【推荐1】Some Fun and Interesting Facts

Do you think what color oranges are? The common answer to this question is “Orange”. However, the first oranges from Southeast Asia were actually green. Up to now, oranges in warmer areas like Vienam and Tailand still stay green when they are fully grown.

There was a man named John Chapman who planted thousands of apple trees. But the apples on those trees were much more bitter(苦的) than the ones you’d find in the supermarket today. John didn’t expect apples to be eaten whole, but rather made hard apple cider(苹果酒).

Like most four-legged animals, cats have five toes on the front paws, but their back paws only have four toes. Scientists think they four-toe back paws might help them run faster. Do you know any other fun fact about cats?

Walt Disney might have been the first to put gloves on his characters, as the star Mickey Mouse in 1929’s The Opry House(《奥普里之屋》). Besides being easier to interest, there’s another reason why Disney did so. “We didn’t want him to have mouse hands because he was supposed to be more human.” Disney once said.

Car makers around the world are making fewer cars because they can’t get enough computer parts. Several factories have been closed as a result.

When you imagine car parts, you might not think of computers. But, actually, computer chips (芯片) are important in modern cars. Nowadays a car may have as many as 150 chips. They are used to control many different parts of a car. These days, checking a car’s computer system might be the first step for a repairman to find out what’s wrong with the car.

But now car makers worldwide don’t have enough chips to produce all the cars as planned. As with many recent problems, the trouble has something to do with COVID-19. Last year, as places around the world went into lockdown, many car makers had to close their factories. Since they weren’t making cars, they canceled many of their orders with chip-making companies. So the chip makers started working with computer and smartphone companies and making chips mainly for them.

Now car makers are ready to start making lots of cars again, but there aren’t enough chips. So they are facing chip shortage. How bad is it? A study shows that the chip shortage has already caused car makers to make 500, 000 fewer cars. Ford stopped making cars at its Kentucky factory last December, and has slowed up work at a factory in Germany. General Motors has decided to make fewer cars at its factories in Canada, Mexico, South Korea, and the United States. Honda and Nissan have stopped making cars at some of their factories. Other car factories are also influenced.

Though many car makers have begun looking for ways of dealing with the shortage, the problem is expected to continue for several months.

【推荐2】Chinese scientists found a whale fall for the first time in the South China Sea during a deep-sea expedition (考察) carried out by oceanic research ship Tansuo-1.

It’s sad to learn that a whale has died in the ocean. However, that’s not the end for the whale. It has a lot to give to other sea animals after death. When a whale dies, it quickly sinks to the bottom of the ocean floor. There, the whale body provides food for deep-sea animals, which are often hungry for food. It creates an ecosystem called a whale fall “oasis (绿洲)” of life in the deep sea. The remains can last for lots of years.

The whale fall ecosystem can exist in the deep ocean because great pressure and cold temperatures there prevent the body from decomposing (腐烂) too quickly. But the depth also makes it hard for scientists to discover them.

There are less than 50 known whale falls in the world, so it’s lucky for China to find the valuable one. The whale body in the South China Sea is about three meters long. Scientists have found several kinds of shrimp and fish near the whale body. Some fish have started to eat the whale’s tail. The whale fall might be quite recent and needs long-term watching, according to Xie Wei, a scientist who took part in the expedition.

By studying the whale fall, scientists can better understand how marine (海洋的) ecosystems support life and how to protect biodiversity (生物多样性) resources in the deep sea.

Do you know the two lovely mascots? You may know the five “Fuwa” dolls from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. On September 17th of last year, the two lovely mascots first showed on TV. Now, let’s see who they are.

Look at the panda! It looks like an astronaut. It wears an ice shell (冰壳) and looks fat, so we call it “Bing Dwen Dwen”. White is the color of ice and snow. “Bing Dwen Dwen” likes ice sports very much and is good at them. That’s why it is the mascot of 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

Do you think the red mascot looks like a lantern? The lantern’s name is “Shuey Rhon Rhon”. When the Chinese New Year comes, people always make or buy red lanterns. Red is the color of hope and good luck, so people think their dreams will come true in the new year. “Shuey Rhon Rhon” give players hope and help them do well in the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games(残奥会).

Many people in different countries like the two mascots very much, and they show their love for them on the Internet.