it to people in your town, get paid a small rental fee and gel it back when the borrower's done with it. In the past few years, almost a dozen websites have popped up promising to connect lenders and borrowers. For example, you can use GetAround to rent out your car or motorcycle, SnapGoods to rent out electronics and gadgets, ToolSpinner to rent electric drills and lawnmowers, Zaarly and Knb to rent out a little bit of everything else.

    Old as it may sound, P2P renting is more high-tech than before, with websites that avoid cash for credit cards. A user creates an online listing for the item she wants to rent out, choosing her own rental fee. When someone wants the item, he keeps it on an online calendar, and the two arrange a time and place for pickup. Each site operates a little differently, but all use technology to make renting easy, safe and relatively inexpensive.

    Why rent your idle things? You may not make a ton of money, but it is a good way to get some use out of idle things. The people who rent those goods are able to save thousands of dollars by renting instead of buying new.

    There may be other benefits. "It brings convenience, security and adventure," says Ali Hart, JustSharclt's spokesperson. “But, more importantly, we're really connecting people and building community, too."

    Get to know your neighbors and make a few dollars in the process? Sounds like a good deal.

    Researchers at Stanford University have developed a new material that can move heat out of buildings and into space. The researchers say the material can cool buildings even on hot days. The cooling material is a very thin sheet with many layers that could be placed on a roof like solar panels(板). However, instead of turning sunlight into energy as solar panels do, the material turns heat into infrared（红外线的）radiation.

    Shanhui Fan is an electrical engineering professor at Stanford University. He says that the panels have a layer of material that is like sand. The panels act like a mirror. They take heat out of buildings and reflect the light from the sun. And he says both the heat and sunlight arc sent 100 kilometers into outer space. "It's a structure that cools itself without electricity input, even under the sun. So, what it does is basically radiate heat to outer space and also reflect the sunlight so it doesn't get heated up by the sun. Mr. Fan says it is like having a window into space. The heat is sent directly into space without increasing the air temperature

    He says buildings in developing countries that do not have electricity or air conditioning could use the panels. "In areas where electricity is out of reach for many people, there is a potential benefit for storing medicine or even food. In many of these situations, being able to reduce the temperature is important. And this would provide a way to do it.”

    The researchers say the main problem is creating actual cooling systems using the high-tech panels. They say it may be possible to develop a cooling spray(喷涂）that could be used on present solid structures. They believe the cooling spray technology could be developed in the next three to five years. They say as much as 15 percent of the energy used in the United States is spent providing power to air conditioning systems.

    Are These the Best Years of Your Life?

    The ups and downs of life may seem to have no predictable plan. But scientists now know there are very clear life patterns that almost all people share. Even if you have passed some of your best years, you still have other good years to come.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    When are you smartest? From 18 to 25, according to I. Q. scores; but you are wiser and more experienced with increasing age. You're sharpest in your 20's; around 30, mental abilities begin to decline, particularly your ability to do maths.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Your vocabulary at age 45, for example, is three times as great as when you graduated from college. At 60, your brain possesses almost four times as much information as it did at age 21.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}You have the best physical sense of yourself from 15 to 24, when you feel energetic all the time. The best professional sense seems from 40 to 49. Before age 24, we believe that our happiest years are yet to come. Over 30, we believe that they're behind us. A National Health Survey agrees: After age 30, we “become more realistic and do not view happiness as a goal in itself. If we keep our health, achieve professional and emotional goals, then happiness, we feel, will follow.”

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Generally between 30 to 39, but the peak(顶峰）varies with different professions. Mozart wrote a symphony by age eight, and Mendelssohn composed his best-known work, A Midsummer Night's dream, at 17, but most of the great music was written by men between 33 and 39. Though the peak in most fields comes early—most Nobel Prize winners did their top research in their late 20's and 30's, creative people continue to produce quality work throughout their lives.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. When are you happiest?

B. When are you most creative?

C. But your ability to complete other tasks climbs.

D. The above gives you an accurate figure.

E. Certain good years seem to come later in life.

F. For people who are creative, there is no upper age limit.

G. The human life journey cannot be charted by a clear life pattern.

    Are These the Best Years of Your Life?

    The ups and downs of life may seem to have no predictable plan. But scientists now know there are very clear life patterns that almost all people share. Even if you have passed some of your best years, you still have other good years to come.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    When are you smartest? From 18 to 25, according to I. Q. scores; but you are wiser and more experienced with increasing age. You're sharpest in your 20's; around 30, mental abilities begin to decline, particularly your ability to do maths.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Your vocabulary at age 45, for example, is three times as great as when you graduated from college. At 60, your brain possesses almost four times as much information as it did at age 21.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}You have the best physical sense of yourself from 15 to 24, when you feel energetic all the time. The best professional sense seems from 40 to 49. Before age 24, we believe that our happiest years are yet to come. Over 30, we believe that they're behind us. A National Health Survey agrees: After age 30, we “become more realistic and do not view happiness as a goal in itself. If we keep our health, achieve professional and emotional goals, then happiness, we feel, will follow.”

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Generally between 30 to 39, but the peak(顶峰）varies with different professions. Mozart wrote a symphony by age eight, and Mendelssohn composed his best-known work, A Midsummer Night's dream, at 17, but most of the great music was written by men between 33 and 39. Though the peak in most fields comes early—most Nobel Prize winners did their top research in their late 20's and 30's, creative people continue to produce quality work throughout their lives.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. When are you happiest?

B. When are you most creative?

C. But your ability to complete other tasks climbs.

D. The above gives you an accurate figure.

E. Certain good years seem to come later in life.

F. For people who are creative, there is no upper age limit.

G. The human life journey cannot be charted by a clear life pattern.