3 . I left university with a good degree in English Literature, but no sense of what I wanted to do. Over the next six years, I was treading water, just trying to earn an income. I tried journalism, but I didn’t think I was any good, then finance, which I hated. Finally, I got a job as a rights assistant at a famous publisher. I loved working with books, although the job that I did was dull.

I had enough savings to take a year off work, and I decided to try to satisfy a deep-down wish to write a novel. Attending a Novel Writing MA course gave me the structure I needed to write my first 55,000 words.

It takes confidence to make a new-start there’s a dark period in-between where you’re neither one thing nor the other. You’re out for dinner and people ask what you do, and you’re too ashamed to say, “Well, I’m writing a novel, but I’m not quite sure if I’m going to get there. ” My confidence dived. Believing my novel could not be published, I put it aside.

Then I met an agen(代理商)who said I should send my novel out to agents. So, I did and, to my surprise, got some wonderful feedback. I felt a little hope that I might actually become a published writer and, after signing with an agent, I finished the second half of the novel.

The next problem was finding a publisher. After two-and-a-half years of no income, just waiting and wondering, a publisher offered me a book deal — that publisher turned out to be the one I once worked for.

It feels like an unbelievable stroke of luck — of fate, really. When you set out to do something different, there’s no end in sight, so to find myself in a position where I now have my own name on a contract(合同)of the publisher — to be a published writer — is unbelievably rewarding(有回报的).

4 . Barbara McClintock was one of the most important scientists of the 20th century. She made important discoveries about genes and chromosomes(染色体).

Barbara McClintock was born in 1902 in Hartford, Connecticut. Her family moved to the Brooklyn area of New York City in 1908. Barbara was an active child with interests in sports and music. She also developed an interest in science.

She studied science at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Barbara was among a small number of undergraduate students to receive training in genetics in 1921. Years later, she noted that few college students wanted to study genetics.

Barbara McClintock decided to study botany, the scientific study of plants, at Cornell University. She completed her undergraduate studies in 1923. McClintock decided to continue her education at Cornell. She completed the master’s degree in 1925. Two years later, she finished all her requirements for the doctorate degree.

McClintock stayed at Cornell after she completed her education. She taught students botany. The 1930s was not a good time to be a young scientist in the United States. The country was in the middle of the great economic depression. Millions of Americans were unemployed. Male scientists were offered jobs. But female geneticists were not much in demand.

An old friend from Cornell, Marcus Rhoades, invited McClintock to spend the summer of 1941 working at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. It is a research center on Long Island, near New York City. McClintock started a temporary job with the genetics department. A short time later, she accepted a perpetual position in the laboratory and got continual incomes. This gave her the freedom to continue her research without repeatedly asking for financial aid.

By the 1970s, her discoveries had had an effect on everything from genetic engineering to cancer research. McClintock won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1983 for her discovery of the ability of genes to change positions on chromosomes. She was the first American woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize.

5 . I have learned something about myself since I moved from Long Island to Florida three years ago. Even though I own a home in Port St. Lucie just minutes from the ocean, every winter an uncontrollable urge(冲动) wells up to fly back to Long Island even as others make their way south. I guess I am a snowbird stuck in reverse(反向).

Dulled by Florida's mild winters, I willingly suffer the cold weather on Long Island, the place I called home for 65 years. I'm like a bird that has lost its sense of timing and direction, my wings moving against routine.

So what makes me fly against the habits of snowbirds? The answer has a lot to do with my unwillingness to give up the things that define(给...下定义) who I am. Once I hear that the temperature on Long Island has fallen into the range of 40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit, I begin to long for the sight and sound of a wood fire. I also long for the display of colours—first in the fall trees, and then in the lights around homes and at Rockefeller Center. Floridians decorate, too, but can't create the special feel of a New England winter. Moreover, when I return I can celebrate the holidays with people I haven't seen in months. What could be better than sitting with family and friends for a Thanksgiving turkey dinner, or watching neighbours' children excitedly open gifts on Christmas? Even the first snowfall seems special.

While these simple pleasures are not unique to Long Island, they are some of the reasons I comeback. Who says you can't go home? I know I will be ordering a ticket this very night and cured of homesick(思乡病) tomorrow.

7 . Fires sweeping across the Amazon rainforest this year have been a hot topic as scientists and environmental groups are worried that they will worsen the climate change crisis and threaten biodiversity.

As the largest rainforest in the world, the Amazon rainforest is often called "the lungs of the world". It is also home to about 3 million species of plants and animals, and 1 million native people. The vast areas of the rainforest play an important role in the world’s ecosystem because they absorb heat instead of it being reflected back into the atmosphere. They also store carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, ensuring that less carbon dioxide is released, mitigating the effects of climate change.

"Any destroyed forest is a threat to biodiversity and people," Thomas Lovejoy, an ecologist at George Mason University told National Geographic. "The overwhelming threat is that a lot of carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere," he stressed. "In the midst of the global climate crisis, we cannot afford more damage to a major source of oxygen and biodiversity. The Amazon rainforest must be protected," U. N. Secretary General António Guterres said.

Data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) show that the number of forest fires in Brazil quickly increased by 82 percent from January to August this year compared to the same period last year. A total of 71,497 forest fires were registered in the country in the first eight months of 2019, up from 39,194 in the same period in 2018, INPE said. "We estimate that the forest areas in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest have decreased by between 20 and 30 percent compared to the last 12 months," Carlos Nobre, a researcher at the University of São Paulo, told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.

Brazil owns about 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest, whose degradation (恶化) could have severe consequences for global climate and rainfall. The extent of the area ruined by fires has yet to be determined, but the emergency has transcended (超出) Brazil’s borders, reaching Peruvian, Paraguayan and Bolivian regions.

8 . Philadelphia offers a ton of attractions that are suitable for people of every age and here are some family-friendly attractions.

Spruce Street Harbor Park

Spruce Street Harbor Park, one of the best urban beaches in America, is an outdoor heaven on the Delaware River waterfront. Visitors can relax in a hammock (吊床), play on the playgrounds, and play games like table tennis and giant chess. Don’t miss out on the park at night, when colorful LED lights hanging from treetops make the entire area bright.

Blue Cross RiverRink

Offering ice skating in the winter and roller skating in the summer, Blue Cross RiverRink creates a fun, outdoor experience for the whole family. Visitors can play on the nine-hole mini-golf course during the summer, and enjoy foods and drinks from the on-site (现场的) bar and restaurant all year round.

Sesame Place

Big Bird, Elmo and the other stars of Sesame Street come out and play at Sesame Place, the only theme park in the nation starring the popular TV show’s most lovable characters. A water park, interactive activities, parades, fireworks and shows add to the fun.

Once Upon a Nation Storytelling Benches

On summer days, uniformed and professional storytellers at 13 storytelling benches throughout Philadelphia’s Historic District entertain visitors with true, free, three- to five-minute tales about the colonial (殖民的) era as part of Once Upon a Nation. Children can pick up a Story Flag at any storytelling bench, and then collect a star from every storyteller on their journeys. Flags with all the stars can get free rides on the Parx Liberty Carousel at Franklin Square.

9 . My family and I never talked about school as the ticket to a future. I was in the classroom, but I wasn’t there to learn to write, read or even speak. When it was my turn to read, I wanted to hide. I was 13 years old, but I already hated being who I was.

I had an English teacher, Mr. Creech, who knew I couldn’t read. In one of my first lessons the teacher said that anyone who had a reading age below six had to stand up. I felt so embarrassed. But at the same time, it made me realize that I needed to change the situation. I was determined it wouldn’t happen again. Later that day, Mr. Creech encouraged me and promised he would try his best to help me learn to read. From then on, I never gave up practicing reading.

Then when I was 41 years old, one day, I planned to fly back to Texas to visit my friends and family. On my way from the airport, I saw Mr. Creech buying himself a drink. I rushed over and reached into my pocket to pay for him. “Do I know you?” he asked. “Yes, sir, you do know me,” I answered excitedly. “My name is Anthony Hamilton. You taught me English.” The look on his face told me that he remembered the boy he’d once encouraged.

“I’m so glad I had a chance to see you,” I said. “And Mr. Creech, I have great news to share.” I told him I had learned to read. But that wasn’t all. I had become a published author and an active speaker. “The next time you get another Anthony Hamilton in your classroom, please encourage him to read as well,” I added.

The experts say what once worried me has a name: dyslexia (诵读困难). But I can tell you it was a lack of desire for education.

10 . Jose Adolfo is a banker from Peru. He encourages children to save money and offers his customers cash for recycling plastic wastes. But the remarkable thing is that he is still a child himself.

By the age of 7,he decided to create a bank for children. He was motivated by seeing his classmates skipping lunch because they had spent the little money they had on sweets or football cards. What drove him even more was the poverty he saw among children.

With the support of a local company, the 14-year-old founded the Bartselana student bank which now has more than 2,000 customers between the ages of 10 and 18. Children can withdraw(提取) money from several cashpoints of the bank. They can also monitor their balances online. What makes it different from traditional banks is that it sets savings goals for children. They have to reach those goals in order to withdraw their money.

The student bank really caught on when he came up with the “Recycle Plan”, a new way for the children to earn money by collecting recyclable plastic or paper waste. Students can bring recyclable plastic bottles, used school books and old newspapers to the schools and put them into the collecting boxes. The recycling is weighed and the money goes to their bank accounts.

The bank recycles 4.4 tons of material a month and has collecting boxes in seven schools in Arequipa. More are on a waiting list. Increasingly the model is in demand in the rest of Peru and abroad.

His efforts have been noticed by Peru’s environment ministry. “He’s making an amazing change in financial education that perhaps many adults could not come up with,” said the Peru’s environment minister, Lucia Ruiz. “He’s achieving a double goal because he’s not just designing a financial opportunity for children and teenagers but also helping to reduce waste in the country.”