【推荐1】Making Friends with Ducks

In traditional pet stores, you can buy an animal to be your companion at home. But there’s a new kind of “pet store” where you can spend some time with animals and just walk away without taking any of them with you. What really matters is to be there.

My colleagues and I visited one of these stores in the Sanlitun neighborhood of Beijing. We were looking for Call ducks (柯尔鸭), a Dutch species of pet ducks. They are famous for their cute looks and their sky-high prices—one of them can easily cost a few thousand yuan. Since we were not planning to spend so much on a duck any time soon, visiting them in one of these places—what I'd call “mini-zoos”—seemed to be the perfect choice.

There were five Gall ducks at the store and we spent a good three hours with them. We learned a lot about the species.

Call ducks are not as obedient enough to follow what they are told to do as dogs, so playing with them takes a lot of chasing from our side and quacking (呱呱叫) from theirs. Also, don’t expect them to be house-trained—one of the ducks actually pooped (排便) while sitting on my lap. But none of this took the pleasure out of holding them in my hands and touching their full chests.

That’s the magic of animals—you are refreshed again.

【推荐3】

Now, primary students learn cooking at school. It has been discussed by teachers and parents. Some think that it is a useful skill for students, while others think it’s a waste of time. Some even think it’s just a show. But do they really understand cooking?

It’s been said that good cooking is an art form (形式). The truth is that it’s much more than that. When talking about different foods from all around the world, or cultures and histories of dishes, students are connected to the world and learning history and culture in a new field. When learning cooking, students measure (称量) materials from time to time, or find oil and water don’t usually mix. Students are also learning maths and science in practice.

The importance of failures (失败) in making food is as much as successes. Li Mei, 11, was crazy about the yummy cakes made by her father and wanted to make one on her own. But when taking her cake out, she was frustrated (沮丧的) to find that the cake was hard and black at the bottom. Her father told her when he was 13, he tried to make cakes, but wasted boxes of eggs. Then together with father, Li Mei found out what had gone wrong and succeeded in making one. Li Mei learned in the failure of cooking, and could be braver to face failures.

Besides the practical skills, cooking builds character (性格). It encourages kids to work with others. It also encourages them to be open to foods they might not have tried. Though being good to our health, carrots were hated by 12-year-old Xiao Lei. But he started to love them after he made a salad with them. By cooking, students put down their phones and work together with family members in the kitchen. By cooking, students form the habit of doing labor (劳动) work. As a part of labor education, cooking is a way to teach kids important 21st century skills, such as creativity and teamwork. If these skills aren’t taught to today’s students, they might hardly survive (生存) in the future.

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【推荐3】A record of 1,101 manatees (海牛) died in Florida last year, many from hunger. So last December, government wildlife experts thought up a plan to give food to the manatees. They decided to feed them green vegetables like lettuce and cabbage. Ron Mezich, an expert, said, “We’re making a difference.” So far, they have served up more than, 193,000 pounds of lettuce to hungry manatees. But as the weather is getting warm, the program is expected to end soon.

Manatees are huge sea animals that only eat sea grass and other plants that live in the sea. That’s one reason why they’re sometimes called “sea cows”. Since 1967, Florida’s manatees have been on the US government’s list of endangered animals. Most dangers to manatees come from humans. One of the biggest problems facing the animals are boats. Manatees are curious and fairly slow. That has led to thousands of manatees being hit or killed by boats. At one point, there were only about 2,000 manatees left in Florida. With protection, the number increased. In 2016, there were more than 6,000 manatees.

However, as sea grass began to disappear, the number of manatees keeps going down again. Warming seas with polluted water have created huge growths of algae (藻) on the ocean’s surface. The algae blocks the sunlight that allows the sea grass to grow. For example, in Indian River Lagoon, where manatees often go in the winter, about 90% of the sea grass beds there have died off. Long term, Florida will work to help restore (恢复) sea grass beds. But that will take time. Scientists still worry that hundreds more manatees could starve this winter.

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