Nanjing, the capital city of China’s Jiangsu Province and located ( 位于) along the Yangtze River Delta (三角洲),     1     (be) once the capital of the Ming Dynasty and is recognized as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China alongside Beijing, Xi’an     2     Luoyang.

But if you’ll only be visiting for 72 hours, there are a few     3     (experience) that you shouldn’t miss out on.

Any trip to Nanjing, no matter     4     short it is, wouldn’t be complete without some excellent food. Nanjing cuisine is a part of Jiangsu cuisine and often shows the area’s     5     (local) grown produce and fresh seafood.

The city is also considered the birthplace of Peking Duck, but it also prepares a local favorite: Nanjing salted duck,     6     is served cold after being cooked in very salty water.

Nanjing is known for     8     (it) cultural and political importance. Today, travelers can visit numerous temples (寺庙) within the city and walk along Stone City, the remains of the city’s ancient fortifications (防御工事), at a local park.

Nanjing is also home     9     one UNESCO World Heritage Site — the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty, located in the Zhongshan Mountain National Park, where many other    10     (importance) sites, such as Dr. Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, are also located.

2 . If you think about World Heritage Sites, you probably think of places associated with ancient art and culture and historical buildings. And of course, many of these are on the World Heritage List (WHL). These include remains of ancient cultures like Cuzco in Peru or the rock city of Petra in Jordan as well as old city centers such as Rome in Italy. Also common are places of artistic or cultural significance, like the Stonehenge stone circle in England. But the WHL contains a lot of sites that are not so obvious. Let’s look at a few of the more unusual sites on the WHL and why it is important to preserve them.

Citadel of Haiti

These monuments were built at the end of the 19th century when Haiti became independent and the many thousands of black slaves in Haiti were free for the first time. These ex-slaves built the monuments, which the WHL describes as “a universal symbol of liberty”.

Borders of France and Spain

This is an area of great natural beauty and the mountains have many interesting geological formations.

But it is also an area of small farms. The WHL has listed the site because it shows us about past European society through its landscape of villages, farms, fields, up land pastures and mountain roads.

The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway

This railway in India was opened in 1881 and is still operating today. It crosses a difficult area of mountain landscape and it is a great example of railway engineering. The WHL says that it is “the first, and still the most outstanding, example of a hill passenger railway.”

The city of Brasilia

Brasilia is a capital city that was created from nothing in 1956. The WHL calls it “a land mark in the history of town planning”. The different areas of the city and the buildings themselves were all designed at the same time so that they would harmonize with each other.

4 . In a fascinating discovery, western lowland gorillas (大猩猩) at Zoo Atlanta have been caught summoning their keepers using a strange cough-sneeze mixture, which researchers have called a “snough”. Only two other species have displayed this ability to create new vocalizations to attract our attention: zoo-housed chimpanzees and orangutans. Now, we can add gorillas to that list.

As many of us know, Koko put a spotlight on gorilla intelligence in the 1980s and 1990s with her incredible ability to communicate with humans using sign language. She was trained and worked hard at it, but now it seems gorillas have taken it upon themselves to establish unique communication with us in their own way.

Roberta Salmi, a biological anthropologist at the University of Georgia, and colleagues ran an experiment to confirm the purpose of the “snough”, by placing eight of the zoo’s gorillas in three different situations. In the first, only the keeper was present; in the second only the food was present; in the final one, the keeper was holding the food. The food and keeper were in sight but out of reach. The gorillas involved used the “snough” vocalization most when there was a human present with food, indicating the call is likely an attempt to get the keeper’s attention.

This complex vocal learning — the ability to produce unique calls — is rare in the animal kingdom and confirmed only in some species of birds, bats and elephants. But they all do so by imitating. The analysis showed the gorilla’s “snough” is a unique sound, not an imitation — although they are certainly capable of imitating us in other ways.

“These results demonstrate that gorillas can change their calls to produce a novel sound and furthermore confirm that they can produce their calls and gestures intentionally to change the attention state of their caregiver,” the team concluded in their paper. We’ve clearly long underestimated these clever souls.

5 . Low-maintenance (无须费神的) care is one of the biggest advantages of owning a cat. Cats are known for being independent. And unlike dogs, cats don’t require daily walks in order to get their exercise fix.     1     It’s necessary to make sure your cat has plenty of chances to move her body.

Exercise is very important when it comes to keeping your cat healthy. Exercise, along with diet, is important for maintaining your cat’s weight.     2     Plus, that extra weight can put added pressure on the legs and feet, leading to mobility problems down the road.

Exercise is also good for mental health (精神健康).     3     As an added benefit, enough physical exercise can keep your cat from acting in destructive (破坏性的) ways.

The exact amount (数量) of recommended exercise differs from cat to cat.     4     This doesn’t necessarily mean running or walking for 30 minutes straight, though.

    5     Try playing together for at least 15 minutes or so per day with toys. With enough independent games, toys, and tools for your cat to use on her own terms, she will also get in more movement, like walking, climbing, and scratching (抓).

6 . Low-effort things you can do to live sustainably

You might think you need to change a lot of your daily habits to live sustainably but, in fact, becoming more eco-friendly is much easier than it might seem. Below are some easy steps towards becoming more sustainable.

Shop at farmer markets.

Getting your daily fruit and vegetables from a local farmer market is an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint while eating healthily. It cuts out lengthy stays of the products in refrigerated storage and up to thousands of miles of fossil-fueled transportation.     1    

Practice meatless Mondays.

Global meat production is a big contributor to greenhouse gasses.     2     It isn’t necessary either. Many people reducing their meat consumption by a small amount would still have a great impact. According to a study, you could reduce your carbon footprint by as much as 8 pounds each week just by practicing meatless Mondays only.

Dispose of unused medications properly.

Flushing (冲) unused medications down the drain (下水道) can pollute water supplies affecting everything downstream. You shouldn’t throw medications away either as they can be dangerous for others to find.     3     Leftover medications can be chemically dealt with and disposed of in a safe and secure way there.

    4    

It is easy to understand that buying something used is more environmentally friendly than buying something new and clothes are no exception.     5     According to the United Nations, the fashion industry is responsible for 2% - 8% of global carbon emissions (排放量). Buying something used keeps things out of landfills and reduces demand for new items.

9 . Every year on 2 February, Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog (土拨鼠), comes out of his hole in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. If the sun is shining and he sees his shadow before going back into his hole, it means winter will last six more weeks. But if the day is cloudy, spring will come early. Curiously, Phil is not alone. In the region around Milan, tradition has it that if the bear comes out of his hole on a sunny day, he will be able to make himself a nice dry bed and then he’ll want to keep on sleeping. This will show that the winter will continue. But if it’s a rainy day, the bear will have to stay out—and spring will come soon.

“These traditions can be traced back to Indo-European civilisations 3,000-5,000 years ago,” says Venetian historian Elena Righetto. “That’s why they are spread all over Europe,” she explains. The deepest meaning of the tradition, according to Righetto, is in its seemingly contradictory (矛盾的) nature. It might seem illogical (不合逻辑的) that cold days indicate the coming of spring, or that groundhogs and bears would decide to stay out just when the weather is bad.

“The idea is that the darkest moment, when everything seems to go wrong, is when we experience a rebirth, a new life,” explains Righetto. There is a thought that life comes from darkness, just as plants start to grow from the seeds left underground during winter. This thought is so powerful that it crossed countries and survived centuries.

Traditions don’t protect people from bad weather, death, or illness, but they protect them emotionally from some of the anxiety related to those coming realities. They don’t solve the real problem, but they solve the mental problem—they help you live through the hard times of life. In a way, if we can believe in the magical powers of groundhogs and bears, we might find even an extended (延长的) winter a bit warmer and friendlier.