In London's art gallery six or seven men, mostly in their 30s, are busy painting the walls with new designs in colorful lettering and clever tricks. Tins of spray paint and beer stand on the ground. The atmosphere is not unlike that of a golf course: a mix of concentration and relaxation.

    Graffiti(涂鸦) painting is traditionally a daring hobby. Teenagers avoid security guards to put their names on trains and buses. But over the past decade that has almost disappeared from Britain's cities. Between 2007 and 2017 the number of incidents of graffiti recorded by the British Transport Police fell by 63%. A survey by the environment ministry shows that fewer places are damaged by tags(绘名) than ever. Graffiti are increasingly limited to only a few walls. In time the practice may die out entirely.

    The most obvious reason for the decline in tagging and train-painting is better policing, says Keegan Webb, who runs The London Vandal, a graffiti blog (博客). Numerous cameras mean it is harder to get away with painting illegally. And punishments are more severe. A generational change is apparent, too. Now teenagers prefer to play with iPads and video games. Those who do get involved tend to prefer street art to graffiti. And the internet helps painters win far more attention by posting pictures online than they can by breaking into a railway yard.

    Taggers and graffiti artists mostly grew up in the 1980s and 1990s. Those men are now older and less willing to take risks. "We can't run away from the police any more," says Ben Eine, who turned from tagging to street art. The hip-hop culture that inspired graffiti in the first place has faded. Video games and comic books provide more inspiration than music.

    Graffiti may eventually disappear. But for now the hobby is almost respectable. Mr Eine says he has lots of friends who used to paint trains. Now with wives and children, they paint abandoned houses at the weekend. It has become something to do on a Sunday afternoon—a slightly healthier alternative to sitting watching the football.

    At 2:30 on December 5,1945, five US Navy training planes took off in clear weather from the base Lauderdale, Florida. The planes flew cast over the coast...and disappeared. The group was Flight 19, on a run between Florida and Bahamas. Tailor was the group leader. At about 3:40, Tailor reported that his compasses were not reading properly. The other planes followed their leaders aimlessly, first east, then west, then northeast over the ocean, as Tailor tried to make sure of the direction by radio. Then, suddenly Tailor was heard to give orders to dive...

    Quickly, two giant Martin seaplanes were sent up to search for Flight 19. Several hours later, the wind became strong and visibility (能见度) dropped. A return to base was ordered. But only one of the Martin seaplanes landed. Four days later, the Navy and Coast Guard combed a 100,000 square miles area with more than 100 planes and ships. No sign was ever shown of the missing planes.

Today, people have noted the disappearance of many ships and planes in the southwest part of the North Atlantic and began to call this area the Bermuda Triangle(百慕大三角区).

    The points of the triangle are Bermuda, Puerto Rico and a spot in the Gulf of Mexico, west of Florida. It is a two-faced water world of tiny islands, bright beaches and beautiful waters. Yet thick fogs, powerful currents(激流) and sudden storms are hidden behind this smiling surface.

    One night, the first floor of the house suddenly caught fire. The fire was big, and soon became a sea of fire. On the second floor lived a little girl and her grandmother; the little girl's parents had died, and she lived together with her grandma. In order to rescue the little girl, the grandmother was burned to death, leaving the little girl crying for help loudly.

    How could people enter the house? At the very moment, a man carrying a ladder rushed to the flames and got into the window. When he appeared again in the eyes of the people, the little girl was in his arms. He gave the child to the crowd, and then disappeared into the night.

    This little girl had no family. Two months later a meeting was held to find a person to adopt (收养) the girl. A teacher was willing to adopt this child, and said she could give her the best education; a farmer wanted to adopt this child, saying that village life would let the child grow up healthily and happily; a rich man said, “I can give the child everything that others can do.”

    A lot of people who wanted to adopt this child said about many benefits of their adopting the child. But the little girl's face had no expression. At this time, a man, through the crowd, walked straight in front of the little girl, and opened his arms for the little girl. People were puzzled, and they found that the man had terrible scars on his arms. The little girl let out a cry, “This is the man who saved me!” She suddenly jumped up, and buried her face in his arms and sobbed. Naturally the man adopted the girl.

    In the US and Britain, the slogan around colleges was "Save water. Shower with a friend." Now, Wuhan University has come up with another system for the campus bathhouse. It charges students for the amount of time in a shower. Before entering the bathhouse, students pay for the amount of time they want in the shower with cash or their student ID card. The clock starts ticking the minute the tape is turned on. It pauses when a button is pressed for soap. An integrated circuit (IC) card reader at each tap shows the time. No money, no water. The benefits of the new system can be seen with the old system, which charged 1 yuan for each person regardless of time in the shower. The university used about 320 tones of water daily under the old system, but only 160 tons now.

    Many students use the new system but opinions on it are divided. Some students say it is bad because bathing had become a sort of race. Many people using it for the first time are not sure how long they need to shower. Some might be embarrassed if their time is up and they're still covered in soap. They have to ask the bathhouse worker to help them buy extra time.

    "It's a flaw in the system that you can not buy extra time on the ID card," said Ren, a freshman in Wuhan University. The university is also considering some students' suggestions that they be allowed to pay after they've finished the shower. Not surprisingly, some are complaining about losing the hour shower. But many students say the move helps them develop a water-saving sense.

    Without the time limits, most students tended to shower for 30 to an hour in the bathhouse.

    Some even used the hot water to wash their clothes. "In my experience, 10-20 minutes is enough," said Dai Zhihua, a third-year student who usually takes 8 minutes.

    A similar system has been installed in other universities. Shanghai Normal University introduced it at its Fengxiang Campus in September. The bathing fee there is 0.2 yuan per minute. One male student responded by setting a record with a two-minute shower.

    GREAT VERMONT CORN MAZE

    Come early, spend the day. Selected one of the top mazes in America. 16 acres of fun, new maze designs and surprises every year, miles of pathways, bridges, emergency exits, Kid Village, views, Barnyard Golf, 100 of underground tunnels, petting animals. Open Aug. I through early Oct. 1404 Wheelock Rd., N. Danville. TEL: 802 -748-1399.

    LINCOLN PEAK VINEYARD

    Named Vermont's star wine producer in American Wine, 2013.Comc taste our wines, enjoy a glass, and walk in the vineyard. We make something for everyone -dry to sweet- entirely with grapes we grow. 142 River Rd., New Haven; 3 miles north of Middlebury.802-388-7368.

    BENNINGTON MUSEUM

    Celebrating the creativity of Vermont across time with diverse art, rich history and innovation. The museum houses the largest public collection of paintings by folk artist Grandma Moses, 18th century paintings and furniture, a 1924Martin Wasp, motorcar, works by Bennington Modernists including Jules Olitski, Paul Feeley and others.75 Main St, Bennington. TEL: 802-447-1571.

    BENNINGTON POTTERS

    A Vermont tradition for 66 years! Take a free tour of the factory just behind our home style store at 324 County St., downtown Bennington. Shop from our full line of original design dinner ware, bake ware, mugs and more; furnishings for the home; everything for the table. Store and factory open. Mon.-Sat.9:30-6pm, Sun. 10-5 pm. TEL: 800-205- 8033.

    HIDDEN SPRINGS MAPLE

    Take a free, guided tour of our maple canning room, taste our different grades of maple sytud (枫糖)and shop for a variety of local products including maple syrup from a number of local farms, gift baskets, arts and crafts. 23 Westminster Rd. TEL: 802-387-5200.

Earthworms don't move fast. But humans can accelerate the worms' spread. Fishermen often use invasive(蔓延性的) earthworms to catch fish. Many have introduced invasive earthworms to rivers, streams and lakes previously unexposed to these animals. Gardeners who use earthworms to make their soil rich may unknowingly introduce invasive ones. The worms even give rides in the mud on wheels, potted plants and road materials shipped around the nation.

But they're not everywhere yet. In the Great Lakes region, "20 percent of the land is earthworm-free," says Cindy Hale, a research biologist. Of the remaining 80 percent of land, half of the land has fewer than two earthworm species-meaning there isn't yet too much impact on the ecosystem, she explains. For these regions, she says, now is the time to take action. According to Hale, educating the public, especially fishermen, is one approach to stopping the spread of invasive earthworms. Identifying which lands are currently earthworm-free is another.

Ryan Huefimeier, a program coordinator for Great Lakes Wom Watch, has been working on a model that will help create large maps of areas with minimal(最小的) or no damage from earthworms. Ultimately, landowners can use it to identify earthworm activity on their property. once identified, lands with minimal or no earthworm damage should be protected.

But scientists suspect that once invasive earthworms arrive they can't be removed. And even if all could be, affected forests might never return to the way they were. "It's very much a story of learning to live with them," concludes Lee Frelich of the University of Minnesota's Center for Forest Ecology.

Forest ecologists have called earthworms "ecosystem engineers" because they can change or create habitats that otherwise would not be present. Whether this is a good thing depends on the situation.

"What the earthworms do and how we value it is what really matters." said Hale. "In one place-farm fields or gardens-we really like European earthworms and what they do, so we consider them good. In native hardwood forests, we really don't like what they do-so we consider them bad. You really have to understand how an organism(微生物) affects an ecosystem. Things aren't black and white."