【推荐1】Everglades National Park (大沼泽地国家公园) is located in the state of Florida. It is the largest wilderness in the entire country and makes up 25% of the wetlands in the state. The park is home to several rare and endangered species. It is also the third largest national park in the US, after Death Valley and Yellowstone. Each year, about 1 million tourists visit the park. On a global level, it has been announced as a World Heritage Site.

Unlike most other national parks, Everglades National Park was created to protect an ecosystem (生态系统) from damage. In 1947, President Harry Truman spoke at the official opening of Everglades National Park, saying the goal of creating the park was to protect forever a wild area that could never be replaced.

10,000 different islands make up Everglades National Park. Each of these islands is lived by natural wildlife. The Everglades is home to about 15 species that are endangered. In addition, more than 350 bird species and 300 species of fresh and saltwater fish live within the park. The Everglades is also home to 40 species of mammals and 50 reptile species.

There are many ways to explore the Everglades. Visitors can see alligators (短吻鳄) while hiking the Anhinga Trail. The Everglades is one of the only places on Earth where freshwater alligators and saltwater crocodiles live in the same area. Visitors using airboats are likely to see large groups of birds. Some visitors might enjoy riding bicycles through Shark Valley. Others may want to move slowly through waters where they can see insects and wildlife closely.

According to experts, changes to the Everglades are becoming a danger to several different kinds of wildlife. They say it is a result of actions the US government began more than 50 years ago, and settlers began even earlier.

【推荐1】From his uptown Manhattan home, Samir Kumar can usually see skyscrapers (摩天大楼) downtown. But this week, as smoke from wildfires raging in the western United States and Canada stretched all the way to the East Coast, the city skyline was invisible.

Currently, nearly 300 wildfires are burning in British Columbia and about 80 are blazing through states in the U. S. West The fires get worse due to heat waves and prolonged (持续的) drought in the west, two weather patterns made more extreme by climate change.

As the smoke spreads across the country and exposes millions of people, the health impact becomes more widespread among the most vulnerable (易受伤的). In addition to causing breath problems, the smoke can lead to poor heart health. What’s more, smoke from wildfires could make it harder for people to fight off COVID-19 infections and the emerging variants (出现的变体) because their immune (免疫的) systems are already battling pollution. Studies have shown that people exposed to air pollution are more likely to die from COVID-19.

For the first time in its history as a state, California’s population is decreasing Falling birth rates, high housing prices and high taxes have been factors for years, and COVID-19 has strengthened the trend, delaying planned moves into the slate. Many survivors of wildfires have also chosen to rebuild in different states. “If I was starting to raise children… I probably would leave this state.” says Hertz-Picciotto, a director of the university’s health science center. She plans to spend several weeks during the height of wildfire season in August away from her home in northern California, where wildfires have become common.

Reducing air pollution from wildfire smoke in California and the rest of the country will require reducing the number and size of wildfires themselves. Lawmakers have introduced laws aimed at better managing forests, training more firefighters and making infrastructure (基础设施) more fire resistant.

“Ultimately until we stop burning fossil fuels. I don’t see why it’s not going to get worse. It certainly can’t get better,” says Hertz-Picciotto.

【推荐3】Plastic is everywhere in our environment, especially in the ocean. Actually, a large amount of plastic waste is floating around the world’s oceans today, waiting to be eaten by some fish or oyster, and finally perhaps by one of us.

Because plastic wasn’t invented until the late 19th century, and its production only really took off around 1950, we have a mere 9.2 billion tons of the stuff to deal with. Of that, more than 6.9 billion tons have become waste. And of that waste, a surprising 6.3 billion tons never made it to a recycling bin. No one knows how much unrecycled plastic waste ends up in the ocean. In 2015, Jenna Jambeck, an engineering professor, caught everyone’s attention with a rough estimate: between 5.3 million and 14 million tons of plastic waste each year just come from coastal regions.

Meanwhile, ocean plastic is estimated to kill millions of marine (海洋的) animals every year. Nearly 700 species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by it. Some are stuck by abandoned things made of plastic. Many more are probably harmed invisibly. Marine species of all sizes, from zooplankton to whales, now eat microplastics. We are closely related to oceans so the consequences of throwing plastic away may return to affect us some day.

“This isn’t a problem where we don’t know what the solution is,” says Ted Siegler, a Vermont resource economist, “We know how to pick up garbage. Anyone can do it. We know how to deal with it. We know how to recycle.” It’s a matter of building the necessary systems, he says, ideally before the ocean turns into a thin soup of plastic.

【推荐1】Body awareness(身体意识) helps children understand how they can move their bodies and the concept of space and how it relates to their bodies.

There are many fun games and songs that teach children body awareness and encourage them to move their bodies.

“Simon Says” is a great example, as long as you allow all children to continue to play instead of removing children who do not follow the directions correctly. Children who do not follow the directions correctly are generally the very ones who need to play the game most.

Remember the game called “Statue”, or maybe you called it “Freeze”? The teacher plays music; and when the music stops, the children “freeze”. To add an element of learning about body parts, add this instruction: “If I call ‘Hands’, everyone should be frozen except for their hands, which should be moving.” Children love this change of the game, and it teaches them to listen and learn body parts.

Another classic song that teaches body awareness is “If You're Happy and You Know It”. Although the standard refrains(副歌) tell you to “clap your hands” and “stomp your feet”， you can try to “wiggle(摆动) your fingers”,   “pull your ears”, “shake your head”, etc.

Children enjoy guessing games. Try giving clues(提示) about which body part you are describing. For example, “I am thinking about a body part that I smell with. It is right under my eyes and right over my mouth. What am I thinking about？” To help thinking and language skills, encourage children to make up the clues for a body part.

Children should enter school with a basic understanding of their bodies. Childcare programs can promote this understanding.

【推荐2】Should doctors ever lie to benefit their patient — to speed recovery or to cover the coming of death? In medicine as in law, government, and other lines of work, the requirements of honesty often seem dwarfed (变矮小) by greater needs: the need to protect from bad news or to keep a promise of secrecy; to advance the public interest.

What should doctors say, for example, to a 46-year-old man coming in for a routine physical checkup just before going on vacation with his family who, though he feels in perfect health, is found to have a form of cancer that will cause him to die within six months? Is it best to tell him the truth? If he asks, should the doctor lie to him that he is ill, or minimize seriousness of the illness? Should they at least hide the truth until after the family vacation?

Doctors face such choices often. At times, they see important reasons to lie for the patient’s own sake; in their eyes, such lies differ sharply from self-serving ones.

Studies show that most doctors sincerely believe that the seriously ill patients do not want to know the truth about their condition, and that informing them risks destroying their hope, so that they may recover more slowly, or deteriorate (恶化) faster, perhaps even commit suicide.

But other studies show that, contrary to the belief of many physicians; a great majority of patients do want to be told the truth, even about serious illness, and feel cheated when they learn that they have been misled. We are also learning that truthful information, humanly informed, helps patients deal with illness: help them bear pain better, need less medicine, and even recover faster after operation.

There is great need to discuss this issue openly. Not only in medicine, but in other professions as well, people may find themselves repeatedly in difficulty where serious results seem avoidable only through deception (欺骗). Yet the public has every reason to know professional deception, for such practices are peculiarly likely to become deeply rooted, to spread, and to trust. Neither in medicine, nor in law, government, or the social sciences can there be comfort in the old saying, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.”

【推荐3】Every child has a different personality, and those personalities need to be nurtured (培育) in a positive way. Here we have a list of extracurricular activities for kids and what your child can learn from them to help you make your decision.

1. Music

Some children learn to play instruments, while others prefer to sing. There are so many instruments to choose from that you are bound to find something that fits your child and that he or she will enjoy.

There is a certain freedom in music, and a lot of children find joy in it because of this reason. Not just that, children also tend to learn a lot about history and culture while learning something like playing a musical instrument or singing, especially if it is in the classical genre (类型).

2. Dance

Even among dance, there are so many types to choose from. He or she may prefer classical folk dances, or want to learn the more contemporary styles like hip hop or lyrical dance styles.

This is another activity that teaches children about culture if they prefer the more classical genres of dance. Dance is something that will help your child develop physically and mentally, as most forms of dance require discipline and endurance (忍耐力).

3. Sports

Sports such as football, basketball, cricket and softball require teamwork and a lot of energy, but if this type of sport doesn't sound like it suits your child, there are other options like tennis, badminton and golf that your child can try.

In sports like basketball and football, children learn how to work well in a team, how to strategies, and also build endurance. Every sport has something good to offer your child. whether they are played in teams or individually. Sports are great for competitive children.

4. Painting and Sketching

Perhaps your child is a blossoming artist. Playing with colours is a lot of fun and creating different works of art may be something your child would prefer over more violent activities.

Your child will improve his or her creative skills, as the more he or she is exposed to and works with creative things, the better the areas associated with creativity in his or her brain will be developed. Painting and drawing can also help develop problem-solving skills.