Energy Resources

China is rich in various energy resources. Coal and petroleum， for instance， are two major ones. They are essential in developing the country‘s industry， science and technology. China has done a great deal in the past few decades to raise its output of coal and petroleum.

Three energy resources are being used up rapidly， With the building of four modernization， new industrial and science projects are springing up like bamboo shoots after rain. They are all big consumers of energy resources. Besides there has been considerable waste in the utilization of these resources.

To avoid an energy crisis in the future， the government must take certain measures. First， it should let people know the importance of saving energy. Second， efforts should be made to develop new energy resources， such as solar energy， geothermal（地热） energy and so on. We have reason to be optimistic in this respect.

The Brain and the Computer

Some recent developments in the computer industry make scientists predict that the gap between human beings and machines will be closed about the year 20000.

To understand the significance of this prediction let us compare the human brain with existing computers. The brain consumes electrical energy at the rate of 25 watts and occupies a volume of one tenth of a cubic foot. The brain houses between 10 billion and 100 billion items of information. Every brain cell is directly connected to many other cells. As a result， the cells in which information is stored can communicate with thousands of other cells.

However， the computer consumes 1000，000 watts of electrical power and occupies hundreds of cubic feet of space. Its million items of immediately accessible information. In contrast， the computer memory is like a cell of pigeonholes， with no thinking capacity and no connections elsewhere.

In a word， the electronic brains are hopelessly inadequate in comparison with the human brains.