2 . What is one of the best parts of traveling abroad? It’s the food, of course! Eating different foods native to a country, authentically (地道地) prepared by locals, is special. Trying these native foods will widen what you know about a country’s cuisine. I discovered that this is true for Chinese food. Chinese food in China is much more diverse (多样的) and rich in tastes and spices (香料) than I had ever imagined before my travels.

Before traveling to China, I was a little worried about whether I would really enjoy the food or not. I was not sure what types of food I would be trying, but I have always enjoyed eating Chinese food in Massachusetts. However, I was only used to the spring rolls and Gong Bao Chicken of American Chinese cuisine.

Don’t get me wrong. I still love these dishes from my local Chinese restaurants! However, I did not realize how much variety of food there actually was to try in China and the cultural differences that I would learn to understand during my time abroad.

In my first few days, I fell in love with one of Beijing’s most famous dishes called Peking duck. Some of my friends had told me that we were going to one of the best Peking duck restaurants in Beijing, and they were not wrong! The Peking duck we ate surprised us, with thin, crisp (酥脆的) skin on the outside, delicious duck meat on the inside and various tasty sauces.

As I began trying new foods like Guilin mifen (rice noodles), I started to love these foods that I had never tried before in my life. While I was in Chengdu, I even learned about the ingredients (原料) of an authentic “huo guo” (hot pot).

After my time abroad in China, I realized how much I enjoyed eating and trying new foods. I also soon realized that the Chinese food here in America is different from that actually in China.

3 . EVENTS FOR JULY

Alice Hunter Morrison, Arabist (阿拉伯学家) and writer, will talk with Jacki Hill-Murphy about her successful Morocco to Timbuktu: An Arabian Adventure — a place which she reached by travelling along Africa’s salt road through the Sahara Desert.

In this talk, Ian Gilchrist reflects (反思) on the time he spent in Iran from 1976 to 1979 and again in 2019, and offers thoughts on what has changed and what has not.

Whilst Gunnerside Gill looks beautiful, it’s not always been so peaceful. Look into the lead mining (铅矿开采) history and the things left behind by this industry during this guided walk by Vivienne Crow.

Professor Kathryn Monk will give a short talk about the Grade I listed building and then will continue onward to Repton’s 18th century Blaise Estate and Roman road.

6 . Lying on the northern tip of Beijing Central Axis(中轴线), the Bell and Drum Towers were built in 1272 and rebuilt twice after two fires. At one period in history they were the time-telling centre of the capital city during the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Bell Tower

The Bell Tower is 47.9 metres high. This brick-and-stone-made building has two floors. Located on the second floor, the bell is the largest and heaviest in China. It is 7.02 metres high, with a weight of 63 tons. It was made of copper(铜), and you can hear its clear sound from far away.

Drum Tower

Situated 100 metres south to the Bell Tower, it was placed on a 4-metre-high stone-and-brick base. It is 46.7 metres high. It is a two-storey(两层的) wooden building. There was one big drum and 24 smaller ones, but only the big remains from ancient times.

On the New Year’s Eve of 1990, the sound of the bell rang out again and the drum was beaten on the New Year’s Eve of 2001 after being silent for so long. Since then, the drum and the bell have sounded 108 times every New Year’s Eve.

How to get to the Bell and Drum Towers

By Subway:

1. Take Subway Line 8 and get off at Shichahai Station.

2. Take Subway Line 2 and get off at Gulou Dajie Station.

By Bus:

1. Take Bus 5, 60, 82, 107, or 124, and get off at Gulou (Drum Tower) Station.

2. Take the Sightseeing Bus 3 and get off at Gulou (Drum Tower) Station.

Ticket Price: Bell Tower: CNY 15; Drum Tower: CNY 20

Ticket for both places: CNY 30

Opening Hours: High season: 09:30-17:30; Low season: 09:30-16:30

Drum Performances at the Drum Tower:

High season: 10:00, 11:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00

Low season: 10:00, 11:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00

7 . I am so grateful for the 21-Day Eco-Footprint Challenge hosted by KindSpring. Taking care of our sweet Mother Earth has always been _______ to me in my life and I have taken _______ in my everyday life to recycle, reuse, and think about ways to protect our Mother Earth, etc. However, this _______ awoke me even more.

Our Scholars Together community has taken on more than we have before _______ recycling, using our own china cups and metal water bottles when we go out, not buying things in _______ containers and having green lunches more consistently, not occasionally, but the biggest change we made was setting a goal of Zero Waste.

We set up more boxes and bins for paper that we could _______ again, recycling every sheet of use-on-both-side paper, plastics, cans, etc. We also _______ all of our food we cooked or bought, instead of throwing some away. We really _______ it a challenge. Each day we all saw how little _______ there could be in our dustbins. I realised that I had been throwing paper away that could be used on the other ________ or could be recycled, and now I am looking everywhere for ________ that can be used more effectively until recycling time.

The videos offered by KindSpring have been so ________ and useful to us all that I don’t want the Eco-Footprint Challenge to ________. We will continue to do our part and ________ the news to our family and friends. It is cool to see how the   ________ spreads.

Dian Fossey was an American zoologist who devoted 20 years of her life     1     the study and protection of Africa’s rare and endangered mountain gorillas (山地大猩猩). She received instruction in fieldwork from chimp     2     (specialize) Jane Goodall, and began watching and recording the behavior of mountain gorillas. Her work took her to Zaire and then to Rwanda,     3     she founded the Karisoke Research Center. After years of     4     (patience) observation, the gorillas came to know and trust her, and she found that she could sit among the gorillas and even play with     5     (they) young.

In 1970, she attended the University of Cambridge. Afterwards she took     6    teaching job at Cornell University in New York, where she wrote a book     7     (call) Gorillas in the Mist about her experiences in the rainforest with the mountain gorillas. Later, she returned to the Karisoke Research Center     8     (continue) her fieldwork. When her favorite gorilla     9     (kill) by poachers (偷猎者), Fossey started a campaign against poaching.

She raised worldwide awareness about the endangered mountain gorilla, and the animals are now protected by the government of Rwanda and some international     10     (organization) including the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.

9 . The Amazon Rainforest:

A Natural Treasure

Welcome to the Amazon rainforest. As the largest rainforest in the world, it plays a significant role in maintaining the fine balance of the Earth’s ecosystem.

The Amazon rainforest eight crosses eight countries and one region. With an area of around 6 million square kilometres, the Amazon rainforest is more than half the size of China. The Amazon River, from which the rain forest gets its name, is about 6,400 kilometres in length. On its journey from the mountains to the ocean the river supports many different ecosystems.     1    

The forest’s different levels support unbelievable variety of wildlife. At the bottom, there is a system of roots beneath the ground. Above that is the mass of leaf litter on the dark forest floor.     2     Then there are the towering ancient hardwoods, and finally the tops of the tallest trees many metres above the ground. Each level of the forest forms its own little world, and is home to different kinds of living things.

More than 2,000 species of birds and mammals hide among the jungle’s plant life. The jaguar (美洲豹) is one example. It has yellowish-brown coat with black spots. While a significant number of jaguars survive here, they are only one element of this forest’s food chain.     3     These frogs, in turn, feed on insects which eat leaves and fruit. When a jaguar dies, a tiny army of microorganisms helps break down its body and return the nutrients to the earth.

The Amazon rainforest breathes life into the planet by absorbing carbon dioxide and producing over 20 percent of all the Earth’s oxygen.     4     Moreover, the Amazon rainforest is a treasure house of species that can be used for food or medicine. Yet there is one major danger to these irreplaceable plants and animals: us.

    5     As the impact of human activities such as agriculture and cattle farming continues to grow and the list of species in danger of extinction becomes longer, we are left with a question: can we afford to damage the “lungs of the planet”?