【推荐3】Roads and railways have made it easy for people to travel around the UK, but have had the precisely opposite effect for insects. Alongside housing developments, transport infrastructure (基础设施) has separated insect habitats, leaving many pollinators (传粉昆虫) stuck on decreasing islands of biodiversity.

A new conservation project aims to address that by creating a network of wildflower superhighways across the UK. The B-Lines network aims to join the dots between meadow habitats, enabling pollinators and other wildlife to move freely between them. Ten years in the making, the B-Lines initiative was launched by the insect charity Buglife on Tuesday and has already generated interest from unexpected quarters. “After the launch, some house builders rang up asking how they could include the network into house building, so it could have a really positive effect,” said Buglife’s Paul Hetherington.

Buglife has spent the last decade mapping potential routes for the insect superhighway. Hetherington said the proposed highway could give the UK’s weak insects a boost and a route out of habitats that become too hot due to the climate crisis and it can make a huge difference in easing declines. “The things that have really hammered pollinators are habitat loss, loss of connectivity of habitat, climate change and pesticides—this deals with everything except pesticides,” said Hetherington.

The B-lines network is not just a concept. Pilot sections have already been completed, including the South Wales B-Lines near Cardiff. “Since that was done, there have been recordings of one of our rarest bees in Cardiff town centre, which shows this connectivity can work,” said Hetherington. And in Norwich, Buglife has been working with Network Rail to plant wildflowers along the track. Anyone living along the proposed route can get involved in the project. All they need to do is let their lawns grow, or even just create a small herb garden, which Hetherington likened to creating a “motorway service station for bees”.

【推荐1】FIFA World Cup 2022 is under way in Qatar and it again sets off a football wave in the whole world. Recently, CNN has released a new documentary, Super Eagles 96 to help us recall a glorious football team story. When Nigeria’s national football team competed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, few thought it could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with countries like Argentina and Brazil. But the team, lovingly nicknamed the Super Eagles, stunned the footballing world by winning the gold medal.

The documentary by filmmaker Yemi Bamiro, shows a brief but important moment in Nigerian history. The Super Eagles team was coached by Dutchman Jo Bonfrere, but it’s another Dutch coach Clemens Westerhof who is widely credited for much of the team’s success. Before Westherhof, Nigeria had never qualified for a World Cup before. Under Westerhof, the team worked hard to overcome its mixed fortunes and finally won the World Cup. “The Super Eagles are superheroes, ”Bamiro told CNN. “Their winning makes the whole country proud especially in those hard times. ”

Though their training and living conditions were terrible, their Olympic journey fancinated audiences. Nigeria first made it to the quarterfinals, beating Mexico 2-0. Though losing to Brazil earlier in the tournament, Nigeria beat the four-time World Cup-winning nation 4-3 in the semi-final, before pulling off a historic 3-2 win in the final over an Argentina team that featured international stars including Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez.

For Bamiro, the story of the team was impossible to tell without explaining the country’s turbulent politics at that time, leaving the whole nation at a mess. “It’s a big country but only football unites Nigerians together, “recalled Bamiro. He believed the victory was not just a win for the team, but a win for the country. For a brief moment, Nigerians were able to forget their troubles and celebrate in unity. “It’s a story about overcoming challenges, achieving something that no one expected them to achieve, ”he said.

【推荐2】Abeid was born in a village of Tanzania and dreamt of flying a plane, soaring (翱翔) through the sky. Due to financial difficulties, he became a wildlife guide instead.

Abeid didn’t give up. He became a chief pilot of hot air ballooning at the age of 20. His passion for flying was matched by his skill both as a pilot and as a guide. Then, he came up with the idea of flying across the Serengeti from east to west, which would take four flights on successive days, taking off and landing where no one had ever seen a balloon before.

As a journalist, I was so lucky to make a journey with Abeid. We were up at 3 am. Abeid walked into the basket and checked the lines and the fastenings. Moments later, he was instructing me to get into it. With barely time to catch my breath, he gave a long blast (猛吹) on the burners and the basket tipped upright.

Over the following days, we gasped at the joy and wonder of the sky; at the beauty and complexity of the land beneath us. There was no fear, just a sense of being part of something fantastic as we floated in the silence of the African sky.

But not everything went entirely to Abeid’s carefully worked-out plan. The rains that had started to fall every afternoon slowed the air. On the final day, we landed 20km short of the destination. Luckily, we finally made the crossing the next morning.

When we were returning to the land, crowds of people shouted and waved. Many children looked up as we flew over them, and started to run. As Abeid brought the balloon down, people gathered around the balloon, pressing against the basket. Those children were also there, flushed and breathless, eyes wide with amazement. Abeid and I both looked at each other in silent agreement. Suddenly we were helping some children into the basket. Abeid lifted off and we flew just a few hundred metres with the excited crowd running alongside.

I realized that Abeid’s journey was more than just about flying. It was about hope, inspiration, and the joy of sharing one’s passion. And as I penned down the last words of this extraordinary experience, I knew that Abeid’s story would resonate (回荡) far beyond the Serengeti.