2 . Back in 1958, I was crazy about the Norfolk and Western 746. The smooth bullet-nose engine with its orange and yellow lines and shiny streamline d black tender (车厢) seemed to have cast a spell on me.

Together the engine and tender measured a little shy of 2 feet — enormous by the toy train standards of the day. Even better, the 746 had a working headlight and smoker, and its tender sang high.

Unfortunately, the amazing 746 also had an amazing price — $50, equal to about $450 today. That was far more than my grandfather could afford. Instead, I had to be content with his little Lionel plastic, which was SIX INCHES shorter than the 746 and had no headlight, no smoker or no sound! But that was the best that my grandfather could give me at that time.

Years passed, and I was in my 30s. Superior sound systems and computer controls dominated toy trains. I never gave a look. My interest in toy trains, I firmly believed, had faded, so did my admiration for the 746, since my grandfather was not with me. The 746 was never called to mind. On an ordinary day, however, I happened to see the 746 outside the window of a train show. Just one-look, I could not look away. Childhood memories that I tried to hide in the depths of my heart raced through my mind, happy or sad.

That day I took the 746 home and placed it in the center of the room, and let my childhood dream sing its way around me. Smoke rose out from the engine and the soft song sounded from its tender. It seemed as if I could see the soft light in grandfather’s eyes and hear his cheerful laughter.

4 . There’s a useful concept from psychology that helps explain why good people do things that harm the environment: the false consensus (共识) effect. That’s where we overvalue how acceptable and widespread our own behavior is in society. Put simply, if you’re doing something (even if you secretly know you probably shouldn’t), you’re more likely to think plenty of other people do it too. What’s more, you likely overestimate how much other people think that behavior is broadly OK.

This bias (偏见) allows people to justify socially unacceptable or illegal behaviors. Researchers have observed the false consensus effect in drug use and illegal hunting. More recently, conservationists are beginning to reveal how this effect contributes to environmental damage.

In Australia, people who admitted poaching (偷猎) thought it was much more widespread in society than it really was, and had higher estimates than fishers who obeyed the law. They also believed others viewed poaching as socially tolerable; however, in reality, more than 90% of fishers took the opposite stand on this. The false consensus effect has also shown up in studies examining support for nuclear energy and offshore wind farms.

Just as concepts from psychology can help explain some forms of environmental damage, so too can they help solve it. For example, research shows people are more likely to litter in areas where there’s already a lot of trash thrown around; so making sure the ground around a bin is not covered in rubbish may help.

Factual information on how other people think and behave can be very powerful. Energy companies have substantially reduced energy consumption simply by showing people their difference in electricity use compared to their neighbors. Encouragingly, stimulating people’s natural desire for social position has also been successful in getting people to “go green to be seen”, or to publicly purchase eco-friendly products.

As the research evidence shows, social standards can be a powerful force in encouraging and popularizing environmentally friendly behaviors. Perhaps you can do your bit by sharing this article!

To truly understand our planet, we must explore the oceans..., but sea exploration is important for our future. For example, scientific research ships can help     1         2         3     such as climate change.

Of course, there are still environmental risks. However, these should be balanced with economic needs. Hopefully, as technology improves, we may have more     4         5         6     this balance.

To reach out across the sea remains a strong desire today. The ancient sea routes travelled by Zheng He     1         2         3     with the 2lst Century Maritime Silk Road, which is part of the Belt and Road Initiative. The aim of this initiative is to     4         5         6         7     across the historic Silk Road areas, and strengthen the bond between China and the rest of the world.

Hundreds of years on, and with the     8         9         10         11    , the need to trade and the desire to enhance relationships will drive China to reach out across the sea far into the future.