2 . On June 6, World War II veterans (老兵) and other visitors gathered in Normandy for the 78th D-Day anniversary (周年纪念日) in memory of soldiers who gave up their lives to bring peace and freedom to French people. Several thousand people joined a ceremony at the American Cemetery overlooking Omaha Beach in the French town of Colleville-sur-Mer.

US Air Force planes flew over the American Cemetery during the ceremony, in the presence of Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It is the final resting place of 9,386 soldiers who died fighting on D-Day and in the operations that followed.

Ray Wallace, then 97, a former paratrooper, was among the World War II veterans attending the ceremony in the French town of Colleville-sur-Mer. According to him, on D-Day, his plane was hit and caught fire forcing him to jump earlier than expected. He landed 20 miles away from the town of Sainte-Mère-Église, the first French village to be liberated from Nazi occupation. Less than a month later, he was caught by the Germans. He was finally liberated after 10 months and returned to the U. S. Still, Wallace thought he was “lucky”. “I remember the good friends that I lost there. So, it’s a little emotional,” he said, with tears in his eyes. “I guess you can say I’m proud of what I did but I didn’t do that much.”

On D-Day, a large number of soldiers landed on the beaches, carried by 7,000 boats. On that single day, 4,414 soldiers lost their lives, 2,501 of whom were Americans. More than 5,000 were wounded. On the German side, several thousand were killed or wounded.

Wallace, who was using a wheelchair, was among about 20 World War II veterans who opened the parade (游行) of military vehicles on the eve of the D-Day anniversary in Sainte-Mère-Église with cheers from thousands of people, in a joyful atmosphere. He did not hide his pleasure, happily waving to the crowd as parents explained the stories of World War II heroes to their children. Many history lovers, wearing military clothes from the period, also came to the stage and celebrated the event.

3 . About 12,000 years ago — long before the famous Roswell UFO crash made headlines in America — an alien (外星人的) spaceship crashed in China. And their descendants are still living in a faraway Chinese village today! That is the mind-bending claim made in the new book Out of Time and Place, a collection of reports from the files of Fate, a magazine edited by Terry O’Neill.

The story first came to light in 1937 when an expedition led by Chi Pu-Tei came across a group of caves deep in the Bayan-Kara-Ula Mountains. In the caves were found strange-looking skeletons with big heads and small, slender bodies —closely matching typical descriptions of space aliens. The explorers also uncovered 716 mysterious stone discs with strange hieroglyphics (象形文字) on them.

In Qinghai province, where the mountains lie, ancient stories tell of small, skinny beings with oversize heads who came from the sky long long ago. And to this day, locals live in fear of attack from strange-looking creatures from above.

And there’s more. In 1947, British scientist Karyl Robin-Evans led an expedition into the mountains and discovered a group of dwarfs (侏儒) who called themselves the Droza. “They told him that their ancestors came from a planet in the Sirius (天狼星) system and crashed in this mountain area a long time ago,” writes Hausdorf, “Many of them were killed, but survivors adapted themselves to living on this rough planet far from home.”

For decades, Robin-Evans’ claims were dismissed as nonsense. But in 1995, the Associated Press reported that in the region a village named Huilong had been recently discovered — populated by 120 dwarfs ranging from 3-foot-10 to 2-foot-1 tall. Hausdorf asks, “Could these people be the last living descendants of the survivors of the legendary UFO crash — the Chinese Roswell?”

4 . When gold was discovered in Coloma, California in 1848, news travelled fast and many went there to find their fortune. Before 1849, California was a place focusing mainly on agriculture. As word of the gold discovery spread, many people left their fields to seek their fortune. With more and more travellers arriving, restaurants and hotels were built to feed and accommodate (提供住宿) them.

On the mining sites, men were often forced to cook for themselves since few gold diggers were women. In the early days, both food and riches were plentiful and miners could uncover $2,000 worth of gold in just one day. When it came to food, there were plenty of wild animals to be hunted, and meat, beans and coffee could be purchased at a reasonable price. Times appeared to be good.

Over time, because the majority of food in California had to be imported, it became very expensive. Simple foods like eggs and bread were sold for one dollar a piece in 1849. Besides, fruit and vegetables were scarce (缺乏的).   Therefore, many gold diggers couldn't get enough food, and some even had no food at all at last. But the gold diggers also hated to tear themselves away from their search for gold and turned to quick and simple meals that could be cooked over hot ashes.

During the Gold Rush, San Francisco's famous sourdough (酸面团) bread became a main type of food. Miners would often buy a piece in the morning that would be eaten slowly throughout the day. The Boudin family, who came from France, was partly responsible for putting San Francisco sourdough on the map. The Boudin bakery has used the same sourdough, a piece of so­called mother dough since 1849. And when the 1906 earthquake hit, Louise Boudin managed to save some sourdough, ensuring that each piece of bread that came from the bakery would be linked throughout history. So far the Boudin bakery has remained in California, using the sourdough that is the same as the one in 1849.

5 . Deep within the Yukon, one of the most densely wooded areas of Canada, sits a patch of land that is unlike any other forest on the planet. Instead of a canopy of treetops spreading across the horizon, tens of thousands of signposts perch haphazardly one on top of the other. They are all part of the Signpost Forest, the largest collection of signs from places around the world. At last count, the Signpost Forest in Watson Lake, located about 10 miles north of the U.S.-Canadian border, contains 91,000 signs from spots near and far.

The tradition began during the Alaska Highway Project in 1942, when U.S. soldier Carl K. Lindley spent time in Watson Lake recovering from an injury. A commanding officer asked him to repair and erect the directional signposts, and while completing the job, the homesick soldier added a sign that indicated the direction and mileage to his hometown: “Danville, Illinois, 2,835 miles.” Others followed suit, and the trend caught on. Each year, an average of 1,000 new signs are being added to the collection. Lindley’s original sign has since been lost to time. Fifty years later, in 1992, Lindley and his wife Elinor made the pilgrimage back to Watson Lake to place a replica, which is still there.

The Signpost Forest takes up a couple of acres, with huge panels snaking through the trees. There are street signs, welcome signs, signatures on dinner plates, and license plates from around the world. There are also a lot of familial signs; for example, a grandfather will put up a sign and then years later family will come back and try to find it. A lot of these are personal signs to literally say that they are here. Though the visitor center has wood and paints on hand to help create a sign, many people opt to bring their own signs, though illegally, by snatching a metal sign from their hometown and nailing it to one of the wood posts. The forest has grown so vast that the visitor center no longer tries to keep a detailed list of the signs.

6 . February 13, 2022, marked the 25th anniversary (纪念日) of the Great LEGO Spill — the worst toy-related environmental disaster of all time. On this important day in 1997, the Tokio Express was hit by a huge, 28-foot high wave off the United Kingdom’s southwestern coast, tilting the ship by 60 degrees and causing it to drop 62 containers into the sea. One was filled with about 5 million colorful LEGO bricks!

Shortly after the incident, LECO pieces began washing ashore the beautiful beaches of Cornwall and Devon in southwest England. Many locals rushed to hunt for the toys. Cornwall resident Tracey Williams was among the thousands of locals that searched the beaches regularly to find the little sea-themed pieces.

In 2010 Williams moved to Cornwall and came across some LEGO pieces on her first trip to the beach. Wondering where else they had been found, she created a Facebook group. Called “Lego Lost at Sea”, it allowed her and hundreds of other collectors to share their discoveries. As it turned out, the LEGO bricks were not just washing ashore English beaches. They had also been found in Wales, Ireland, the Channel Islands, France, Belgium, and Holland, showing just how far ocean currents had carried them.

“What we’re finding now are the pieces that sank as well as the pieces that floated,” Williams says. “It’s providing us with an insight into what happens to plastic in the ocean, how far it drifts (漂移) — both on the surface of the ocean and also along the seabed—and what happens to it as it breaks down.”

No one knows when the LEGO bricks will stop appearing on the beaches. But one thing is for sure, that is, the plastic pieces will be around for centuries. A 2020 study analyzing the structure of the washed-up LEGO bricks concluded that the five million pieces could take as long as 1,300 years to degrade (降解) completely. And like all plastic products, the iconic toys will never entirely disappear. Instead, they will break down into tiny “microplastics” and be eaten by ocean animals. They will make their way up the food chain to humans.

8 . Discoveries in Greenland indicate that Vikings ( 维 京 人) lived there for hundreds of years, trading with the European continent before they disappeared.     1     In 980 C.E., Erik the Red headed farther west when he was driven away from Iceland for some reason. He set sail for land that was visible west of Iceland. Three years later, he returned to Iceland and convinced hundreds of others to join him in settling in this new country. Some 25 boats set out for what Erik the Red had called Greenland.     2    

Settling in Greenland posed an enormous challenge. Shelter, food, and clothing were, of course, essential to survival. There were no trees large enough to produce wood for housing. These settlers had to build homes of driftwood, stone, and sod (草皮). The summer was too short to grow grain crops, so they farmed domesticated animals imported from Europe and mainly relied on secondary products, such as milk and cheese.     3     The settlers usually wore clothes made of the fur of wild animals.

At some point during the fourteenth century, Greenland’s climate grew colder. Glaciers (冰川) began moving slowly over the land, bringing with them a runoff of sand, mud, and stones. These things slowly robbed the settlers of valuable grassland.     4     Recent evidence shows that their diet shifted from land-based food to sea products. Like their relatives in Norway, the Vikings in Greenland tried to take advantage of the sea. Soon, the percentage of their food taken from the sea had risen to 80 percent.

    5     According to Danish archaeologist (考古学家) Jette Arneborg, they struggled to adapt to the increasingly difficult conditions. As the weather worsened, they may have abandoned their settlements and returned to Iceland.

9 . In 1803, the United States acquired a huge new piece of land called the Louisiana Territory. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were given the job of leading an expedition to collect data about this uncharted territory. President Thomas Jefferson gave Lewis and Clark three tasks for the journey: Find an all-water route to the Pacific Ocean, make friends with the Native Americans along the way, and gather detailed information about the plants, animals, landforms (地形), and climate of the area.

In order to discover if there was an all-water route to the Pacific Ocean, Lewis and Clark attempted to travel up the Mississippi River by boat. In this way, they hoped that they would eventually reach the Pacific. Ultimately, the explorers discovered the Rocky Mountains and the Continental Divide, but not the Pacific Ocean. The hope for an all-water route from the East to the Pacific would have to be abandoned.

Lewis and Clark’s second task was to make friends with Native Americans in the area. They packed hundreds of pounds of gifts for the indigenous people, including beads, sewing needles, cloth, yarn, and knives. Their intention was to use these items as offerings of peace and good faith. However, many tribes were hostile. They felt threatened by the Americans’ presence and refused to communicate with them. Other tribes were more welcoming and aided the explorers in finding food and navigating the new region.

The explorers’ final task was extensive and ongoing. Lewis and Clark had to take detailed notes about the landforms and climate of the different areas through which they travelled. President Jefferson also wanted samples of notable plant and animal life. They prepared animal fur and plant samples to send back to the president throughout the trip. They also kept individual journals with detailed descriptions and drawings of the environment and terrain (地势).

Up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, across the Great Plains, over the Rockies, down the Columbia River, and to the Pacific Ocean, Lewis and Clark travelled. After 3 years, Jefferson received a letter from Lewis stating, “It is with great pleasure that I announced to you the safe arrival of myself and my partner. In obedience to your orders, we have penetrated (穿过)the continent of North America to the Pacific Ocean.”

10 . In the fall of 1915, polar explorer Ernest Shackleton’s ship Endurance (耐力号) sank off the coast of Antarctica. While all of the expedition’s 28 crew eventually were rescued, the ship’s final resting place has remained a much-discussed maritime mystery. That is, until today. A team of researchers has announced they’ve located the wreck at the bottom of the Weddell Sea, almost the northernmost part of Antarctica.

Endurance was backed by the British government and private donors and supported by Winston Churchill to deliver a group of explorers to the coast of Antarctica and then travel overland across the continent via the South Pole.

It set out from South Georgia on December 5, 1914, shortly after the outbreak of the First World War. But the enemy that Shackleton and his men faced was of a different sort. The Weddell Sea, covering an area of more than a million square miles, is one of the most remote and unforgiving environments in the world, littered with icebergs and roiled by strong surface winds. Shackleton called it “the worst sea in the world.”

The expedition made good progress at first, but as the Antarctic winter of 1915 closed in, the men found themselves trapped in the sea ice on Tuesday, October 26. The next day, the men removed tools, instruments, and provisions and set up camp on the ice floe. Endurance finally sank on November 27. Shackleton famously said, “What the ice gets, the ice keeps.” . But Endurance’s story did not end with the ship’s sinking.

In 2019, the Falklands Heritage Maritime Trust began its first expedition to find the ship but had been unable to locate the wreck. This winter, they tried again, organizing and funding Endurance22.

One of the toughest problems, besides the sea ice, was establishing the ship’s location. After Endurance was initially trapped in the ice, it continued to drift as the floes moved with the current. Due to poor visibility on the day the men abandoned the ship, however, the captain had been unable to take proper measurements that would help calculate the direction and speed of the floes.

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