【推荐3】I am a hearty seafaring type of individual, so recently I spent a week faring around the sea aboard the largest cruise ship in the world that has not yet hit an iceberg.

The Voyager sails out of Miami every week carrying 3,200 passengers determined to relax . The ship has (I am not making any of this up) a large theater, a shopping center, a rock-climbing wall and a nine-hole miniature golf course.

While aboard the ship, we passengers engaged in a wide range of traditional cruise(海上旅行)ship activities, including eating breakfast, snacking, eating lunch, drinking while lying on deck absorbing solar radiation until we glowed like exit signs, snacking some more, eating dinner, eating more snacks and passing out face-down in the midnight buffet(自助餐). Of course, I did not attempt to climb the rock wall, which is good because the resulting disaster would have made for a chilling newspaper headline: CRUISE SHIP EVACUATED AS MAN FALLS, EXPLODES!

When every passenger had attained almost the same body weight, the ship would stop at a Caribbean island, and the passengers would waddle(摇摆而行) ashore to experience the traditional local culture, by which I mean shop for European jewelry and watches. I frankly don't know why it makes economic sense for a tourist from Montana to fly to Miami, get on a ship and sail to Jamaica for the purpose of purchasing a watch made in Switzerland, but apparently it does, because shopping is very important to cruise passengers. If these people ever get to Mars, they WILL expect to find jewelry stores.

The other thing you do when your ship is in port is take guided tours to Local Points of Interest. In Jamaica, we toured a plantation. During the tour, a man demonstrated how he could climb a tree using only a small rope made from twisted banana fibers. When he came down, he showed me the rope, and I, out of politeness, pretended to be interested in it, although in fact it was, basically, a rope. The man handed it to me and suggested I might want to ''take it home to the kids.'' I frankly doubted that any modern technology-raised American child would be thrilled by such a gift (''Look, Timmy! A rope!''). But I pretended to be grateful. Then the man told me that such ropes USUALLY sell for $15 (he did not say where), but he would let it go for $10. And so, unable to figure out how to escape, I gave him $10. I imagine the other plantation workers laughed far into the night when he told them.

But don't get me wrong: I truly enjoyed the cruise. It was fun and relaxing. Cruising is also romantic, so let me just say this to you couples out there: If you're looking for a way to reform your relationship, I'll sell you my rope.

【推荐1】Dolphins are social and intelligent animals. And, like the way humans maintain relationships by hugging or giving a handshake, dolphins breathe together at the same time when they come up from the water for air. This shared act is important for creating social connections. But sharing the same air and area is also spreading an infectious and deadly disease among the dolphins.

Janet Mann and other scientists are trying to understand the virus. They discovered it in the water off the American states of Virginia and Maryland. It is now spreading to other Atlantic coast dolphins.

Mann explains that the dolphin virus is in the lungs. “When dolphins breathe together at the surface, they’re sharing tiny droplets just like we do when we’re talking with each other,” she said.

During her 35 years of studying dolphins, Janet Mann has noticed that even though dolphins have close friends, they visit other dolphins and leave the groups often. Following the social lives of dolphins in the Chesapeake Bay has permitted researchers to identify over 2,000 dolphin individuals. They can remember them by their special shapes and markings on their back fins.

Two researchers, Melissa Collier and Ann-Marie Jacoby, saw two dolphins. A third dolphin joined his friends. All three dolphins came to the surface of the water and breathed together. “This is typical, male behavior. The males stay pretty coordinated (协调) with each other. The females sync (同步), but not as regularly. They syne mostly with their offspring (幼崽).” Mann says. This behavior pattern might explain why more male dolphins have died in the most recent outbreak of the virus.

Viruses are naturally occurring in the wild, but human activities in the ocean can make the virus worse by wakening environments and populations even more. Pollution from carbon and plastics, limited food sources, along with ocean warming from climate change, harm the animals. These factors weaken the dolphins’ immune systems. “So, they are extremely vulnerable (脆弱的,易受伤的) to virus outbreaks.” Mann says.

【推荐3】Whaling was once a major industry worldwide. And by the 1940s, more than 30,000 whales were being caught every yean Oil from whales was widely used. In order to make possible the orderly development of the global whaling industry, the international Whaling Commission (IWC) was formed in 1946.

However, in 1986, the IWC voted (投票) for a ban on whaling. The biggest concern was the huge fall in whale populations across the planet. Indeed many people say the ban came too late and that commercial whaling has already driven many species close to extinction. According to Greenpeace, blue whales are less than 1% of their original number in the Antarctic while Sei Whales and Fin Whales are also listed as “endangered species”.

There are many other good reasons to oppose whaling. Whales are extremely intelligent creatures. They have social networks very similar to those of humans, and scientists have recently discovered that whales have brain cells only previously found in humans and great apes (猿) . On top of that, whaling is also a cruel industry. Whales are often caught using explosive harpoons (鱼叉). In some cases, when the harpoon doesn't bit its target properly, whales can take minutes or sometimes hours to die.

Despite this, some countries continue to hunt whales. And currently Japan hunts more than 1,000 whales a year-all of them part of a supposed “scientific research” programme. Many people argue that this “research” is nothing more than a front of commercial whaling — the meat that is left over after samples are taken is sold.

At present, the world is fairly divided on the issue with Iceland, Japan and Norway on the pro-whaling side and the US, Australia, New Zealand and the EU on the anti-whaling side. Asked recently bow difficult his job was on a scale (等级) of one to ten, Cristian Maquieira, the chairman of the IWC said, “About a twelve!”

【推荐1】My mother used to take me to my grandparents’ in Belgium during the school holidays. While I would play chess with my grandfather, he would tell me stories about growing up, falling in love, and travelling around the world.

I didn’t realize the importance of preserving memories until my grandfather passed away, which ultimately changed my outlook on remembering our loved ones and the stories we share. I thought about solutions to help other people record the precious memories for those they love—before it’s too late. So I began matching ghostwriters (代笔人) to clients to help them write a book as smoothly and beautifully as possible, and Story Terrace was born.

Since then, we have explored the power of stories and their ability to connect us with our past and make sense of the present. It has been documented that increased family connection is significantly linked to less loneliness. Learning more about one’s family history, however, has been linked to boosting emotional health, increasing compassion and providing a deeper sense of cultures and traditions.

What we have found through our own research is that so many of us have missed out on the opportunity to explore our origins. 56 percent of Brits agreed that much of their family history is lost because they are no longer able to speak with the person who knows the most about it. A further 51 percent expressed regret as they wished they could tell their younger self to document their family’s life story, feeling that most of it had been forgotten. But when it comes to telling these stories, many don’t know where to begin.

We have seen numerous times when people come to us with random journal entries and notes from over the years, and these can be developed into a wonderful work of art that can be passed down for generations to come.

Half of the projects we see at StoryTerrace are heritage stories, with family occupying a dominant theme for most stories. Alongside this, common themes we see are of course love, overcoming challenges, settling in new surroundings and so on. However, family is a thread that always ties these together.

【推荐2】Preventing heart disease is a topic I think about all the time, given my family history of heart disease. So last summer, I travelled to Bolivia. The natives, called the Tsimane, were reported to have the healthiest hearts in the world. I wanted to learn what they could teach me about preventing heart disease.

Getting to the Tsimane wasn't easy. They lived in small family groups of about 60 people along river banks. We finally found one of the villages at sunset. That night, we set up our tents in the middle of the village. Thatched huts surrounded us, with no electricity or modern conveniences.

At first, I thought they mainly got their calorics from meat. However, I found food such as rice and com made up nearly 70% of their diet. The food was not processed, lacking added sugars or salts.

During my stay there, I went hunting and fishing with the men and played soccer with the kids. I found the Tsimane were standing or walking nearly all of their waking hours. Men spent lots of time tracking animals. Fanning and gathering, mostly done by children and women, were all-day affairs.

I also got a clear idea of how they rested. As soon as the sun went down, people returned to their huts and went to sleep. And with the call of the cock in the morning, another day began.

The lifespan of the Tsimane is actually much shorter than those living in the US. Various factors, like animal attacks and infections, bring down the lifespan. But up until the day they die, they are often very healthy. While heart disease kills thousands of Americans every year and costs nearly a billion dollars a day, the Tsimane remind us that wealth doesn't necessarily buy health.