China is a land of bicycles.At least it was back in 1992 when I traveled the country.Back then everyone seemed to be riding a bicycle.Cars were fare.Yet since my arrival in Beijing last year,I've found there are millions of cars. However,bicycles are still popular nowadays.People still use their bicycles to get around.For many,it's the most convenient and cheapest way to travel today.

    It's rush quickly through crossroads,move skillfully through traffic,and ride even on sidewalks（人行道）. Bicycles allow people the freedom to move about,which cars just can't provide.Eager to be part of this aspect of Chinese culture,I decided to buy a bicycle.Immediately I got my new bike I jumped up on the seat and started home.

    My first ride home was orderly（守秩序的）.To be safe, I stayed with a "pack" of bikers while cars on the streets came running swiftly out of nowhere at times.I didn't want to get hit.So I took the ride carefully.Crossing the streets was the biggest problem.It was a lot like crossing a major highway back in the United States.The streets here were wide,so crossing took time,skill and a little bit of luck.

    I finally made it home.The feeling on the bicycle was amazing.The air hitting my face and going through my hair was wonderful.I was sitting on top of the world as I passed by places and people.Biking made me feel alive.

    How much weight a baby gains during its first month could determine its IQ, as a new research suggests. The study found that children who gain more weight, and whose heads grow quickly during the first month of life, tend to have a higher IQ when they start school.

    Researchers at the University of Adelaide, in Australia^ studied 13,800 children who were born at full-term. They found that those who put on 40% of their birth weight in the first four weeks had an IQ 1.5 points higher than those who only put on 15% of their birth weight. Those who experienced the biggest growth in head circumference (头围) also had the highest IQs by the age of six.

“Head circumference is an indicator of brain volume, so a greater increase in head circumference in a newly-born baby suggests more rapid brain growth,” says the led author of the study, Dr. Lisa Smithers.

    She added, “Overall, newly-born children who grew faster in the first four weeks had higher IQ scores later in life. Those children who gained the most weight scored especially high on verbal (言语) IQ at age 6. This may be because the neural (神经的) structures for verbal IQ develop earlier in life, which means the rapid weight gain during the first month could be having a direct cognitive benefit for the children.”

    Previous studies have shown the association between early postnatal (产后的) diet and IQ, but this is the first study of its kind to focus on the IQ benefits of rapid weight gain in the first month of life. Dr. Smithers says the study further highlights the need for successful feeding of newly-born babies. “We know that many mothers have difficulty establishing breastfeeding in the first week of their babies' life,” Dr. Smithers said.

    “The findings of our study suggest that if babies are having feeding problems, there needs to be early intervention (干预) in the management of that feeding.”

    How many girls in this world fall behind? The answer is hard—too many to count. This is why the phrase “Go Get It Girl” popped up in my head one day. This would be my project. Thus begins the journey of my Cold Award project, the largest and most important step of Girl Scouts (女童子军).

    “Go Get It Girl” is a girl's self-empowerment (自我授权) project centered on a website called gogetitgirl.org. It focuses on areas including education, health, and financial literacy. The education section includes information on applying to college and, maintaining good grades. The health section contains information on basic health and self-respect. Lastly, the financial literacy section has all the information a girl needs to manage her money properly.

    As part of my project, I was able to work one-on-one with girls in elementary, middle, and high school. I gave a speech at a local high school's College Night. I spoke to Hispanic girls and their parents about applying to college. In addition, I worked with an organization called Cool Girls, Inc. Cool Girls is an organization focused on the advancement of girls in all aspects of their development. I worked at the afterschool program, Cool Girls Club. The girls I worked with were primarily minorities, and Cool Girls truly helps them to rise above any current difficulties in their lives.

    To provide inspiration for the girls who visit gogetitgirl.org, I interviewed successful women in my community, including a doctor and business owner.

The project has been a lot of work, arid it's not over yet. It will never be over, hopefully, because I will always look for ways to help girls.

    Japanese researchers made a botanical announcement on Monday that quickly circled the world. They had developed a banana with an eatable peel (皮)—the Mongee banana.

    The technique used by scientists at D&T Farm is called "freeze thaw awakening". The process involves starling banana trees out in an environment that's nearly minus-80 degrees Fahrenheit, then moving the trees with their still-ripening bananas to a climate of around 80 degrees - an environment banana trees typically grow in the entire time. The extreme temperature change puts the banana's growth into a superfast-speed mode. In this case, the fruit ripens before the skin can catch up. The result is soft and thin skin that hasn't fully developed.

    The banana has been produced only in small amount so far, so customers face a steep bill to save themselves the bother of peeling their banana: it is currently priced at 648 yen ($6) a piece. There's also the question of whether a banana peel is actually worth eating and whether regular banana peels had, rather suddenly, become too big a problem for people who slip on them to bear anymore.

    And what about shipping? For most of the fruit's history, the peel has provided protection, allowing it to travel long distances from where it's grown to nearly every country on Earth. A softer banana would be a step back from regular banana varieties that travel thousands of miles.

    But the banana in the news is arguably good, particularly for a fruit that rarely receives its share of attention. Bananas are the most  consumed fruit in Japan, and also in the U.S. So even if eatable-peel bananas don't ensure plentiful bananas, or even necessarily nutritious bananas, they still look great on Instagram, which probably ensures them a future in Japan's famous luxury (奢侈) fruit markets.

    China is showing the world its great resolve in the global climate campaign with concrete and self-motivated efforts as well as serious commitment.

    At the opening ceremony of the Paris climate summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping restated China's plan made in June to cut its carbon emissions(排放)per unit of GDP by 60-65 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, and increase non-fossil fuel sources in primary energy consumption to about 20 percent.

    With a large population, China is facing increasing resource limits, severe environmental pollution and a worsening ecosystem, and its citizens are also becoming increasingly aware of environmental problems. Suffering environmental problems and seeing the efforts as important to transforming its economic growth pattern, the country has much at risk if climate change is left unattended.

    Actually, climate change efforts are already included in China's medium-and long-term program of economic and social development, and ecological efforts are the clear characteristics in China's 13th Five-Year Plan(2016-2020).

    Although it is and will be a developing country for a long time to come, China has been actively involved in the global campaign against climate change, now topping the world in terms of energy conservation and use of new and renewable energies.

However, China's development rights need to be respected. It is unfair to overstress China's status as one of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters and regard it as the major part of responsibilities in the global fight against climate change.

    It is worthy of notice that China's emissions of greenhouse gases per person are far lower than those of developed countries, especially the United States, although rapid economic expansion and its population base have made it one of the biggest producers of the gases.

    To show its great resolve, Beijing in September also announced the establishment of an independent South-South cooperation fund of 20 billion RMB to help developing countries affected by global warming.

    While China is eagerly accomplishing its policy commitments, developed countries should stop questioning China's commitment to fighting climate change and pointing fingers, and start shouldering their due responsibilities instead.