【推荐1】All over the world, thousands of animals are used for wildlife tourism. People travel to watch monkey shows, hug baby tigers and swim with dolphins. It might look like fun, but there are reports that animals are hurt now and again. The World Animal Protection (WAP) says that up to 550, 000 wild animals are exposed (暴露) to ill treatment around the world; in Cambodia, for example, it’s been reported that elephants have died after carrying tourists for long in hot weather. This is getting attention—over 100 travel companies have promised that they will no longer open up such places. However, some people argue that animal tourism isn’t always as bad as it seems. So what do you think?

【推荐3】Can you imagine a world without insects? Without ants or flies in your house, it might sound great. However, the results may be out of imagination.

The number of insects has dropped by half in the past few years, according to a British biologist Dave Coulson. You may think small insects are not important. But in fact they are the main part of the species (物种) on Earth.

Insects are indeed on the way to extinction, according to the first review of insect population. The researchers say the main reason for this is the use of pesticides (杀虫剂) because they destroy insects’ living areas. Also, weather change is another important cause.

“Unless we change our ways of producing food, insects will go down the way to extinction in a few years,” the researchers wrote in the review. “This will have huge influences on the planet’s ecosystem (生态系统).”

We need insects to pollinate (授粉) crops. They also break down (分解) dead plants and animals, which can keep the soil healthy. Without insects, many animals would have nothing to eat and die of hunger. Then, the ecosystem would be off balance.

“If the number of insect species keep dropping, this will have bad influences on both Earth’s ecosystem and the survival of us humans,” said one of the writers of the review.

“The first step to stop this is to let more people understand the values of the natural world, ” he suggests. “The best place to start is from our children, who should realize environmental protection from an early age.”

【推荐2】With their long tusks(象牙), elephants look elegant and strong. However, this feature is the same reason why the animal is endangered. Many of them are killed for their tusks. People make elephant tusks into crafts(工艺品) and jewelry and sell them to rich people. But can these priceless body parts grow back? The answer is no. The tusks are gone forever after being removed, Live Science said.

The elephants’ tusks are actually part of their teeth. Elephants use their tusks to protect themselves, lift objects, dig for water and gather food. Nearly all African elephants and most male Asian elephants have these long teeth. About one-third of the tusk is embedded(嵌入) in the animal’s skull(头骨). The tusk has a nerve(神经) running down its center. This makes it similar to human’s teeth. Once you lose a tooth, you will never grow a new one.

But losing the tusk is not what kills them. The way of losing the tusks is what matters. Usually, people get tusks by limited killing, which means killing old and weak elephants. They also take tusks from the elephants that have died naturally. However, some healthy elephants are given some medicine. Then the animal killers cut their faces open and remove the tusks.

Actually, about 27,000 elephants are killed every year. Scientists recently found that some African elephants are born without tusks in order to live. So we’d better not buy anything that is made of tusks.

【推荐3】Canada 4:00 a.m. to 8: 00 a.m.

Canada is a big country with six time zones. In the west, it is four a.m., and everyone is asleep, but in Halifax on the east coast it is eight o'clock and people are having breakfast. It is a cold Friday morning in November, and the temperature is ten degrees below zero Centigrade.

Argentina 9:00 a.m.

In Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, it is nine a.m. on a warm summer morning, and people are starting work or school. November is a summer month in Argentina because it is in the southern hemisphere.

Egypt 2:00 p.m.

Friday is already the weekend in Egypt. Friday is a special day for Muslims, so schools, offices and shops are closed in all Arab countries. So now, at two p.m., most people in Egypt are having lunch with their families.

Japan 9:00 p.m.

Japan is seven hours ahead of Egypt, so it is already Friday evening there. The weekend is beginning. Most people are out with friends or watching television or playing computer games.

New Zealand 12:00 midnight

It is late on Friday night, so most people are asleep. Now Saturday morning is arriving. It is morning in Canada too, but that is Friday morning!

【推荐1】Can plants talk? Modern research has found something amazing: they do communicate with each other.

It has been known for some time that plants use chemicals to communicate with each other. This happens when a plant gets attacked by insects. The plant gives out chemicals from the leaves that are being eaten. This is like a warning, or a call for help: “I’m being attacked!” When another plant gets the chemicals, it starts to give out its own, different chemicals. Some of these chemicals drive insects away. Others attract the wasps(黄蜂；蜜蜂)! The wasps kill the insects that are eating the plants. Scientists hope to learn more about this plant warning system, so that we can use it to grow more crops.

More surprisingly, plants also use sound to communicate. People can’t hear these sounds; but plants are making them. Some plants make noises with their roots. Com and chili plants do this. Some trees make clicking noises when there is not enough water.

Most surprisingly of all, plants have an amazing system of communication that can link nearly every plant in a forest. Scientists call this system the “wood wide web”. The wood wide web is linked underground by fungi (霉菌). It links the roots of different plants to each other. It is in some ways similar to the Internet we use. Using the wood wide web, plants can share information and even food with each other. However, it may lead to bad effects. Plants may use it to steal food from each other, or spread chemicals to attack other plants. Perhaps one day scientists will learn how to create a “firewall” to help prevent these attacks within the wood wide web.

Scientists are learning more every day about the secret ways in which plants talk to each other. Maybe one day we will know enough about plant communication to be able to “talk” with them ourselves.

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【推荐2】In China, with one or both parents going out to make money, many children are left in their hometowns in the countryside. These children are called “leftover children”. A report showed that in 2021, China had a total of 9 million leftover children in the countryside. Usually, the children’s grandparents or their parent’s friends or relatives look after them. Sometimes these children are brought up by one of their parents at home. Most of their guardians（监护人） are not quite educated. To them, making sure that the children are healthy and fed well is the most important task. If the children are safe and fit, they are considered to have done a good job. Guardians seldom care about children’s study, their psychological needs, or mental demands（需要）. Neither do they spend some time to teach kids how to develop good habits. In fact, these leftover children need more care.

The survey below is from some villages in Central China. Three hundred children were chosen to answer the questions. Among the six questions, communicating is the biggest problem. Only 46% of the children could communicate with their parents freely. And when they answered the question “Who to talk with”, 27% children chose “oneself” and 18% children chose “no one”.