People in southern China like famous and expensive dish—shark fin soup, but no scientific studies have shown that shark fins are good for health. So why do they eat them? Do they realize that they're killing a whole shark each time they enjoy a bowl of shark fin soup?

When people catch sharks, they cut off their fins and throw the shark back into the ocean. This is not only cruel, but also harmful to the environment. Without a fin, a shark can no longer swim and slowly dies. Sharks are at the top of the food chain in the ocean's ecosystem. If their numbers drop too low, it will bring danger to all ocean life. In fact, around 70 million sharks are caught and traded in this industry every year. The numbers of some kinds of sharks have fallen by over 90 percent in the last 20 to 30 years. Help save the sharks!

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    Almost all cultures celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of another in some way. Different cultures celebrate the beginning of a new year in different ways, and at different times on the calendar(日历).

    In Western countries, people usually celebrate New Year at midnight on December 31st—January 1st. People may go to parties, sometimes dressed in formal(正式的) clothes, and they may drink champagne(香槟酒)at midnight. During the first minutes of the new year, people cheer and wish each other happiness for the year ahead. But some cultures prefer to celebrate the new year by waking up early to watch the sunrise. They welcome the new year with the first light of the sunrise.

    Many cultures also do special things to get rid of(摆脱) bad luck at the beginning of a new year. For example, in Ecuador(厄瓜多尔), families make a big doll from old clothes. The doll is filled with old newspapers and firecrackers. At midnight, these dolls are burned(燃烧) to show the bad things from the past year are gone and the new year can start afresh(重新). Other common traditions to keep away bad luck in a new year include throwing things into rivers or the ocean, or saying special things on the first day of the new year.

    Other New Year traditions are followed to bring good luck in the new year. One widespread(普遍的) Spanish tradition for good luck is to eat grapes on New Year's Day. The more grapes a person eats, the more good luck the person will have in the year. In France, people eat pancakes for good luck at New Year. In the United States, some people eat black­ eyed peas(豌豆) for good luck—but to get good luck for a whole year you have to eat 365 of them!

    Life in the future will be different from life today.

    The population(人口) is growing fast. There will be more people in the world and most of them will live longer.

    Computer will be much smaller and more useful, and there will be at least one in each home. And computer science will be one of the most important subjects in school then. 

    People will work fewer hours than they do now, and they will have more free time for sports, watching TV and travel.

    Our food will be different, too. More land(土地) will be used for building new towns and houses for people. So there will be less land for cows and sheep, and meat will be more expensive. Maybe no one will eat it one day. They will eat more fruits and vegetables. 

    Work in the future will also be different. Robots will do dangerous and hard work. Because of this, many people will have no jobs to do. This will be a big problem in the future.  

根据短文内容，回答下列问题。

    In nature，you may see many insects and animals of different colors．Have you ever wondered why?

Locusts(蝗虫)are super delicious food for birds，but it is not always an easy job for birds to catch them．It is neither because locusts are good jumpers or runners nor because they are smarter than their enemies．The reason is that the colors of locusts change with the colors of crops(农作物)．When crops are young，locusts look green．But when autumn comes，locusts change to the yellow and brown color as crops do．

    Brown bears，tigers and other animals move quietly through forests．They can't be seen easily by their enemies．This is because they have colors similar to the trees．For the same reason．polar bears that live on a land of snow and ice are white．Butterflies and bees living among the flowers are colorful like flowers．Soil insects are mostly dark—colored and they live under the soil in a dark and wet environment．However，insects with colors different from plants can easily be found and eaten by others．So in order to survive ， they have to hide themselves in the daytime and appear only at night．

    Have you ever noticed some even stranger acts? The ink fish in the sea can send out some very black ink when it faces danger．As the ink spreads over．its enemies will not find themselves suddenly in a dark world．At the same time the ink fish immediately swims away．That is how it keeps itself save though it is not strong at all．

    Virtual (虚拟的)reality is a way to create a computer-made environment that brings the user into a virtual world. If you ever have put on a VR headset, you would know exactly what I am talking about. From an experiential view we do understand the idea, but what about the technical backend that goes into making it all possible? In this blog, we will understand the technology behind virtual reality and the basic terms about the development of a virtual ecosystem for a VR headset.

    The primary subject of virtual reality is simulating (模拟)the vision. Every headset is to perfect their method to create an immersive (浸人式)3D environment. Each VR headset puts up a screen or two in front of eyes, keeping the user away from any interaction with the real world. Two autofocus lenses (自动对焦镜片)are generally placed between the screen and the eyes that change based on eye movement and positioning. The vision appears on the screen either by using a mobile phone or HDMI line connected to a PC.

    To create a truly immersive virtual reality, there are certain requirements a frame rate (帧 率)of at least 60 fps, a refresh rate and at least 100﹣degree field of view (though 180 degrees is perfect). If either of these doesn't work according to the standards, the user will experience too big of a time difference between their actions and the response from the screen. We need the response to be less than 20 ms (1/1000 second) to fool the brain which is achieved by joining all the above in the right proportion (比例).Another matter that needs to be looked at here is to prevent netsickness because of the differences between the frame rate and refresh rate.

    Apart from the image, there are certain other things that go into creating an immersive VR experience, holding the user's attention completely in the virtual environment. For example, sound effects, when put with the image, can create very attractive effects. By using a headphone and 3D sound effects, the user can totally believe in the virtual environment. While perfecting sound effects, proper care needs to be taken about the consistency (一致)between the pictures and the sound. If you start playing frightening music in the background of a happy scene, it will just put the user off.

    In future, we will see rapid progress in creating a truly immersive digital experience. With leading players like Google, Microsoft, Oculus, and HTC making great efforts to improve the capabilities (性能),we are not far from achieving a virtual reality that would feel so much better than the real world. If you would like to develop a VR app for your business, then feel free to get in touch. With over 10 years of experience in mobile technologies, we can make every dream a reality.

    Li Qiang and Li Gang are brothers. But their living habits(习惯) are different. Now let's go to Li Qiang's room. Li Qiang cleans his bedroom every day and puts his things away. Look! There is a computer on the desk. There are two footballs under the bed. A guitar and a kite are on the wall. Some books are on the shelf. So he must be a careful boy. Now let's go to Li Gang's room. The room is not clean. There are some books on the floor. Can we see his clothes on the desk? Oh, yes. We can also see a football and a knife on the desk. Li Gang never does any cleaning. So his room is  in a mess(混乱).

    What do you think of Li Qiang and Li Gang? I think Li Qiang is a good boy. Li Gang must learn from his brother.