【推荐1】You may be drinking energy drinks to power through school and sports, but these drinks could put you in danger.

When 10th grader Davis Allen Cripe went out to lunch on April 26, he was healthy. Davis drank a cup of coffee and a bottle of Pepsi; then he went back to school and drank a l6-ounce(盎司 )energy drink. In the art class, he fell to his knees. He told his friends he felt uncomfortable. Then he passed out(昏倒). At 3:40pm, Davis was dead. He died from a drug many of us take every day: caffeine(咖啡因). Davis drank too much of it too fast.

It’s no surprise that energy drinks are popular with teens. The drinks are often advertised to sound cool. They have names like Monster and Full Throttle. Drink companies support sports like BMX biking and skateboarding. Ads for energy drinks sometimes suggest the products will give you special powers. “Set free the Beast,” reads one advertisement. Another brand says its drink “gives you wings”. These ads may be inducing more kids to buy energy drinks. In fact, one-third of American teens buy them regularly.

Many teens drink these drinks because they hope to have more energy for studying or sports. Your friends drink ice-cold colas at lunch to stay clear. They drink large Frappuecinos at Starbucks to give them energy after school.

Caffeine is so common that most people don’t think of it as a drug. But that’s exactly what it is. If you drink too much caffeine, your heart beats faster. You may get anxious on the soccer field. You may not be able to focus on the homework in front of you. Caffeine will also make you lose sleep. It can affect you for up to 6 hours. Drink an energy drink after school, and you may still be awake at bedtime.

Can it actually kill you? Dying from one drink is very unlikely. Doctors say adults can safely have about five cups of coffee-or two large energy drinks-a day. But we know less about how caffeine affects teens, and that worries doctors. Every year，thousands of people get sick from drinking energy drinks. Most of those people are under 20 years old.

【推荐2】Vegetable displays have become surprisingly similar in markets around the world, which offer primarily commercial vegetables such as tomato, eggplant, onion, carrot, beet, lettuce and broccoli. In other words, world diets are actually becoming more similar and based on fewer crops.

A much greater diversity of vegetables exist in traditional food systems, but many of these crops are poorly integrated in current markets and diets. A total of 1,097 vegetable species, with a great variety of uses and growth forms, are cultivated worldwide. Still, we only seem to be familiar with less than 7% of these species.

The diversity of vegetables is more than a local preference. It could play an important role in ensuring adequate levels of nutrition and in meeting the challenges of agricultural production posed by climate change and soil degradation (退化). Many traditional vegetables are known to have higher nutritional value than commercial vegetables, and are well-adapted to local conditions, exhibiting resistance to drought, pests, diseases and poor soil conditions. For example, the Mayan spinach (玛雅菠菜) contains exceptional levels of protein, vitamin C and iron, and provides leaves year-round with little water and in poor soil conditions. Traditional crops like this could be strategic in helping more people meet the recommended levels of fruit and vegetable consumption, which is currently n global health concern.

Lack of information on traditional vegetables is a major barrier to their use and promotion because it prevents a wider recognition of their values and understanding of how best to grow, process and market them. Organizations around the world are placing increasing efforts on promoting these so called “forgotten foods”, because of their value and potential in bringing nutrition and income benefits to consumers and producers, as well as in strengthening local food traditions. This could be the beginning of a great transformation towards more diverse, vegetable-rich food systems around the world.

【推荐3】You know the feeling—your ears start to warm up, your tongue goes numb, you start sweating and taking deep breaths. You’ve just eaten something spicy (辛辣的) knowing it would be painful, and, yet, you chose to do it anyway. Are humans just masochistic (受虐狂的), or is there something else going on? The answer lies in both science and history.

Let’s start with the science. Spicy isn’t actually a taste like salty, sweet, sour and bitter—it’s a sensation. This sensation is triggered by a chemical compound (化合物) found in chili peppers called ‘capsaicin’ (辣椒素).When we eat foods containing capsaicin, our bodies are tricked into thinking the temperature is actually rising. In trying to temper the burning sensation, our bodies release endorphins which control pain and, at the same time, give a feeling of pleasure—like painkillers. This is what is happening chemically, but there is also a conscious side to choosing spicy food. Dr Tamara Rosenbaum, Cognitive Neuroscientist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, explains in an interview that this is because we are rational beings—we know that the burning sensation of chilli does not physically harm us. Furthermore, we derive pleasure from the other ingredients chilli is generally cooked and eaten with, including fat, sugar and salt. So like skydiving, eating chilli is a form of thrill-seeking or ‘benign masochism’, where we get pleasure from a seemingly negative sensation.

This masochistic relationship with capsaicin has been a long one, starting in the Andes of South America, where chilli peppers originate. Humans were one of the few mammals (哺乳动物) on Earth that developed a taste for capsaicin so, archaeological evidence suggests, they started cultivating (种植) chilli peppers about six thousand years ago. Human intervention changed the chilli pepper to suit human tastes and needs—including the pepper’s colour, size and capsaicin content—helping to explain the many different types of chilli peppers now available.

Fast-forward to today, and our love affair with the chilli pepper is going strong. We eat around 57.3 million tons of peppers globally each year, and chilli is a key ingredient in traditional dishes from Mexico to Korea. Maybe we are masochistic after all.

【推荐1】Rice is eaten all over the world in all different ways. No matter if your rice is white or brown, it has one thing in common, and that’s arsenic(砷). Now, researchers from the University of Sheffield say a new and simple way of cooking rice can remove this cancer-causing material while keeping the nutrients which make this food so good.

A team from the school’s Institute for Sustainable Food discovered the “parboiling with absorption method” (PBA) can cut down over half the naturally occurring arsenic in brown rice and 74 percent in white rice. More importantly, this home­friendly kitchen method saves the nutrients rice contains.

The PBA method first parboils(将煮到半熟) rice in pre-boiled-water for five minutes. The water is then emptied and fresh water is poured into the pot. From there, the rice is cooked normally at lower heat until the water is all taken in.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classed arsenic as a Group carcinogen, the material that can cause cancer. Unfortunately, rice has this water-soluble poison because it grows in flooded fields unlike many other grains(谷物).

Researchers say arsenic can affect every organ in the human body. It can also result in skin lesions, cancer, diabetes, and lung diseases. Rice tends to hold around 10 times more arsenic than other grains. It usually sits in the outer covering of the grain, which makes it more of problem in brown rice. White rice, which is milled(研磨), contains less arsenic but also has fewer nutrients due to the milling process.

“For people who eat rice, this is excellent news. There are concerns amongst the population about eating rice due to arsenic. Previous studies have shown that cooking rice in a lot of water could remove arsenic but the problem is it also removes nutrients,” says lead author Dr. Manoj Menon in a university release. “Our aim was to improve the method to remove arsenic while keeping maximum nutrients in the cooked rice. Our newly developed method, PBA, is easy and home­friendly so that everyone can use it. We don’t know the amount of arsenic in each packet of rice we buy; even though brown rice is nutritionally better than white rice as our data shows, it contains more arsenic than white rice. With our new method we are able to significantly reduce the arsenic while reducing the loss of key nutrients.”

【推荐1】Provence is an image of the South of France. To find the best places of French to visit in Provence in 2021, we have produced a guide to the 4 most beautiful ones in Provence.

The Provence village of Roussillon is very popular among tourists for the breath-taking views and the famous yellow and orange buildings. The best time of day to visit this picturesque village is just before sunset, as sunlight throws lots of different shades upon the walls of the houses. Spending time wandering the narrow winding streets is a relaxing experience and it is easy to enjoy the joys of provincial life away from the noises of city.

The small village of Gordes is a delightful place to spend time in. The oceanic climate and relaxed pace of life create the perfect vacation environment. It is quite easy to spend the whole day doing nothing much: wandering the winding streets, leisurely taking coffee at a café and watching the world slowly go by, spending hours over a good meal in one of the many restaurants and watching the spectacular sunsets over the beautiful fields in the valley below.

Uzès is a very pretty town and has a rich history, dating back to Roman times. The town of Uzès boasts many beautifully preserved Renaissance (文艺复兴) towers and houses, coupled with narrow winding streets. In the centre of Uzès, there are lots of narrow streets with little boutiques (精品店) arranged around the old Duchy.

Seillans is located on a beautiful hillside overlooking a valley. The picturesque medieval (中世纪的) centre of this city is only accessible on foot. The narrow winding streets of the centre of Seillans eventually open out onto several beautiful squares where you can enjoy the sunny days and beautiful sunrises.