The Great Smoky Mountains National Park offers trails (路线) for all skill levels and we’ve pulled together a list of some of the easier hiking trails that are perfect for kids.

Gatlinburg Trail

The Gatlinburg Trail is easy to get to and perfect for a first time hiking experience. Pets and bikes are allowed on this one too. The trail is relatively flat and follows along the West Prong of the Little Pigeon River for about 2 miles, so the roundtrip length is just 3.9 miles. Hike at your own pace and enjoy!

Porters Creek Trail

The Porters Creek trailhead is located in Greenbrier Cove. The trail makes a great hike any time of the year due to its lower elevation (海拔). As you make your way along the hiking trail from the parking lot to Porters Flat, you’ll see remains of the Elbert Cantrell farmhouse, Ownby Cemetery, the John Messer farm site and more. And if you happen to visit during the spring season, be on the lookout for all the beautiful spring wildflowers beginning to bloom. The roundtrip length is 4 miles.

Laurel Falls

The Laurel Falls trail is 2.3 miles round trip and considered to be one of the best waterfall hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains! Laurel Falls Trail is paved but rocky and uneven, and there are a few steep drop-offs as you get closer to the falls, so wear appropriate shoes and keep small children close.

Andrew’s Bald Hiking Trail

Andrew’s Bald Hiking Trail is 1. 8 miles each way and relatively easy to negotiate. You may find patches of wild berries and beautiful wildflowers but best of all, some amazing views of the Great Smoky Mountains. It’s also a great spot to stop and enjoy a picnic with the family.

We are in the middle of December now, and for many weeks we haven’t even seen a glimpse of the sun. It’s been hidden under a thick layer of clouds. And December is a very dark time of the year even if it’s a clear sky, since we only can see the sun for about an hour above the treetops before it goes back down.

But in some way I really love this time. I love the extremes. The very dark December, and the very light June. The midnight sun and the polar night. It’s so special and magical in some way.

But today, we finally saw the light from the sun again. It was still behind clouds but it was so beautiful to just see the light and the beautiful colors in the sky. That really made my day! I flew up with my drone (无人机) so that I could take a photo of it.

It’s only in the contrasts that we can really appreciate life. We need the darkness to see the light. We need the cold to feel the warmth. We need to put ourselves in discomfort to appreciate the comfort. And every year this time I get the same deep feelings of gratitude for the light and the sun. It’s ok to live in darkness for a long time each year just to get this feeling when standing in the window and suddenly feel a little ray of sunlight hitting your face. It’s like being flushed with a wave of love. It’s like I wanna cry every time.

Our cat Nayeli must have also felt very happy about the little sunlight we got today, since she sat in the window looking out for a long time while the sun was visible.

I took the photo of my beautiful home and my village today. And I always love to see Grundtjärn from far away. It really gives you an idea of how far away we live from towns, cities and streetlights. All you can see is forest everywhere.

Batik is a traditional Indonesian coloring method used to make designs and drawings, usually on cloth and finished textiles. Batik makers use dyes(染料)—colors added to cloth and other materials—to create the colorful designs.

In central Indonesia, many batik makers are using natural dyes instead of manufactured ones. The natural dyes used come from mangrove (红树林) forests that grow along the coast. The trees grow in salty water on a complex system of tall roots.

Mangrove forests serve an important purpose. They provide a barrier against destructive ocean waves called tsunamis. They also are important to water life like fish and crabs. And the forests are more effective in taking in carbon dioxide gas, a gas linked to climate change, than rainforests or similar environments.

Erwin Ardli is a mangrove ecologist at Indonesia’s Jenderal Soedirman University. He says the natural dyes may not be as bright as manufactured ones. But they are better for the environment.

Ardli said, “We’ve seen the interest for natural dyes increasing, and especially for middle-to upper-class people, they seem proud to wear clothes using these natural dyes rather than synthetic (合成的) ones.”

Iiting Budiarti, who owns an art gallery that shows Batik designs, agreed with Ardli, adding that objects with natural dyes can cost two or three times more than the synthetic ones.

Forty-eight-year-old Sodikin is a batik maker. Over the past four years, he and his group of batik makers have changed from using chemical materials for dyes to mangrove-based products. The change has reduced their costs and helped the environment. Harvesting involves gathering a handful of what looks like string beans—seeds within a covering. Sodikin then takes the mangrove fruit home to make natural dye from them.

“We use natural materials so as to preserve the mangrove forest at the same time,” Sodikin said, “We do not cut down the trees,” he added, “and we only take fruits or leaves that have fallen.”

A new study published recently is the first to investigate the association between fruit and vegetable intakes, breakfast and lunch choices, and mental health in UK school children. It shows how eating more fruit and vegetables is linked with better mental health among junior high school pupils in particular. And children who consumed five or more parts of fruit and vegetables a day had the highest scores for mental well-being.

The research team studied data from almost 9,000 children in 50 schools across Norfolk. Children involved in the study self-reported their dietary choices and took part in age-appropriate tests of mental well-being that covered cheerfulness, relaxation, and having good interpersonal relationships. The team looked at the association between nutritional factors and mental well-being and other factors that might have an impact—such as unpleasant childhood experiences and home situations.

Dr Richard Hayhoe said: “We found that eating well was connected with better mental well-being in children. And that among junior high school children in particular, there was a strong link between eating a nutritious diet, packed with fruit and vegetables, and having better mental well-being.”

It was also found that the types of breakfast and lunch eaten by both primary and junior high school pupils were also associated with well-being. Children who ate a traditional breakfast experienced better well-being than those who only had a snack or drink. But junior high school children who drank energy drinks for breakfast had particularly low mental well-being scores, even lower than those children consuming no breakfast at all. Another interesting thing the team found was that nutrition had as much or more of an impact on well-being as factors such as witnessing regular arguing or violence at home.

Nutrition represents an important public health target for strategies to deal with childhood mental well-being. The research team say that public health strategies and school policies should be developed to ensure that good quality nutrition is available to all children before and during school to optimise mental well-being and enable children to realize their full potential(潜力).

Seeing people in your family fight can be really tough. Whether you’re involved or not, you might be feeling sad, angry, or even ashamed when your loved ones yell and scream at each other.     36    

Call a family meeting

    37     See if there’s a good time and day that works for everyone in your family to get together. Then, you can all meet up and talk about the issues. If you’re younger, try asking your parents to call a family meeting and invite all the family members.

Listen to everyone

Give everyone in the family a chance to speak.     38     When it’s your turn to talk, you can bring up the stuff that’s bothering you. Letting everyone talk can be tough. However, if you let everyone else talk, they’ll hear what you have to say, too.

    39    

Name what you’re feeling and how you’d like to fix it. Express what’s going on with you so your family knows how to move forward. If anyone tries to interrupt, calmly remind them that you let them talk, so they need to do the same for you.

Talk with a mental health professional

Sometimes, you and your family can’t come up with a resolution. In that case, consider talking to mental health professionals.     40     You can also talk to a therapist (治疗师) one on one to come up with ways to work through family issues.

What are the Olympic Games?

The modern Olympic Games, also called the Olympics, are     61     international athletic competition of sporting events between athletes representing their country.

There are two related but separate events     62     (call) the Olympic Games,     63     are usually called the Winter Olympics and the Summer Olympics. The Winter Games feature winter sports,     64     (include) figure skating, skiing, snowboarding, and many others. The Summer Games feature traditionally warm weather and indoor sports, like track and field, swimming, and basketball, among many others.

The Olympic Games are sometimes referred to as the Olympiad or the Games of the Olympiad, often with the number of the current event. For example, the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo will be known as the Games of the XXXII Olympiad. The event is also     65     (common) referred to with the name of the host city, as in the Tokyo Olympics. Athletes who compete     66     the Olympic Games are called Olympians.

At the Olympic Games, the top three finishers in each event     67     (award) Olympic medals: gold for first place, silver for     68     (two) place, and bronze for third place. Because the Olympic Games often feature the     69    (good) athletes in the world, winning a medal-or even competing-in them is considered one of the highest athletic     70     (achieve).