【推荐1】Be a Green Child

What does it mean to be green? “Green” is more than just a colour.     1     Why green? Plant are green, and without them the Earth wouldn’t be such a lovely home for us human beings. Every day, people make choices that affect the amount of rubbish and pollution produced in our world. What can we do? Here’s a four-step guide to being green:

Reduce It!

    2     For example, a shorter shower means you use less water and less fuel(燃料) since your house uses fuel to run the water heater that warms up the water.

Reuse It!

Sometimes people call ours a “throwaway society”. That means that we re a little too willing to throw away old things and buy new ones.     3    For example, if your baby brother outgrows his plastic basketball hoop, why not give it to another family who has a little kid?

Recycle It!

Recycling has never been easier. Many communities will pick it up right in front of your house and some towns even require it. Recycled goods go to a recycling centre, where they can be turned into new cans, bottles, and paper.

Enjoy It

It’s true that rubbish and pollution are problems, but the Earth remains a huge and beautiful place that’s ready for you to explore.     4     Go for a hike, visit local nature centres and gardens, and climb up mountains. But before you travel the globe, take a look at your own backyard. Is there a place where you could plat a tree or put in a little fruit or vegetable garden?     5    

【推荐3】Flash droughts (突发性干旱) develop fast, and when they hit at the wrong time, they can ruin a region’s agriculture. They are also becoming increasingly common as the planet warms. In a study published in the journal Communication Earth &Environment, we found that the risk of flash droughts, which can develop in a few weeks, is on pace to rise in every major agricultural region around the world in the coming decades.

In North America and Europe, cropland that had a 32% annual chance of a flash drought a few years ago could have a greater chance of a flash drought by the final decades of this century. That result would put food production, energy, and water supplies under increasing pressure. The cost of ravage will also rise. A flash drought in the Dakotas and Montana in 2017 caused $2.6 billion in agricultural damage in America alone.

All droughts begin when rainfall stops. What’s interesting about flash droughts is how fast they reinforce themselves, with some help from the warming climate. When the weather is hot and dry, soil loses water rapidly. Dry air extracts moisture from the land, and rising temperature can increase this evaporative demand. The lack of rain during a flash drought can further contribute to the feedback processes. Under these conditions, crops and vegetation begin to die much more quickly than they do during typical long-term droughts.

In our study, we used climate models and data from the past 170 years to assess the drought risks ahead under three conditions for how quickly the world takes action to slow the pace of global warming. If greenhouse gas emissions (排放物) from vehicles, power plants, and other human sources continue at a high rate, we found that cropland in much of North America and Europe would have a 53% annual chance of flash droughts, respectively, by the final decades of this century. Globally, the largest projected increases in flash droughts would be in Europe and the Amazon. Slowing emissions can reduce the risk significantly, but we found flash droughts would still increase by about 6% worldwide under low-emission conditions.

【推荐1】Here are several destinations we’ve selected from four Asian countries for your adventure. Check them out:

Almost no one visits the country, and most people aren’t aware of the amazing potential it has. Head to Mongolia’s best-known national park, Terelji. If you intend to watch performances of archery(射箭)or enjoy outdoor adventures from bird-watching to hiking and climbing or horseback riding through grassy steppes and forest-covered mountains, you can spend a night in a traditional tent.

Offering the chance for world-class diving to visit the world’s biggest Buddhist temple, and to see amazing wildlife, Indonesia is a must-visit. A must-visit for anyone in Indonesia is Mount Ijen. It’s in East Java, the highest point of which is home to the most active volcano in the country, Mount Merapi. But the Blue Fire Crater is the spot we recommend you to visit.

Want to achieve something great on your next Asian adventure? You should consider climbing one of the highest mountains in Southeast Asia. Kinabalu National Park in Malaysia is the home of Mount Kinabalu, the mountain that around 40,000 people from all around the world go to climb every year. The journey normally takes two days.

In Shanxi province of the country lies the world’s most dangerous hiking trail(路线). It’s up Mount Huashan, which is only 2,155m high. But the dangerous part is not the top, but the narrow, wooden boards you have to climb up to reach the top. They’re fixed onto the mountainside in a way that doesn’t look very secure. Nevertheless, many adventurers try and take a hair-raising picture as they climb up.

【推荐2】Being able to take advantage of truly unlimited data is a smartphone user’s dream, but everyone I’ve talked to about 5G is more excited about the usage unlocked by next-generation wireless devices. From smart home security to self-driving cars, all the Internet-connected equipment in your life will be able to talk to each other at lightning-fast speed with reduced delay.

“5G is one of those forerunners, along with artificial intelligence, of this coming data age.” said Steve Koenig, senior director of market research for the Consumer Technology Association. “Self-driving vehicles are emblematic in this data age — they show application of data completely. With one single task, driving, you have large amounts of data coming from the vehicle itself, and a variety of sensors (传感器) are collecting a lot of information to model its environment as it moves. It’s pulling in data from other vehicles about conditions down the road. There’s lots of data behind that task, which is why we need the speed and lower delay (延迟).

AR glasses and virtual (虚拟的) reality headphones haven’t yet been inside the mainstream, but tech companies are joyfully saying that such equipment will eventually replace our smartphones. With 5G, that could actually happen. This is notable because companies such as Apple are reportedly developing AR glasses to improve — or even replace — smartphones.

Ericsson showed at February’s Mobile World Congress in 2019 how smart glasses could become faster and lighter with a 5G connection, because instead of being weighed down with components, the glasses could rely on outside equipment for processing power.

But don’t get too excited. There’s still a lot of work to be done in the meantime, including some necessary testing to make sure the radio plays nicely with basic systems and service construction so that 5G isn’t only concentrated in big cities, but universally.

【推荐3】My son is 7 years old, and since he was six months old, people have been asking us, “When are you having another?” first, I’d answer “we’ll see,” because at the time, we were undecided not financially stable, and just learning how to be parents. Over time we decided that one is good for us. “Poor baby he’s going to be so lonely!” I have grown accustomed to these remarks.

But this week, I read a post that made my head spin. Jean Leo, a blogger at The Stir, said, “Parents who choose to have one child are just being selfish.” He says, “I understand some people are unable to have more than one kid due to medical or financial circumstances. I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about the couple who decide it’s a lot of work and they like having their freedom, so they stop at one.”

I absolutely disagree. First, it is a very hard job to raise a child. Even in a two-income-earning household, the stress of having a child is huge just to meet a child’s basic needs. Let’s not get into all the extras that start piling on as they grow older. Second, and just as equally important, is time. Carving out time for just yourself is hard enough, but when you have a family, you want to be there for everything. If you are a working parent, it’s hard balancing act between career, play, kids, and also spending time with your partner. For me, wouldn’t be able to do half the things if I had more children. There are some parents that do this well, and I high five them. But that is not me.

Whether it be one child or twenty, this parenting business is no joke and not everyone can handle what comes in the job description. I believe recognizing that you only have the strength to raise one child, and raise that child to the best of your ability is actually something to be admired.

【推荐1】It is surprising that eating three meals a day—breakfast, lunch and dinner—has been a custom only since 1890. Before this time, people only had two meals a day—breakfast and dinner.

In the 16th century, breakfast was only to break one’s fast(随便吃一点). But 200 years later it had become a large meal, not just for family, but for numbers of guests as well. It was a social event. It began at 10 a.m. and lasted until 1 p.m. Then breakfast began to be less popular. It became, instead, a lighter meal and was taken at a much earlier hour. By 1850 it had been pushed back to 8 a.m. and became a family meal.

Dinner，however，went to the other way. In the 16th century it was eaten at 11a.m. Years later, it had moved to the early afternoon, then to 5 p.m. By 1850 dinner time had reached 7 p.m. Lunch is a recent idea. It first appeared as a snack to fill the gap between breakfast and dinner.

【推荐2】A great woman once said, “Women must try to do things as men have tried.When they fail, their failure must be a challenge to others.” These are the words of US pilot Amelia Earhart (1897-1937), a pioneer in aviation, who was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Her story ended in mystery when she disappeared without a trace during a flight over the Pacific Ocean.Theories about what happened to Earhart were proposed, but nothing was ever confirmed — until now.A study published in March conducted by Richard Jantz from the University of Tennessee, US, determined that bones found in 1940 on a remote Pacific island belonged to Earhart.

Following the discovery, the world’s memories of the legendary female pilot were brought back to life.

Earhart was born in 1897.When she was young, she was very interested in stories about women who were successful in male-dominated professions, such as engineering and law.

But in 1920, Earhart’s life changed after her first experience of being a plane passenger.As soon as the plane left the ground, Earhart knew that she loved flying, so she found herself a teacher and started to learn how to fly for herself.To pay for the lessons and buy a plane of her own, she took all sorts of jobs.

In 1932, Earhart flew solo across the Atlantic, becoming the first woman ever to do so.She also designed a flying suit for women and went on to design other clothes for women who led active lives.

When she was nearly 40, Earhart was ready for a final challenge — to be the first woman to fly around the world.Her first attempt was unsuccessful but she tried again in 1937, with her navigator Fred Noonan.But one month later, they disappeared in bad weather in mid-flight.

Even though it’s still not clear how she ended up on the island, we’re one step closer to finding the answer.

And no matter what, Earhart will be forever remembered as a brave pioneer, both as a pilot and as a woman.

【推荐3】I began working in journalism when I was eight. It was my mother’s idea. She wanted me to “make something” of myself, and decided I had better start young if I was to have any chance of keeping up with the competition.

With my load of magazines I headed toward Belleville Avenue. The crowds were there. There were two gas stations on the corner of Belleville and Union. For several hours I made myself highly visible, making sure everyone could see me and the heavy black letters on the bag that said THE SATURDAY EVENING POST. When it was suppertime, I walked back home.

“How many did you sell, my boy?” my mother asked.

“None.”

“Where did you go?”

“The corner of Belleville and Union Avenues.”

“What did you do?”

“Stood on the corner waiting for somebody to buy a Saturday Evening Post.”

“You just stood there?”

“Didn’t sell a single one.”

“My God, Russell!”

Uncle Allen put in, “Well, I’ve decided to take the Post.” I handed him a copy and he paid me a nickel(五分镍币). It was the first nickel I earned.

Afterwards my mother taught me how to be a salesman. I would have to ring doorbells, address adults with self-confidence, and persuade them by saying that no one, no matter how poor, could afford to be without the Saturday Evening Post in the home.

One day, I told my mother I’d changed my mind. I didn’t want to make a success in the magazine business.

“If you think you can change your mind like this,” she replied, “you’ll become a good-for-nothing.” She insisted that, as soon as school was over, I should start ringing doorbells, selling magazines. Whenever I said no, she would scold me.

My mother and I had fought this battle almost as long as I could remember. My mother, dissatisfied with my father’s plain workman’s life, determined that I would not grow up like him and his people. But never did she expect that, forty years later, such a successful journalist as me would go back to her husband’s people for true life and love.