Imagine having a bedroom that interacts with you. If you’re sad, it will arrange for some of your friends to come over to cheer you up. If you’re happy, it might respond by playing your favorite game with you.

    Does it sound like something out of a science-fiction movie? Well, it’s really something out of the Georgia Institute of Technology. Irfan Essa works at the computer lab there. He has developed a computer system that can look at you and recognize your mood. He calls it the “expression recognition system.” Essa says, “We are trying to get computers to act like a human brain. But the human brain is not like one computer, it is like many working together.”

    In Essa’s system, many computers work together. First, a camera in the bedroom takes a picture of your face. The camera feeds the image to a computer. In the computer’s memory, there are pictures showing how the muscles of your face move when you are in different moods. For example, cheek muscles move in one way when you are happy and smiling and in another way when you are nervous and tense. The computer compares your picture to the face-muscle images stored in its memory. It tries to find the best match. That’s how it figures out your mood! Then the computer sends messages to other computers in the system. If you look happy, a computer may put on lively music. If you look tired and discouraged, a different computer may turn on the TV for you.

    How could the “expression recognition system” help us in important ways? Essa thinks that the system can help us create computers that are better teachers. Many people learn new skills through computer programs. “When I teach, I look at people’s faces,” Essa explains. “If my students look confused, I know they didn’t understand. With this technology, a computer can also know if a student is learning.”

    Today, this new technology can be found only in labs, but Essa predicts we’ll see it out of the lab in a few years. So get ready. One day, you might walk into a room that will soon become your best friend.

1. Can the new computer system look at you and recognize your mood？

2. What happens first in the bedroom in Essa’s system?

3. Will the computer put on lively music or turn on the TV if you look happy?

4. How does the “expression recognition system” make computers better teachers?

5. What will future rooms be like?

If you think you are too shy and want to be a little bit braver, just try the following things.

Be open to others. Tell people you are shy. There is no need to hide it. When they get to know you are a shy kid, they will understand you better. This also helps you feel more comfortable in talks.

Try to smile more. When you smile , people think you are friendly and easy to talk with. Remember that other people have feelings, too; and most people will stay away from an angry-looking face.

Learn to be a good talker. If you find it hard to start a conversation, say something nice about people around you. Think about how great you feel when someone says something nice to you. Doesn’t it make you want to keep talking to that oerson?

Get your attention elsewhere. Think more about ways to enjoy parties or games. Don’t waste time worrying about your look or whether people like you or not. You will become relaxed and find it’s not so hard to talk with others.

Take one small step at a time. Each time when you say “Hi!” or smile at someone, say to yourself “You can make it.” Keep trying and one day you’ll never feel shy when you talk to others.

Title: Advice on __1.__to be a little braver

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Have you ever asked yourself why children go to school? You will probably   1__  they go to learn languages, geography, history, science and all the other subjects. That is quite    2  ,but why do they learn these things?

We send our children to school to    3   them for their future work and life. Nearly everything they study at school has some practical use in their life, but is that the  __4  reason they go to school?

There is    5  in education than just learning facts. We go to school above all to learn how to learn, so when we    6   school we can go on learning. If a man really knows how to learn, he will    7   be successful, because whenever he has to do something new he will quickly teach himself how to do it in the best way. The uneducated person, on the other hand, is ___8   unable to do it or does it badly, so the    9   of school is not just to teach languages, geography, science, etc, but to teach pupils the    10   to learn.