Self-driving cars are so popular that the University of Michigan has even established a town called Mcity to allow car manufacturers to safely test their autonomous cars.

While Mcity can be used to simulate（模拟）many real-life road conditions，it can't help test gestures drivers use to communicate their intention（意图）to other drivers，pedestrians or cyclists. To find a solution，US car manufacturer Ford，with researchers from Virginia Tech，at the beginning considered using text as a way to communicate the car's intention，but decided it would probably not work universally. The option of using symbols was also rejected，because research shows that a majority of people do not have a good understanding of what they mean.

Finally, the researchers settled on light signals. A white light warned that there were no humans in the car. A slow blinking one indicated that the car was coming to a stop, while a rapidly flashing light cautioned passersby that the car was about to speed up.

Then came the big challenge—testing the signals on real roads. "We needed to try out this new lighting to communicate the intention of the vehicle, but if you've got a driver behind the seat, you still have natural communication between humans," said Andy Shaudt, who led the research team. "So we needed to make it look like a driverless car."

The team designed a car seat costume（戏装）that the driver would wear to cover his or her face and upper body. Of course，the drivers could see very clearly. The researchers then equipped the car with cameras to capture human reactions to a light bar，which flashed one of the three signals when appropriate. Six drivers，all keeping their hands low on the wheel so as not to be noticed，took turns to test driving the car through the busy streets.

The overall reaction to the flashing lights was very encouraging. Who knew costumes could be useful for more than Halloween？

   A new tool of communication called the "drift diary" is doing the rounds among young college graduates.

The "drift diary", like those ancient paper messages put into a bottle left to drift on the high seas to reach hundreds of miles away, connects lonely hearts. It was first started by a Beijing woman, who goes by the screen name Little S, in 2007.It has become the preferred tool of communication among youngsters afraid to reveal their innermost self to peers, but wanting to share their lives with others. The way it works is that the initiator（发起人）of the diary mentions it on popular Internet forums such as Tianya and Douban. Those wanting to react or otherwise add to the diary then send their real names and addresses to the initiator via e-mails or text messages.

The numbers in one group are usually restricted to between 30 and 50. The diary then is passed on to another by the express delivery or personal handover. The diary writers are mostly anonymous（匿名的）but if they wish to reveal their identity they can do so by posting their contact information at the end of their postings.

The diary writers not just add words but also decorate the plain notebooks with cartoons, drawings or even dress it up with a ribbon or a new cover. Interesting experiences, travel journals, the simple joys of everyday living or sweet recollections of childhood, all find a place in these diaries. Most often, though, the writers set down their frustrations and predicaments.

It usually takes one year for a diary to return to the initiator. The last recorder is the luckiest one, with access to all previous entries, while others can request photocopies of them from the diary's initiator.

   Blind people can read. They do so by running their fingers along a line of raised points or dots on paper. Of course, they first have to learn the code（代码）. Here are some examples of it. One dot stands for the letter “A”. Two dots side by side mean “C”. Four dots arranged to look like a box（：：） stand for the letter “G”. By placing the dots in special patterns, all the letters of the alphabet can be formed.

This code was made up by a Frenchman called Louis Braille. Though he could see at birth, he became sightless when he was only three. Braille was cutting leather in his father’s shop. His knife slipped and cut his eye. Infection（感染）spread to both eyes, and he became blind.

At 10, he was placed in a home for the blind. But young Braille had great talent. He became a skilled musician and soon got a job as a church organist（风琴弹奏者）in Paris.

Because he had talent and was quick, he became a teacher at a school for the blind. While there, he heard that a captain had sent messages to his soldiers that they could read at night without light. His messages were in the simple form of raised dots and dashes. This was the clue Braille needed. At the age of 15, he worked out his own six-dot code. Each group of dots is called a cell. The cells are three dots high and two dots wide. For the rest of his life, Braille taught his young flock to read both written and musical works using his code.

For the last 17 years of his life, Braille was ill with tuberculosis. He died at the age of 43.

In winter, gloves can prevent our hands from getting cold, 【小题1】 (especial) for people who ride bikes. Here is a new kind of gloves. The gloves are known 【小题2】 Talk to the Hand.

They come with a speaker into the thumb and a microphone into the little finger 【小题3】 can be connected to any mobile phone using Bluetooth. Mobile phone 【小题4】 (use) will be able to keep their hands warm while they chat without taking their phones out of their pockets 【小题5】 handbags.

Sean Miles combines (使结合) gloves with some parts of mobile phones, which are recycled through 02. He 【小题6】 (design) two pairs of the new gloves — one in pink and the other in brown and yellow. They will appear on a show and visitors will be able to win the gloves. If 【小题7】 (many) people want to own them, they will then be produced more in the near future.

It is said that the number of unused mobile phones in the UK is about 70 million. Bill Eyres, head of O2 Recycle, asks people 【小题8】 (recycle) their phones. Mr. Miles hopes his work will make people consider recycling, 【小题9】 (say), “If a few more people pay attention to recycling rather than send them to dustbins, I think this project will have reached 【小题10】 (it) purpose.”

China's first manned spaceship lifted off at 9 a. m. on Wednesday, October 15th, 2003 in Jiuquan, Gansu Province. It carried China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, 【小题1】 was a pilot in the army. The launch was 【小题2】（success）. "When the spaceship separated 【小题3】 the rocket, I suddenly got 【小题4】 feeling of soaring into the sky because of the zero gravity, "said Yang Liwei. The Shenzhou V circled the earth 14 times. When the spaceship 【小题5】（do）its seventh circle, Yang showed the flags of China and the United Nations, 【小题6】（express）the wishes of the Chinese people 【小题7】（explore）and use space 【小题8】（peaceful）. Yang landed in Inner Mongolia safely at 6：23 a. m. on October 16th. He told 【小题9】（report）that when Shenzhou V let out its parachute, he felt the ship was shaking. Millions of people all over China were watching TV when the spaceship landed safely. Yang was happy to return home 【小题10】 he thought 21 hours was too short to stay in space.