【推荐1】Animal Conservation

Many animal and plant species have become extinct and many more are in danger. Finding ways to protect the earth’s wildlife and conserve the natural world they inhabit is now more important than ever.

The dodo

The dodo is a classic example of how human caused damage to the earth’s biology. The flightless dodo was native to the Island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The easily controlled bird became a source of food for sailors and was attacked by animals introduced to the island by humans such as pigs, monkeys and rats. The population of dodos rapidly decreased and the last one was killed in 1681.

Rhinos

The rhino horn is a highly-prized item for Asian medicine. This has led to the animal being hunted in its natural habitat. Once widespread in Africa and Eurasia, most rhinos now live in protected natural parks and reserves. Their numbers have rapidly decreased in the last 50 years, and the animals remain under constant threat from poachers.

The giant pandas

The future of the WWF’s symbol is far from certain. As few as 1,000 remain in the wild, the Chinese government has set up 33 panda reserves to protect these beautiful animals. However, the panda’s distinct black and white patched coat fetches a high price on the black market and determined poachers still pose one of the most serious threats to the animals.

Whales

Despite the fact that one-third of the world’s oceans have been declared whale sanctuaries, 7 out of 13 whale species remain endangered. Hunted for their rich supply of oil, their numbers have decreased to just 300. Collisions with ships, poisonous pollution and being caught in fishing nets are other major causes of whale deaths.

Tigers

The last 100 years has seen a 95% reduction in the number of remaining tigers to between 5,000 and 7,000 and the Bali, Javan, and Caspian tigers are already extinct. The South China tiger is close to disappearing, with only 20 to 30 still alive. Like the rhino horn, the tigers’ bones and organs are sought after for traditional Chinese medicines. These items are traded illegally along with tiger skins.

【推荐3】A world in which extinct creatures could be brought back to life came a step closer yesterday. Australian scientists have managed to extract a gene from a preserved sample of a Tasmanian tiger and make it active. The breakthrough has left them dreaming that one day they will be able to recreate the animal, which died out more than 70 years ago. And if it can be done with the Tasmanian tiger, it may also be possible to resurrect(复活) creatures that have been extinct for far longer.

“There used to be a time when extinction meant forever, but no more,” said Professor Mike Archer. “We are now able to seriously challenge whether those animals that have gone have gone for ever. What has been achieved is a very important step in bringing back those animals that are extinct. And while I think that technically it is still pretty difficult at the moment, we can now see the possibilities. I’m personally convinced that the Tasmanian tiger will be brought back to life in my lifetime.”

The breakthrough came after nine years of experiments by scientists at the University of Melbourne, who extracted a gene from one of several tigers preserved in alcohol in a Melbourne museum. They removed the equivalent gene from a mouse embryo (胚胎), implanted the tiger gene and then watched as the mouse continued to grow normally, suggesting the tiger gene had been activated.

Team leader Dr. Andrew Pask said it was the first time DNA from an extinct species had been used to” induce (引起) a functional response in another living organism”.

However, the animal’s entire gene structure would have to be revived in the same way to even begin the possibility of bringing the Tasmanian tiger back from the dead. Mick Mooney, a wildlife officer of the Tasmanian Government, was worried that such developments could encourage people’s indifference to the protection of endangered species.

“If people think that we can bring animals back to life after they’ve gone, they will start saying that there is nothing to worry about because we can fix it up later.”

【推荐1】If you’re concerned about climate change, should you feel guilty about hanging out online? Maybe not.

Data, or information, is often processed and stored on a computer. A computer that provides data to other computers is called a server. Servers also store data such as videos, pictures and emails. A building that holds many servers is known as a data center. Without data centers and servers, we could not access websites on our own computers and phones every day.

Some people worry that data centers use a lot of energy, which could be bad for the environment. But recent studies found that data centers do not use as much energy as they thought.

Eric Masanet, a professor at Northwestern University, is the study’s main author. Masanet and his team looked at the energy used by data centers around the world, and found that data centers have improved. They saw a 20 percent energy improvement each year.

These improvements are due to better servers. They use less energy than servers once did. Other technologies have also improved.

Masanet said to make sure computers use energy effectively, some things need to happen. Businesses and governments should get involved. Countries need to be open about how much electricity their data centers use. Large data companies also need to source their electricity from renewable energy, such as sunlight and wind. For example, Google and Apple both purchased or generated enough renewable electricity to match 100 percent of their data center energy use in 2018.

“People should care about the energy data centers need,” said Masanet. “But we don’t have to feel bad about staying connected.”

【推荐2】You may know the English letters A, B and C. But do you know there are people called ABC? You may like eating bananas. But did you know there is a “banana person”? How strange! Are these people from “another Earth”? No. They are just Chinese people like you and me.

ABC means American-Born Chinese. An ABC is a Chinese, but was born in the United States. Sometimes, people call an ABC a “banana person”. A banana is yellow outside and white inside. So, when a person is a banana, he or she is white inside—thinking like a Westerner and yellow outside—looking like a Chinese.

Do you know why? Usually, ABCs know little about China or the Chinese language. Some of them don’t speak Chinese.

But if ABCs cannot speak Chinese, can we still call them Chinese people? Yes, of course. They are Chinese. They areoverseasChinese. These people may be citizens of another country like the US, Canada or Singapore. But they have Chinese blood. Their parents, grandparents or even great-grandparents were from China. They all have black eyes and black hair.

But they are not Chinese citizens. They are not the people of the People’s Republic of China. For example, we all know the famous scientist   C.N. Yang(杨振宁). He got the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957. The Chinese love him, but he is an American citizen.

【推荐1】The Largest World Fairs of All Time

New York World Fair — New York. 1939

The 1939 New York World Fair was the largest exposition (博览会) in US history with visitors over 14 million. The Fair was planned during the Great Depression and was aimed at relieving the city from economic depression by attracting foreign investment. Major inventions to emerge (出现) at the New York World Fair included nylon fabric, a streamlined pencil sharpener, and a futuristic car city imagined by General Moiors.

Exposition liniverselle — Paris, 1900

The Exposition Universelle was one of the earliest expositions to feature multiple countries with France inviting various countries to display their technological advancements and cultural heritage. Exposition Universelle was the birthplace of many inventions that we enjoy today including escalators (自动扶梯) and talking films.

Expo’ 70 — Osaka. Japan

Expo’ 70 was the biggest exposition of the 20th century and the second largest in history. Expo 70 had a record attendance of over 64 million visitors, a 40-year record that would not be broken until Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Notable exhibitions included a large piece of moon rock that was brought back from the Apollo 12 mission.

Expo 2010 — Shanghai. China

Expo 2010 goes down as the largest fair in history, having attracted 73 million people. It also had the highest international participation of any exposition in the world with 246 countries participating. The opening ceremony featured the biggest LED screen in the world as well as one of the biggest fireworks displays in history.

【推荐2】Self-driving cars have been backed by the hope that they will save lives by getting involved in fewer crashes with fewer injuries and deaths than human-driven cars. But so far, most comparisons between human drivers and automated vehicles have been unfair. Crash statistics for human-driven cars are gathered from all sorts of driving situations. and all types of roads. However, most of the data on self-driving cars' safety have been recorded often in good weather and on highways, where the most important tasks are staying in the car's own lane and not getting too close to the vehicle-ahead. Automated cars are good at those tasks, but so are humans.

It is true that self-driving cars don't get tired, angry, frustrated or drunk .But neither can they yet react to uncertain situations with the same skill or anticipation of an attentive Unban driver. Nor do they possess the foresight to avoid potential dangers. They largely drive from moment to moment, rather than think ahead to possible events literally down the road.

To a self-driving car, a bus full of people might appear quite similar to an uninhabited field. Indeed, deciding what action to take in an emergency is difficult for humans, but drivers have sacrificed themselves for the greater good of others. An automated system's limited understanding of the world means it will almost never evaluate （评估）a Situation the same way a human would. And machines can't be programmed in advance to handle every imaginable set of events.

Some people may argue that the promise of simply reducing the number of injuries and deaths is enough to support driverless cars. But experience from aviation（航空）shows that as new automated systems are introduced, there is often an increase in the rate of disasters.

Therefore, comparisons between humans and automated vehicles have to be performed carefully. To fairly evaluate driverless cars on how well they fulfill their promise of improved safety, it's important to ensure the data being presented actually provide a true comparison. After all, choosing to replace humans with automation has more effects than simply a one-for-one exchange.

【推荐3】I had been in the city for some time and was coming home.I missed my boat and decided to travel on an old ship.I knew that it would not be a comfortable journey but I had no time to wait for another boat.

Hardly had we left the port when I saw the dog Gulliver，the captain’s favourite dog，for the first time.What a big dog it was！I had never seen one that could frighten me so much!

On the third day the ship caught fire.Nobody tried to put it out.The ship began sinking and all the men rushed to the lifeboats.I saw no chance of getting away in a boat.Suddenly I remembered there was a life raft (橡皮救生筏) on the ship.I had no time，so I immediately rushed towards the raft and pushed it into the water.

In jumping down onto the raft I hurt myself badly and was unconscious for some time.When I came to，I found there was no sign of a lifeboat.Every man who had been on board the ship must have gone down with her.I was the only one who was saved.

Then I saw Gulliver was coming fast towards the raft.It struggled a long time before it managed to get onto the raft.I wanted to push it back into the water but did not dare to move.The dog shook itself，went to the other end of the raft and lay down.I did not dare to sleep that night.I must watch it.In the moonlight I could see its eyes were open.It was watching，too.

【推荐1】A Guide to Disney World Tickets

The Disney World Ticket System may seem complicated(复杂的).This guide to Disney World Tickets will help you decide which Disney World Ticket is the best choice for you and your family.

Walt Disney World Base Ticket

Start with your base ticket-Magic Your Way Base Ticket-and add on options if you need them.

You decide how many days you want to visit the four Disney World theme parks-the Magic Kingdom, Disney's MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom, and EPCOT. Magic Your Way Base Tickets are available from 1 to 10 days. The more days you pay for, the cheaper the per-day cost gets.

Disney Ticket No-Expiration Option

Every Base Ticket expires(到期) 14 days after you first use it. You can add the no-expiration option to your Base Ticket so that your unused days never expire.

Disney Water Park Fun and More

The Base Ticket only covers admission to the 4 theme parks. If you want to visit Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, Disney's Wide World of Sports, or Disney Quest you need another Disney ticket or you can add on the Water Park Fun and More option to your Base Ticket. The amount of visits to the Water Park or Disney Quest depends on the number of days on your Base Ticket. So a 2-Day Ticket with Water Park Fun and More will give you 2 visits to the Water Parks; a 4-Day will give you 4 visits and so on.

Disney Park Hopper Ticket

The Base Ticket allows you to visit one Disney park each day. The Disney Park Hopper option lets you move from one park to another on the same day. So if you started in Animal Kingdom you could move to Magic Kingdom or one of the other theme parks on the same day.

The cost for this option is $ 53.25 per ticket regardless of the number of days you have on your Base Ticket. So it may be a good option for a 10-day ticket but not so great for a 2-day. It does take time to transfer(移动)between parks-Disney World is huge-so work out whether this is going to be the way your family want to visit.

【推荐2】There are about 5,000 different kinds of ladybugs in the world. They are also known as lady beetles or ladybird beetles. They come in many different colors and patterns, but the best­known in North America is the seven­spotted ladybug, with its shiny, red­and­black body.

In many cultures, ladybugs are thought to be good luck. Most people like them because they are pretty, lovely and do no harm to human beings. But farmers love them because they eat aphids and other plant­eating pests. One ladybug can eat up 5,000 insects in its lifetime!

Most ladybugs have dome­shaped bodies with six short legs. Depending on the kind, they can have spots, stripes, or nothing at all. Seven­spotted ladybugs are red or orange with three spots on each side and one in the middle. They have a black head. Ladybugs are colorful for a reason. They tell the enemy: “Eat something else! I taste terrible.” When threatened, they may play dead. Birds are ladybugs' main predators, but they are also eaten by frogs, spiders, and dragonflies.

Ladybugs are happy in many different places, including grasslands, forests, cities, suburbs, and along rivers. Seven­spotted ladybugs are native to Europe but were brought to North America in the mid­1900s.

Ladybugs are most active from spring until fall. When the weather turns cold, they look for a warm place to hibernate, such as in rotting logs, under rocks, or even inside houses. These hibernating places can have thousands of ladybugs.

The name “ladybug” was given by European farmers who prayed to the Virgin Mary when pests began eating their crops. After ladybugs came and wiped out the invading insects, the farmers named them “beetle of Our Lady”. This later was shortened to “lady beetle” and “ladybug”.

【推荐3】BEIJING/SAO PAULO—Chinese traditions like cockfighting, flying and fireworks have been quite common in Brazil for many years.

“Despite the thousands of kilometers between them, China’s historical and artistic mark on Brazil has existed for about 300 years,” said Brazilian sinologist (汉学家) Jose Roberto Teixeira Leite in his book China in Brazil. “Influences from china can date from the colonial the two countries has existed for a long time,” he noted, adding that incoming ships would fill up Brazilian cities like Salvador, Rio de Janeiro and Recife with Chinese products like porcelain (瓷器), silk and fans. He also found Chinese influence not only in the arts and architecture of Brazil but also in the most diverse areas of Brazilian society, like the economy, medicine and popular culture. “At the end of the 19th century, in Pernambuco (a state in northeastern Brazil), there was a custom that children slept with clothes decorated with Chinese dragons.” Teixeira added.

The book took him about 15 years to finish. “The impact of the book surprised me, though it was published by a university publisher and it had a print run of just 1,000 copies,” he said. “Some have said that the book represents a turning point in Chinese studies in Brazil.”

Besides, the sinologist did research on the mark and presence of China in the architecture and arts of Brazil. “It was through art that China awoke in me, first, curiosity, after that, interest, and finally, passion,” Teixeira said.

In 1992, the sinologist visited Macao to do research for his doctoral thesis about the marks and presence of China in Brazil, and that trip impressed him a lot. In 2013, Teixeira had a chance to visit the Chinese cities of Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai, and got to know “the past and present of the great country culturally, as well as its incredible material development.”