Welcome to Olympic National Park!

The park is located in the western state of Washington and it covers more than 400,000 hectares. Each area of the park offers visitors something special. Here are some places to go.

Elwha Valley

The Elwha Valley is in the central part of the park. It is the Olympic Peninsula’s largest watershed (分水岭). Long ago, the rivers in this area held the most salmon (鲑鱼) outside of Alaska. In the 1920s, a growing community of settlers built two hydroelectric (水力发电) dams to provide energy for the local economy. The dams created many problems for the river. They decreased the water in the rivers, which caused the fish population in the area to decrease. This affected the other animals that depended on fish for food.

The community later decided to take some measures to solve these problems. Today, the Elwha River is the site of one of the largest ecosystem restoration projects in National Park Service history.

Hurricane Ridge

Hurricane Ridge is a mountain area in the northern part of the park. It is easy to enter, and provides incredible views of the Olympic Mountains.

The ridge has many hiking paths. In winter, people come here to ski. They also come here to take part in other fun winter activities, like sledding and snowboarding.

Hurricane Ridge usually has snow from December through the end of March. Visitors must be prepared for icy roads and severe weather.

The Coast

The westernmost part of the park is Pacific coastline. Olympic National Park has many breathtaking beaches.

Rialto Beach is known for its tall seastacks (海蚀柱). These formations are tall towers of rock standing in the sea. Kalaloch Beach is known for its white sand. It also has three national wildlife refuges, which protect the area’s bird and fish species.

The coastline areas offer hiking and camping. They are some of the most popular places in the park.

In 1952, my daddy traveled with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. He worked on a very large dredge vessel (挖泥船), and he went where it went. This meant he spent a lot of time away from our North Carolina home.

As Christmas approached, he called from Galveston, Texas. Daddy explained to my mother why he would not be celebrating the holiday with us. Money was tight and he didn’t have a way to get back to his family.

Disappointed as she was, Mother knew he was right. She also knew we would be upset, so she told my two sisters, brother and me right away. The news hit me very hard. Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without Daddy.

I knew he had tried his best. Still, I went to bed on Christmas Eve with a heavy heart.

When we woke up on Christmas morning, we were all happy with our gifts, so we went outside to play. As we were playing, I looked up and thought I saw my daddy in the distance. I ran inside to tell Mother. She did not believe me and told me not to make up stories. She just repeated he would have been home if he could, but it just wasn’t possible.

But I was sure it was Daddy! I turned to go back outside when I heard familiar footsteps. I ran down the stairs. Daddy was home!

As I rushed into his outstretched arms, Daddy explained that he had tried everything to get home for Christmas, but without success. At the last minute, a group of the workers had decided to drive. But the nearest guy lived miles away. So Daddy started walking on Christmas Eve until he arrived home. He had walked all night to get home to his family.

Though the presents that year were wonderful, the best gift was not found under the tree.

Apple’s well publicized iPhone X finally went on sale in pre-orders last week. With a starting price of $ 999, the iPhone X has the highest price of any iPhone ever offered. Yet Apple says its latest smartphone has so far been “off the charts.”

One of the most-talked about features of the iPhone X is the new Face ID recognition system, which replaces the Touch ID on other Apple devices that used a fingerprint to unlock the phone. It works by projecting more than 30, 000 dots on the face of users to create a kind of map- An infrared (红外线的) camera then reads these marks to create an image that can be confirmed as having the same appearance. Apple says the system is also designed to continually learn. Each time the face is used to unlock the phone, it is supposed to note any changes, such as facial hair or the person getting older. The system can then remember the changes to keep recognizing the person over time.

A face can unlock iPhone X, but can it be fooled?

One fairly common failure was that the Face ID sometimes did not unlock the iPhone X if the user wore a pair of sunglasses. Not surprisingly, wearing any kind of disguise (化妆) ---even one covering just part of the face—caused Face ID to fail. It was found to work correctly when the user was wearing headphones or a hat.

Several attempts were made to trick Face ID into unlocking the phone with a photo of a person instead of a real face. The iPhone X was able to pass these tests by knowing the difference between a photo and a face. Wall Street Journal reporter Joanna Stern tried something a little different. She went to a mask maker and asked for a recreation of her face to see if the iPhone X would be fooled. It was not.

Apple says its research shows there is only a one in a million chance of another person being able to unlock someone else’s iPhone X with Face ID. The company has promised the system will become “the new gold standard” for all facial recognition.

People give gifts in almost all societies. Gifts mark anniversaries, religious festivals and other important occasions. Sometimes there are even special ceremonies for gift giving. Some gifts are expensive, or they may take months to create.    16     What do these different kinds of gifts and gift-giving occasions have in common?

    17     If you receive a birthday gift from someone, that person usually expects a birthday gift from you in return. A gift establishes or confirms a social obligation (责任). In some cultures, there are complex rules about gift exchange. In Pakistan, for example, there is a rule for giving gifts on special occasions, such as a wedding.    18     It works this way; You give the wedding couple a gift, and they “repay” you with a gift of slightly higher value. Then you give the couple another gift. This one should be worth the difference between the first two gifts, plus a little more. The gift exchange continues, following the same pattern.

Sometimes gift giving is a form of tribute (贡品).    19     In many ancient cultures, people made offerings to their leaders to show their loyalty. The Nubians in ancient Egypt are a good example. They brought gold to the Egyptian pharaohs, or kings.

Today ambassadors, presidents, and prime ministers usually bring gifts when they visit a foreign leader. This tradition is different from the tribute system. Leaders bring gifts to strengthen relationships between countries, not to emphasize the power of the gift receiver.

Gifts can also send special messages. For example, gifts can tell people that we are thinking of them and that we want them to feel special.    20     The gift keeps the memory of a special person and a special relationship alive.