【推荐1】Reducing plastic waste isn't easy because the cheap material is found in almost every household item. Now a delicious and nutritious solution has come up to help reduce our dependence on this environmental hazard（危害）.

David Christian, the co-founder of Evoware, says the idea of creating the biodegradable （生物降解的）products came from concern at the country's high pollution rate. Indonesia is home to four of the world's worst polluted river. Since single-use packaging is a large contributor to the problem, Evoware decided to deal with that first.

After investigating various materials, the company settled on seaweed. Unlike corn, commonly used for biodegradable containers, seaweed does not require resources like water or large amounts of space. Since Indonesian farmers already harvest more seaweed than they can sell, it's easy for the company to find the material.

Though they will not reveal their production process, Evoware says the seaweed packaging contains no chemicals and is safe to consume. The company has also invented single-use cups, which can break down 30 days after they're thrown away.

While replacing plastic with the seaweed products may seem appealing to most of us, it is a hard-sell in Indonesia. According to Christian, The awareness to reduce single-use plastic is still very low. This makes our bioplastic unnecessary.” Also a factor is the cost, which is higher than using plastic. Hopefully, Evoware will succeed in convincing Indonesians and people worldwide that switching to their products will be helpful to protecting our beautiful planet.

【推荐2】One supermarket chain in Finland has come up with a way to reduce food waste. All 900 S-Market stores throughout the country knock 60 percent off already-reduced meat and fish at 9 o'clock each evening in an effort to move it off shelves before expiring (过期) at midnight.

“It’s part of a two-year campaign to reduce food waste that company managers decided to call ‘happy hour’ in the hope of drawing in regular customers.”

It makes customers get super-cheap food, sellers don’t have to pay for disposal and it eases the burden on the planet.

Reducing food waste is not often enough seen as an effective solution to the climate crisis. Energy, for example, receives more focus than food, and yet food is something that individuals can and should solve on a personal level. A recent UN report stated that a shocking one-third of food produced for human consumption never gets eaten. This equals 1.3 billion tons of food worth $680 billion. From the report: “Causes of food loss and waste differ greatly between developed and developing countries, as well as between regions. Reducing this loss and waste would reduce greenhouse gas emissions (排放物) and improve food security.”

Supermarkets are well positioned to make a difference when it comes to food waste, but they have to be willing to accept some financial losses. Reducing prices on nearly-expired food is an excellent place to start, as is doing away with discounts, e.g. two for the price of one, which encourages over-buying.

Individuals have a responsibility, too, to eat more of what they buy. Take a moment to look at the contents of your refrigerator before shopping and work with what you have, in order of how soon items will expire. Don’t be influenced by in-the-moment desires. Consider mentioning the S-Market new act to your local grocery store, in hopes that it, too, will consider carrying a happy hour of sorts out.

【推荐1】Frank and his brother Jack lived near the ocean. Frank was outgoing while Jack was shy. They liked doing different things. Frank was famous for organizing games of beach volleyball, football, and any other sport imaginable. Jack preferred to draw, paint, or build sandcastles (沙堡).

Frank didn’t understand why Jack would rather do artistic things than play ball. He believed sports often allowed many kids to play together. That was when Jack’s idea hatched. He would show Frank what doing things together looked like!

After Jack finished creating a special sandcastle with stairs, towers and walls, he took pictures of it. Then he painted colorful posters featuring (突出) his sandcastle and the question, “Can you top this?” He hung his posters everywhere in town, announcing his plan for a day of sandcastle artistry-all ages welcome.

When Frank saw poster, he not so nicely told Jack that no one would come. Still, shortly after sunrise on Saturday, Jack was on the beach digging in the sand. By mid-morning, four kids were sculpting (雕塑) the sand alongside him. By noon the number had increased a lot.

After Frank came back from his ball game, he went to check how his brother’s plan turned out. He couldn’t believe what he saw. At least 30 people were building a city of sandcastles, and everyone was chatting and laughing and working together! It was the most beautiful thing he had seen on the beach.

“I guess you’ve proved me wrong,” Frank said. “You should make this sandcastle day a yearly tradition!” Handing Frank a shovel (铲子) with smile, Jack got started together with his brother on their super creation in the sand.

【推荐3】Hundreds of villagers took matters into their own hands by digging miles of trenches（沟壕）to install their own cables(电缆). The tiny village in Michaelston-y-Fedw, with a population of 300, clubbed together after being unable to download films, stream music or connect to online banking. Farmers, teachers and even the village pub owners put in thousands of hours of volunteering to dig miles of trenches and now have super fast broadband(宽带).

The project cost around ￡250,000 with villagers paying￡150,000 of their own money to secure their super fast connection speed. They were also able to obtain￡100,000 from EU funding and the Welsh Government Access Broadband Cymru scheme.

The idea was produced in the local pub when villagers were complaining about their Wi-Fi connections. Ben Longman, owner of the Cefn Mably Arms, said, “We were in the pub and we were all complaining about how bad the Wi-Fi was. I had just paid for high speed broadband and realized it would not work.”

One of the organizers, Carina Dunk, 61, said it was fantastic what the village had achieved. She said, “It used to take a few days to download a film; now it takes less than a minute. Communities have tended to be more distant and separated but not here anymore. Sometimes we have to take a step back and achieve something.”

A year after the project, most of the 300 villagers are now united in a 1,000mps broadband connection.

However, Richard Raybould, 59, is still waiting for his house to be connected on the edge of the village and said he cannot wait. He said, “It is amazing what skills people in the community have. There are experts and farmers who dig trenches. I have met at least 30 people who I had never spoken to before.”

【推荐1】Shimon, a four-armed robot with a ball-like head, holds small mallets (球棍) in “hands” to play a kind of music called a marimba. As he plays, his head moves around in time to the music.

Using “deep learning”, Shimon was taught to write his own music. He could not only make up his own music, but do it in real time, while playing with other musicians. This is called “improvising”.

Now he is back with a whole bunch of new tricks. He can write the words to his own songs, and sing them. Shimon learned to write the words for the songs the same way he learned to write music — by being “fed” thousands of examples. Shimon was trained on the lyrics (歌词) to 50,000 songs.

Georgia Tech professor Gil Weinberg, who leads the Shimon project, gets Shimon going with a starting idea. Shimon then writes the lyrics based around that idea. Mr. Weinberg usually provides much of the music for the songs, but Shimon helps out there, too.

Singing the songs is another story. To give Shimon a voice, the Georgia Tech team worked with experts at Pompeu Fabra University. The voice was created using AI and sounds very much like a man.

Later this spring, the team plans to put out an album of about 8-10 of Shimon’s songs. The album will be released on the music streaming service Spotify. There are also plans for Shimon to go on tour with a band to play and sing his songs live.

For Mr. Weinberg, that’s the main goal behind the Shimon Project — not to have robots take over, but to have robots and humans make something beautiful together.

【推荐3】The management and staff are happy to welcome you and will do all they can to make your stay an enjoyable one. We hope you will find the following suggestions and information of use to you.

MEAL TIMES

Our overnight charge includes a continental-type breakfast.

Breakfast: 7:30-9:30 a. m.                             Lunch: 12:00-2:00 p. m.

Afternoon tea: 4:00-5:30 p. m.                            Dinner: 7:00-9:15 p. m.

Meals can be served in rooms at a small extra charge. We regret that owing to staff arrangements, meals cannot be served outside these times. In exceptional circumstances please consult one of our receptionists in advance.

Light refreshments, including tea, coffee, biscuits and sandwiches, can be served in rooms between 10:00 a. m. and 11:00 p. m. except during the meal times listed above. Cold drinks are available in the room refrigerator.

ROOM CLEANING

Please hang the appropriate sign on your door handle if you do not wish to be disturbed. It will be easier for the maids if you can leave the room temporarily at any time between 9:30 a. m. and 4:00 p.m.

VALUABLES

We are not responsible for the loss of money, jewellery, or other valuables unless they are kept in the safe and signed for by the manager.

DEPARTURES

Please inform receptionists of your intended leaving before 9:30 a. m. of the day concerned and leave the room by noon to allow for its preparation for incoming guests. If circumstances require, luggage can be left temporarily in the charge of the Hall Porter.

A SPECIAL REQUEST

We would respectfully suggest that in consideration of the comfort of other guests, the volume of radios and televisions should be turned down after 11:00 p. m.