3 . Craig Foster is a diver and wildlife filmmaker. Once he was _________ in cold waters when he saw an octopus (章鱼),an unbelievably _________ creature with many behaviors unknown to science, hiding under shells and stones.

_________, he began following her without any disturbance. For weeks she _________ him, after 26 days of close watching, _________, the octopus realized Craig was not a danger, but a(n) _________. She _________ and allowed Craig into her life. Both Craig and the octopus enjoyed a mutual (相互的) learning and exploration.

Before coming across the octopus, Craig was once in a dark and stressful period. “I was _________. To help myself out, I felt like I needed to be in the ocean, my go-to (必去的) happy place as a child. Luckily, the octopus, my friend, brought a kind of _________ in my heart,” he recalled.

Now Craig regards this daily diving __________ as a way of dealing with the depression that once left him __________ and disconnected. He is able to __________ intimate (亲密) moments of this octopus’ short life by spending two hours __________ her every single day for a year. “Every time I interact (互动) with her, it’s __________ and healing, because she has __________ in me. If you gain her trust, she will allow you to step into her secret world,” he said.

Diving himself into this freezing underwater world has __________ calmed him down. Over the years, other animals have offered to make contact, but nothing has __________ to his “once-in-a-lifetime” __________ with the octopus. Craig says the greatest __________ she has taught him is that humans are not simple __________ , but part of the natural world.

5 . Hi, Dave Gieber here. Are you seriously thinking about starting a comic book(连环漫画册)collection yourself? Then “Comic Book Collecting, a Starting Point” was written just for you. This book was designed to help you jump-start your collection using Internet resources!

See what others are saying!

As a layperson totally green about comic book collecting, the information provided in your book would allow someone like me to basically start a collection from the very beginning. The steps defined on what to look for and where to look when starting a collection are invaluable to a beginner. In addition, you provide information that not only appeals to those starting out but for those collecting for a long time as well. Great job.

Lorraine Cote

I'm thinking it's a little long on history, but I am so impressed by all it presents. Wow! Quite an interesting read. I found the pieces on the Artists particularly interesting.

This is a great piece of work! I love artwork, and did a lot of watercolor work myself and was often fantasizing about comic book penciling myself someday.

If I have one negative thing to say about it…It has to be that I wish I had written it! Congratulations. Dave. This is a real winner.

James D. Tyler

Congratulations on a fine book. It is essential reading for people who want to turn their hobby into a money-making venture. I Only wish that I had had this information 40 years ago when I took 6 empty pop(汽水)bottles into the corner store and purchased my first comic book.

I'm amazed at the fact that 40 years ago 10 cents could buy a loaf of bread or the very first issue of The Fantastic Four. Today, 10 cents cannot buy you anything, but a near mint(未损坏的)copy of that comic book could bring you up to$35,000! Thanks for the good read.

Ian McBride

6 . There’s no doubt that one of the greatest human achievements is the exploration of the space. Ever since astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to be sent into the orbit around the moon in 1961, scientists have been pushing the boundaries further and further. But until now the exploration into the unknown has been dominated (主导) by men.

Of course, in the past, women were also included in the space projects and played an active role on the ground and behind the scenes. For example, they worked as seamstresses (女裁缝师), sewing vital spaceflight components. In fact, many of NASA’s key works would never have been possible without them. Recently Hollywood produced a movie called Hidden Figures to focus on a group of American female mathematicians, especially the black women, who helped NASA send the first American into space. But this was not women’s only contribution. Back in 1963, Soviet astronaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to be sent into space. However, after that, space flight programs were slow to employ women. In the USA. NASA didn’t accept applications from women to become astronauts until 1978.

But attitudes have changed and leading officials at NASA say that the first person to set foot on Mars should be a woman. The space agency aims to have a sex-balanced workforce but can only achieve that if equal numbers of men and women are trained for science and technology jobs. As Allison McIntryre told the BBC, “My director is a woman. We have female astronauts. We haven’t put a woman on the moon yet. And I think that perhaps the first person to step on Mars should be a woman.”

7 . Hybrid cars, also called hybrid electric vehicles （HEVs）, are cars that use more than one source of energy to run. They differ from the majority of cars on the road today in several ways. The main difference is that HEVs run on gasoline and electricity. An HEV car has a battery-powered motor as well as an engine that runs on gasoline.

A hybrid car is a bit more expensive to produce than a regular car even though its engine is smaller. The reason for the greater expense is that the engine is more complex. It has specialized mechanisms that allow it to operate using gasoline and electric power. It also contains a computer that works differently from those of regular cars. Even though it is more expensive to purchase, it costs less to own than gas-powered cars. When an HEV car is at a stoplight or going at a speed below 15 miles per hour, its special computer tells it to run just on electric power. When the computer senses that the car needs more power, it puts the gasoline engine back to work. The computer is constantly deciding whether the car will use electricity, gas, or a combination of the two.

Because the HEV has electric power to help it run, it uses much less fuel than most cars. In fact hybrid cars are the most fuel-efficient cars that exist today. They can get from 50 to 60 miles per gallon on average. The high mileage saves money for the car owner and conserves precious supplies of petroleum. Hybrid cars help the environment in other ways too. For example, when

the HEV is using electric power, it does not send out poisonous smoke that pollute the air.

Despite the differences between hybrid cars and regular cars, HEVs offer the same feel as regular cars. They handle the same way and speed up and stop in the same way too. HEVs, though, are generally smaller than gasoline-powered cars. Their rounded, aerodynamic frame helps add to their fuel efficiency but unfortunately does not add to the amount of space inside the vehicle.