【推荐2】Earthquakes are something that people fear. There are some places that have few or earthquakes. Most places in the world, however, have them regularly. Countries that have a of earthquakes are usually quite mountainous.

The most-talked-about earthquake in the United States was in San Francisco in 1906.Over 700 people died in it. The strongest one in North America was in 1964. It happened in Alaska.

Strong earthquakes are not always the ones that kill the most people. In 1755, one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded was felt in Portugal. Around 2,000 people died. In 1923, a very strong earthquake hit Tokyo, Yokohama area of Japan. 140,000 people died. Most of them died in fires which followed the earthquake.

One of the worst earthquakes ever was in China in 1976. It killed a large number of people. The worst earthquake ever reported was also in China, in which 830, 000 people were killed. This earthquake happened in 1556.

Earthquakes worry people a lot. The reason is that we often do not know when they are coming. People cannot prepare for them beforehand.

【推荐1】Spain's Royal Theatre and China's National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA) have signed agreement on exchange of audiovisual materials through an online platform. The agreement will allow consumers to view materials on demand.

“The NCPA will offer one opera and four concerts live, as well as five documentaries to present them on the platform. With the launch of this project, viewers from several countries will be able to view them on the Internet,”said Wang Ning, the president of the NCPA.

Wang Ning also said the agreement was positive for both institutions because “culture is connected”. “We are going to present the classical operas of the world to the Chinese audience, and we also want to introduce some Chinese operas to the world to help the exchange between different cultures. It doesn't matter if it is from the East or the West. Art has a common character,”he added.

The Royal Theatre, which opened in 1850, is now considered to be the most important centre for classical music, opera and ballet in Spain. The agreement is another step towards greater collaboration between the two institutions which have enjoyed a close relationship for several years. He said the relationship between the Royal Theatre and China had received an important boost following the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan to the theatre on 28 November 2018 during their official visit to Spain.

“We are working to take flamenco(弗拉明科舞) to China, to carry out Joint university projects and exchange activities so our respective people can see how each other works,” he explained.

【推荐2】Scientists at the University of Hawaii at Manoa studied a huge area in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean known as the Clarion－Clipperton Zone，or CCZ to find and study new sea species.

Diva Amon，a researcher at the University says usually deep sea biologists think there is not a lot living in the deep sea.

“But we found that actually there is quite a lot living there，and so that was really exciting. . . ” she says.

The group is studying the area because the CCZ，a huge and flat area of seabed，is known to have valuable minerals. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) is allowing the company UK Seabed Resources Ltd. to explore the area on the Pacific Ocean floor for mining. However，the ISA said the company must first complete a biological study of the area before it can begin mining for metals. So，the company employed Amon and her group.

Amon says that more than half of the animals they collected were completely new to science. Her group discovered not only new species，but new genera (动植物的属) of animals.

Biological oceanographer Paul Snelgrove says that finding new species in the deep ocean is common. But，he said，finding a new genus “is really great”.

Amon warns that if mining happens across the whole area，the ecosystem would be largely destroyed. But，she says，we will find the least damaging way to make mining possible.

“There is a sort of scientific push to try and slow things down a bit so that the science can be done before. . . so it can be done with the least influence possible. . . ” she says.

“It’s likely we are going to develop at least some parts of these deep ocean environments and do it in a way that’s going to minimize (最小化) our influence，”says Paul.

【推荐3】A French tourist highly praised for rescuing a two-year-old girl in Manhattan said he didn’t think twice before diving into the freezing East River.

Tuesday’s Daily News said 29-year who left the place quickly after the rescue last Saturday.

He lifted the little girl out of the water after she fell off the bank at the South Street Scaport museum. He handed the girl to her father, David Anderson, who had dived in after him.

“I didn’t think at all,” Duret told the Daily News. “It happened very fast. I reacted very fast.”

Duret, an engineer on vacation, was walking with his girlfriend along the pier(码头)when he saw something falling into the water .He thought it was a doll, but realized it was a child when he got close to the river. In a moment,he took off his coat and jumped into the water.

When he reached the girl, she appeared lifeless, he said. Fortunately, when she was out of the water, she opened her eyes.

Anderson said his daughter slipped off the bank when he was taking photos. An ambulance came later for her, said Duret, who was handed dry clothes from passers-by. Duret caught a train with his girlfriend shortly after.

The rescue happened on the day before he left for France. Duret said he didn’t realize his story of being a hero had greatly moved New York until he got home. “I don’t really think I’m a hero,” said Duret. “Anyone would do the same ting.”