【推荐1】The South American nation of Chile has been experiencing bad droughts for the last 13 years. This serious lack of water has led to fewer flowers and, as a result, fewer honeybees. Some chemicals used to kill insects harmful to crops called pesticides (杀虫剂), also hurt bees.

Beekeepers in Chile are concerned. Carlos Peralta and his brother Marco are beekeepers. Carlos has seen the number of his honeybees dropping sharply. He said he had lost about 300 hives (蜂巢) since the start of November 2021. A hive can hold tens of thousands of bees. Losing so many bees left Peralta with a difficult choice. He could keep his remaining 900 hives alive with man-made honey, or he could move the hives to a place where there are more flowers. “If the bees die, we all die… The bee is life,” Carlos said. He was describing the important job that bees have to pollinate (授粉) plants in the wild and for food growers.

So Carlos decided to move his beehives about 1, 000 kilometers to the south, to a place called Puerto Montt. However, his brother Marco chose to stay in Colina with his bees rather than join Carlos in the south. Marco said he feared losing bees to pesticides if he moved.

An FAO study in 2018 found that Chile’s introduction of pesticides had grown by 460 percent over the previous 20 years. Beekeepers blame (责备) this increase for their losses. Chile’s honey exports (出口) have dropped over the past four to five years.

Carlos Peralta said, “You enter a fruit garden with your bees and you don’t know if you'll come out with living bees or dead ones.”

His brother Marco has been feeding his bees with sugar water. However, this food leaves the bees unable to produce honey. “The bees grow weak with sugar water,” said Mario Flores.

Before the drought, beekeepers would use the sugar food during the winter months. But now they use it almost all year.

【推荐2】It only takes one wrong step near a lake in the winter for disaster to happen. Pepper, the dog and his mom found that out the hard way.

The two of them were taking a morning walk in Chicago along Lake Michigan when Pepper, a 7-year-old dog, got free of its rope, slipped on some rocks, and fell onto the ice sheets of the lake. As Pepper tried to climb back up to his human owner, the ice around him broke, and he began floating (漂浮) away!

Since the water was so cold, Pepper should be saved as soon as possible. As Fire Deputy District Chief Jason Lach said, hypothermia (a serious medical condition caused by very low temperature) can start within several minutes. Thankfully, firefighters were already nearby practicing underwater ice dives.

Just 10 minutes later, 40 rescue (救援) workers arrived, along with fire department vehicles and a helicopter. By the time the officials in the helicopter noticed Pepper, he and his ice float were 500 feet out into the lake. Firefighter Chris Iverson dove into the water and swam out to Pepper. Chris calmed the dog down and tied him to a safety sling (吊索). Meanwhile, firefighter Emerson Branch swam out with a rapid deployment craft, which he and Chris used to bring Pepper safely to shore. The rescue only took about 15 minutes. When the firefighters reached dry land with Pepper, they dried him using a towel and played the pass-the-dog to get him back to his human owner.

Caretakers at Veterinary Emergency Group Hospital made sure Pepper was OK. But Jason hopes his rescue will be a lesson for others. “The dog was good, warmed up to its owner, and went on its happy way,” Jason said. “But stay off the ice. It’s never safe, …Step into a hole, and you’re out of sight.”

【推荐2】The Guilford County Department of Public Health is hosting two rabies (狂犬病) clinics this month in honor of World Rabies Day on Sept. 28. The rabies vaccination (接种疫苗) will cost $5 per shot and will protect your pet for one calendar year. Dogs mustn’t get loose and cats must be kept in cages.

The State of North Carolina requires dogs and cats to be vaccinated. The health department recommends that other animals that have regular contact with humans, such as horses, should be vaccinated as well. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the rabies virus causes approximately 55,000 human deaths worldwide each year, with most of the deaths occurring in children under 15.

The rabies virus is transmitted through the bite of an infected animal. When an animal has rabies(or is rabid), the virus circulates throughout its body and is transmitted to other animals or humans through its saliva. The most commonly infected animals are raccoons (浣熊), bats, skunks, and foxes.

The best ways to keep your pet from becoming rabid are to keep it tied when in public, as unchained pets are easily exposed to wild animals. Feed your pet indoors if possible. Wild animals will break into your basement, outbuildings, or garage to seek food, so be sure the storage location you select for your pet food is secure. Moreover, do not try to touch, feed, or rescue wild animals. Do not pick up dead animals as the virus could still be present.

This year in Guilford County, the majority of the animal rabies cases have involved raccoons, with foxes in a very close second place. Guilford County has recorded fifteen cases of animal rabies thus far this year.

【推荐3】We live in a time when various illnesses and conditions can he treated with just a few pills or spoonful of liquid. Unfortunately for us, many medicines come with a bitter and unpleasant taste that can make taking them more difficult. There are, however, a few ways you can overcome a medicine’s taste and keep yourself healthy at the same time.

The easiest way to take bitter liquid medicine is by mixing it with a better-tasting drink. This is usually fine with most medicines, but you have to be careful. There could be interactions between your drug and certain liquids. Check with your doctor and ask what is the best kind of liquid for your medicine, and if there are any juices that will interact with your drug.

Medicines usually have less taste when cold. If you can’t thin your medicine, you can try serving it cold to reduce the bitter taste. Leave it in the refrigerator for about an hour before taking it to ensure that it is sufficiently cold. Suck on an ice cube before taking the medicine. This will numb (使麻木) your mouth and make it harder to taste. With your mouth numbed, you can swallow the medicine before getting too much of a bitter taste.

Crush (碾碎) your pills and mix them into food. If you’ve consulted your doctor and confirmed that it is safe to crush your pills, then use this opportunity to take your medicine with food you enjoy. Many methods for taking pills involve crushing or breaking the pills and mixing them into food. Before doing this, make sure this won’t lower the effectiveness of your medicine. Some pills have time-release coating and can be harmful if crushed clown.