3 . Volcanoes in Indonesia

“The hardest bit of the job is having enough sleep,” admits Martanto, a 29-year-old geophysicist at the monitoring centre for Agung, a volcano in Bali which started erupting(爆发) on November 25th. For the past two weeks he and half a dozen others have relocated from Bandung, in West Java, to keep watch on Agung every hour of the day, occasionally in continuous 32-hour shifts.

    1     It was home to both the biggest eruption of modern times, that of Tambora in 1815, and the second-biggest, of Krakatoa in 1883. Agung’s previous eruption, in 1963, was the most explosive of the 20th century in Indonesia. Gas, rock and ash were ejected to a height of 25km above the crater(火山口). More than 1, 000 people died. “Previous eruptions, in 1843 and 1710-11, were similarly destructive”, says Devy Kamil Syahbana of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre(PVMBG) in Bandung.

    2     The first, of which there are 69, are active volcanoes which have erupted at least once since 1600. The second are active but have not erupted since 1600. The third are potentially active openings in the earth’s crust, such as fumaroles. The first type, of which Agung is one, are monitored 24 hours a day by an observer in a station nearby, from which they can see the peak. They then feedback information to the main centre in Bandung.

Eruptions, in short, are hard to predict with precision. Sinabung, on the island of Sumatra, erupted suddenly in 2010 and then again in 2013 and 2016.     3     As a result, PVMBG had not been monitoring it, and those living nearby were not prepared to evacuate. It is still erupting; thousands of people have had to be permanently relocated.

Even when volcanoes are known to be active, and there are enough monitoring data, it is not easy to judge how destructive an eruption might be.     4     Call for an evacuation too early, and people might decide the risk is overblown and return to their homes.

4 . Nowadays, bikes are getting smarter. Although it may seem confusing to mess with the simplicity of a bicycle, e-bikes are actually the perfect fit for a variety of circumstances, including living in a hilly area, looking for a greener transportation alternative or just to make riding a bike more fun. Here are four typical models of e-bikes.

Not interested in breaking the bank? Try Schwinn’s Monroe 250. It’s an urban rider with a single speed and is great for zipping across town or around campus. It lasts up to 50 miles and requires a five-hour battery charge from zero. Plug it in before bed, and you’re golden in the morning.

Specialized’s entry-level Turbo Vado 2.0 comes equipped with a customized touchscreen smart computer. With it, you can control the assist mode and connect through Bluetooth to the Specialized Mission Control app.

The app lets you map out your ride, and then the motor will adjust to that specific distance so you never have to worry about the battery dying mid-route. It also offers direction and diagnostics and stores your ride history and personal preferences.

For those who want a does-it-all option, the Cannondale Quick Neo is your best bet. It was designed for people who lead active lifestyles but may not be “cyclists”.

The Quick Neo has three assist modes — eco, normal and high — and the battery lasts up to 70 miles before it needs a four-hour recharge. It also has front suspension, so it’ll handle bumps, pot-holes and even dirt paths well, and its brakes make it easier to stop if the weather gets wet.

If you live in a big city and owning a car is not an option, then the Super Commuter+ could be for you. It’s expensive, but less expensive than most cars when you allow for the amount of money you spend on gas, maintenance, insurance, parking or public transportation, an e-bike is a more economical choice for urban citizens looking for a new way to get around.

With four assist modes, it can go up to 28 mph and as far as 120 miles on a battery that takes just three to five hours to charge, so it’s basically like the Ferrari of e-bikes.

Atishoo, we all fall down

FLU season has arrived in the northern half of the planet. That is not news - it happens every year, and for most of us it is     1     little more than a nuisance (令人讨厌的事物). But the flu of 2018 could be as bad as an annual winter     2     gets.

You may think you have heard it all before, but you probably haven’t. To be clear, we are not talking about bird or swine flu, the kind that keeps virologists awake at night fearing a pandemic (流行疾病). Right now the warnings are about regular winter flu. But it looks like a bad one. For people who are weak because of age, pregnancy, obesity or other risk factors, it could be a(n)     3    .

And yet the world     4     astonishingly uncaring about a virus that regularly kills hundreds of thousands and     5     more. We defend ourselves against it half-hearted with a vaccine from the 1940s, which is better than nothing - but we know we can do more. We spend a small amount of money on developing vaccines that will actually defeat it, even though researchers have some very     6     leads.

Why? Partly because of complacency (自满): most of us have flu and lived to tell the tale. Partly because denialists push the lie that the threat is     7     so medical companies can sell vaccines and drugs. And partly because a better vaccine won’t be very profitable.

This month also     8     the 100th year of the so-called Spanish flu, the worst pandemic we know about. This year’s “Aussie flu” is a later     9     of that virus. It won’t be as bad, but we must hope that its     10     impact is enough to tell the world that ordinary flu is still a serious disease and that a repeat of 1918 is supposed to happen.