How much paper do you use every year? Probably you can’t answer this question quickly. In 2022, the world’s use of paper was about fifty-eight kilograms for each person in a year. “The amount (数量) of paper a country uses shows how far advanced the country is,” some people say. Countries like the United States, England and Sweden certainly use more paper than other countries.

The Chinese first made paper about 2,000 years ago. At that time Chinese paper was not made from the wood of trees. It was made from the hair-like parts of certain plants. Today in Finland, which makes the best paper in the world, the paper industry (制造业) is the biggest in the land. The biggest machine can make a piece of paper 8,300 meters long and 6 meters wide in one minute.

Each year, more and more things are made of paper. But only half of the paper that is made is used for books and newspapers. There are many other uses. We have had paper cups, plates, and dishes for a long time. But now we hear that chairs, tables, and even beds can be made of paper. With paper boots and shoes, you can wear paper hats, paper dresses, and paper raincoats. When you have used them once, you throw them away and buy new ones. Paper is also good for keeping you warm. The latest use in paper seems to be paper houses. There are not small houses for children to play in, but real, big houses for people to live in. You can buy a house with three main rooms for about ¥500. You can put it up yourself in a few hours, and you can use it for about five years.

People have made paper boats, but they have not yet made paper airplanes or cars. Just wait—they probably will.

Have you ever seen a car without a driver? It sounds crazy, but these computer-driven driverless cars will soon be filling roads near you. Companies like Google and Tesla have been designing and testing these cars, and they just need to see if they value for money, work out insurance (保险) issues, and run final tests to check if they can run alongside human-driven cars on the road.

So how do they work? The cars have sensors (感应器) all around which can find other cars and objects on the road. Sensors on the wheels also help when parking, so the car knows how far it is from the outside of the road or other parked cars. Road signs are read by camera, and satellite navigation systems are used, so the car knows how to get where you want to go. All you have to do is to type in the address! Finally, a central computer system takes in all the information that it receives from the sensors and cameras and works out when to speed up, stop and turn.

Sound like your idea of heaven (天堂)? Sitting back, looking out of the windows and even watching a film or reading a book while “driving” would be possible with this new technology. You wouldn’t have to worry about remembering directions to where you’re going. In addition, computers would be better drivers than humans—they would obey the speed limit and have quicker action when in dangerous situations.

However, there are many disadvantages of driverless cars. Computers would have difficulties making ethical (道德的) decisions: If a child ran into the road, would the computer choose to hit the child or change the direction suddenly and potentially kill the car’s passengers? Moreover, I personally find driving fun—I’d miss driving a car myself. There would also be many other decisions to be made: Should children, or drunk people, be allowed in a driverless car by themselves? Or would there need to be a person with a driving license in the car at all times?

Although being driven around by a machine would perhaps mean that no one needs a driving license, and saving money for everyone, many people would be put out of a job when driverless cars appear. Bus, taxi and train drivers as well as driving instructors would be made unnecessary.

I’m not certain if I’d want a driverless car, but it’s only a matter of time before they’ll become more affordable and common on our roads.