【推荐1】A young man has just returned from a terrific first date. He wants to send flowers to let his date know he enjoyed being with her, but he's not sure what to send. A dozen red roses? No, too formal for a first date. A bouquet of wild flowers, perhaps? Still not sure, he picks up the phone and calls a florist for advice. The next day his date calls, thanking him for the beautiful yellow roses.

Florists enjoy helping people express themselves with flowers. Flowers can help, people share all sorts of feelings. For instance, flowers help people say "Congratulations!" to a friend who gets promoted. Flowers can also express feelings hard to put into words. They help say "I'm sorry" to the wife whose husband forgot her birthday. From birth to death, and the holidays in between, flowers add color and meaning to life. That's why florists' services are always in demand.

In the past, florists just sold flowers to customers, who arranged them on their own. But today's florists are skilled designers, arranging flowers in ways that best express their customers' feelings.

Formerly, florists learned on the job. Today, however, many florists earn diplomas in floral design in as few as 75 hours of classes. They gain a knowledge of flower varieties and develop an artist's touch. These skills help florists make arrangements that fit customers' tastes and meet their budgets.

Compared to most start-up businesses, opening a flower shop takes little money. As a result, many florists open up their own shops soon after earning their diplomas.

One of their first priorities is establishing good customer service. Their customers have come to expect same-day delivery. So florists must be able to work quickly, especially during holiday rushes. But florists don't mind. For them, the more arrangements they make, the more people they touch-with flowers.

【推荐3】Experts say heavy backpacks are a health risk for kids.

Like little turtles with limbs poking out from their shell, kids shuffle(拖着脚走) to school every day wearing giant backpacks. Even high school students have to bend forward to carry their heavy books to and from school. It's frustrating and looks a little silly, but is it dangerous?

" Yes, " say many experts. " Kids are saying ‘My back hurts, and my neck and my shoulders hurt’, "says Dr. Karen Jacobs, a clinical professor at Boston University. " A heavy backpack can also lead to headaches, slow or sluggish development and other physical problems. "

Jacobs is also a spokesperson for the American Occupational Therapy Association, which sponsors National   School Backpack Awareness Day on September 16. She says that too many textbooks and less locker space are making backpacks bigger. "Since at least 1998, we've noticed backpacks getting bigger and heavier, and not in proportion to the kids sizes, "says Jacobs.

A 2010 study from the University of California, San Diego, concluded, "Backpack loads are responsible for a significant amount of back pain in children. " The same study says a full third of kids aged between 11 and 14 report back pain. Other research from 2011 came to a similar conclusion.

"Like the frame of a house, the spine(脊椎)is what keeps bodies strong and upright. Put too much weight on this frame while a young body is still developing, and it could change a child's posture(姿势), compress the spine, and impair children’s growth, " says Rob Danoff, a doctor in Philadelphia's Aria Health. "It also might lead to back problems or injuries when the child's older. "

Experts warn against wearing a heavy backpack, adding something can be done to solve the problem.

【推荐1】Do Animals Communicate?

When we think of communication, we usually think of using spoken language. But in fact we communicate far more in other ways. Our eyes and facial expressions usually tell the truth even when our words do not.

Then there are gestures: raising the eyebrows, tapping the fingers, nodding and shaking the head. There is also body language of posture: Are you sitting or standing with arms or legs crossed? Is that person standing with hands held in front of the body or hidden behind?

So, do animals communicate? As we have learnt, there is more to communicate than words.

Take dogs for example. They show their teeth to warn, shake their tails to welcome, and stand firm with hair upright to fight. These signals are surely the equals of the human body language of facial expressions, gestures and posture.

Color can be an important means of communication for animals. Many birds and fishes change color, for example, to attract partners during the mating(交配) season. And mating itself is commonly done after a special dance which both partners take part in.

Here, again, there are striking similarities to young men and women who dress up to meet partners at parties, where the music is often too loud for word communication. Communication there takes place through appearance and movement.

The most carefully planned dances in the animal kingdom are those that bees use to communicate. With body movements alone they can tell other bees the direction and distance of a newly discovered food.

All these examples may suggest instinctive(本能的) rather than intelligent communication. And, in many ways, body language says far more than intelligent word communication ever can.

【推荐2】Bangkok (曼谷) developed around the Chao Phraya River. Many of the city’s hotels sit along the river. The areas of Siam and Ratchaprasong are the core of tourist Bangkok. Sukhumvit Road is home to mall after mall filled with every kind of shop.

For the best value, luxury (奢华的) hotels in the Bang Rak and Sathorn Districts are great choices since the area is more popular for office buildings than tourists. The Sathorn Vista, Bangkok is a perfect example. There are several restaurants, a full gym, a beautiful poo1 and outdoor areas.

Traditionally, the Khao San Road area has been the center of Bangkok budget lodging (住宿) and this is still true today. The Dang Derm Hotel on Khao San Road has clean, large rooms and a really nice rooftop pool. If you’re on a budget but want to stay riverside, try the Ibis Bangkok Riverside, whose contents are always clean and well-managed. The riverside location is close to the ferry, and its location a bit south of the main tourist area gets you very low prices.

Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok is a great family hotel. The hotel, which has buildings on both sides of the Chao Phraya river, has been providing accommodation to travelers since 1876. For families there are a number of connecting room choices, and the hotel is also responsible for bringing in extra beds for children. There is a kids’ club on-site, and parents can even sign older kids up for cooking classes. Another good option for families is Ariyasom villa. This downtown Bangkok small hotel also offers a pleasant place in the city. It is set inside a beautiful garden and is a lovely change from the disorder of the city.

【推荐3】Rubbish is a major kind of environmental pollution. Each person produces about two kilograms of rubbish in our homes a day. And this is only a small part of all the rubbish we produce. We also create waste in industry.

Have you wondered what happens to the rubbish? Most of it is buried in landfills (垃圾填埋地) or burned. Less than 25% of our waste is recycled.

A landfill is carefully designed and it is built into or on top of the ground. Rubbish buried in landfills is cut off from the surrounding environment (groundwater, air, rain, etc).

One problem with landfills is that they cover a lot of land space. If they are not well-built, there is a high risk of polluting the land and water. Some people also say that landfills remove materials for ever. As a result, the materials that can be reused are wasted.

Burning rubbish in factories is another way to cut out waste. Burning reduces 95% of the waste. And if poisonous materials are removed, and burning is completed at controlled temperatures, it is possible to do so without causing too much pollution. Some factories could even produce electricity from the burning process.

Not all of the rubbish can be burned, so we have to separate it before we burn it. However, separation costs a lot of money. Another problem with burning rubbish is that what is left after burning is poisonous. How to safely deal with it is a continuing problem.

Before the mid-20th century, landfills were the main way to deal with waste. In the late 20th century, other ways like recycling have been introduced to help reduce global pollution.

Maybe in the near future, with combined efforts, scientists will find a better way to dispose rubbish and cut out waste, like recycling things. But anyway, mountains of rubbish from life every day is a huge burden for any country.

【推荐1】Cattle manure(粪肥) has become one of the world’s greatest environmental killers, but one Dutch artist is using chemistry to turn it into something that is both eco-friendly and valuable.

In recent years, scientists around the world have made great progress in their attempts to recycle cattle manure, including turning it into natural fertilizer, but Eindhoven designer Jalila Essaidi didn’t think they were efficient enough to solve the global manure problem. So she started on her very own solution, one that approached animal waste as a valuable material that could be processed into useful products.

She started by separating the waste, with the dry manure used to get pure cellulose(纤维素) from the grass that cows eat. From the wet manure, she got acids used to create a natural liquid plastic which was used to make fiber that are later turned into fabric(material used for making clothes).

This new material was named Mestic, from mest, the Dutch word for manure. Essaidi claim that it has the same function as plastic from fossil fuels, but is bio-degradable(可生物降解的). Better yet, the degradability can be dealt with in the lab, making it possible to create materials that last for different periods of time depending on their purpose. “This is not the first time that scientists have been looking for ways to solve the manure problem, but it is the first time that manure is being considered as a valuable resource.” the Dutch designer said.

Last year, Jalila Essaldi partnered with the city of Eindhoven to produce a fashion show using Mestic-based fabrics. Her Mestic collection was so impressive that clothing giant H&M awarded her the Global Change Award and a $1million prize. And cow manure is just the beginning of Jalila Essaldi’s experiments with animal waste. “After cows, we’ll deal with pigs and other animals,” she said.

【推荐2】For a river that runs over 6.650 kilometres -- snaking in and out of several countries all the way -- governance of the Nile has always been a difficult and politically tense goal. Over 230 million people live within the vast. Nile Basin, many of whom are heavily dependent on its waters, a resource(资源) made increasingly uncertain by growing numbers of dams and population growth, with the other influences of climate change coming around the corner.

A new suggestion may help with this uncertainty. The Nile Basin Initiative(NBI), a member organisation started in 1999 that brings together the ten nations whose territories overlap(重合) with the Nile Basin, is set to act on a decade-long plan known as the HydroMet, an all-round, centralised hydrological(水文的) monitoring system running the length of the river.

According to its supporters, the system will be able to provide real-time data on the river flow, water of levels and water quality, through the setup of 53 hydrological monitoring stations over the next three years. On the whole, it aims to provide a fair division of water between the countries located within the Nile Basin and ensure long-term sustainability (可续性) of the rivers flow through the collection of accurate data.

“Talk of cooperative data collection systems is not new,” explains Kevin Wheeler, from the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford. “The TECCONILE Initiative (Technical Cooperation Committee for the Promotion of the Development and Environmental Protection of the Nile Basin) started in 1993 and lasted for about ten years. A major focus of this initiative was improved data collection, and was helpful in laying the groundwork for the NBI.”

Unfortunately, this project lacked complete, regularly updated data sets covering the whole river, resulting in local water management decisions being made using conflicting information. It is this problem that the new system aims to solve. “The need for improved and continuous monitoring is important for the future of the Nile,” Wheeler adds, “and I sincerely hope the new HydroMet effort open a new chapter in data collection and improved fact-based discussions over the cooperative management of the river.”