【推荐1】A French has just launched a bottled red wine flavored with cola.

Bordeaux-based winemaker Haussmann has already had success with grapefruit and passionfruit-flavored red wine and white wine. Their newest wine, Rouge Sucette, which translates to Red Lollipop, is made from 75 percent grapes and 25 percent water, with added sugar and cola flavoring. It is meant to be served chilled.

Why the break with tradition?

Wine sales in France is down. In 1980, more than half of adults bought wine almost daily, but the number has dropped to just 17 percent today. And so according to Pauline, company spokeswoman for Haussmann, wine makers need to attract younger drinkers and women.

“The cola flavor is to answer to a new kind of need and a market demand,” she tells us, “Tastes develop in time and we have to adapt.”

French restaurant expert Fred gives several factors behind the downward trend in wine drinking among the French: the financial crisis, which brought with it the death of the long lunch hour; reduced legal limits for driving under the influence of alcohol; and a general move towards healthier living.

Cola wine may seem out of step with French ways, but that’s because a lot of people have the wrong idea about what those ways really are.

Pauline says. “We’re changing with the times. We have a strong foundation of food and wine.” Of the different aromas that Haussamann tested, “cola was the best mix,” she says. “That made many people interested, and they were curious to taste it.”

The thirst for sweeter drinks isn’t limited to France. “Think about it,” says Fred, “You have all sorts of champagne cocktails. So what’s the difference between those and red wine and Coca-Cola? It’s about marketing.” Pauline insists Rouge Sucette isn’t just wine mixed with cola, anyway. It contains only the essence of cola, making it perhaps a bit more refined, though with a very similar flavor.

So how does a Frenchman like Fred think about it?

“It’s refreshing and kind of fun,” he says. “I don’t think I would buy it, but if I was going to drink it, I would make it myself, because I would feel a bit better about it.”

【推荐3】If you sat on an anthill and little black ants started to climb all over you, would you stay there? Of course not!

Yet many birds actually look for anthills full of busy ants and deliberately sit on them! Scientists call this unusual behavior “anting”. Some scientists believe it helps birds stay healthy. Why? Because they know that when ants are in danger, they will give out a special kind of smelly thing called “formic acid (蚁酸)”. It kills the tiny insects that make birds uncomfortable.

Robins, crows and blue jays are just a few of the birds who take ant baths. A robin might rest on top of an anthill, trying all tricks to anger the ants. Then it will spread its wings and let the ants climb through its feather. This is called passive anting. A crow is sometimes more forceful. It may put an ant in its beak (喙) and use the insect like a comb (梳子), carefully rubbing it under its wings and through its feathers. After it has made all the juice out of the ant, the crow might eat the “comb”. This is called active anting.

A good time to watch birds anting is late in the summer when they are taking off old feathers and growing new ones. It’s possible that an ant bath makes a bird feel better about its itchy (痒的) skin. Formic acid helps you in the same way, if you happen to catch a skin rash (皮疹) or sunburn.

So the next time you see an anthill, just step back, stay quiet and see if you can see anting.