【推荐1】On a college camping trip, curiosity about waves and sand caused Rob Thieler to study shorelines around the world. Thirty years later and now a U. S. Geological Survey research geologist, Thieler, is combining science and smartphone technology to help study a bird, which is dying out, the Atlantic Coast piping plover.

The piping plover is a shorebird that lives along the Atlantic Coast, the Great Lakes and the Great Plains. Rising sea level associated with climate change, as well as increased development of their beach habitats（栖息地）, threatens the species. To help track changes in piping plover habitats, Thieler developed a free app called iPlover in 2012. This is a marked change from the typical way scientists collect data.

Since releasing iPlover, scientists have gathered data across 1,500 km of breeding range. That equals about a third of the distance across the U. S., which is a large area to cover for only two thousand breeding pairs of piping plovers on the east coast. Instead of having to travel and spend days at each site, a number of cooperators in the field use the app to collect and send data, allowing scientists to gather data more efficiently. It also allows them to collect data at the same time during each breeding season, providing a better picture of changes that happen over longer periods of time. And fast, centralized access means scientists can look at data quickly to get a real-time idea of where and how piping plovers are using their habitats.

While iPlover is used by trained field staff, other apps like the U. S. Geological Survey’s web-based “iCoast — Did the Coast Change?” invite citizen scientists to identify coastal changes by comparing aerial（从飞机上的）photographs taken before and after storms. All the information scientists and citizen scientists alike collect helps federal and state agencies create policy plans for addressing climate change impacts（影响）worldwide.

【推荐3】Animals can move from place to place，but plants cannot.When an animal is under attack，it can run away or fight back.Plants certainly cannot run away，and they lack teeth and claws.    1    

Some plants have their own ways to keep animals away.For example，the leaves of the holly plant have sharp spines(刺) that discourage grass-eating animals.Holly leaves on lower branches have more spines than leaves on upper branches.     2    

Some plants，such as the oak tree，have thick and hard leaves that make it difficult for the animals to eat.Some grasses may contain a sandy material.     3    

Many plants also have chemical defenses.    4     Some plants may fight against an attack by increasing the production of these chemicals.When a worm bites a tobacco leaf，the leaf produces a chemical messenger.This messenger sends to the roots the information to produce more nicotine.The higher levels of nicotine discourage the worm.

    5     A certain plant in China，for example，has physically spiny leaves，and each spine contains chemically poisonous venom(毒液)．A single experience with this kind of plants will teach an animal to stay away in the future.

【推荐1】Many years ago, I bumped into an old friend of mine. He had devoted his life to acting but had never been quite successful. In his middle age, he seemed defeated and sad.

I thought of his dogged perseverance. Was it smart or foolish? What could he have achieved? Had he quit his dream of acting and moved on? Our culture does not look kindly upon quitting. Failure is perfectly acceptable as long as it eventually results in success.

We chant “Winners never quit” and “If at first you don’t succeed, try again.” We lap up stories of persistence, of the author who submitted stories for years before her novels were published or of the athlete who trained since childhood to win gold at the Olympics.

Persistence pays off when it is rewarded with success, but it does not reward every person. For every JK Rowling, there are thousands of aspiring writers who will never get published. For every Olympic athlete, there are innumerable others who trained every day of their lives and never made the cut.

We all agree that doing the same things and expecting a different result is unwise. So why do we believe that persevering through failure after failure is a good idea? We consider quitting in the face of failure to be weak. We believe that perseverance is the key to success. Perseverance is only one part of success. You need talent or skill, as well as passion and drive. Luck and timing are also key to any great success.

Our society believes that anything is possible, as long as you “believe”. But not everyone can make it. Quitting when you’ re not ahead is sometimes the smartest thing to do. Obviously, if you enjoy a pursuit, regardless of its outcome, you should continue. If you knew your novel would never be published, would you want to write? If you could never be a champion swimmer, would you still train? Sometimes, it is wise to put your energy into something else.

Failure is not always the path to success. Sometimes, failure is the door to something new.

【推荐2】Have you ever been faced with trying to stay positive when others around you are negative? A negative person can bring you down and throw your positive plans out of the window. Whether you deal with a family member, friend or co-worker who is negative, there are things you can do to remain positive in the face of negativity?

Whatever you do, don’t argue with a negative person. Arguing only adds fuel to the fire. I have noticed when my children are crabby, it is best to avoid trying to convince them to analyze and adjust their attitude. As soon as I take the approach of being in opposition to them, the situation gets worse before it gets better. Sometimes the best thing to do is remain silent and let negativity pass.

You know how difficult it can be to give love and positive attention to negative people. Unfortunately, that is often exactly what they need. A negative person is usually afraid he is unlovable. How do you show love when someone is negative? You must listen to what he is trying to tell you. Acknowledge the feelings he has by saying something like, “You sound very angry right now.” How might you help a negative person? Offer a hug even if you get rejected. A negative person often has difficulty accepting love from others.

If you have negative people on your life who are affecting your mental and physical health, you need to decide whether or not you want these people in your life. Some people are so negative that you have no other choice but to remove them from your life. However, some people, such as your children, are difficult to remove from your life, in this case, professional counseling(咨询) may be the answer.

【推荐3】To be a good teacher, you need some of the gifts of a good actor; you must be able to hold the attention and interest of your audience; you must be a clear speaker, with a good, strong, pleasing voice which is fully under your control; and you must be able to act what you are teaching, in order to make its meaning clear.

Watch a good teacher, and you will see that he does not sit still before his class:he stands the whole time he is teaching; he walks about, using his arms, hands and fingers to help him in his explanations, and his face to express feelings. Listen to him, and you will hear the loudness, the quality and the musical note of his voice always changing according to what he is talking about.

The fact that a good teacher has some of the gifts of a good actor doesn’t mean that he will indeed be able to act well on the stage, for there are very important differences between the teacher’s work and the actor’s. The actor has to speak words which he has learnt by heart; he has to repeat exactly the same words each time he plays a certain part, even his movements and the ways in which he uses his voice are usually fixed beforehand. What he has to do is to make all these carefully learnt words and actions seem natural on the stage.

A good teacher works in quite a different way. His audience takes an active part in his play：they ask and answer questions, they obey orders, and if they don’t understand something, they say so. The teacher therefore has to meet the needs of his audience, which is his class. He cannot learn his part by heart, but must invent it as he goes along.

I have known many teachers who were fine actors in class but were unable to take part in a stage-play because they could not keep strictly to what another had written.