【推荐1】Even for the team of experienced adventurers, exploring each new river part that feeds southern Africa’s Okavango Delta(奥卡万戈三角洲) in the north of Botswana presents unique challenges.

From April to July of 2019, the explorers of National Geographic’s Okavango Wilderness Project continued pushing their way into the unknown zone in the Angolan highlands, the source of the Okavango River, to explore the rivers and lakes that feed the delta, which run throughout Angola, Namibia, and Botswana.

Steve Boyes, an explorer from National Geographic, has been a project leader since 2015, when the team began formally describing the biodiversity(生物多样性) and characteristics of the Angolan highlands’ rivers for the first time. Since 2015, the team has crossed the Cuito and Cuanavale Rivers — two branches of the Okavango River. On the latest trip, they explored the source lakes of these two rivers and then headed westward to the Cubango River — the upper reaches of the Okavango River.

The trip to the source lakes was particularly unique. Although the team had been there before, this was the first time that they would dive under the surface to view a hidden world. These lakes are surrounded by thick layers of peat (泥煤) that have gathered over thousands of years, and have remained mostly undisturbed.

“We found 96 species of fish in the source lakes,” says Adjany Costa, another explorer from National Geographic. She explains this biodiversity has been unexplored until now because the locals never even fish there for food — they believe the lakes and rivers are occupied by a snake-like monster that protects the habitat.

The Cubango River is quite different from the Cuito and the Cuanavale. It is rocky and rough, and unlike the others, it has a well-travelled road to its west, which brings contact with people. Besides learning the biodiversity of the zone, a main focus of the Cubango River exploration was on figuring out how it is influenced by people living nearby. The team hopes the data collected in the exploration will be used to prevent seasonal drying and overuse of the valuable Cubango waters that feed the Okavango system.

Costa, as a native of Angola, is devoted to protecting her country. “Ever since I started working with the project, it has changed my opinion of how I see Angola as a whole,” she said.

【推荐2】Kenya is home to nearly 400 species of mammals. Officials say it is getting more difficult to protect them, as climate change and human activities damage their natural environments. The free mobile phone app, Mammal Atlas Kenya, or Makenya, lets any user who sees a wild mammal identify it and give its location. Users can also give other details.

“You can also add the behavior,” said Dr. Simon Musila, a researcher at the National Museums of Kenya, Musila said there is a need to have many people use the app to get more information about the animals. This can help the small number of mammal specialists in Kenya. The specialists have kept records of the animals’ changing environments and survival conditions.

Many people, including safari guides, visitors, students, or anyone who goes out and sees the animals, could use the app, Musila said. They can upload images and add details, such as the number of mammals and their exact locations.

Samson Onyuok uses the Makenya app to help protect animals in his country. “I think as a Kenyan, that is my little way of contributing to the conservation initiatives,” Onyuok said. Users like him have reported more than 2,500 mammal sightings since August.

Experts say that while Africa is not the cause of much climate change, it is badly affected by it. Dr.Philip Muruthi, vice president of the African Wildlife Foundation, said that the birth rate of rare mammals and the survival rate of young ones are dropping.

“It is very hard to benefit or manage what you don’t know,” he said. “That is why this app is so important. It is going to tell us which species we have, where they are, and maybe which ones are highly endangered, what we need to do about them. And especially not just the big things but also the small things, like the bats.”

Wildlife officials say Kenya is home to at least a third of the mammal species in Africa and are hopeful app users will help protect them.

【推荐1】There’s a new “Papa” Hemingway in the island city where legendary author Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote for most of the 1930s.

More than 100 men competed for the title of “man who most resembles author and former Key West resident Ernest Hemingway” this weekend in Florida—and only one man succeeded. Jon Auvil caught the keen eye of the judges, who awarded him the winner in the Hemingway Look-Alike Contest at Sloppy Joe’s Bar on Saturday. Auvil beat out 124 other men for the title, according to theAssociated Press.

Some of the look-alike hopefuls showed up in wool fisherman’s sweaters—while other contestants wore sportsmen’s clothes. Yet Auvil—a lawyer—wore a cream-colored sweater; it was apparently that touch that helped him take the crown.

The Hemingway Look-Alike Contest participants were judged by the winners of previous contests at Sloppy Joe’s Bar, the Duval Street saloon where Hemingway and his friends frequently gathered.

Crowds of audience cheered enthusiastically for their favorites as they paraded on stage at the bar and took turns speaking. Most participants tried toemulatethe author in his later years, including full beards, as well as the way he behaves, dresses, and speaks.

In addition to appearance, Auvil said he shared other features with Ernest Hemingway including a love of fishing. He has also tried his hand at writing fiction and a bit of nonfiction. “Of course, every man wants to write like Hemingway,” Auvil said. “He represents a lot—romance, masculinity (男子气概), sports, love of the sea, love of a woman, love of children...and life.”

Hemingway, the Nobel Prize-winning author, wrote famous classics includingFor Whom the Bell TollsandTo Have and Have Notwhile living in Key West. The event also included theconclusion of the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition directed by Ernest’s granddaughter,an author.

【推荐3】Jane Austen died 200 years ago on July 18, 1817, at the age of 41. We don’t know why she died so young. We don’t know much about Austen’s love life, or her time in Bath, or just what she looked like.    1    . A search for “Jane Austen” in the Penn Libraries’ catalog shows 1,314 books and 178,919 articles.

    2    , though she was not well-known during her lifetime. Due to the reputation of novels as a somewhat frivolous form of entertainment, she published them anonymously（匿名地）.    3    . Her final publisher John Murray approached her about dedicating Emma to His Royal Highness. After her death, Austen’s brother, Henry, published her novels Persuasion and Northanger and revealed her as the author.

Her iconic status today is thanks to movies and TV. During the mid-1990s, one major film was made based on her works: 1940’s Pride and Prejudice. Then in 1995 and 1996, five major Austen adaptations hit at once: Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, Nick Dear’s Persuasion, the BBC Pride and Prejudice, Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, and Emma.    4    

    5    In his contemporary review of Emma, Walter Scott highlighted Austen’s affection for daily life. Her novels demonstrated the literary value of the domestic. In our eyes, she was writing about people and their problems, their dysfunctional families, and even if women should marry. Those issues were relevant then, and they're relevant now.