2 . Ever since Scott Waters watched the Disney movie “20, 000 Leagues Under the Sea” he’s wanted to ______ his own submarine (潜水艇). “I watched it over and over, and I got ______ for a submarine back in the first grade,” he said. Now, Waters has finally realized his lifelong ______ to build an______ working submarine.

The Submarine is ______ by eight batteries placed at the bottom of the submarine. When fully _______, the submarine is designed to travel at 4. 5 miles per hour.

Waters decided to ______ his submarine “Trustworthy”. He and several volunteer workers and divers ______ put it into Milford Lake.

“The next thing we’ll do is dive it with me inside, with ______ hanging onto it,” he said. The divers helping Waters were Radley Ramsey and Pat Cox who has worked more than 40 years as an environmental engineer. “We’re here to ______ Scott,” Cox said. “I’ve done diving all over the world, ______ this is the first time I’ve done this around a _______. ”

Waters said he doesn’t know the total ______ of the submarine, since some of the things were donated and all of the labor was ______ , but he would ______ it’s somewhere between ＄5, 000 and $10, 000.

Waters said he knew it would be ______ to build a submarine, but he didn’t ______ it to be as difficult as it was. “It was a ______ and a struggle at times,” he said “But if something feels _______ , I keep doing it until it’s done.” Waters hopes that when his submarine is fully operational, it can ________ underwater search.

3 . Buried beneath a sand dune, in the beach town of Beidaihe, lies one of China’s newest art galleries. The UCCA Dune Art Museum is actually the home of “one of the few remaining un-destroyed dunes in northern China”.

Instead of placing the museum on top of the dunes which was originally planned, Li Hu, one of the founding partners of the project, decided to bury the building beneath them to preserve the coastal ecology. The ancient sand dune in which the museum is now housed was due to be flattened to make way for development.

Its walls and windows and the wooden tables in its café were handmade from local materials, collective wisdom of the craftsmanship of the Hebei region. However，the modern methods of construction lessened the need for man-made objects that might disturb the native ecology. “We adopted a series of strategies in order to protect the fragile ecology of the dune,” Li says, explaining the process. The structure relies on the sand to help regulate its temperature throughout the year alongside a ground-source heat system. Because the museum is lit naturally by skylights, visitors’ experiences of the artwork will vary with the seasons and time of day.

“Going to a museum in China often feels like going to a shopping centre,” says Mr. Li—an experience of rushed consumerism, typically featured large crowds and smartphone selfies（自拍）. By contrast, the Dune's galleries reminds us of the caves in which the most primitive human art was first painted，rather than a hurried urban fly-by.

“Nature is not just for looking. It should not be used in architectural projects as merely a decoration, or a skin job. Our work was not just to design a physical structure, but to maintain a balance between nature and humanity.” says Mr. Li.

4 . After many months stuck at home, we’re all dreaming of travelling somewhere exciting and stretching our legs. These are four amazing destinations for hiking.

For this one, come early and on a weekday. Devil’s Lake is one of the most popular state park, which requires a high climb but rewards hikers with its incredible views. In winter, get ready to hit the ski trails(路径), walk out on frozen lake and enjoy the quiet that winter offers. In warm months, be sure to get to the lake too. You can look for reflections of light on water and golden sunsets, and rent ferryboats from either shore.

This spot is about taking moments for silence and slowing down. Lots of people come here to escape crowds. You will firstly be attracted by its accessible nature. You might catch a sight of a big white goose, a wild duck, a black cuckoo, or hundreds of other birds that call this spot home.

Blue Mound State Park, which sits 1716 meters above sea level, is the highest point in the area. It’s enough to mean over 20miles of off-road single track and hiking trails. This trip gives you the opportunity to take in the incredible sight of Baraboo and experience the best of ancient mountain culture.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum is officially a national historic landmark — and that should tell you a lot. Wild plants are actually full of color and life, Exploring its 17-plus miles of trails takes you through nearly all of Wisconsin’s native ecosystems, like savannas, woodlands, and wetlands.

5 . With roaring ships, hammering oil drill, industrial fishing and coastal construction, humans have strongly influenced the underwater soundscape (声音景观) over the past couple of hundred years — in some cases posting a threat to whales, dolphins and other ocean creatures. Until recently, underwater sound pollution had not attracted the same attention. Now, a new paper published in the journal Science lays out the impacts, demonstrating that noise pollution can be just as harmful to the ocean environment as other kinds of pollution.

Even the cracking of glaciers and any drop of rain falling on the water’s surface can be heard deep under the sea. Sea life uses sound to study their habitat, and to keep in communication with each other. They also use sound by listening to know something about their environment.

“It’s a long-lasting problem that certainly weakens the animals all the way from individuals to populations,” says lead author Carlos M. Duarte, distinguished professor at Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), “We are hoping that this report will not only reveal elements of how humans impact the ocean through sound pollution, but that it will also bring the topic to the attention of policymakers who will be able to act based upon the very real solutions.”

Marine (海洋) ecologist Kirsten Thompson of the United Kingdom’s University of Exeter, who was not involved in the study, said the report could not have come at a better time. “It summarizes the fact that we are in this new phase of human-caused noise in our oceans that is having a dramatic impact on different species.” What matters most, she notes, is the fact that the paper “doesn’t just point at the problem, it shows how to solve it.”

Unlike plastic pollution or fertilizer runoff, noise pollution will not take years to fix. The moment we switch our noise off the impact disappears, Duarte says, pointing to marine life surveys conducted around April 5, 2020. Having the world use more renewable energy would lessen the need to drill for oil and gas. The international team of researchers also called for a global regulatory framework for measuring and managing ocean noise.

6 . It was the holidays and I was in a zoo with my family when we spotted a group of flamingos (火烈鸟), whose legs are so skinny. My brother shouted to me while pointing at the pink crowd, “Patricia! Your real family!” I glanced down at my skinny knees before realizing he thought our similarity lay elsewhere. My parents asked me to stand in front of my new-found relatives and directed me to bend my legs into a similar pose. Click.

“Why don’t you have a boyfriend yet?” my aunt asked, as if this were a choice of mine. “We were talking about you the other day and saying how pretty you are, Patricia,” she told me. “But we all agreed that if you just took off a little bit of length from that nose, you could be more beautiful.”

It’s 2012 and the performer Ashlee Simpson had just had a fantastic nose job done. I was convinced I needed to get one for myself. Having heard this, my mother — who barely used make-up，had an actually straight smile and had never bought an anti-aging cream in her life would laugh and tell me there was an easier way to fix my dilemma. “If you believe you’re beautiful, people will see you that way,” she would say.

I must have worn down my mother because she finally agreed to book me a doctor’s appointment. Before the plastic surgery, the doctor showed me his designed work. I was shocked. I’ve seen that nose before on so many people. I hated it. Since then, I never mentioned a nose job again. I realized this was my mother’s plan all along.

8 . A recent issue of National Geographic magazine described one of the wonders of the earth, the tiny silver ants of the Sahara desert. These ants live in areas where temperatures reach up to 57℃, as the article described it, an environment “where shoes melt.”

These tiny ants are amazing. In the Sahara desert, where most creatures avoid going out in the middle of the day to avoid high temperatures,the Saharan silver ants have evolved(进化)a number of adaptations to do just that. Scientists have discovered that several unique features of the Saharan silver ants permit them to grow well in a scorching climate.

These ants have longer legs than other ants, which keep their bodies critically greater distance away from the hot desert sand. The ants run 108 times the length of their own bodies every second at a speed of just over 3kph. And they keep track of the position of the sun, so that they always know the most direct route back to the nest, thus lowering their time spent in extreme heat. Their bodies produce proteins that resist heat. Some other creatures produce such proteins after they come in contact with extreme heat. But since the silver ants only exit the nest for a few minutes at a time — not long enough for the protein to take effect — they produce the protein while still in the nest before they go out, or they would die before the protein could take effect.

Researchers also discovered that the ants are covered on their tops and sides with the uniquely triangular(三角的)shape of the silver hairs,which enable them to dissipate(消散)heat.The hairs help an ant's body exchange its heat to a cooler area, even under full sun conditions. This discovery inspired the scientists, for it could lead to new materials and paints that can be applied to rooftops or cars to keep them cool. And it is also expected to be applied in clinical care, wearable devices,protective clothing and other fields.

9 . It might be strange to wear clothes made out of plastic bottles, But in fact, some clothing companies are already making such clothes. Fashion brand JUMA recently showed its newest collection at a workshop in Shanghai. Eighteen clothing items from the collection, including jackets, shirts and dresses, were made from recycled plastic bottles. “We realized that billions of water bottles were being thrown into landfills and oceans every year and that these bottles take hundreds of years to break down.We thought we should use them to create our clothes and help the environment,” said Alia Juma, the company's design director.

Many other fashion companies are finding similar ways to save our planet these days. The process is rather simple. First, the plastic bottles are washed and cut into small pieces. Then they are melted and shaped into small balls. The balls are melted again to for thread. People can then use the thread to make different kinds of clothes.

According to Juma, it takes 67,000 bottles to create 1 ton of thread. This reduces carbon emissions(排放)by 4.2 tons and water use by 6.2 tons compared with the normal way of making thread.“Four bottles can make one pillowcase. Five can make a shirt, 10 a dress and 20 a short coat,”Juma said.

Some people might have doubts about wearing something made out of plastic bottles. But according to Causeartist, a website that focuses on innovation, clothes made from plastics could be even better than some clothing-making materials.Plastic thread can be made into different textures(手感),such as cotton, silk or even wool. “The more we learn about recycled fabrics, the more we realize that they work just like other fabrics.You can get a heavier cotton feeling or a silky feeling by weaving the yarns(纱)into different textures and using different wash methods. There's actually a lot you can do with this fabric.” Juma said.

Currently, the price for the clothes in the new collection ranges from 500 to 3,000 yuan, However, Juma is optimistic that prices will decline when more companies follow the sustainability path taken by her business.

10 . Jackie Robinson Scholarship

The Jackie Robinson Foundation is a non–profit organization that was established in 1973 by the wife of Jackie Robinson, a famous baseball player. It offers help to enable students to pursue their profession and academic career without having to deal with the cost of attendance or paying school loans after finishing their studies. Most scholarships are awarded based on academic achievement, some are based on the financial need of the students, some depend on the cost-of attendance of the school the student has chosen while others are based on community sertices. The sum of scholarship awards spread differs each year but on normal, up to $30,000/four years will be granted.

Requirements For Jackie Robinson Scholarship

As a student, to be suitable for a Jackie Robinson Foundation Scholarship, a candidate must: Be a graduating high school senior.

Be intending to go to a four-year institution in the US.

Indicate leadership potential.

Indicate devotion to community service.

Present an indication of financial need.

Be a United States citizen.

Have a minimum SAT score of 1000.

Application Due

The completed application deadline is January 12, 2022. Interested applicants are expected to submit(提交)the forms at https://scholarshipmuse.com.

If you have any further questions about the scholarship process, please contact Daniel White:505-883-6240.