1 . The Seychelles — that remote island chain off the coast of northern Africa is heaven for scuba divers (水肺潜水). With more than 100 islands, most of which are uninhabited, and a relatively small amount of tourists impacting the oceans and beaches, the Seychelles has some truly best scuba diving.

Fisherman’s Cove Reef

If you’re a beginner diver who loves gentle drop-offs and sea turtles, make sure Fisherman’s Cove Reef is on your scuba diving radar. The site is very popular as there’s rarely a current, it’s very shallow, and has a colorful reef with everything from eagle rays to small leaf fish, which can be very difficult to find against the seagrass and coral.

Ennerdale Wreck

If you love wreck diving, head right for the Ennerdale, a British oil tanker that accidentally sunk in 1970. Because of the medium-to-strong current and depth, it’s for divers with advanced open water cert. They’ll be able to swim around the wreck’s propellers, penetrate the frame, and likely see reef sharks and the occasional bull shark.

Baie Ternay Marine Park

The shallow, protected area of ocean has healthy and varied coral, and a lively reef. Both snorkelers and beginner divers are likely to see sea turtles grazing on the seagrass, coaching reef fish, and small eels poking out of the sandy ocean floor.   

Aldabra Atoll

It doesn’t get much more remote than the Aldabra Atoll, a UNESCO site. The coral reef continues underwater, which makes all the island’s dive sites stunning. Advanced divers can do drift dives in a channel with a chance of seeing sharks, while beginners can stay closer to the reefs, checking the various species of marine life in the Indian Ocean off their must-see list. The island is home to nearly 100,000 giant tortoises, as well as several other rare species

A complete skeleton (骨架) of an animal, which was later confirmed to be that of a giant panda, was unearthed at     1     end of 2021 in Xi’an. It was the first time in history that giant panda remains had been unearthed from a tomb     2     (date) back to the Western Han Dynasty.

The skeleton had well-developed teeth, and was placed within a neatly     3     (lay) brick structure facing towards the direction of the tomb, with its tail pointing westward. After comparing the skeleton     4     existing giant pandas’, researchers discovered that it     5     (actual) belonged to a giant panda.

The researchers thought this giant panda might have originated from the forests on the northern side of the Qinling Mountains, where the climate was possibly     6     (warm) than today.

Back in 1975, a buried giant panda     7     (discover) near the tomb of Empress Bo. Researchers said that it is not yet possible to conclude that Empress Bo had a special     8     (prefer) for giant pandas. It appeared to be a royal garden feature.

Besides the giant panda, the remains of other rare animals were also found in the tomb,     9     reflects the belief in the Han Dynasty that people would live a life in the underworld, similar to that when they     10     (be) alive.

3 . On Sunday, Ecuador held a special vote on whether oil drilling (钻探) should be allowed in Yasuni National Park. The vote was part of a larger election to choose the country’s next president. Nearly 60% of Ecuadorian voters chose to protect the park.

In 2007, to protect the area, Rafael Correa — Ecuador’s president at the time — offered to leave the oil in the ground. In exchange, he wanted the rest of the world to pay Ecuador $3.6 billion. Though Mr. Correa worked hard to find support for his idea, no group offered to pay the money.

In 2016, Ecuador’s state oil company, Petroecuador, began drilling in Yasuni. The company is drilling in a fairly small area known as Block 43. Block 43 makes up far less than 1% of the park, but it produces about 55,000 barrels of oil every day.

But the drilling has upset many people in Ecuador. Yasunidos is a group which works to protect the park. For over ten years, Yasunidos has worked to allow Ecuador’s people a chance to vote on oil drilling in Yasuni. In May, Yasunidos won a court case that allowed them to put the Yasuni drilling up for a vote.

On Sunday, voters were asked if they supported oil drilling in the park or were against it. When the votes were counted, about 59% of the voters chose to stop drilling in Yasuni. Just 41% supported it.

Yasunidos called the vote “a historic success for Ecuador and for the planet!” But the result is a disappointment for Ecuador’s president, Guillermo Lasso. He believes the oil money is extremely important for the country. Selling oil from Yasuni brings in about $1.2 billion a year.

The government won’t be able to ignore or change the results of the vote, and will now have about a year and a half to end the drilling. Petroecuador says it will cost about $500 million to stop drilling and clean up the operation.

4 . Tall, long-necked giraffes are famous for their spots which are believed to help the animals hide from their enemies. Just like no two humans have the same fingerprints, each giraffe has its own special pattern of spots. However, a Tennessee zoo made headlines recently after it welcomed one of the world’s most uncommon giraffes.

On July 31, a baby giraffe was born at Brights Zoo with light brown fur which is a reticulated (网状的) giraffe, one of the four different kinds of giraffes. Unlike most giraffes, she was born without spots, a unique feature of the reticulated giraffe. At six feet tall, this baby giraffe is growing well under her mother’s care. She shows typical baby giraffe behavior, such as eating rocks.

Experts said the young giraffe was the only single-colored reticulated giraffe living anywhere on the planet. The last time this happened was 1972 in Japan. A giraffe’s pattern of spots is created when the animal is still growing inside its mother. That means that this giraffe will never have spots.

“The new giraffe might not have survived if she had been born in the wild. Being single-colored, she may not be able to hide quite as well,” said Mr. David Bright, who runs the zoo, “It will easily be a key target for poachers (偷猎者) because she’s so unusual.”

Brights Zoo stressed that reticulated giraffes had already become imperiled. In 2018, they were officially listed as “threatened”. Thirty-five years ago, there were 36,000 reticulated giraffes. Now, the number has been cut by more than 50%. Only about 16,000 reticulated giraffes remain.

This brown giraffe’s birth is not only a rare and fascinating event, but also an opportunity to raise awareness about the challenges faced by giraffes in the wild. By supporting efforts like this, we can contribute to the conservation of these large creatures and ensure their survival for generations to come.

6 . When most people think of Amish communities, they picture old-fashioned environments free of modern technology. For the most part, that’s true, but there are a few surprising exceptions. Many Amish families use solar panels to meet their modest electricity needs.

According to Electric Rate, some Amish communities adopted solar as far back as the 90’s. In addition to wind turbines on churches and barns, Amish homes may also have solar panels on the roofs. These are connected to batteries that power electric lights, water pumps, and even the occasional washing machine, refrigerator, cash register, or e-bike. Amish communities don’t reject all technology for its own sake. Instead, they consider the impact each type of technology will have on their lifestyle and traditions.

Television doesn’t have a place in the simple Amish lifestyle, and connecting to the power grid to run multiple appliances (家用电器) would threaten the community’s independence and self-reliance. However, electric lights are another matter, according to Electric Rate. Amish families previously used kerosene (煤油) lamps to light their homes. These created major safety issues, like heightened fire risk and harmful smoke.

Solar panels and LED lights were the perfect solutions, Electric Rate says. They’re self-contained, so Amish communities don’t have to pay a monthly bill. They don’t even have to add wiring to the whole house. Just one or two panels are enough for a whole home since they don’t have many electric appliances. The lights themselves are reliable, efficient, long-lasting, affordable, and safe.

Even better, solar technology is getting cheaper all the time. Ongoing breakthroughs in solar panel design have made them easier to manufacture and more efficient to use, opening up this possibility for even more families. Solar panels are also gentle on the planet. Unlike burning kerosene, solar doesn’t produce air pollution that traps heat in our atmosphere. The more households, businesses, and governments adopt solar, the more we cool down the planet.

7 . My husband, Dave, who teaches Botany (植物学), always plants things. He has planted trees anywhere we have lived and is proud to see they are flourishing and providing shade and beauty for whoever lives there.

I also love planting, especially the harvest. But I hate weeding (除草). I remember one of our first gardens in Kansas when I was attacked by the hugest grasshoppers (蚱蜢) I had ever seen while weeding our little garden.

Now, our growing efforts at our new home are vegetables. We are enjoying the garden we have created. It’s large but manageable with daily care. We use methods to minimize weeds. We have the time to keep up with the watering and weeding. I find I don’t hate that anymore.

There is something satisfying about pulling grass, and violets that are growing where we don’t want them, and unnamed weeds that are affecting the growth of what we want. I find that my relationship with gardening is turning into a true romance that has a rosy future.

It’s all about time, environment and attitude. Being in my eighties, I have the time to be patient for results, to enjoy the hope for future harvest, and I have the knowledge that comes from experience. I find a lot to love about growing things and about growing older.

8 . Corcoran, a farming town of California, is slowly sinking(下沉) when drought has forced farmers to pump(用泵抽) amounts of water from the ground. Corcoran is struggling to make sense of the strangest thing: His already suffering town is sinking, ever so gradually, into the ground.

To water its large fields and help feed America, farm operators began in the last century to pump water from underground sources, so much so that the ground has begun to sink. Strangely, signs of this subsidence are nearly out of sight. There are no cracks(裂缝) in the walls of the typical American shops in the town’s center, nor in the streets or fields.

This year’s drought has changed this food-basket of America into a large field of brown dust, forcing the government to limit(限制) the use of water by farmers. So Corcoran now finds itself in the middle of a bad circle: With their water supplies limited, farm operators are forced to pump more underground water, which in turn speeds the sinking of the town.

Few locals have spoken out against the problem -- not surprising, since most of them work for the same big agribusinesses pumping up groundwater. “They are afraid that if they speak against them, they might not work there any more,” said Atilano, who has spent years working for one of the country’s biggest cotton producers, J. G. Boswell.

On this summer afternoon, under a heat wave, some people stop to chat under a large wall painting. It describes a clear blue lake surrounded by snow-covered mountain peaks -- for now, a far dream.