【推荐1】Standing on the ruins after the fire where his house had been, Peter Ruprecht admitted that he was not sure how or when to rebuild. He was still shocked by what Australia’s increasingly changeable climate had already delivered: first a drought, then a destructive bush fire, then a foot of rain from a storm.

“It’s unstoppable,” said Mr. Ruprecht, a former dairy farmer. “We speak about the warmth of Mother Nature, but nature can also be vicious and wild and unforgiving.”

Australia’s hellish(地狱的)fire season has eased(缓和),but its people are facing more than a single disaster. With floods destroying homes not far from where fires recently spread, they are facing a cycle of what scientists call “compound extremes”: one climate disaster strengthening the next.

Warmer temperatures do more than just dry out the land. They also heat up the atmosphere, which means clouds hold more moisture(水汽)for longer periods of time. So droughts get worse, giving way to fires, then to heavy rains that the land is too dry to absorb.

Many Australians in disaster zones complain that their government, after ignoring climate change for years, has not yet to draw up recovery plans that are clear and that take future threats into account.

At the same time, the economic costs of a changing climate are rising quickly. Philip Lowe, the governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, warned recently that Australia was already paying a price, and that it would only go up.

【推荐2】An earthquake is one of the most common natural disasters. It may cause great damage. So it is wise to learn some simple safety tips to protect yourself or your family members.

Fragile items like those made of glass are easily broken and should usually be placed on a lower surface, near the ground instead of placing them in the cupboards higher up. Never place them near your bed, sofas and other furniture where you would be sitting or lying down. When there is a strong movement, these pieces will fall on the floor directly and not on you.

There is a strong chance of short circuits (短路) and fire during an earthquake. Make sure you turn off electrical connections and gas immediately when an earthquake happens.

During an earthquake, lie beneath an object that is not easily damaged. Do not go near objects that could directly fall on you. Never use the elevator to go down. Stay inside until the   shaking stops and it is safe to go outside. Research has shown that most injuries happen when people inside buildings try to go out. Use the staircases at all times.

If you are outdoors, do not take shelter under a tree, streetlights, electric poles or tall   buildings. If you are driving, stop your car and stay in a safe place. Do not park your car under a tree or any tall object.

If trapped in debris (瓦砾堆), cover your mouth with a handkerchief or clothing. Tap on a pipe or the wall so that rescuers can find you. Use a whistle (哨子) if one is able to get. Never shout for help. Shouting can cause you to breathe in dangerous amounts of dust. Do not light a match(火柴) because you may burn yourself. Do not move about or kick up dust.

【推荐1】Growing up in poverty can have long-term negative consequences for children. Now, a study offering unconditional cash to a group of mothers on low incomes in the US is beginning to discover the precise role of parental income in child development. It is the first randomised trial to look at whether a basic income might affect the way a child’s brain develops in this critical period.

We know that the first few years of a child’s life are the most influential for their development. Brain development is particularly rapid in early childhood and therefore more likely to be influenced by the environment.

Studies of children born into families with low incomes have found they tend to have more behavioural problems and are behind their peers when they start school. However, it isn’t clear whether low income directly leads to these outcomes, or whether they are a result of other factors associated with growing up in poverty.

To find out, Kimberly Noble at Columbia University in New York City and her colleagues approached women on low incomes who had just given birth at four sites in the US. The team is measuring several things throughout the study. At each yearly follow-up, children are assessed for measures like sleep quality, developmental milestones, overall health and emotional development. One unique aspect of the study is the use of mobile EEG headsets to monitor the infants’ brain activity in their home environments.

Almost $4 million has been given out through the study so far. Though it is too early to draw full conclusions, some preliminary(初步的) results are already of interest. For example, some of the parents have allowed the researchers to keep track of their transactions(事务). Those in the high-cash group appear to be spending more on books for their children, and spending more time reading together, according to surveys the team conducted. This is potentially good news because reading to infants is known to be good for cognitive development, vocabulary and promoting important bonds between adults and children.

Eventually, the findings could help with policy interventions(干预) to assist children born into poverty, or even to find ways to buffer against the effects of poverty later in life.

【推荐2】In American schools there is something called Homecoming Day. Many high schools and colleges with a football team have a homecoming game. This can be the most important event of the year except graduation day. Students plan Homecoming Day for many weeks in advance.

Several days before Homecoming, students start to decorate the school. There are signs to wish luck to the team, and many other signs to welcome all the graduates. The members of school clubs build booths（摊位）and sell lemonade, apples and sandwiches. Some clubs help to welcome visitors.

During the day alumni will gather at the school. They like to look for teachers that they remember. Often they see old friends and they talk together about those happy years in school. Many people still come to Homecoming twenty or thirty years after their graduation.

Everyone soon comes to watch the football game. When the game is half over, a band comes onto the field and plays school songs. Another important moment is when the Homecoming Queen or King appears. All the students vote the most popular student Homecoming Queen or King. It is a great honor to be chosen.

Homecoming is a happy day but it is not perfect unless the football team wins the game. Even if the game loses, the students still enjoy Homecoming. Some stay at the school to dance and others go to a party. For everyone it is a day worth remembering.

【推荐3】Dogs can’t speak, but their brains respond to spoken words. Every dog owner knows that saying “Good dog!” in a happy, high voice will make their pet joyfully wag its tail. That made scientists curious: What exactly happens in your dog’s brain when it hears praise, and is it similar to the way our own brain processes such information?

When a person gets others’ compliment, the more primitive, subcortical auditory regions (皮层下听觉区) first reacts to the intonation — the emotional force of spoken words. Next, the brain taps the more recently evolved auditory cortex (听觉皮层) to figure out the meaning of the words, which is learned.

In 2016, a team of scientists discovered that dogs’ brains, like those of humans, compute the intonation and meaning of a word separately — although dogs use their right brain to do so, whereas we use our left one. Still, a puzzle remained: Do their brains go through the same steps to process approval?

It’s an important question, because dogs are a speechless species, yet they respond correctly to our words. For instance, some dogs are capable of recognising thousands of names of individual objects, and can link each name to a specific object.

When the scientists studied scans of the brains of pet dogs, they found that theirs, like ours, process the sounds of spoken words in this manner — analyzing first the emotional component with the older region of the brain, the subcortical regions, and then the words’ meaning with the newer part, the cortex.

See why dogs are so successful at partnering with us? Dogs and humans last shared a common ancestor some 100 million years ago, so it’s likely that our brains respond to sounds in a similar way. As domesticated animals that have evolved alongside humans for the past 10,000 years, dogs make special use of it to process human emotions. You know, what we say really matters to dogs!