As the longest man-made river in the world, the Grand canal claims an     1    (influence)place in China.

The original canal system began around AD 605,     2     completion was owed to the Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty. He found it necessary to possess a better way to feed his army,     3    (specific), a way to move food quickly from China’s southern rice-growing region to the north. So, the emperor ordered the construction of the first section of the Grand Canal,     4    (connect)existing canals, lakes, and rivers. An     5    (estimate)one million people worked on the construction, which took six years. But there is no doubt that the canal actually promoted China’s economic development, even today.

And     6     it comes to the canal, its cultural function can’t be ignored. Some critics even think that     7     the Grand canal, the advanced ideas, regional foods and cultural practices couldn’t have been transported from one part of China to another smoothly and quickly. According to legend, this is how Beijing acquired two of its best-known trademarks. Peking duck, a dish from Shandong Province, and the Peking opera, from Anhui and Hubei regions,     8    (bring)north via the canal.

In 2005, a group of citizens proposed that the Grand Canal be made a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which would protect both the waterway and the architecture around it. With great efforts, the day people had been looking forward to     9    (come)in 2014, when UNESCO status was officially granted. The hope now is that the Grand Canal—one of the world’s great engineering     10    (accomplish)—will continue to link north and south China for centuries to come.

2 . You may have recently seen a video from the Beijing Wildlife Zoo becoming a hit. What exactly was so interesting about this video? It shows a dog playing with big cats four to five times its size! Many people might wonder if this dog has a death wish, but it seems that the dog and the big cats are good friends.

The dog was actually raised alongside the lion and tiger cubs, making up an odd but loving family, according to zoo officials. As opposed to the common belief, cross-species friendship has been around for centuries. People have domesticated many animals, most notably cats and dogs, and formed bonds with them as pets. Perhaps you even have a pet yourself.

There are many other instances of cross-species friendships.

At an animal sanctuary in Santiago, Chile, a jaguar named Marina and a deer named Laura formed a friendship after they both came to the park. As neither animal had a mother, sanctuary staff said they instantly bonded when they met. Laura had been rescued from a slaughterhouse while Marina had been rescued from the street.

One possible explanation for these friendships is the environment of the zoo. Animals don’t hunt for their food and don’t need to worry about marking their territory or looking for mates in the way an animal in the wild would. “All those activities take time and energy, and if these needs are removed, the animals get bored,” Gordon Burghardt, a psychologist at the University of Tenessee, US, told The Atlantic magazine. “In this particular situation, the animal’s motivation to engage socially and playfully may be higher in its need hierarchy(等级)than eating.”

Marc Bekoff, former biology professor at the University of Colorado, US, told Slate magazine, “I think the choices animals make in cross-species relationships are the same as they’d make in same-species relationships. Some dogs don’t like every other dog. Animals are very selective about the other individuals who they let into their lives.”

4 . Healthy House Plants: A Complete Gulde to Gardening Indoors

BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine has collaborated (合作) with digital educational platform, FutureLearn, to bring you a brand new online gardening course — Healthy House Plants: A Complete Guide to Gardening Indoors. This four-week online course has been designed to provide you with tips and advice on growing indoor plants and take you on a world journey, exploring imported plants.

The course is led by expert tutor and Associate Editor, David Hurrion, who will share his 50 years of gardening experience and bring his skills to you online, so you can learn from him in the comfort of your own home.

You can take this self-guided course. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

Week 1: What will you grow?

Week 2: Growing conditions and the indoor environment.

Week 3: Caring for your house plants.

Week 4: Making more plants and problem-solving.

There are three options for registering for this course：

*FREE — Access to the course is limited to six weeks, and no certificate (证书) is given.

*Upgrade for £32, unlimited time access, and a printed and digital certificate.

*Unlimited access to all FutureLearn short courses: £16.68/month.

Gardening for Beginners: The Basics and Beyond: Grow your gardening skills with easy-to-follow techniques aimed at both new and experienced home gardeners in this five-week online course.

5 . A selection of wildlife sculpture made out of recycled rubbish is being displayed a tan exhibition at the barley gallery in Not ting ham shire, England, until 24 July. The sculptures have been created by Nottinghamshire-based artist Michelle Jones who has been working with recycled materials to over 20 years.

Fly-tipping--illegally dumping rubbish or littering in a public place — was on the increase during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Jones told the BBC, “Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust showed me some of the materials that were found on their nature reserves-a washing machine, rusty bike, car tyres.” She decided to create wildlife sculpture out of these materials to encourage people to think about the damage fly-tipping can do to the environment

Jones often draws inspiration from the “beauty of the natural world” and said that the large model of the white-tailed bumblebee(大黄蜂) was inspired by the many hours she spent on her garden during the pandemic. Another sculpture, a bearded vulture(秃鹫 ), was inspired by the sighting of one such bird in the Peak District in July 2020. This was only the second time it had been spotted in the UK.

Using rubbish found in rivers, such as plastic bottles, tennis balls, footwear and toys, Jones created a large wave sculpture to highlight the problem of littering.

Jones says that through her sculptured she draws attention to environmental issue in an attractive and humorous way. Her work has a humour and warmth that makes people smile, making people think twice about what waste is and the value of materials, as well as the impact of over-consumption on the environment and its wildlife.

7 . Alaska’s Yukon River has faced major salmon shortages in recent years. Officials say record-high temperatures last year killed most salmon in the 3,200-kilometer river before the fish were able to reproduce. The losses led Alaska to stop their salmon harvests in 2021 to make sure that enough fish survived to reproduce for another year.

The poor salmon harvests caused major financial losses to private fishing companies in the area. The die-offs also hurt native communities, which traditionally store the fish as a year-round food supply.

Last month, the U.S. Department of Commerce declared a disaster for Yukon River fishing for 2020 and 2021, making aid money available. Alaska has sent emergency fish shipments to areas affected by the salmon shortages.

Scientists have mostly blamed the problems on a series of heat waves in the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean from 2014 to 2019. The warm ocean waters affected salmon’s living in the sea before they returned to lay eggs.

Climate change may also be affecting what the salmon are eating. Fishing experts say young salmon are likely filling up on nutrient-poor food because warmer waters drive away healthier organisms (有机物) they normally feed on. “In my opinion, the salmon are starving with climate change,” said Brooke Woods in the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission.

The effects of climate change on freshwater environments have also been studied. Vanessa von Biela is a biologist who looked at the rivers, streams and lakes where salmon live. Her team found that Chinook salmon show heat stress at temperatures above 18℃. They start dying above 20℃. In 2019, temperatures on the Alaskan side were above 18℃ for 44 straight days, a recent study found.

The effects of warming waters can be reduced by climate-driven glacier (冰川) runoff, which brings cooler water into rivers and streams. But scientists still expect salmon to begin slowly moving to new areas within Alaska. “Salmon will find a way,” said Biela. “but it’s going to be hard for communities in places where there might not be salmon anymore.”

9 . While environmental assessments of new roads focus on the danger of habitat destruction, or bats colliding (碰撞) with traffic, the first ever controlled field experiment to investigate the impact of vehicle noise suggests the thunder of road traffic is likely to drive away bats and cause bat activity to decrease by two-thirds.

Researchers played noise recorded from the A38 dual carriage way in demon, with a “dusk average” of 26 vehicle passing per minute, in locations where different bat species flew and fed. The wild bats, including pipistrelle species, were monitored with bat detectors (探测器) placed beside, and 20 metres away, from the recorded noise.

Ultrasonic (超音速) sounds from vehicle were found to block some bat species' high-frequency echo - location calls, which they use to find insect prey (捕获物) such as moths. But more significant was that most bat species sought to avoid audible (听得见的) traffic noise.

“Just like us, bats are likely to find audible road noise an irritation, something they would prefer to avoid rather than it jamming their echo-location,” said Fiona Matt hews, lead author of the paper in Environmental Pollution.

Matthews said the effect of ordinary traffic noise on bats meant that the negative impact of new roads on bat populations was likely to be more far-reaching than realized.

She said: “This is important, as it means we could expect to see negative effects continue at a considerable distance from the road. We know that lower frequency road noise travels well beyond 50 metres — the scale at which ecological impact assessments are conducted.”

Dr. Henry Schofield, from Vincent Wildlife Trust, which jointly funded the research, said: “We have raised people’s awareness that bat species face barriers in the landscape that impede (妨碍) their ability to access suitable feeding areas and reduce their chances of survival. Along with habitat destruction and artificial lighting at night, this research has added road noise to the list of anthropogenic (人为的) factors reducing habitat quality for these protected species.”

10 . On September 15, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras celebrate their own independence days. On October 16, Mexico follows suit. Each country above has its own nature, but what combines them is local traditions and Spanish culture. Here are four destinations worthy of planning a trip.

Tazumal, El Salvador

El Salvador is home to some rather impressive Mayan ruins that show off this once great civilization. Tazumal is one such place, which is believed to be more than 7,000 years old and was left abandoned sometime around the 13th century. However, large areas were extensively restored in the 40s’ and 50s’, giving visitors a taste of the past.

Antigua, Guatemala

The 16th-century city of Antigua is surrounded by volcanoes, churches, and Baroque buildings, combining European style with pre-Hispanic traditions, making its way to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It’s possible to visit most of its attractions on foot, including the Arco de Santa Catalina, the Central Park, and the Palacio del Ayuntamiento.

Comayagua, Honduras

Honduras may be well-known for its beaches, and one worthy of your travels is the city that was once the capital: Comayagua. Founded in the early 1500s, a visit here is like traveling back in time. Several museums showcase the cultural richness and the must-see clock in the central square, which is the oldest clock in the continent, dating back to the 12th century.

Veracruz, Mexico

Veracruz is a natural beauty with beaches that stretch for as far as the eye can see, deep blue waves and powerful waterfalls. When visiting Veracruz, stop by the Zocalo in Downtown Veracruz, where locals gather to listen to “son jarocho”, a regional folk music style that started right here. Couples also gather to dance in the square. But not just any dance, rather they take part in Danzόn, a traditional couples dance iconic (标志性的) to this particular state.