A man living in the Rocky Mountains becomes a hero for climate study. That is because he has an unusual hobby.

The man is Billy Barr. For 50 years, he has been the only permanent resident (常住居民) in Gothic. But in the 1880s, Gothic was a town full of people. There were silver mines (银矿) everywhere.     1     But as the silver got less and less, few people lived there.

In the early 1970s, Billy was a college student majoring in (主修) environmental science and went to Gothic to do a study. While he was staying there, he found the town quiet and comfortable.     2    

Since he was not busy with his work, Billy had taken an interest in weather and nature. He collected information on snow, temperature and different animals twice a day.     3    

One day in the 1990s, Billy talked with a scientist about his notes. The scientist was from a lab near Gothic.     4     He knew those notes were of great importance, so he advised Billy to make them public. In that way, more scientists could see and share the information for further study. Billy agreed happily.

The notes now help scientists know more about weather and climate change.     5     What started as only Billy’s hobby becomes gold in science today.

The summer holidays came and there was no school. Tom didn’t want to think about Muff Potter and Injun Joe, but it wasn’t easy. At night, when he was in bed, he saw Injun Joe’s scary face in the dark, and he couldn’t sleep. But he couldn’t talk to anyone about it. Tom really wanted to get away from here. He asked his friend Joe Harper to go and live on Jackson’s Island(岛) just like last summer. They also invited a new friend Huck.

Jackson’s Island was in the Mississippi, three miles south of St. Petersburg. Nobody lived there. That night three boys in a small boat went down the river to Jackson’s Island. When they got there, they made a fire under a big old tree. Then they cooked some of the meat over the fire, and they think it is the best dinner in the world! Soon, they stopped talking, their eyes closed, and they slept.

The next morning Tom woke up with the sun on his head and a smile on his face. After they had breakfast, they heard some noises, and then ran across the island to look down the river. There were twenty or more boats on the water. Every boat in St. Petersburg was out.

“What are they doing?” asked Joe.

“They’re looking for a dead(死的) body, I think,” said Huck. “They did that last summer when Bill Turner fell in the river and drowned(溺亡).”

“Who’s dead, do you think?” asked Joe.

Tom cried excitedly, “I know who’s dead! It’s us! They’re looking for us!”

【推荐1】When I was a little kid, my parents were poor, and we lived in a camp in the countryside in Portland. Dad had two jobs and Mum was in bad health.

Our clothes were always old and our food was usually cheap and simple. However, we were always satisfied with our hot chocolate, which was made in a traditional way handed down from my grandmother to my mother.

At that time, there was no store to buy anything we needed. We just had powdered cocoa (可可粉) in our camp. Mum would set an old coffee pot at the side of the fire and slowly warm the milk, adding chocolate and sugar, and stirring (搅摔) until they became thick and rich brown. The wonderful smell of chocolate filled the camp.

More than once, I could remember people that passed by stepped into our camp to enjoy mother’s work. And mum always gave these strangers some hot chocolate to enjoy.

Once we had to stay in our tent for days because of a terrible rainstorm. Every morning I was woken up by the sweet smell of Mum’s hot chocolate.

Now, many years have passed. I have told my family a lot about Mum, and it seems that nothing brings back those warm memories better than sitting around the fire at night and tasting sweet hot chocolate.

【推荐3】Rosie’s mum never allows her to feed stray（走失的）cats. However, there is one exception. It was on the fourth of July. Rosie was in the park watching the fireworks. When she looked down at the ground, a cat was there. Rosie thought about her favourite president（总统）of the US, Benjamin Franklin. “I’ll call you Frankie,” she said. Rosie gave a hot dog to Frankie and Frankie ate it up. Frankie made a meow（猫叫）and seemed to say thanks to Rosie. That summer, she fed Frankie every day. But when it became cold, Frankie came less and less. At Christmas, she prepared sardines（沙丁鱼）as a special treat for Frankie, but he did not come.

During the vacation, Rosie often looked out of the window and got very sad. Her mother asked her what was wrong. She finally told her about Frankie, and she was afraid her mother would be angry. But Mum just smiled.

“I think Frankie is a snowbird.”

“A snowbird?” said Rosie. “But Frankie is a cat.”

“A snowbird is a person or an animal that goes south for the winter. I think Frankie will come back when it gets warm. And I think by then you should invite him home.”

Rosie waited very patiently for the first warm day to come. One day in spring when she was having a hot dog outside, she suddenly heard a meow. It was Frankie! “Hello,” Rosie smiled. “Tell me about your trip.”