CES is produced by the Consumer Technology Association known as the place where many companies launch their latest technology offerings. Here is a look at some of the top products presented at CES 2022.
All-in-one communication
Technology company Anker announced the launch of an "all-in-one" device designed to improve communications for employees working from home. The Anker Work B600 sits on top of the computer display like a traditional webcam. But it combines several elements of communication into one device that includes a camera, speaker, microphone and a light.
AirSelfie camera
Electronics maker AirSelfie launched its latest self-flying camera designed to take "selfie" pictures. The new device, called Air Pix, is a small, light camera that flies through the air and captures high-quality photographs and video. Air Pix can fly, frame and take pictures all by itself before landing back on the user's hand.
Labrador's assistive robot
Robot maker Labrador announced its Retriever robot designed to hold things and, as its name suggests, also retrieve (找回) things. The robot can be controlled by voice commands or from an app on a phone. It can also be programmed based on an exact map of a users home. The Retriever is designed "to serve as an extra pair of hands and lighten the load of everyday tasks in the home".
Self-driving tractor
American-based farm equipment manufacturer John Deere presented a fully self-driving tractor equipped with six different cameras and a series of sensors to guide the tractor through the fields. Farmers can control the vehicle and see the tractor's progress in real-time through a mobile device which is to help farmers do more work with less equipment and people.
The company noted that such machines can help improve farming methods as the world's population grows and food demand is expected to rise 50 percent by 2050.
Amazon's Alexa will be able to revive the voices of deceased relatives, allowing users to feel as if they are speaking to lost ones beyond the grave.
In a video shown on stage, Amazon demonstrated how, instead of Alexa's signature voice reading a story toa young boy, it was his grandmother's voice.
Rohit Prasad, an Amazon senior vice president, said the updated system will be able to collect enough voice data from less than a minute of audio to make personalization like this possible, rather than having someone spend hours in a recording studio like how it's done in the past.
The concept starts from Amazon looking at new ways to add more "human features" to artificial intelligence, especially "in these times of the ongoing pandemic, when so many of us have lost someone we love," Prasad said. "While AI can't rid that pain of loss, it can definitely make their memories last. "
Amazon has long used AI recreations of people's voices to voice Alexa. But they have also increasingly improved over the past few years, particularly with the use of AI and deepfake technology.
However, Amazon's attempt at personalized Alexa voices may struggle most with the weird valley effect-recreating a voice that is so similar to a loved one's but isn't quite right, which leads to rejection by real humans. "For some, they will view this as creepy or outright terrible, but for others it could be viewed in a more profound way, perhaps for the first time and in a way that isn't a strict recording from the past." said Michael Inouye of ABI Research. He believes, however, the varying reactions to announcements like this speak to how society will have to adjust to the promise of innovations and their eventual reality in the years ahead.
The technology is also likely to lead to fears that it could be used to impersonate living people, which could be used to bypass security systems. In 2019, a manager at a British energy company lost almost￡200, 000 after criminals used AI to fake his boss's voice, directing him to transfer the company's funds to a foreign bank account.
Cultural exchanges and cooperation between Cambodia and China have been developing rapidly since the announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative.
China has donated millions of dollars to help with the restoration of Angkor Wat（吴哥窟）, shouldering more responsibility for world heritage protection. Cambodia's Angkor Wat was listed as a World Heritage site in 1992 and China began the restoration in 2000. Most of the 98 temples were completed by 2013.
Liu Jiang is from the Chinese restoration team. He says the restoration work at the Chau Say Tevoda Temple has been praised by the Cambodian side. Cambodia hopes they can do more restoration work for other historic sites of Angkor Wat in the future. Phay Siphan, spokesman for the Cambodian Council of Ministers, says the successful restoration of the Chau Say Tevoda Temple shows that China is not only influential in the economic and political field, but also in the cultural fields.
Now, the World Heritage Site is a popular destination for Chinese tourists. So far, China has overtaken Vietnam to become the largest source of tourists to Cambodia. Cambodia launched a "China Ready" strategy in 2016, with the aim of attracting more Chinese tourists. The country received about 1 million Chinese tourists last year, and it aims to double the number of Chinese tourists to 2 million by 2020. Many tourists say culture is their reason for visiting Cambodia.
A show called the "Smile of Angkor", which was created by both Chinese and Cambodian artists, has been on show since 2010 in Cambodia. It was sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and the Cambodian Ministry of Culture. So far, it has been performed more than 1,000 times, and seen by over a million audience members.
As university doors opened in September for a new year, an estimated six million people across the world took to the streets in a historic week of climate action. The power of this youth－led campaign reflected the urgency for action on the environment. So what now? For freshers starting a new chapter at university, deciding how to live your life is vital. Here are some ideas about how you can be sustainable as a student.
What you put on your plate matters: nearly a quarter of all greenhouse gases come from agriculture, and most of those are from meat and dairy. Meat and dairy consumption results in excessive (过度的) land use, industrial emissions, methane, water use and deforestation. Cutting out meat is an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint. A meat－free diet has been recommended as the "single－biggest way" an individual can reduce their impact on the planet.
Forget fast fashion: keeping your clothes for as long as possible has much more than just monetary value. In the UK, clothing has the fourth－largest environmental impact after housing, transport and food. So recycle your clothes or mend them.
For some freshers, this will be your first time living alone, which means doing your own washing, cooking and cleaning. There are simple ways you can change your habits to live more sustainably. Wash your clothes at a lower temperature，and choose a bamboo toothbrush or more eco－friendly sanitary(卫生的) products. When shopping, see if there's a zero－waste shop nearby, where all products are free from plastic packaging. Just turn up with your own container. If you're planning a weekend away with new friends, try to travel by train or bus.
Individual actions matter, as they demonstrate commitment and provide an alternative to how we can live. But campaigning is important, too. University campuses can be the perfect place for this. If you don't know where or how to start, see if there are any societies at your university like UK Student Climate Network. Students of the Fossil Free campaign, for example, have brought on huge changes by calling on their institutions to stop using fossil fuels—and 76 UK universities have now committed to it.
How to make a tastier chocolate?
A group of scientists in the Netherlands have been experimenting with a method to make chocolate more of a "treat" than ever. The scientists want to know why. But their study focused on how chocolate splits when you bite it.
"To improve how chocolate feels in the mouth, we gave geometry to chocolate,"
Coulais, a member of the group, said. Geometry is a branch of mathematics, dealing with shapes and their characters. Coulais and his team used a 3D printer to layer dark chocolate in various ways.They printed another in super-thin zigzagged(之字形的)layers. They also printed chocolates in complicated spirals(复杂的螺旋形)The resulting pieces were fed to ten eager volunteers.
The crunchiest(松脆的)-while remaining easy to bite-was the one made into complicated spirals. It was also the top-tasting experience"More crunchiness meant that people tended to like it more," Coulais said.
They wanted to find out which chocolate was the crunchiest. The general winner remained that spiral.
However, the spiral is not necessarily the best shape possible. Coulais thought it was just the best out of the few the scientists tested.
Coulais says it is too early to say whether chocolate will soon be made differently thanks to this research. He is working with a couple of organizations. They are studying how it might be applied.
A. It could also make treats even tastier.
B. Chocolate is delicious for many reasons.
C. This would then change the way it breaks.
D. The scientists printed one chocolate in a simple S-shape.
E. A machine is used to make a 3D object from digital files.
F. And there would be better ones if we would search more.
G. The scientists also used a machine to split the various chocolate shapes.
As 17-year-old Torri'ell Norwood drove through St, Petersburg. Florida, last February, the laughter and chatter from the four teenage girls inside her car quickly 1 screams. As they approached a crossroad, another car T-boned them, sending their black car sailing into the yard of a 2 home, coming to a stop only when it crashed into a tree.
As smoke billowed from the other car, a bystander shouted, "It's about to 3. Get out!" she 4 out through the window. Along with two of her friends, who'd also managed to 5 themselves, she ran for her life.
But halfway down the street, she realized that her best friend, A'zarria Simmons, wasn't with them. Norwood ran back to the wreck and found Simmons slumped (蜷缩) in the back seat. "She wasn't 6." Norwood told Inside Edition. She threw open the back door and 7 her friend out, avoiding the broken glass as best she could. She dragged Simmons a few feet to safety and 8 her on the ground. "I checked her pulse." Nothing. "I put my head against her chest." No 9 of life. "That's when I started CPR."
Had the accident happened a few weeks earlier, she might not have known what to do. But Norwood had earned her CPR certificate just the day before. 10 on the lawn and looking down at her dying friend, Norwood knew she had 11 little time to practice what she'd learned.
She started 12 Simmons's chest with her interlocked fingers and breathing into her friend's mouth in the 13 of filling her lungs with the kiss of life. No response And then, after the 30th compression, Simmons began coughing and 14 for air. The CPR had worked!
Soon, paramedics arrived and rushed Simmons to the hospital, where she received stitches for a gash (伤口) in her forehead. And then she heard how her best friend had saved her life. "I wasn't 15," Simmons told CNN. "She will always help any way she can."
Linqing, a city near the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, has developed a unique food culture combines the characteristics of cuisines from both northern and southern China.
Zhang Xiumei, president of a five-star hotel in Linqing, has been working hard (protect) and explore the food culture of Linqing, and to present that culture in a Lunar New Year's Eve dinner, or family reunion dinner.
"The Chinese style and Chinese flavors that have been integrated in the New Year's Eve dinner will last forever. This is a rich and precious (culture) heritage our ancestors left to us," she says. While (study) the history of the New Year's Eve dinner in Linqing, Zhang realized most important things about the dinner were "virtue," "harmony," and "reunion."
Whether it's a feast a simple dinner, the dishes (be) the carrier of the traditional Chinese "virtue" during the New Year's Eve dinner. The dinner also embodies (体现) "harmony." This particular meal has a great (significant) — people's wishes for family harmony, social harmony, and national prosperity (繁荣).
The New Year's Eve dinner is also a "reunion" dinner, inspiring family (member) from across China, or even the world, to reunite, recall the joys of the past, and enjoy the warmth and happiness of the reunion.
Zhang says, "The family reunion dinner is a lyrical poem, (write) by the Chinese using delicacies (佳肴)."
Walking up to the ringing phone, I looked at my clock. Midnight. Panicky thoughts filled my sleepy mind as I grabbed the receiver.
"Hello?" My heart pounded.
"Mama?" The voice answered. My thoughts immediately went to my daughter.
When I heard the sound of a young crying voice, I grabbed my husband.
"Mama, I know it's late. But don't say anything until I finish. And before you ask, yes, I've been drinking. I nearly ran off the road a few miles back and. . . "
I took a sharp breath, released my husband, and pressed my hand against my forehead(额头). Something wasn't right.
"And I got so scared. I want to come home. I know running away was wrong. I should have called you days ago but I was afraid. . . "
I tried to talk："I think. . . "
"No! Please let me finish！" She said, desperately. Before I could go on, she continued. "I'm pregnant(怀孕的), Mama. I know I shouldn't be drinking. . . but I'm scared, Mama. "
I bit into my lip(嘴唇), feeling my eyes filled with tears. My husband left the room, and returned seconds later with a cell phone against his ear.
She asked, "Are you still there? Please don't hang up on me! I feel so lonely. "
I held the phone. "I'm here. I wouldn't hang up, " I said.
"I should have told you, Mama. But when we talk, you just keep telling me what I should do. You read all those pamphlets(手册)on how to talk to kids, but all you do is talk. You don't listen to me. Because you're my mother, you think you have all the answers. But sometimes I don't need answers. I just want someone to listen. "
I stared at the howtotalktoyourkids pamphlets on my nightstand(床头柜). "I'm listening," I whispered.
Then she said she had called a taxi. When the taxi arrived, she hung up.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式作答。
Paragraph 1：
I went to my 16-year-old daughter's room.
Paragraph 2：
I looked at our sleeping daughter.
