Pillows(枕头) are a universal part of our lives and there are more choices than there have ever been, each with its own claim of support and comfort. While the idea of pillows being a soft place to rest your head is not a new concept, it certainly wasn’t its original purpose.

The earliest pillows date back over 9,000 years to Mesopotamian, or modern-day Iraq. Formed from stone, the top was carved in a half-moon shape to support the neck. The idea obviously wasn’t comfort. The basic function of the pillow was to keep the head off the ground and prevent insects from crawling (爬) into mouths, noses and ears.

The Egyptians believed that the head was an important spiritual and life center for the body, so pillows were created to hold and protect it. Pillows were carved of wood and reserved mainly for wealthy people.

The Chinese on the other hand, created decorated pillows from many materials including wood, stone, bamboo and jade (玉). Though they had the knowledge and ability to create soft pillows, they believe that such pillows stole energy from the body while one slept and were ineffective at keeping the bad spirits away.

Ancient Greeks and Romans used pillows more similar to those we know today—cloth bags filled with materials such as feathers or straw. By the Middle Ages in Europe, however, pillows had fallen out of favor with many. Many men viewed pillows as a sign of weakness, and their use was primarily limited to people with health problems.

Pillows did not become nearly as universal as they are today until the Industrial Revolution. The improvements in technology made mass production of pillows possible, meaning everyone could sleep with a pillow at night.

For such a simple idea, it’s amazing to see that pillow is still changing—new materials and shapes arise constantly. The pillow has been an important piece of human culture throughout much of our history and continues to be today.

Music is an international language. The songs that are sung or played by instruments are beautiful to all people everywhere.

Popular music in America is what every student likes. Students carry small radios with earphones and listen to music before class, after class, and at lunch. Students with cars buy large speakers and play the music loudly as they drive on the streets.

Adult drivers listen to music on the car radio as they drive to work. They also listen to the news about sports, the weather, politics, and activities of the American people. Most of the radio broadcast is music.

Pop or popular music singers make much money. They make a CD or tape which radio stations use in every state. Once the pop singer is heard throughout the country, young people buy his or her tapes. Some of the money from these tapes comes to the singer. Wherever the singer goes, all the young people want to meet him or her. Now the singer has become a national star.

There are other kinds of music that are important to Americans. One is called folk music. It tells stories about the common life of Americans. Another is called western or country music. This was started by cowboys who would sing at night to the cows they were watching. Today, any music about country life and the love between a country boy and his girl is called western or country music.

Serious music for the concert halls is called classical music. Music for instrument is called orchestra music (管弦乐),such as the symphonies (交响乐) of Beethoven. There is opera (歌剧 ) for singers. There is ballet for dancers like Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai in China.

“Smart cities promise to bring better lives, faster transport, cleaner air and lower crime, all through the intelligent use of connected technology, ” said experts, “and after huge investment in the field, China is leading the way.”

“China’s smart cities market increases about 30 percent year­on­year in 2018, and all the provinces have begun development and construction for smart cities, with more to follow,” said an expert.

“Although most cities have started a smart city project, there is no globally unified thinking on the concept and operation of smart cities,” said Franco.

Alibaba is now involved in dozens of pilot projects across China, with its open AI (人工智能) platform Tianqing for the ET City Brain system officially launched in September. Set up by its cloud computing subsidiary (子公司), the Brain looks to make the city “think” through AI and cloud computing technologies, and help make the best of public services in real time.

Since introducing the technology, Hangzhou’s traffic jam has fallen from the fifth­worst in China in 2016, all the way to 57th place this year. “Now our experiments are mostly for government use, but we truly expect our open AI platform to enter more areas and help citizens live, work and entertain better,” said Hua.

In McKinsey Global Institute recent report smart cities: Digital solutions for a more livable future, they find cities can use smart technologies to improve some key quality life by 10 to 30 percent—numbers that translate into lives saved, fewer crime incidents, a reduced health burden, and carbon emissions.