3 . In late 2017, California-based fine arts photographer Norma Quintana was planning a trip down to her native Puerto Rico to document Hurricane Maria’s destruction. Instead, she and her family found themselves caught in another natural disaster much closer to home. Beginning in early October, the Atlas Fire swept through Napa County and lasted weeks. When Quintana and her family were finally able to return to their property, everything was gone: her home of nearly 30 years, her studio, her photographs, her prints and her collection of over 100 cameras.

Ever an artist at heart, she began photographing the remains of her home and possessions. Those photos would eventually become a series, Forage from Fire. Now, the project can be viewed as part of “Fire Transforms”, a new exhibition at the Palo Alto Art Center. The exhibition mainly explores the following themes: living with fire, learning with fire, and creating with fire. It features photography, paintings, ceramics (陶瓷), sculptures, textiles (纺织品) and digital media.

One of the artists on the exhibition is Linda Gass, a textile artist and environmental activist, who sewed a map of the damage from the 2013 Rim Fire, the largest recorded fire in the Sierra Nevada. Brian Fies’ A Fire Story is a graphic (图表的) novel and an account of the artist’s losing his home in the 2017 Tubbs Fire, along with 6,000 others. At the time, it was California’s most destructive fire, though the Camp Fire in 2018 would be worse.

“Art offers a safe place of comfort after the firestorm has passed,” says Rina Faletti, who is in charge of the exhibition. “How can we learn to transform our fear, sadness, loss, anger and confusion into something more comforting and clear? How can we rest from climate change, even as we face the real losses that fire causes in the face of global change? Thankfully, we have artists to help us.”

4 . Dressed in a kachhad, a traditional Nepalese clothes, Umesh Balal walked into his meetings at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) on climate change in Dubai with a sense of determination.

Balal, who has physical disability, was there to publicly _________ inclusion of disability rights in the climate change conference, an aspect that he said has long been _________ by organizers of the world’s largest annual meeting on climate issues.

As a student, Balal was _________ about science and involved himself in research on environmental science. Those were his first few interactions that _________ the climate related issues to him. Being from a mountainous region, Balal _________ more about how climate change had _________ people there, which led him to develop climate anxiety.

The more Balan _________ himself to climate science, the more he learned about the impact of climate change. People with more resources have better chances of _________ the climate crisis. But the less developed countries, for the _________ communities, usually don’t have the same opportunities, which will push them further into the __________

And it is even harder for people with __________. Many people with disabilities in Nepal don’t have __________ to proper education or opportunities for growth. As a result, they aren’t able to advocate for their rights.   

In an interview, Balan said, “__________, I am honored that I come from a supportive family, where I had a chance of good education which __________ me to grow in life. This is what I __________for others, to change the way they live their lives.”

5 . With spring around the corner, stores are offering gardeners many choices for seeds. Starting a garden from seeds, rather than buying young plants, is a low-cost way to enjoy many kinds of flowers and food crops.

    1     Everything the plant needs to start growing is in the seed. All you have to do is put it into soil that is a little wet and not let the soil dry out while the seed does its own job. If there are any special requirements, they are usually printed in the simple directions on the back of every seed container.

Planting big seeds is simple.     2     Put the tip of a pencil in water and then use it to pick up each seed. It will hold one seed as you put it into its starting container.

When choosing containers to start plants, you can use any old plastic containers, newspapers or cardboards.     3     But remember to put drainage (排水) holes in each one. If you do not add holes, water can build up in the bottom and cause the seeds to rot.

Gardeners are reminded to be aware that it would be a shame to grow something in a container and then forget what it is called.     4    

And it is never too early to think about the next growing season. Once you have established plants in your garden, consider letting some “go to seed.”     5     That way you will have your own seeds for next year’s garden, and you will not have to buy them at all.

6 . There are more than 500 species of sharks. They are as diverse as the dwarf lantern shark, which is smaller than a human hand, and the whale shark, which can grow as long as a school bus. Given that there are a large number of unique species, some characteristics may be true for one species, but not for another.

Sharks have one of the longest lifespans compared with other animals. Greenland sharks are the longest-living known vertebrate on Earth, according to a study published in the journal Science. Researchers determined that the North Atlantic species likely lives for an average of 272 years, and often doesn’t reach maturity until 150 years of age. And they can live for 400 years, scientists have estimated.

The earliest evidence of shark fossils dates back as far as 450 million years. Additionally, sharks have survived five mass extinctions, one of which destroyed around 96% of all the life in the sea.

Reproduction patterns in sharks vary. On average, sharks give birth after 11 or 12 months of pregnancy, but some sharks, such as the frilled shark and basking shark, can be pregnant for over three years. Some sharks, like mako sharks and bull sharks, give live birth, while other sharks, like cat sharks, lay eggs.

Sharks are mainly silent creatures, as they don’ t have organs for producing sound. Instead of speaking, they communicate through body language. Besides, sharks have a sixth sense——picking up nanoscopic electromagnetic (纳米磁的) currents. This extra sense can help them navigate the ocean and find prey (猎物), or even a mate. With this sense, sharks hunt sick and weak animals, playing a crucial role in keeping the ecosystem healthy.

8 . In Florida’s Everglades, few species are more closely tied to this place’s health than an endangered bird, the snail kite, which eats just one thing: snails. Over the last century, due to changing environments, these local snails have become hard to find, and the birds are dying out. But the number of snail kites has increased recently thanks to an unusual invasive (入侵的) snail, which is a pretty uncommon event.

Snail kites got their name from their amazing flying ability. They were one of the last bird species discovered in the U. S. because of where they live, often hidden in the Everglades. Over the past century, as many of their living places became pretty dry and water stopped running through parts of the Everglades, the snail kite population fell rapidly. It was one of the first birds put on the endangered species list in the 1960s. And by 2007, fewer than 800 had remained.

Right shortly after that, this invasive snail came in, and just started flourishing and getting into every wetland. Since then, the snail kite population has been slowly increasing. By last year’s count, there are now more than 3,000 snail kites. And, although it’s early in the season, researchers are finding lots of nests with eggs and young birds.

Efforts to restore (恢复) Florida’s Everglades have also helped the snail kite, bringing back local plants and the flow of water. The restoration work has been in place for more than 30 years with a cost of more than $20 billion. But progress is slow.

Though some scientists say the invasive snail may have saved the snail kite, Professor Robert Fletcher is feeling uneasy about the possible influence the species will have on the Everglades over the long term. He says, “What we should be thinking about is how to restore local snails to get those benefits rather than depending on this invasive species that can harm the ecosystem. The snails may already have a bad effect on some local plants, and a sign trouble may be showing soon.”

It was 3: 34 in the morning. I was in our apartment on the 22nd floor.

I went to bed at around 2 o’clock in the morning, but for some reason I woke up a minute or so before the quake started. I was comfortable in my bed, about to fall asleep again when suddenly the bed started moving a little. That bed used to move a lot, so I just thought it was my wife rolling over. I looked over to her and she was fast asleep. She wasn’t moving.

My first thought was: OK, it’s just another small quake. We used to get a lot of small quakes in Chile. But this one kept going and then got a bit stronger. It was enough to wake my wife up and she asked me, “Is the room shaking?” It is our way of asking: Are we experiencing a mild earthquake? The noise of the perfume bottles hitting each other in the bathroom and the hanging wine glasses clanging against each other in the dining room confirmed what was happening. I thought, OK, this is just a strong quake, no reason to get out of bed.

When an earthquake starts to get stronger, we have learnt that we have to open the front door because they sometimes become stuck when the building starts to sway (摇晃). So, I went to open the front door while my wife went to see how the kids were. They were still fast asleep. However, on the way to the front door, the shaking increased considerably. When I turned around to go back to the bedroom, the full force of the earthquake started to hit. I had never felt an earthquake that was so strong. I couldn’t move forward and I had to hold onto the wall to stay up on my feet.

The earthquake gave a final strong push of intensity (强度) and then our lights went out. This is the only time in my life when I honestly thought I was going to die.

The terrible shaking eventually stopped.

Once we were ready, we woke the kids up.