【推荐1】For a bird, to fly hundreds or thousands of miles each spring and fall is a difficult and dangerous journey, one that not all birds can survive.     1     There is more than one single reason for different birds to migrate(迁徙), but it all comes down to survival.

Birds are migrating for a meal.

For all birds, one of the main driving forces behind migration is food. If all birds were to stay in the same places year-round, food there would become not enough.     2     But as the food supplies decrease in the fall, they return to the southern areas.

    3    

Over millions of years, birds have developed different migration patterns, times and destinations. This helps birds take advantage of a wide variety of suitable conditions to raise their young, which increases the survival chances of the young birds.

Birds are migrating because of climate changes.

Changes in climate can affect migration. Many birds leave the Arctic for example, when temperatures begin to fall. They need warmer habitats. Similarly, the hottest regions can be an unpleasant environment for raising young birds.     4    

Birds are migrating because of predators.

Habitats that have rich food sources also attract a greater number of predators who may kill birds.     5     Many birds even migrate to specialized habitats that are nearly inaccessible to predators, such as coastal cliffs or rocky offshore islands.

【推荐3】In many films, when the owner is in trouble, his or her beloved dog would run home to seek help without fail Yet. while this image has become an unforgettable part of our pop culture, few people knew that the same sort of response applied to service dogs.

Once a blind man fell flat on his face, which was awful but finally harmless. His service dog, however, was trained to get an adult if the owner had a seizure (癫痫),and it was sure this was a seizure. However, while the dog did what it was taught, the woman it found was merely annoyed but not alarmed. Thankfully, the dog's owner was not in the situation of a medical emergency. However, the experience inspired him to share this information on social media.“"If a service dog without a person approaches you. it means the person is down and in need of help." the owner explained. "Don't get scared, don't get annoyed, follow the dog! If the first person doesn't cooperate, it moves on."

Referring to the accident, a TV presenter asked a dog trainer, Olivia, some basic questions about service dogs, including how humans should react if an unaccompanied service dog approaches them.

“What they're going to do is sniff and gently push your leg" the trainer explained, specifically noting that service dogs are not usually trained to jump or bark.“If you see a dog in vest without a person around it, follow it." When asked if one should say something to indicate they're prepared to follow the dog, Olivia said there's no clear command. “The spoken language is not going to be a secret password." she said.“You can say. 'What?' or 'Where?' or just start walking wherever the dog leads. "

Olivia concluded the TV show by adding that those who rely on service dogs can train their companion to move along to someone else, if the first person the dogs come upon reacted negatively to its request Doing so could finally save the owner's life.

【推荐2】French company Airseas, has promised to help big goods ships reduce their fuel consumption (能源消耗), and cut their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (排放) by 20%. And they’re doing this with the Seawing — a 1,000 square meter kite that will fly 300 meters above the water’s surface. So the shipping industry is rediscovering the joy and efficiency of sails (帆).

The large, ship-sized kite is now being developed, and the company plans to open a factory to produce the Seawing in 2026. Once produced, Airseas has promised that launching and operating a Seawing on a goods ship will be automated (自动化), making it easy for crews (船员) to use. The crew can simply press some buttons and a large kite will rise into the sky. That’s not to say that the goods ships won’t use their engines at all, but the kite will take some pressure off of those engines and will reduce the need for fuel. The wind will move the ship, just like it did for hundreds of years in the old days before industrialization.

Lowering emissions by 20% may not seem like a big deal, but moving large amounts of goods back and forth on the high seas creates 3% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. That’s more than the airline industry, which produced about 2% of the world’s emissions in 2021, according to the International Energy Agency. Shipping is also a massive industry, and one worth focusing on for lowering emissions. About 90% of the world’s traded goods are moved around through ships, according to the International Chamber of Shipping.

Some companies are expecting this new version of sails. Japanese shipping company, “K” Line has placed orders for the Seawing kite, and the European Union has also invested more than $2 million in funding.

【推荐3】The 2020 summer Olympics will be held in Tokyo next year. Japan has made 5,000 medals for the winners. But this Olympic medals are more special than most----they are made entirely out of recycled electronics.

One new focus of the Tokyo Olympics is to make them “sustainable”----to avoid using too many natural resources, so that the games are environmentally friendly. As part of this goal, the organizers decided to make all of the Olympic medals out of metal recycled from old electronics. They needed gold for first place medals, silver for second, and bronze for third. You might not know it, but almost all electronics are made with small amounts of “precious” metals, like gold and silver. But collecting enough of these metals to make 5,000 medals is a huge challenge. That's because the amount of metal in each device is tiny. It would take about 20,000 cell phones to get just 2. 2 pounds (1kilogram) of gold.

Beginning in April 2017, organizers placed collection boxes around the country, and asked people to turn in their old electronic devices for the Olympic medals. Soon people began to fill up the boxes, turning in smart phones, digital cameras and laptops. By the end, 1,621 local governments had helped out with the collection process. The Japanese mobile phone company NTT Docomo collected 6.21 million used cell phones. In all, around 158,000,000 pounds (71,667,660 kilograms) of electronics were collected.

Then came the job of breaking those phones down into smaller pieces. This is a difficult job. It's also dangerous, because some of the metals and other things that go into electronics aren't safe for people to touch or breathe. That's why it's not a good idea to try something like this at home. Once the devices were broken down, the metals had to be carefully separated out. By the end of March, the organizers had hit their targets. The opening ceremony for the 2020 summer Olympics will take place in Tokyo on July 24,020.

【推荐1】Recently, a research on how a new virtual reality (VR) experience educated primary children about the fire disasters was done. It was developed by the University of South Australia, aiming to educate children to learn how to be safer in a fire.

Focusing on children aged 10-12 years, the new VR experience presents a situation where children are tasked to look after a friend’s dog just before a fire event begins to unfold. They participate in a series of problem-solving activities to help save and protect themselves and the dog.

The findings showed that more than 80 percent of children reported that they felt more confident to calmly evaluate the options and make wise decisions to protect themselves from a fire. This is especially significant considering that 91 per cent of participants originally lacked any knowledge of fires, and that 67 per cent had said that they were too young to make safety decisions in a fire.

The researchers believed such immersive (沉浸式的) VR experiences had real potential to engage, educate and empower the young. “As children born in digital times, they are engaged by such technology and they can experience events realistically yet within the safe environment,” said Delene Weber, one of the researchers. “Well-designed VR can provide an opportunity for children to apply newly acquired knowledge, strengthen their learnt concepts, and enable immediate feedback — all incredibly valuable learning tools.”

Meanwhile, because children have fewer life experiences, aren’t as physically strong, and are less likely to have learned much about fire safety, they’re often most at risk. Yet the capacity for children to contribute to fire safety at their household should not be underestimated.

“Children do not need to be passive victims of disasters and with purpose-built virtual reality experiences such as these, we can help empower children to understand the risks but realize they can help,” said Weber.

【推荐2】What is the number one favourite pet in the UK?If you think the answer is"dogs"-you are wrong.There are 8.6 million cats and 8.3 million dogs in Britain according to the recent figures.But experts predict that there will be more dogs than cats next year as dogs become more and more popular.

Dogs as accessories

We like to spend time with our pets.The Queen is famous for her corgis(柯吉犬）and is often photographed with them.Nowadays some dog owners are more extreme-a few TV celebrities even take their dogs to go shopping or to restaurants.Chihuahuas are especially popular as "handbag dogs"because they are so small.

Dog holidays

People are also giving their pets holidays.Many UK hotels and holiday parks now welcome dogs as guests.What about owners who go abroad?They can leave their dog pets at a dog hotel or dog spa while they're away.Some even provide their canine guests with a TV.

Dogs are for life

The British charity,Dogs Trust,finds homes for thousands of lost and abandoned dogs every year.Their famous slogan "“A dog is for life and not just for Christmas"was created in the 1970s to teach people about the responsibility for owning a dog.Dogs Trust told British people not to give dogs as gifts or treat them like toys.

Dogs on TV

Victoria Sitwell is the host of the popular TV programme called It's Me or the Dog.In the show Victoria helps dog owners with their pets' bad behavior.She tries to find solutions to the problems such as a Dalmatian(达尔马提亚狗）who thinks he owns the house and won't let the family sit on the sofa,dogs that will only eat ice cream and biscuits and even a bulldog who uses the owner's bed as a toilet.Yuck!

Fashion for dogs

You can shop online or on the high street for the latest in dog clothes and accessories.Specialist shops sell items such as dog boots,dog fancy dress costumes,dog coats,dog dresses and dog pants.

【推荐3】The sense of obligation to continue is present in all of us. A duty to strive is the duty of us all. I felt a call to that duty.

—Abraham Lincoln

Probably the greatest example of persistence is Abraham. Lincoln. If you want to learn about somebody who didn't quit, look no further.

Born into poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout his life. He lost eight elections, failed in business twice and suffered a nervous breakdown

He could have quit many times-but he didn't and because he didn't quit, he became one of the greatest presidents in the history of the U.S.A.

Lincoln was a champion and he never gave up. Here is a sketch of Lincoln's road to the White House.

1816 His family was forced out of their home. He had to work to support them.

1818 His mother died.

1831 Failed in business.

1832 Ran for state legislature — lost.

1832 Also lost his job -wanted to go to law school but couldn't get in.

1833 Borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business and by the end of the year he was bankrupt. He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off this debt.

1834 Ran for state legislature again-won.

1834 Was engaged to be married, sweetheart died and his heart was broken.

1836 Had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months.

1838 Sought to become speaker of the state legislature — defeated.

1840 Sought to become elector—defeated.

1843 Ran for Congress—lost.

1846 Ran for Congress again—this time he won—went to Washington' and did a good job.

1848 Ran for re—election to Congress—lost.

1849 Sought the job of land officer in his home state—rejected.

1854 Ran for Senate of the United Sates — lost.

1856 Sought the Vice-Presidential nomination at his party's national convention and got less than 100 votes.

1858 Ran for U.S. Senate again—again he lost.

1860 Elected president of the United States.

The path was worn and slippery. My foot slipped from under me, knowing the other out of the way, but I recovered and said to myself, "It's a slip and not a fall."

—Abraham Lincoln (after losing a senate race)