【推荐1】The flying fox is not a fox at all. It is an extra large bat that has got a foxlike head and ears with large wings. Therefore,     1    .

    2    . They hang themselves by their toes when at rest ,and travel in great crowds when out flying. As often, the group will live in one spot for years. Sometimes hundreds of them sleep in a single tree.

Flying foxes have babies once a year.    3    . At first the mother has to carry the baby on her breast wherever she goes. Later she leaves it hanging up, and brings back food for it to eat.

    4    .   The baby falls down to the ground and call for help. Then the older ones flew down and try to pick it up. If they fail to do so,    5    . Often hundreds of dead baby bats can be found lying on the ground at the foot of a tree.

【推荐2】Penguins (企鹅) are birds that “fly” underwater. By flapping (拍打) their wings the same way birds do in the air, penguins can move through the water well.

    1    Most birds have hollow (中空的) bones that help make flying easier. But the penguin’s bones are heavy. This helps them stay underwater.

    2    They feed on many different kinds of fish.

    3    Some live in Antarctic, one of the coldest places on Earth. Others live on the Galapagos Islands, a very hot place.     4    People and penguins eat some of the same foods. The more fish people take out of the sea, the fewer there are for the penguins to eat.     5    

【推荐3】After eight puppies (幼犬) were abandoned on the side of the road in Texas，an animal shelter came to the rescue and brought them all the way from Brownwood，Texas to Wintersville，Ohio. Their journey was，by no means，a simple one.

The puppies were first found fighting for their lives in a muddy channel. They were extremely weak and dehydrated (脱水) after being forced to protect themselves in the burning Texas sun. Once the puppies were discovered，their journey was far from over. They were immediately brought to what is known as a “high kill” shelter，and after only a few hours，were scheduled for euthanasia. Things weren’t looking good for the pups. Luckily，they were rescued once more.

“There’s a group that specifically goes around to these high kill shelters and rescues the animals that are scheduled for euthanasia，” said Brandi Damewood，the JCHS Community Outreach Manager. “These guys were rescued by the Corrine T.   Smith Animal Center. ”

The puppies would eventually end up under the care of the Jefferson County Humane Society. This is because no­kill shelters and rescue organizations often work together to aid in urgent cases. An incredible network of shelters helping other shelters enables these miracle workers to save so many pets in danger of being put down prematurely.

“We have had a lot of other rescue groups come in and they help us get some of our animals adopted out like when we’ re too full or things of that nature，so we kind of help each other out，and so this was a favor to help this particular shelter，”said Damewood.

The JCHS has appropriately titled the puppies’ journey “the freedom ride”.   The 20­leg trip required 16 different volunteers to drive a total of 1,300 miles. But it was all worth it to save these adorable pups!

“We have a board member，Michelle Zdybicki，who is very active and involved in these transport groups，” said Damewood. “They would meet at specified stops，and then the puppies would be transferred to the next driver for the next leg of the journey. ”

Since arriving in Ohio，the puppies have been vaccinated and are hoping to find forever homes in the near future.

【推荐1】The negative health effects of sleep shortages during the week can't be changed by marathon weekend sleep, according to a new study.

Researchers have long known that regular sleep deprivation (缺乏）can cause weight gain and increase other health risks, including diabetes. But there are still some people who hope that shutting off the alarm on Saturday and Sunday will repay the weekly sleep debts and remove any ill effects.

The research, published in Current Biology, ruins those hopes. Despite complete freedom to sleep in and nap during a weekend recovery period, participants in a sleep laboratory who were limited to five hours of sleep on weekdays gained nearly three pounds over two weeks and experienced a metabolic disorder(新陈代谢紊乱）that would increase their risk of developing diabetes over the long term. Although weekend recovery sleep has some benefits after a single week of lack of sleep, those gains from weekend disappear when people return to the former sleep schedule the next Monday.

“If there are benefits of recovery sleep, they're gone when you are back to your routine. It's very short-lived,” said Kenneth Wright, who oversaw the research. “These health effects are long-term. It's kind of like what smoking once was——people would smoke and wouldn't see an immediate effect on their health, but over time people will finally say that smoking is not a healthy lifestyle choice. I think staying up late is in the early stage of where smoking used to be.”

Wright said that the study suggested people should guarantee a healthy sleep routine——cutting out the optional “sleep stealers” such as watching television shows or spending time on electronic devices. Even when people have no choice due to child-care responsibilities or job schedules, they should make sure enough sleep time. They can always leave the less important stuff until the next day. After all, well-being comes first.

【推荐2】What do you think of British people and American people? You might think that there are no differences between the people in the two countries. After all they speak the same language, don't they? But if you ask a British or an American person, the differences are quite great.

What do British people think Americans are like? The British think Americans are very strange. They make a lot of noise and they laugh too loudly. They are rich, and they only think about money. But the British do say that Americans are kind, friendly people. They are happy to help you if you are in trouble.

What do Americans think of the British? Well, they think the British are cold and very unfriendly. They are not interested in success or in making lots of money. They think Britain is the best country in the world. They look down upon other countries. But Americans say that the British are quite good workers. They are brave and honest. And in time of trouble they face difficulties happily.

You can see that these ideas can cause misunderstanding between the British and Americans. But when American and British people become friends, they usually find things are not as bad as they expected.

【推荐3】Entering a university is an important part of a person’s life. Today, many people go to a university to study and train for a future job in subjects like law, medicine or education.     1    . An important one started in Egypt over one thousand years ago.

The world’s oldest surviving university, AL-Azhar, is in Cario, Egypt. It was first built as a mosque for religion (宗教寺院) in A.D.972. A few years later, learners and teachers began meeting in the mosque. They read and talked about the subject of religion and law.     2    . Leaders in the city of Cario decided to create a school for higher learning and soon after that, and AL-Azhar University was founded.

    3    . For these teachers at AL-Azhar, they needed to think about what courses to teach and how to teach them. The earliest courses were in law and religion. In a course, students read and studied with the teachers, but there was also free discussion. Often, students and teachers had interesting discussions, and there was no ‘right’ answer. In the years that followed, the new university interested scholars from around the world.     4    . At AL-Azhar, people studied the past, but it was also a place for sharing new ideas.

Over a thousand years later, AL-Azhar is still an important university in the world.     5    . Today, many of the world’s most important universities such as Oxford and Harvard still follow the same traditions as they do at AL-Azhar.