The highest beef prices in almost three decades have arrived just before the start of the hot season, causing a great shock to both consumers and restaurant owners—and relief isn't likely anytime soon. A decreasing number of cattle and growing export demand from countries such as China and Japan have caused the average price of fresh beef to climb to $5.28 a pound in February, up almost a quarter from January and the highest price since 1987.

    Everything that's produced is being consumed, said Kevin Good, an analyst at CattleFax, a Colorado-based information group. Prices will likely stay high for a couple of years as cattle producers start to rebuild their cattle among big questions about whether the Southwest and parts of the Midwest will see enough rain to water the grass.

    "I quit buying steaks a while ago when the price went up," said 59-year-old Len Markham, who works at Texas Tech. She says she limits red meat purchases to hamburger, choosing chicken, pork and fish instead.

    Restaurant owners, too, must deal with the high prices. Mark Hutchens, owner of the 50 Yard Line Steakhouse in Lubbock, raised his menu prices for beef items by about 5 percent in November. Since then, the owner of the small eating house has tried to make cuts elsewhere to avoid passing it on to customers. "It really puts more pressure on the small guys," he said of non-chain restaurants. "I just think you have to stay competitive and keep your costs low."

    “White-tablecloth restaurants have adjusted the size of their steaks, making them thinner”, says Jim Robb, director of the Colorado-based Livestock Marketing Information Center. “And fast-food restaurants are cutting costs by reducing the number of menu items and are offering other meat options, including turkey burgers, Robb said. Chain restaurants also try to buy beef as much as they can, which essentially gives them a discount”, Iowa State University assistant economics professor Lee Schulz said.

    The high prices are welcome news for at least one group: ranchers(大农场经营者), especially those in Texas who for years have struggled amid drought（干旱） and high feed prices. But even as ranchers breathe a sigh of relief, some worry lasting high prices will cause consumers to permanently change their buying habits — switching to chicken or pork. Pete Bonds, a 62-year-old Texas rancher and president of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, said that's a big concern. “But such fears may be unfounded, Robb said. “Three years ago, economists thought consumers would start finding substitutions for beef as the drought spread. We're surprised we haven't seen more of that," he said.

    South Dakota rancher Chuck O'Connor thinks that consumers won't abandon beef for good. "I'm sure some are maybe going to cut back some, but to say that people aren't going to buy it anymore, I don't think that's going to happen," he said, adding, "I hope not."

    If a trip to Rome or Paris is in your future, be prepared: The European Union Parliament is calling for an end to visa-free travel Americans. EU lawmakers passed a resolution urging the EU Commission to impose visas on U. S. citizens traveling into the 28-nation bloc.

    The dispute(争论)centers on reciprocal treatment of travelers from EU nations and the United States. While Americans have been able to travel throughout EU member nations without a visa, the U. S. still requires citizens of five EU countries-Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania-to apply for entry visas when visiting the U. S, Reuters reports. Citizens of the other 23 EU member nations can use the U. S. visa waiver program to enter America. The EU lawmakers are calling for mutual treatment for all EU citizens, says Reuters. They've given the EU Commission two months to respond.

    The trans-Atlantic visa dispute first came to light in April 2014, according to an EU Parliament news release. At that time, five countries-Australia, Brunei, Canada, Japan and the U. S. –required visas for some EU citizens. Since then, Australia, Brunei and Japan have lifted their visa requirements for all EU citizens. Canada, which currently imposes(推行)visa requirements on Bulgarian and Romanian citizens, plans to follow suit in next December, leaving just the United States at odds with the issue of reciprocity of visa-free travel with the EU.

The EU says if a visa requirement for Americans is introduced, it would be temporary, according to a story in Money, which did not give a time frame.

    Women make better drivers than men for many reasons. Why is that? If you ask me, I'd like to say, men know that women are better drivers but do not have the courage to admit the truth—women are queens of the road.

    Unlike men, women stop for directions when they have no idea as to where they are going. We don't drive around for hours pointlessly wasting a tank of gas only to find ourselves heading in the wrong direction. Have you ever been in a car with a man who is lost? He tells you to shut up when you begin to open your mouth. And every five minutes or so he takes a turn going forty-five miles per hour only to find out he's made another wrong turn.

    Speeding is what men do best on the road. There is a reason why men get more speeding tickets than women. Not because we trick to get out of tickets but only because we don't get pulled over as frequently. We don't speed. We have more intelligence than senselessly to put our own lives as well as the lives of others in danger.

    My largest issue with male drivers is how a majority of them drive with one hand on the wheel and the other hand doing only God knows what. The seat is backed as far as possible, and they're totally lost into loud music beyond a necessary level. You don't ever see women driving like that.

    I feel that the above evidence more than proves my points that women are not only better drivers but also safer drivers than men. We women rule the road. Oh, and men, if you want to continue criticizing（批评）women for being bad drivers, bring it on.

    Even though it's not the most popular time of year to get married, I allow my thoughts to wander and consider the most unusual marriage habits across the world.

    In some parts of India it is believed that ghosts can stay with certain people of the living world. In general, girls who are born with a baby tooth and girls who are very ugly or have some facial damage are believed to be owned by ghosts. The only way to free from the ghosts is for the girl to marry an animal, typically a goat or a dog. She is free to marry a man later on, when the ghosts are proven to be freed from her. I wonder who makes this decision and how they come to their conclusion.

    In Korea, it is a custom for grooms to request that their successfully married friends carve them wooden ducks as a symbol of great marriage. Hand-carving a wooden duck can't be easy. This leads me to wonder why it's a duck and not another animal.

    Imagine being as young as 5 and already your parents are sending you to a fat farm where you are forced to eat too much food until you vomit (呕吐). Then, the old woman watching you eat forces you to eat that vomit. This is not a TV show. This is really happening in some parts of Africa. Men there want women fat; the fatter the better. It doesn't matter if it ruins their health or make them live shorter lives. All that matters is that the woman is as large as possible in order to sell her for a high price when she reaches the age for marrying.

    Most people want to know how things are made. They honestly admit, however, that they hardly know a thing when it comes to understanding how a piece of music is made. Where a composer (作曲家） begins, how he manages to keep going- in fact, how and when he learns his trade - all are covered in complete darkness. The composer, in short, is a man of mystery (神秘）.

    One of the first things the common man wants to know about is the part inspiration (灵感） plays in a composer's work. He finds it difficult to believe that composers are not much interested in that question. Writing music is as natural for the composer as eating or sleeping for all. Music is something that the composer happens to have been born for.

    The composer, therefore, does not say to himself: "Do I feel inspired?" He says to himself. "Do I feel like working today?" And if he feels like working, he does. It is more or less like saying to himself: "Do I feel sleepy?" if you feel sleepy, you go to sleep. If you don't feel sleepy you stay up. If the composer doesn't feel like working, he doesn't work. It's as simple as that.

    The number of snow geese arriving in the Arctic each spring to breed has risen over the past few decades. At first, wildlife biologists saw this as an environmental crisis, pointing to marshes（湿地） where plants were eaten by the hungry birds. In response, the federal government loosened restrictions on snow goose hunting.

    But how do the Inuit, in whose backyard this is taking place, view the situation? A recent plan is giving Inuit wildlife experts the opportunity to lend their knowledge to managing the species. The snow goose study, which is supported in part by Polar Knowledge Canada and led by the Kivalliq Wildlife Board (an Inuit organization that manages hunting, trapping and fishing in central Nunavut), asked the experts to share their generations of knowledge about snow geese and their views on what should be done.

    “The community had concerns about controlling the population,” says Ron, a community officer of the Kivalliq Inuit Association, “and Inuit snow goose knowledge had never been recorded. People wanted to pass on what they knew.” Inuit experts disagreed with that, considering it wasteful and unnecessary. They felt hunting more snow geese in an organized way, such as paying local hunters a minimal amount of money and distributing the birds to disadvantaged families or operating a limited commercial hunt by employing local people, would be appropriate.

    Inuit wildlife experts will plan to call on scientists this fall. They say they hope to search for a common way forward and that while there may be too many snow geese in some areas, it's not a crisis. Biologists now generally agree that there seem to be plenty of undamaged marshes available and newer research shows that some damaged areas can recover.

    “Now that we have recorded and documented Inuit knowledge of snow geese,” says Ron, “when facing the crisis other people will be able to use the information to help manage the species, which is fundamental to dealing with it effectively.”