Most of us spend our lives seeking the natural world. We go fishing, sit in the garden, have a picnic, live in the suburbs or go to the seaside. The most popular leisure activity in Britain is going for a walk. When joggers jog, they don't run the streets. Every one of them tend to go to the park or the river.

    But despite this, our children are growing up nature­deprived(剥夺). I spent my boyhood climbing trees. These days, children are robbed of these ancient freedoms, due to problems like crime, traffic, the loss of the open spaces and strange new ideas about what is best for children, that is to say, things that can be bought, rather than things that can be found.

    The truth is to be found elsewhere. A study in the US: families had moved to better housing and the children were assessed for ADHD—attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(多动症). Those whose accommodation had more natural views showed an improvement of 19%; those who had the same improvement in material surroundings but no nice view improved just 4%.

    ADHD is one of the great problems of modern childhood. One study after another indicates that contact with nature gives huge benefits to ADHD children. However, we spend money on drugs rather than on green places.

    The life of old people is measurably better when they have access to nature. The increasing concern for the growing population of old people is in quality rather than quantity of years. And study after study finds that a garden is the single most important thing in finding that quality. Even problems with crime and aggressive behaviour are reduced when there is contact with the natural world.

    We need the wild world. It is essential to our well­being, our health and our happiness.

    Tu Youyou, an 84-year-old female（女性）scientist, became the first Chinese to win a Nobel Prize in science on Oct 5. Before that, she ever won the 2011 Lasker Award for finding out artemisinin (Qinghaosu), which saved millions of lives. She was grateful（感激的）for the Lasker prize, but said, “It is just a scientist' duty. I will go on fighting for the health of all humans.”

    Tu kept her work in the 1960s and 1970s. In that age, Malaria (疟疾) could took away people's health. Scientists all over the world had already tried over 240, 000 times but failed. Tu Youyou, a member of the Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing, began to study Chinese herbs.

    Before 2011, people didn't know Tu very much. Many friends played jokes with her “the Professor of Three None's” : no degree（学位）, no study experience abroad, not a member of any Chinese national colleges. But she is hard-working. She read a lot of traditional Chinese medicine books and did a lot of researches on the disease.

    In February, 2012, Tu was named National Outstanding Females (One of the Ten) Tu is now a model of Chinese medical workers.

    Denali National Park, Alaska

    History

    Within Denali National Park, the Toklat River will always have a special significance, as it was the location where naturalist Charles Sheldon built a cabin and was so moved that he fought to preserve the land. He moved back east and spent nine years lobbying (游说）to create Alaska's first national park.

    When to Visit

    To avoid the crowds, visit in June, but keep in mind that there are up to 21 hours of sunlight in Alaska in summer. If it seems like a bit much for your taste, try visiting in late August or September.

    If you visit to climb Mount McKinley, May and early June are the best times to climb.

    Major Attractions

    It is difficult not to see Denali's largest attraction towering 20,320 feet high. Mount McKinley can even be seen up to 70 miles away on a clear day. If you brave the climb to the top, you will be rewarded with charming views of the Alaska Range.

    Sable Pass is a prime spot to view grizzly bears. Closed to off-road foot traffic, the area is popular for bears feeding on berries, roots, and even occasionally on other mammals.

    Beginning at just below the summit of Mount McKinley, Muldrow Glacier flows 35 miles through a gorge and across the tundra. Twice in the last hundred years, the Muldrow has surged (涌动）, most recently in the winter of 1956-1957.

Accommodation

    Five campgrounds are located within the park, and many are open from late spring to early fall.Note: reservations are strongly recommended during summer. Riley Creek campground is open all year round, and all but two (Sanctuary and Wonder Lake) offer RV (可供居住的大篷车）sites.

    Also within the park are a few lodges (旅馆）—North Face Lodge, Denali Backcountry Lodge and Kentishna Roadhouse.

    When asked how technology might improve the lives of people with vision impairments (视力障碍), Joann Becker presented a misleadingly simple challenge. “Well,” the vision impairments tech specialist recalls saying. “I'd like to be able to find my bus slop through Be My Eyes”.

    Be My Eyes, which went live in 2015, establishes a direct video connection between visually impaired users and sighted volunteers. The assumption is simple: Many people who are blind don't need any actual assistance in completing their daily tasks, but merely need a little help.

    A sighted volunteer might be asked to help identify which of two cans contains tomatoes. In this case, the visually impaired user can cook a meal just fine on his/her own-all he/she needs is a quick confirmation that he/she has the correct can. The model appears to be working; more than 540,000 volunteers and nearly 40,000 people with low vision are registered on the app.

    “An elderly woman can now help a visually impaired technician set up his computer,” says founder Hans Wiberg, who has very low vision. “She doesn't need to know a thing about computers. She only needs to read what is presented on the screen. Then he can do the rest.”

    Early assistive technology centered on dedicated devices (专用设备), because of the niche market (缝隙市场), which sold for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. But the smartphone, multipurpose and near-universal, has completely changed the economy of scale.

    “There are larger market forces driving high-powered computation, high-quality engineering and high-quality battery management in the smartphone market than those in a specialty product,” says Aaron Steinfeld, a research professor at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

    “The reality is, most sighted people don't know somebody who is blind.” Becker says. “They think the solutions that a blind person needs arc far more expansive, it turns out, they need to be. I think these apps are enabling sighted people to see that blind people just need some simple clues to help them do any number of things in their lives.”

    Once I was troubled by tourists to do a favor for them—take their photos. Sometimes they complained that the photos I took were not good.

    Now fellow travelers trouble me in a different way—with their selfie sticks (自拍杆). I fear my head will be knocked or my eyes poked (戳) by the poles with mobile phone cameras put on them.

    Admittedly, it is a good invention. With a cool $3, you can take solo or group photos without asking for a favor from strangers. But if you want to take your selfie sticks out to travel to the West, think twice. Selfie-sticks bans have been spreading in some of the world's important museums, galleries, parks and soccer stadiums including Disney. Visitors have to leave their selfie sticks in a locker before entering to protect paintings, individual privacy and the overall visitor experience.

    In China, selfie sticks are still widely used. People would do anything to take a perfect selfie and don't pay attention to their surroundings and other travelers. Many examples have shown things could go horribly wrong when people were taking selfies. For example, earlier this year, a starfish died at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum after a visitor took it out to take a selfie, and last year a criminal was caught by the Chinese police after the criminal posted a selfie of himself on Wudang Mountain and shared it on social media, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

    Thus, I strongly advise travelers not to take a selfie in a crowded public place, indoors or at any sensitive places such as cemeteries and memorial places, especially when the police are looking for you. If you are a die-hard selfie fan, there are some options cooler than a selfie stick. One is a waterproof (防水的) wrist-band called a “pop stick”. Just like the slap bracelets (手镯) we used to wear when we were kids, it unrolls into a stiff selfie stick. Another one is “selfie ring”, an accessory that helps you stick your phone to your hand so you can snap better selfies.

    Your house may have an effect on your figure. Experts say the way you design your home could play a role in whether you pack on the pounds or keep them off. You can make your environment work for you instead of against you. Here are some ways to turn your home into part of your diet plan.

    Open the curtains and turn up the lights. Dark environments are more likely to encourage overeating, for people are often less self­conscious (难为情) when they're in poorly lit places—and so more likely to eat lots of food. If your home doesn't have enough window light, get more lamps and flood the place with brightness.

    Mind the colors. Research suggests warm colors fuel our appetites. In one study, people who ate meals in a blue room consumed 33 percent less than those in a yellow or red room. Warm colors like yellow make food appear more appetizing, while cold colors make us feel less hungry. So when it's time to repaint, go blue.

    Don't forget the clock—or the radio. People who eat slowly tend to consume about 70 fewer calories (卡路里) per meal than those who rush through their meals. Begin keeping track of the time, and try to make dinner last at least 30 minutes. And while you're at it, actually sit down to eat. If you need some help slowing down, turn on relaxing music. It makes you less likely to rush through a meal.

    Downsize the dishes. Big serving bowls and plates can easily make us fat. We eat about 22 percent more when using a 12­inch plate instead of a 10­inch plate. When we choose a large spoon over a smaller one, total intake (摄入) jumps by 14 percent. And we'll pour about 30 percent more liquid into a short, wide glass than a tall, skinny glass.