【推荐2】How did we get the alphabet? It was a long process, covering thousands of years.

The first people to write things down carved symbols onto rocks or shells. These symbols represented people or things.

These people who lived a long time ago had simple lives with simple needs. One of the most basic needs was food. Before the introduction of agriculture, people were called Hunter­Gatherers because they hunted animals and gathered nuts and berries for food. To tell each other about how to hunt animals or where to find them, these people drew on cave walls or on animal hides. Soon, people were growing their own crops. They were also using a system of symbols to stand for people, places and things. The best ancient example of this was found in Egypt, where hieroglyphs (象形字) were used. These people believed in many different gods. Each god had its own symbol. Symbols were also used to stand for water, buildings, food, and other parts of life.

But these picture drawings and hieroglyphs represented whole words, not just sounds. How did we get an alphabet? Recent research suggests that the idea of an alphabet was first used in Egypt about 1900 BC. Civilizations that traded with or fought against Egypt were exposed to this alphabet, and the idea spread.

The ancient Greeks adapted this alphabet and created their own. The ancient Romans polished it up to a state almost like our modern alphabet. The idea of stringing letters together to make words was born. You can see by looking at letters from the Roman alphabet that these letters survive almost unchanged in our modern English alphabet.

This was the case in the Western world. Actually, a similar thing also happened in the East. You can see many examples in such areas’ language development.

【推荐3】Chinese kung fu is one of the earliest and longest­lasting sports that use both muscle and brain. Over its long history it has developed as a unique combination of exercise, practical self­defense, self­discipline and art.

It is estimated that Chinese kung fu can date back to primitive society. At that time, people used sticks to fight wild beasts. Gradually, they accumulated a great deal of self­defense experience.When the Shang Dynasty began, hunting was considered an important part of kung fu training.

During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, martial arts(武术) evolved to become a kind of dancing. Usually, the dancing of martial arts was used to train soldiers and inspire their morale(士气). At the same time, the skill and technology of sword making as well as sword ceremonies developed rapidly.

Starting from the Tang Dynasty, a kung fu examination was proposed and introduced. Excellent candidates would receive titles and awards through the examination, largely promoting the development of martial arts. By then, martial arts had evolved to become an art form and an independent genre. Kung fu was gradually introduced to many countries in Southeast Asia. Today, kung fu is honored as the ancestor of kickboxing(跆拳道)，karate(空手道) and judo.

The Song and Yuan Dynasties witnessed the climax of kung fu development. The practice of kung fu by civil organizations became more and more popular. People actually made a living as martial arts performers all over the country. Usually their performance was carried out by a single person or two people as a pair.

Chinese kung fu achieved greater development in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the Ming Dynasty, a lot of genres came into being and numerous books on martial arts were published. In the Qing Dynasty, the ruling emperor banned the practice of martial arts, and the people had to set up various clubs or societies to pass on the skills in secret.

Today, kung fu continues to be practiced by many people for the purpose of keeping fit or improving body image.

【推荐1】The “Boomerang Kids”—young adults who leave to go to college, get married or just show off their independence—are moving back in with mom and dad. Boomerang Kids can be a mixed blessing for parents, both emotionally and financially.

Especially during hard economic times, adult children head for home. According to a survey, about 40 percent of 2017 graduates still live with their parents. Moreover, 42 percent of the 2015 graduates surveyed said they are still living at home.

The reasons are many, the first being economics. While the recession has touched Americans of all ages, it has been very hard for young adults. This has sent many kids back home. Plus, there is the matter of debt, especially college loans. For many recent graduates, it makes smart economic sense to move back in with their parents where life is comfortable and rent is either low or nonexistent. Then, of course, some return for personal reasons, such as recovering from a divorce or an illness.

Parents are often glad to help out, both emotionally and financially. As a result, the arrangement often works to everyone’s satisfaction. However, there are risks, especially for the parents. These include not only family tension and misunderstandings, but also money. The return to the family can become a financial burden that can affect the parents’plans and their financial future, especially their retirement, as they try to do too much for their children.

【推荐2】Music is good for the health. And drumming may be best of all. As well as being physically demanding, it requires people to synchronise their limbs and to react to outside stimuli, such as what the rest of the band is up to. It is particularly helpful for children who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Researchers at the Clem Burke Drumming Project — an organisation named after Blondie’s drummer, who was one of its founders — have shown that teaching such children to drum helps them to control their reactions more generally, to focus more effectively on tasks they are given, and to communicate better with other people.

The project’s latest work, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by a team led by Marie-Stephanie Cahart of King’s College, London, goes a step further. It looks at the neurological (神经系统的) changes which accompany these shifts. Ms Cahart and her colleagues recruited 36 autistic (自闭的) teenagers and split them into two groups. One lot had drum lessons twice a week for eight weeks. The others did not. At the beginning and end of the project everyone was asked to stay still for 45 minutes in a functional magnetic-resonance imaging (fmri) machine, to see how the activity of their brains had changed. Their behaviour, as reported by their guardians, was also recorded.

As expected, most of the drumming group showed positive behavioural changes. And these were indeed reflected in their brains. The fmri scans showed that several clusters of connectivity between parts of those brains had strengthened during the experiment. In particular, two regions involved in attention control, the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (背外侧前额叶皮层) and the right inferior frontal gyrus (额下回), formed strong links, respectively, with places associated with reflection and with areas involved in interpreting facial expressions. These changes in the brain’s “wetware” thus nicely match the changes in behaviour which learning to drum causes.

Not a surprise, perhaps. But an encouraging confirmation of drumming’s power to heal.

【推荐3】For almost a century, Ecuador’s giant tortoises (陆龟) have been protected. These species are one of the largest living reptiles (爬行动物) on the planet. They live a very long life—the oldest tortoise on record was 175 years old. And, they all live on the Galapagos Islands.

Hunting the tortoises is illegal under Ecuador’s laws, but now the Attorney General’s office has opened an investigation into the remains of four tortoises that were found in the park. Tortoise meat is considered delicious, meaning there can be large financial gains made by wildlife hunters. “This is not an isolated incident,” said the Galápagos Conservancy, a US-based conservation organization in a statement. “In September 2021, the remains of 15 critically endangered giant tortoises from the subspecies Chelonoidisguntheri were found on Isabela. Evidence from the investigation showed that the reptiles had likely been hunted for consumption.”

The islands are considered one of the world’s best places to see wildlife, and they’re home to animal and plant species that are found nowhere else in the world. The famously fearless wildlife is believed to have been a source of inspiration for Darwin’s theory of evolution, following his visit to the islands in 1835. The islands were actually discovered by accident in 1535, when a Spanish ship was blown off course while sailing from Panama to Peru. Ridiculously enough, the ship’s captain was unimpressed by the islands, writing to the king that they were “worthless”.

In late August, a special unit for environmental crime traveled to the Galápagos Islands to investigate and interview park keepers about the incident. And when the keepers discovered four animal bodies on Isabela Island, just a few months after the discovery of 15 dead tortoises, environmentalists were shocked. There were once at least 250,000 tortoises on the islands. But now there are only fewer than 15,000 in the wild today, and two subspecies are already extinct. “Evidence from the 2021 investigation showed that the reptiles had likely been hunted for consumption,” Galapagos Conservancy continued. “Therefore, it comes as no surprise that many are worried that their population will continue to decrease if serious action isn’t taken soon.”

【推荐2】Tulou, a special residential architecture of Fujian Province was included on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List during the 32nd session of the World Heritage Committee in Quebec, Canada.

In the fourth century, Han Chinese living in the Central Plain area began to migrate south, gradually gathering in Fujian and forming the Hakka communities. As a defense against enemies, the Hakkas chose to live in compact (紧凑的) communities, and Tulou became their preferred houses. Tens of thousands of such earthen structures were constructed in Fujian Province.

Most Tulous are to be found in the valleys, surrounded by high mountains, and some are in the depths of great mountains. Most are three to four stories high, and look like circular blockhouses (堡垒). Rooms on the first floor are used as kitchens, rooms on the second floor are used as barns (谷仓), and rooms on the third and fourth floors are for bedrooms and living rooms. For defensive purposes, the rooms on the first floor have no window.

Raw materials for Tulou were obtained locally. The main building material was a mixture of clay, sand, lime and water, with egg whites, brown sugar and rice water forming the walls. Once they dried, the walls were so hard that driving a nail into them seemed difficult. Fir (松木) branches, which are extremely strong and do not rot, were used to strengthen them, so many centuries later, they have remained their original look.

Tulous are in a region where earthquakes happen frequently, and their circular construction helps them resist the regular shocks.

The proven design even inspired one famous Peruvian architect, who paid several visits to Yongding, to build a Tulou back home. Not long after, an earthquake struck only 10 kilometers away, and while all the houses around the earthen building fell down, his Tulou remained.