【推荐1】Habitat loss, pesticides (农药) and climate change are threatening insect populations worldwide. In 2019, Biological Conservation reported that 40% of all insects species are declining (减少) globally and that a third of them are endangered.

And while it may sound nice to live in a world with fewer bad insects, environmental writer Oliver Milman says that human beings would be in big trouble without insects. That’s because insects play important roles in pollinating (给……授粉) plants we eat, breaking down waste in forest soil and forming the base of a food chain that other larger animals including- humans-rely upon.

“It would be an extremely terrible place to live in—and certainly not something we should ever aim for,” Milman says of an insect free existence. “You would certainly have mass starvation and social unrest…It’d be a place where there would be smelly waste and dead bodies everywhere because insects that break down those materials would be gone. ”

Milman charts the troubling decline of insects in his new book, The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World. He says that while it’s impossible to know exactly what’s happening with every insect species in the world, the overall trends are not good: The butterfly population in North America has declined quickly in the past 40 years, for example, and a U. N. assessment done in 2019 found that half a million insect species are under threat of extinction, some in the coming decades.

“The world, our surroundings, would be far quieter, far duller without insects,” he says. “When you start kind of digging down into these figures looking at the research, it’s clear that there’s something seriously wrong…There is a straight decline in most insect populations, and that spells major trouble for them but also for us.”

【推荐1】Habitat loss, pesticides (农药) and climate change are threatening insect populations worldwide. In 2019, Biological Conservation reported that 40% of all insects species are declining (减少) globally and that a third of them are endangered.

And while it may sound nice to live in a world with fewer bad insects, environmental writer Oliver Milman says that human beings would be in big trouble without insects. That’s because insects play important roles in pollinating (给……授粉) plants we eat, breaking down waste in forest soil and forming the base of a food chain that other larger animals including—humans—rely upon.

“It would be an extremely terrible place to live in—and certainly not something we should ever aim for.” Milman says of an insect free existence. “You would certainly have mass starvation and social unrest... It’d be a place where there would be smelly waste and dead bodies everywhere because insects that break down those materials would be gone.”

Milman charts the troubling decline of insects in his new book, The Insect Crisis: The Fall of the Tiny Empires That Run the World. He says that while it’s impossible to know exactly what’s happening with every insect species in the world, the overall trends are not good: The butterfly population in North America has declined quickly in the past 40 years, for example, and a U. N. assessment done in 2019 found that half a million insect species are under threat of extinction, some in the coming decades.

“The world, our surroundings, would be far quieter, far duller without insects.” he says. “When you start kind of digging down into these figures looking at the research, it’s clear that there’s something seriously wrong... There is a straight decline in most insect populations, and that spells major trouble for them but also for us.”

【推荐3】Are you fed up with staring at a computer screen for hours straight just to review your classes? It’s a problem that many of us encounter(遭遇).So why not pick your headset and learn via a podcast?

Podcast, or boke, refers to a range of audio programs on different audio platforms. According to China Daily, podcasts have become popular among young Chinese people who would like to enjoy the peace and power of learning through sound.

Established in 2012, China’s largest online audio platform, Ximalaya saw its subscribers pass 600 million by December 2019.Among these users over 46 percent were born between 1990s and 2000s.On average, active users listen to podcasts for nearly three hours per day.

The emergence of domestic(国内的)online radio platforms and the convenience brought about by smart devices are certainly two reasons for the popularity of the format.Its flexible nature also makes it a winner among the young audience.

“Audio is a good medium for content that can break the limit of time and space,” Jiang Feng, vice-president of Ximalaya, told China Daily. He added that podcasts have become an important channel for people to acquire information and knowledge .It also can accompany listeners in many different circumstances including working ,studying, exercising, traveling and just before going to bed.

Apart from providing company, the new media form also gives people a platform to speak out about important issues.

A senior high school student who wanted to be admitted to the Central Academy of Drama failed his national college entrance examination twice. He talked about the pressure he faced on an audio program called Please Listen, launched by Mango TV on Feb 19,2020.The program was designed to relieve audiences’ worries by sharing their own stories.

Podcasts tend to be a discussion, and just like real life conversations, they follow a flexible structure and usually last for at least an hour. More often than not, you can’t summarize two or three important points from those conversations, like you could from articles. They often do not have conclusions, either. It’s a very freeform medium that is very friendly to listeners,” Pan Aijuan,a podcast listener and book editor at a publishing house, told China Daily.

At the same time, the use of podcasts trains people to first listen to others before offering one’s own opinions. It helps build up our patience and listening skills. Cheng Yanliang, a co-founder of the podcast Left and Right, stated that“ audio programs can filter（减缓）those bad-tempered people who would lose patience after reading several paragraphs and start writing awful comments to insult others”.

With such advantages,“ podcasts are entering the mainstream(主流)in China”, noted China Daily.

【推荐1】Why do people listen to music? The answer may seem simple: Music is pleasant to make and to hear. But music touches our lives in many other ways, too.

My brother doesn’t choose music based on what he wants to hear. Instead, he decides what he wants to feel and picks music with that mood in mind. Upbeat, bright-sounding music generally makes people feel happy. But some people enjoy listening to sad music, too. It can be like talking with a friend who understands your suffering. But for some people, sad music can make them feel even sadder.

Do you ever listen to music while you work? I do, and I find that it sometimes helps me concentrate. According to one expert, music can help you pay attention to boring or repeated tasks. But when you are doing tasks that require more thought, music can disturb (打扰) you, making them harder.

My mom, a preschool teacher, uses music to manage her class. When she wants to call a child, instead of yelling the child’s name, she sings it. This creates a more positive environment, while still getting the child’s attention.

Music can also bring people closer to each other. This is especially true of music played live. Live music often features a group of people playing different instruments, which makes it a shared experience. Listeners can share in the emotions the song expresses. They also create memories together.

And speaking of memories, lots of people connect music with specific places, people or events. Whenever they hear a certain song, they are transported back to some points in the past. Thus music can connect people not only to present people but also to people from their past.

Music is far more than just entertainment; it is a powerful force that affects us in many ways.

【推荐3】Over the last 25 years, psychologists have found that personalities center on five basic traits(特性) — the Big Five: agreeableness, conscientiousness (责任心), neuroticism, extroversion and openness. Contrary to common belief, people just aren’t organized into certain personality types. Every trait is a continuous dimension and everyone can be described as having varying levels of each trait. A new research has also found animals from ants to apes all have the Big Five and that the universality of personality points to an evolutionary (进化) origin.

Animals and humans have common problems of survival, which are spelled out beautifully in the Big Five, and that’s why there’s so much continuity in human personality and animal personality. For example, conscientiousness involves behaviors like planning and consideration, which are important among animals for taking care of their young, selecting mates and living in groups. Being neat and orderly — aspects of conscientiousness-also has evolutionary superiority. Bees that like to keep clean and remove more dead group members reduce risk of disease, gain more weight and reproduce more Spiders that make tidy webs catch more insects. Birds that build neater and solider nests attract more mates.

These behaviors may seem primitive, but they’re nevertheless indications of personality. Personality is the expression of all of the behaviors that humans and animals exhibit that allow them to function adaptively in the world.

Evolution can also explain why personalities vary so much. Depending on the situation, each of the Big Five can be advantageous. For example, agreeableness is great for relationships. But if a lion were charging at you, you’d be better off with a less agreeable and more aggressive personality. Because the world is so unpredictable, every aspect of each personality trait could be useful at different times, so instead of evolving a single type of personality that’s best for every situation, we’re left with a wide variety.

【推荐1】I went to Costa Rica for three months to work for a conservation project for marine turtle(海龟). The project takes place on the Caribbean coast in a wildlife reserve in Gandoca。It is a very remote place, close to the border with Panama. Basically, the work was to keep watching every night to find the turtles coming out. Once we found a turtle, we had to collect the eggs to bring them to one of our two hatcheries (孵化所).We also had to measure the turtle, keep a sign on their body and check if they have any injuries.

Another part of the work was the hatchery duty. The people in the hatchery had the responsibility for preventing any animals or people getting in it. When the first babies began to hatch, they had to take care of the babies.

I must say that sometimes it was hard. Not the work itself, but the mosquitoes, and the fact that we could never have a complete night of sleep or that we had to keep watching even if it was raining. And it rains a lot on the Caribbean coast. But that’s not so important. Working on this project was a wonderful experience. First of all, we had the unique opportunity to meet the leatherback turtle, which is an endangered species. It's a really impressive animal. The female inspires a sort of respect, because she is so heavy and the effort she has to do to go out of the water to lay her eggs is incredible. I fell in love with them really.

Then, working in the reserve was also a chance to practice my Spanish, not only with the Spanish-speaking people among the other research assistants, but also with people of the community. The contact with all the volunteers was great too. We were all there to share the same experience. Everyone was a part of it and we shared strong emotions and feelings together. I will never forget it and know that I will get in touch with some of them for a long time.

Last but not least, Gandoca is a paradise on earth一the beautiful beach, deep rainforest, lots of animals, peaceful atmosphere and so on. I hope that many other people will have the opportunity to live this experience and all I want to add is to go there!

【推荐2】There’s this boy in my band, Spanish and math class. His name was Nathan. I never really liked him since he was a slowpoke. He didn’t have any friends at all. He always sat alone at the lunch table with his phone listening to music. People just walked past him without caring. And in class whenever he was asked a question, he would take a long time to answer it. The whole class would get annoyed and whenever he got an answer wrong, the whole class would laugh. I didn’t know why but I didn’t care enough to know.

On Nov. 17, I walked into band class and was ready to play my flute. Mr. Kohler began the class. We played music for a little while then he asked us to tune our instruments. I saw Nathan, he was just walking around like usual looking for something. There is nothing surprising about that, he does that in every class. He doesn’t just sit the whole class period, he walks around looking for Kleenex or a new reed for his instrument. He plays clarinet 单簧管) by the way.

So then Mr Kohler asked the class to tell what note it was just by hearing the pitch (音高).Nobody raised their hand except for Nathan. The moment I saw him, I laughed but not out loud. I thought he couldn’t do anything properly. How could he possibly guess the note when the pitch is played? But he could. He guessed every pitch right, even when Mr. Kohler played 2 and 3 pitches at the same time.

At that moment I got goosebumps. How did he do that? That day I realized that I shouldn’t judge people based on the little things I see. I need to see the great things people can do.

From that day on I had a different opinion on Nathan. I forgot about all the things he was bad at and focused on the things he was good at. Whenever I saw him, I just said to myself, “that’s the guy who impressed me. That’s the guy who is musically talented.”

【推荐3】The police in Canada had to deal with the escape of 12 million bees on Monday. The bees flew off after the truck that was carrying them turned over. Most of the insects stayed close by, but enough were loose to cause a possible danger to the public. Police told people to stay indoors and keep their windows closed. Bee expert Chris Maund said it was lucky that the accident happened in the countryside. “Fortunately it happened in an area where there are no restaurants or houses around. If it happened in an area like a city center, all the bees would have been killed right away.” Mr. Maund said that people are not in danger as long as they keep their distance.

The bees were on their way back to their main beehives (蜂房) after being used to pollinate (授粉) blueberries. Bees and the traveling pollination service are an important part of Canada’s fruit industry. Maund said the truck and broken hives were being left on the highway overnight. He believes the bees will return naturally. The bees probably did not go very far because of the rainy weather. Bees breathe through their skin and can drown(溺死) in the rain. Firefighters wearing full protective clothes were at the scene making the bees wet to keep them from flying around. They also sprayed (喷) the bees with smoke to make them feel sleepy. The smoke can also make them think there is a fire, causing them to return to save their honey.