Earlier this month, two rock climbers achieved what many thought impossible: They climbed up the 3,000-foot-high Dawn Wall in Yosemite NationalPark without specialized equipment. Climbing without this equipment iscalled“free-climbing.”Until now, no one had free-climbed to the top of the rockface, which is a part of the mountain EI Capitan.

    El Capitan, which means“the captain”or“the chief”in Spanish, has always presented a challenge to climbers. But the Dawn Wall, on the mountain's southeast face, is a particularly difficult route to the summit (顶峰). It is a rock formation that is both steep and relatively smooth. This makes free-climbing the rock face seem almost impossible.

    About seven years ago, professional climber Tommy Caldwell spotted a possible route up the wall. It took years of planning and preparation, but this month, Caldwell, 36, and his friend Kevin Jorgeson, 30, finally make the climb.

    Free climbers do use ropes and other basic safety equipment to catch them if they fall — and Caldwell and Jorgeson fell often. Before starting their climb, they broke down their route into 32 sections. Each section was based on a rope length called a“pitch.”The rope was secured into the rock faceto catch the climbers if they fell.

    Caldwell and Jorgeson's goal was to climb the DawnWall without returning to the ground. If they fell, they had to start that pitch all over again. The two men started climbing on December 27. They slept in hanging tents, and a team of friends brought them food each day.

    The men had spent years rehearsing (排练) them ovements it would take to get through each pitch. They made it through the fist half of the climb relatively easily. But halfway up, Jorgeson ran into trouble. In one difficult spot, he fell each time he attempted to climb. After10 days of trying, Jorgeson finally made it to the next pitch.

    Getting through that troublesome pitch gave both climbers renewed energy. They finished the rest of the climb five days later, on January 14.

    The Lifecycle of a T-shirt

    We all probably have a lot of T-shirts, but do you ever stop and think about the influence of a T-shirt on the planet? You'd probably be surprised to learn what's involved in the lifecycle of just one T-shirt.

    There are 5 major stages: material, production, shipping, use and disposal. The material stage involves farming, irrigating, fertilizing, harvesting and ginning. While cotton is a natural fiber and not as harmful to the environment as manmade fibers, it still takes a toll in the material and production stages. Commercial cotton farming uses a large amount of water, and the use of pesticides (杀虫剂) is widespread across the globe, especially in cotton farming. Studies have shown that farmers spend around $4.1 billion on pesticides annually, of which 25% was spent on cotton crops in the US.

    Once the cotton is grown and harvested, so begins the production stage: spinning, knitting, bleaching, dyeing, cutting, sewing, etc.——these processes also use a great deal of water and energy. Commercial dyes and bleaches are harmful pollutants and can eventually pollute groundwater.

    After the T-shirt is produced, it enters the transportation stage. This often involves overseas shipping. Take a look in your closet. Chances are that most of your cotton garments (衣服) are made in China or India. Garments can be shipped via plane, ship or truck…, all of which spill CO₂ into the atmosphere. Calculations show that CO₂ emissions from light trucks alone amount to 1.15 pounds per mile.

    Once the T-shirt reaches the retail market, it is purchased. This stage may seem like the least environmentally damaging part. But consider the number of times you've washed and dried your favorite T-shirt. Washing machines are certainly becoming more efficient. However, the average American household does 400 loads of laundry per year, using about 40 gallons of water per load. Such excessive water use is combined with the large amount of energy used by dryers.

    The final stage of life is disposal. This releases harmful emissions, or involves a landfill where cotton takes years to break down. Current US records show that an estimated 15% of clothes and shoes are recycled, which means that consumers send a shocking 85% of these materials to landfills.

    We all need new clothes every once in a while, but let's all try to keep in mind what goes into the production of clothing... It has a real impact on the planet.

    There are a lot of things you can do to help reduce your impact. Reuse and recycle clothes. If they're too worn out to wear, cut them up and use them as cleaning rags. Donate them to charity or another organization that recycles textiles. When possible, make an effort to buy organic cotton. Turn down the thermostat on your washer, and line dry your clothes when the weather will allow it.

    People in the United States honor their parents with two special days： Mother's Day, on the second Sunday in May, and Father's Day, on the third Sunday in June. These days are set aside to show love and respect for parents. They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens. They give love and care. These two days make us think about the changing roles of mothers and fathers. More mothers now work outside the home. More fathers must help with child care.

    These two special days are celebrated in many different ways. On Mother's Day people wear carnations(康乃馨). A red one symbolizes a living mother. A white one shows that the mother is dead. Many people attend religious services to honor parents. It is also a day when people whose parents are dead visit the cemetery(墓地).On these days, families get together at home, as well as in restaurants. They often have outdoor barbecues for Father's Day. These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.

    Another tradition is to give cards and gifts. Children make them in school. Many people make their own presents. These are valued more than the ones bought in stores. It is not the value of the gift that is important, but it is “the thought that counts”. Greeting card stores, florists, candy makers, bakeries(烘焙店), telephone companies, and other stores do a lot of business during these holidays.

    October 15^th is the Global Handwashing Day. Activities are planned in more than 20 countries to get millions of people in the developing world to wash their hands with soap. For example, donators (捐赠者) will give 150,000 bars of soap to schools in Ethiopia.

    Experts say people around the world wash their hands every day, but very few use soap at so-called important moments. These include after washing the toilet, after cleaning a baby and before touching food.

    Global Handwashing Day is the idea of the Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing with Soap. Partners include the United Nations Children's Fund, American government agencies, the World Bank and soap makers Unlever and Procter and Gamble. The organizers say all soaps are equally effective at removing disease-causing germs(细菌). They say the correct way to wash is to wet your hands with a small amount of water and cover them with soap. Rub(揉搓) it into all areas, including under the fingernails. Rub for at least twenty seconds. Then rinse well under running water. At last, dry your hands with a clean cloth or wave them in the air.

    The Partnership for Handwashing says soap is important because it increases the time that people spend in washing hands. Soap also helps to break up the dirt that holds most of the germs. And it usually leaves a pleasant smell. The Partnership for Handwashing also says washing with soap before eating or after using the toilet could save more lives than any vaccine(疫苗) or medicine. Hand washing could also prevent the spread of other diseases. When people get germs on their hands, they can infect(感染) themselves by touching their eyes, noses or mouths. Then they can infect others.

    Recently, as the British doctor Robert Winston took a train from London to Manchester, he found himself having to listen to a loud conversation of a fellow passenger woman. Boiling with anger, Winston took her picture and sent it to his more than 40,000 followers on the Tweet. By the time the train reached the station in Manchester, some journalists were waiting for the woman. And when they showed her the doctor's messages, she used just one word to describe Winston's actions: rude.

    Winston's tale is a good example of increasing rudeness, fueled by social media in our age. Studies show that rudeness spreads quickly and virally, almost like the common cold. Just witnessing rudeness makes it far more likely that we, in turn, will be rude later on. Once infected, we are more aggressive, less creative and worse at our jobs. The only way out is to make a conscious decision to do so. We must have the courage to call it out, face to face. We must say, "Just stop." For Winston, that would have meant approaching the woman, telling her that her conversation was frustrating other passengers and politely asking her to speak more quietly or make the call at another time.

    The anger we feel at the rude behavior of a stranger can drive us to do out-of-place things. Research discovered that the acts of revenge (报复) people had taken ranged from the ridiculous to the disturbing. Winston did shine a spotlight on the woman's behavior—but in a way that shamed her.

    When we see rudeness occur in public places, we must step up and say something. And we can do it with grace, by handling it without a bit of aggression and without being rude ourselves. Because once rude people can see their actions through the eyes of others, they are far more likely to end the rudeness themselves. As this wave of rudeness rises, civilization needs civility (举止文明).

Fishy Weather Conditions

    Laj amanu，Australia，is a dry little town，sitting right on the edge of the Tanami desert. Can you imagines How surprised were people when live fish rained down on them from a dark gray cloudy. It happens that there are similar cases in England and Honduras.

    How do clouds make fishy. The simple answer is that they don't. There is a particular weather phenomenon(现象)called a waterspout. A waterspout is just like a tornado，only it forms above oceans，lakes，or rivers. Like a tornado，a waterspout moves in a circle at high speeds. When it moves above the water，it tends to carry the fish with it，as well as frogs or other small plants or animals.

    Scientists couldn't work it out at first. To make matters stranger still，the fish in Honduras were very much alive when they rained down to the ground，but they were all blind. In England and Australia，it rained fish and snakes，and none were blind. It was difficult to puzzle out，but the blind fish gave them a place to start.

    Scientists knew that some fish that lived in deep，underground caves with no light sources often lost their eyesight. So when blind fish rained down on Honduras，scientists began to connect some dots. Clearly，these particular fish were pulled from an underground water source by force.

    It has rained fish on every continent，and each time，people have tried in various ways to explain this strange phenomenon. Historically，villagers thought the “fishes from the heavens” might be answers to prayers for food. Others suggested that floods overran river banks and oceans，leaving the fish on the city streets. No scientist had actually seen the rain as it occurred，only the fish left on the ground. But in 1990，a National Geographic team happened to be in Honduras when the Rain of Fishes began. They recorded what was happening and made history by finally proving that the fish really did fall from the sky.

    This huge breakthrough wasn't just a spot of good luck. It changed thousands of years of myths and legends into true stories and provided scientific explanations for how fish came to live in deep caves. It explained ancient cave paintings and shed new light on how species have spread over time. It turned out to be a lot more than just a little fishy weather.