【推荐2】World Series, the United States

A century’s worth of the World Series has seen many exciting matches. To get to the series, each of the 32 teams in the major leagues must experience a 162-game season, followed by three playoffs. The first is a best-of-five series, followed by two best-of-seven series.

Super Bowl, the United States

The Super Bowl is so big that even the commercial advertisements are worth watching.When it was held for the first time in 1967, there were plenty of empty seats and it attracted a small TV audience. It is the competition between the top team from the American Football Conference and the top team from the National Football Conference for the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

24 Hours of Le Mans, France

Skill,speed and stamina are the three dimensions that mark the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The competition is set on a non-permanent track at Circuit de la Sarthe near the city of Le Mans in France. The winner is the car, driven by a team of three drivers, which covers the greatest distance in 24 hours. The first Le Mans contest took place in May 1923. Today it is held every June.

Polo at Palermo,Argentina

Argentine polo is considered the best in the world. It’s no wonder the Argentine Open Championship is the top draw for the sport’s best players and fans. The tournament, first known as the River Plata Polo Championship, takes place between late November and early December. First held in 1893, the tournament is older than the tango.

【推荐1】Dr. Nancy Roman, born in 1925, who was celebrated as a pioneer for female scientists and had advanced the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, died on Dec 25, 2018.

When Nancy Roman asked for permission to take a second algebra (代数) course in high school, a teacher demanded to know “what lady would take mathematics instead of Latin”. In college, a professor admitted that he often tried to prevent women from majoring in physics but Nancy stuck to it. And after receiving Doctor’s degree in astronomy, she found a professional home at NASA (美国宇航局). In 1959, Dr. Roman became the first chief of astronomy at NASA headquarters, a role that made her one of the agency’s first female leaders.

Dr. Roman spent much of her career helping develop, fund and promote technology that would help scientists see more clearly beyond Earths atmosphere. But her most well-known work was perhaps leading to design the Hubble Space Telescope the first major telescope to be sent into space for the purpose of gathering photographs and data from the universe. She was, therefore, named as “the mother of Hubble”.

“She made it possible to get the early telescope up into space to learn what needed to be learned,” said science historian Bob Zimmerman, and her hard-nosed nature helped get the telescope built.

The telescope did not launch until 1990, a little more than a decade after Dr. Roman retired, but when it did, its photographs of the universe thrilled the world. “I am glad,” she once told Science, “I ignored the people who told me that I could not be an astronomer.”

【推荐2】Jeremy looked across the hot, grassy plain South Africa was a long way from the cool, green countryside of his hometown in Oregon.

“Ready?” Dad asked.

“Yes,” Jeremy answered. They climbed into the old truck. Jeremy seldom spent time with his father, a famous wildlife photographer. The work seemed mostly hot and boring.

As the truck ran across the rough dirt, Dad chatted with their guides, Mkhulu and Bheki. They spoke Zulu, which Jeremy couldn’t understand, though they also spoke English. He watched for animals. “There!” he shouted, pointing. Mkhulu slowed the truck. Jeremy realized he had been pointing at a rock.

As the truck jumped up and down over a ditch, there was a big crash. “Wait!” Jeremy shouted. The door had fallen off. Bheki threw the door into the back of the truck. “Now we can see better,” Dad laughed.

They stopped near a watering hole. Mkhulu said he was friends with the elephants that sometimes gathered here. Maybe they’d see some.

Before long, Jeremy felt vibrations. Elephants! A small group walked towards the water. Dad jumped out of the truck and focused his camera on the largest elephant.

Jeremy spotted a very young elephant walking between two adults. It was tiny, by elephant standards. The two elephants beside the baby kept stopping to wait for it. Jeremy watched as they neared the water. Several larger elephants Jumped in the water.

Jeremy lost sight of the baby. Where was it? Then he saw. It was in water up to its eyes. Its mouth was underwater. It held it its trunk up above the water. The baby was in trouble. “Look!” said Jeremy. The bank was too steep for the baby. It couldn’t climb out of the water. Other elephants tried pushing it, without success.

Jeremy took the loose door from the back of the truck. Mkhulu saw what Jeremy was planning and ran to help. Together they dragged the door down to the water’s edge, Mkhulu calmed the mother elephant, gently explaining that they were bringing a ramp for the baby.

The mother knew Mkhulu and trusted him. She seemed to sense that they meant to help. Jeremy pushed the door onto the bank, angling it so the baby could walk up it to safety. The baby stepped onto the door. Its mother pushed. Three more steps, and they were up. The elephants gathered around the baby, touching it with their trunks.

“Boy, Jeremy,” Dad said. “That is one of the most exciting photo shoots I’ve ever done! I’m glad you came along.”

【推荐2】Ed Jackson’s team were trying to climb to the top of a Himalayan Mountain. However, weeks after they set off, they were stranded (滞留) there overnight without water, food or tents at a temperature of about -30℃. They took turns to keep each other awake in case they fell asleep and did not wake up again.

Actually, that night on the mountain top was not the first time that Jackson had been close to death. Five years ago, while still a professional rugby player, Jackson broke his neck in a challenge, which nearly killed him. Jackson was told by doctors that he was likely to face life in a wheelchair. He was forced to retire from playing rugby.

Luckily, Jackson managed to discard his wheelchair six months after the accident. To mark the first anniversary of his accident, Jackson set himself the goal of climbing Mount Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales, even though he was still using two crutches (拐杖) then. He tried to climb many higher mountains after that. Four years later, he found himself in the Himalayas.

The challenges that Jackson faced in the mountains have had a great impact on his recovery both physically and mentally. Jackson realized that others might benefit, too. So he started the charity Millimeters to Mountains (M2M) with his wife Lois and his friend Oily Barkley. It takes beneficiaries (受益人) who have suffered physical or psychological injuries in challenges around the world, allowing them to access the healing power of nature.

Jackson says, “I once lost hope in life because of my bad condition, thinking there was nothing I could do. But hopefully what I’m doing, what we’re doing with the charity and what our beneficiaries are proving can give anyone the hope that they can turn their life around, no matter how discouraging it might seem at that moment.”