Once upon a time, there was a beautiful bird, which was very curious about hell. When she was little, her mother always told her that if she didn't master the flying skills, she would go to hell. She was so curious about hell that she always asked others what hell looked like, but no one was sure, because none of them had ever been there. Some said hell was a place full of water, and others told her that hell was full of burning fire. However, the bird knew they were lying. She wanted to find out what hell was.

    When other birds were learning flying skills, she always hid herself and watched them. She thought in this way she could go to hell and see what hell looked like. However, she spent so little time learning flying skills that one day she was caught by a little boy. The little boy gave her to his grandpa in the countryside as a gift. The old man liked her very much. He made a delicate cage and put her in it. The bird was very worried because she thought she couldn't find out what hell was like staying in this small cage. However, she couldn't escape. Day after day, she just stayed in the cage, watching other birds flying. She lost her freedom and she became sadder and sadder. At last, she became ill. The old man finally opened the cage, but she was too weak to fly. Lying on the ground, she thought of the question that she ever asked all the time.

    “What does hell look like?”

    “Hell is a small well-decorated cage.” Before she closed her eyes forever, she finally answered that question herself.

    Many years ago, when we first went to Canada, we were driving through Montana to Colorado with our two children. We thought we would find a motel（汽车旅馆）on the way and had not made a booking. As it was getting late, we started looking for a motel, only to find that all were booked.

    Finally, around 9 p.m., we stopped at a gas station to fill up on gas. My husband asked for a phone book and told the woman at the counter that we were trying to find a motel. He tried for 15 minutes. When he was unsuccessful, the woman, Linda, said she and her family lived nearby and would be happy if we spent the night at her home.

    My husband was stunned at her offer. She called her son to direct us, since she had to stay at the gas station till midnight.

    When we reached their home, her husband greeted us. He took out two sleeping bags for the children. He invited us to have coffee and chat while we waited for his wife. When she came back, we asked if we could slip away in the morning so as not to disturb them. They said we were now guests and we would have to have breakfast with them.

    We woke up to a table set for breakfast. They'd made a mountain of pancakes and bacon. We ate breakfast, and when we were leaving, my husband asked if he could offer some payment.

    They insisted we were their guests. We left moved by their spirit of hospitality(好客). We were amazed that they would take in a family of total strangers from a different country. We kept in touch for many years. Over the years, we lost touch, but have never forgotten their kindness.

    Dolphin or not a dolphin? That is the question! You see, there are several types of dolphins. Some are saltwater dolphins while others are river dolphins.

    "What are the 32 types of dolphins?" When people are asking the question, they are actually referring to the saltwater dolphins in oceans and seas. The river dolphins living in fresh water are not included in these species. But what would be the answer in this case if we ask. "Dolphin or not a dolphin?" The answer would obviously be yes. River dolphins still belong to the dolphin family.

    Among the 32 types of dolphins do not actually wear the word "dolphin" in their names, such as the tucuxi, while others actually have the word "whale" as part of their names even if they are not whales but in fact, belong to the dolphin family, for example, the melon-headed whale and the killer whale. So what would be the answer to the question "Dolphin or not a dolphin?" in these cases? It would be yes. All these species do belong to the dolphin family.

    Another question that people ask is. "Are the sea animals that perform at aquariums(水族馆)all dolphins?" So ,it always seems to come back to the question, "Dolphin or not a dolphin?" Well the answer is no in this case. The sea animals that perform there are not all dolphins. The beluga which people tend to think belong to the dolphin family because they show what seems like a smile, like most dolphins, are in fact a species of the whale family.

    Now that you read these facts about dolphins, you probably realize that certain sea animals may appear to be part of the dolphin species and that others seem to be part of the whale family but in either case, it is not obvious and can be surprising when you identify a sea animal as being a dolphin or not a dolphin. That is the question ！

    If humans pump enough carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the atmosphere, the stratocumulus clouds(层积云) could disappear, and the earth's temperature could climb sharply to heights not predicted in current climate models. It would burn the planet. That's the conclusion of a paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience and described in detail by Natalie Wolchover for Quanta Magazine.

    As Wolchover explained, clouds have long been one of the great uncertainties of climate models. Computer models that easily capture the complexity and detail of most climate systems just aren't powerful enough to predict worldwide changes in cloud behavior. But clouds are important. They reflect sunlight away from the earth's surface. And stratocumulus clouds are those white blankets you might have seen as you looked out the window of arm airplane, rolling out below you and hiding the ground Researchers suspect that certain sudden, past jumps in temperature may have been caused by changes to clouds like these.

    For the new research, scientists modeled just a small patch of sky using a supercomputer. They found that if carbon dioxide levels reach about 1, 200 parts per million(ppm) in the atmosphere, stratocumulus clouds break up. That's a very high carbon dioxide concentration.  Right now, levels have climbed past 410 ppm--a dangerous change from 280 ppm before the Industrial Revolution.

    But humans put more and more CO₂ into the atmosphere every year. If current trends continue, the earth could reach 1, 200 ppm within 100 to 150 years. This could happen if our society doesn't follow through on any of its commitments to reduce emissions(排放), Wolchover reported. And even if it does, the result would be another 8 degrees Celsius of heat added to the global average, on top of the dangerous changes already underway due to greenhouse gases.

    That's an enormous change, and it goes beyond predictions of worldwide ice melt and catastrophic sea level rise. And, once the stratocumulus clouds are gone, Wolchover reported, they likely wouldn't reappear until atmospheric carbon dioxide levels dropped below where they are currently.

    There's still some uncertainty in the data. The 1, 200 ppm figure could change as scientists look into the issue further.

    These days, it seems like everyone wants to go out into space and live on new planets. Rather than depend on another pre-existing planet, could we make a new, proper planet ourselves?

    To start with, if we do want to be living on it, we should find a good place in space to put the new planet. We'd want it to be in a habitable zone, meaning the planet should be at the right distance from its star to make sure there would be perfect temperatures and most importantly, liquid (液态的) water.

    We'd also need the right materials to make the planet. Our Earth is made up of many different elements (元素). If we made our own new planet we'd probably want it to have similar elements and a similar structure (结构). We'd also want enough water to form some oceans.

    But even if we get all of the materials creating a new planet like Earth could have many troubles. It might be something more like a huge space station. It would be pretty expensive if we wanted it to be super big.

    We would probably also need a lot of food since there's going to be many scientists and astronauts out in space working on this project!

    According to NASA, each astronaut uses about 0. 83 kilograms of food per meal, including 0.12 kilograms of packaging (包装) material. Without the weight of the packaging material, we'd need about 780 kilograms of food just to feed one astronaut for a year.

    Putting all these together could make it possible to make our own planet one day! In reality, creating a new planet would probably require a very modern technology and there would be tons of other things to think about. And if this is even possible, it likely won't happen for a very long time.

    Once upon a time, there was a little boy who wanted to meet the king. He set off, walking towards the king's castle. After many years of walking, the king's castle came into his view. However, as the boy drew closer to the outside of the castle, the guards took notice of him.

    "Get out of here!" commanded the guards.

    Well, the little boy didn't have to be told twice. He turned...and ran right away. All he wanted to do was to tell the king wonderful things, and see all the beautiful things in the king's house. But he couldn't even get near the castle! The boy finally stopped running, sat down and cried.

    A young man happened to be coming down the path at the very moment. He saw the little boy and came up. "What's wrong, young man?" he asked.

    "Sir, I walked and walked just to see the king. But these guards made me frightened. I wanted to tell the king how lovely everything is and just tell the king that I just wanted to see him!"

    The man looked at the little boy thoughtfully. "Look, why don't you try again. Don't lose heart. I'll come with you this time."

    The little boy got up and took the man's hand. The king's guards spotted them.

    "Look, mister, we don't have to do this...I don't want you to get hurt. We can just turn around now."

    The man held the little boy's hand and went on. The boy really thought the man might be crazy until he looked back up at the guards. They were all smiling now. The little boy was surprised.

    "Who are you?" asked the little boy in surprise.

    "Why, I'm the king's son. You can enter the castle and be with the king," said the man.

    The little boy broke into a huge smile.