【推荐1】More than 100 streets in New York City’s five boroughs (行政区) will go car-free to celebrate Earth Day. For the fifth year in a row, the city will mark the occasion by closing streets to vehicles, according to a news release from the NYC Department of Transportation. The closings will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 23, 2022, the day after Earth Day is observed around the world.

“Earth Day is when we can all devote ourselves to protecting our Earth and one way we can do that is by repurposing our roadways,” said Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, according to the release. “Car-Free Earth Day is a growing tradition that allows New York City’s car-free streets to come alive,” said Rodriguez.

During the celebration, usually busy streets will be used for a variety of public programs including music, dance, art, biking and education, according to the transportation department. Twenty-two public plazas and over 1,000 miles of bike network will be accessible.

In New York City, motor vehicles release 28% of the total emissions of nitrogen oxide, which can cause acid rain and contribute to pollution, according to the city’s Department of Environmental Protection.

Steps have been taken to limit the environmental impact of motor vehicles. In 2021, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation (法规) setting a goal for all new passenger cars and trucks sold in New York to be zero-emissions by 2035.

“When we open streets to pedestrians (行人) and cyclists, they become community spaces for our neighborhoods and a benefit to our local small businesses,” said New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams, according to the new release. “I’m glad this program has already experienced so much success, and I hope that this initiative grows to include more spaces, especially in our outer boroughs.”

【推荐2】A US man has become the first person in the world to receive a heart transplant from a genetically modified pig.

Surgeons say the experimental procedures was the only available option for the patient David Bennett, a 57-year-old from Maryland in the US, who was living with heart disease.

Bennett is currently being carefully monitored while specialists at the University of Maryland Medical Center, where the procedure was carried out, determine whether the transplant can keep him alive in the long term. “It was either to die, or do this transplant. I want to live. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but it’s my last choice,” said Bennett. “I look forward to getting out of bed after I recover.”

While full heart transplants are more controversial, pig heart valves (瓣膜) have been successfully used for replacements in humans for years.

“This was a breakthrough surgery and brings us one step closer to solving the organ shortage crisis. There are simply not enough donor human hearts available to meet the long list of potential recipients,” said Bartley Griffith, the heart surgeon who performed the operation. “We are doing cautiously, but we are also optimistic that this first-in-the-world surgery will provide an important new option for patients in the future.”

In the donor pig, three genes that would have led to the repaid rejection of the pig’s heart were knocked out. Six human genes responsible for immune acceptance of the pig heart were then inserted into the genome. Finally, one gene in the pig was removed to prevent excessive growth of the heart tissue once it had been implanted.

“This is truly a historic, monumental step forward. While we have long been at the forefront of research driving progress toward the promise of xenotransplantation (异种器官移植) as a practical solution to the organ crisis, many believed this breakthrough would be well into the future,” said Bert O’Malley, president and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical Center.

【推荐3】On Monday, American ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson and her partner Jim Morrison reached the summit of 26,781-foot Manaslu, the eighth-highest mountain in the world. Soon after the 49-year-old Nelson began her descent（下降）on skis，she triggered small avalanche（雪崩）and was swept away. On Wednesday, Morrison found her body.

“Often times in life, people want to play it safe, and we make everything around us to be comfortable and safe,” ski mountaineer Hilaree Nelson once said. “Therefore, we can make choices where you can see where that road is going to take you, and I've always been tending to make a choice that I don't know where it's going to take me.”

Nelson, a National Geographic Explorer, had a distinctive sense of travel that led her through more than 40 expeditions to 16 countries. In 2012, six years later, Nelson returned to Lhotse to become the first to ski from its summit.

She was deeply respected for both her extensive big-mountain experience, and her mindful approach to life's challenges. In 2018, Nelson was named captain of the North Face Athlete Team, a title only one other athlete has held. A National Geographic Society grantee, she was also one of the winners of the 2018 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year award. Despite her many super-hero accomplishments, friends recall her as a thoughtful presence and quiet leader, someone who never sought the limelight.

Throughout her career, Nelson struggled at times with the expectations and limitations of being a woman, a mother, and a professional adventurer---and becoming a role model for younger generations of female athletes in the process. “Nelson paved the way for women in the adventure sports space with her refusal to choose between motherhood and her athletic career," says Emily Harrington, a climber who joined her on the Hkakabo Razi expedition. “ She followed her passion as well as raising her family with a mix of courage and grace in a way only a true leader could.”

【推荐2】The temperature was rising to 90 degrees on Tuesday in the hills of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreational Area, when Lexie Daniel and her friends saw a heroic act of kindness to save a dog’s life.

Lexie and her fellow hikers met a man whose dog was seriously overheated. Even though they donated (捐赠) their water, they were afraid it wouldn’t be enough to save the pup, after seeing how much the dog was already struggling.

“The owner brought along a huge jug, but no water seemed to be helping,” Lexie told GNN.

Too tired to carry the dog himself, the loving owner called the park rangers as soon as possible. Supervisory Park Ranger Kris Salapek soon found them on the trail (追踪). Kris then lifted the huge dog onto his shoulders and carried him down the mountain. “It was a long distance-a couple miles down a difficult rocky path,” says Lexie.

When they reached the stream, Kris laid him in the water as he knelt beside him and poured water on him. The ranger then picked him back up over his shoulders and walked all the way back down to the street for about an hour.

Lexie’s cousin Tori Matyola said, “The owner hiked down ahead of the ranger so that once he got down the mountain he had the car ready to take him straight to the vet. The dog was looking a little better by the time he got to the car and picking up his head.”

When she got home, Lexie, a pediatric (小儿科的) nurse from Hackettstown, New Jersey, posted the good deed on Facebook and it went viral with 35,000 people sharing the post and showing admiration for the ranger.

“This is a HERO,” Lexie wrote. “We are so lucky to have rangers like this who put animals before themselves. This ranger deserves recognition and a standing ovation (列队鼓掌) for his bravery, selflessness, and strength.”

【推荐3】The spot of red was what first caught Randy Heiss’s attention on December 16, 2018. He was hiking the remote expanse of land behind his ranch in Patagonia, Arizona, a town near the US-Mexico border, when he spotted a balloon on the grass. Heiss walked towards and that’s when he noticed the balloon’s string was attached to a piece of paper.

Heiss flipped the paper over. It was a numbered list, all in Spanish. “My Spanish isn’t very good, but I could see it was a Christmas list,” he said. Heiss was charmed. He suspected that a little child had tried to send Santa Claus a Christmas wish list by balloon, something he used to do himself when he was a kid. Nobody had ever returned the letters Heiss had sent aloft, but he wondered whether he could find the girl who had sent this one.

It would be difficult, but he had a few clues. About 32 kilometres to the southwest, just across the border, was the city of Nogales, Mexico. Heiss brought the note home to his wife, who is fluent in Spanish and helped him translate the list. They determined that it was probably a girl who had asked for a doll and dollhouse.

Heiss then posted on Facebook about his quest, attaching photos, hoping some of his friends in Nogales might know the girl’s family. A few days passed with no leads; Heiss worried that time was running out before Christmas. On December 19, 2018, he decided to send a private Facebook message to Radio XENY, an AM radio station based in Nogales. The Radio XENY host Cesar Barron talked on the air about the quest to find the girl and posted about it on the station’s Facebook page.

The next morning, Heiss awoke to another message from Radio XENY. They had located the eight-year-old girl, Dayami, and her family. Heiss went shopping with his wife. They bought just about everything on Dayami’s list except for the dollhouse (it was sold out). Then the Heisses arrived at the Radio XENY offices with presents by the armload – and finally met the very excited little girl.

“Her eyes were wide open with wonder,” Heiss said of the girl’s reaction. “We now have friends for life,” Heiss said. “And, for a day, that border fence with its concertina wire melted away.”