Instagram is a fast, beautiful and fun way to share your life with friends and family. Take a picture or video, choose a filter(修图) to transform its look and feel, and then post to Instagram— it's that easy. You can even share to Facebook, Twitter and more．It's a new way to see the world. So many photos of food are contained on Instagram— now a pop-up diner in London is taking advantage of this new trend by letting people settle the bill for their meals simply by uploading photos of their dishes to social networks．

    I always thought people's taking pictures of their food was kind of silly, but at this new pop-up restaurant in the UK, I'd probably do it too. “The Picture House” is the world's first pay-by-photo restaurant. You order, click a photo of the food, share on Instagram and eat for free!

    The restaurant belongs to frozen food giant(巨人) Birds Eye, who came up with the idea to cash in on people's addiction with photographing food and sharing the pictures online. They conducted a survey and found out that more than half of the British population regularly took pictures of their meals．So they realized it was a better way to advertise their new dining range．

    The pop-up diner was open in Soho, London for three days in May, and is now moving to other major UK cities. They serve two-course meals that customers don't have to pay for, if they photo and Instagram it.

    The restaurant is a part of Birds Eye's “Food for Life” campaign, a new marketing project that aims at changing the way people look at frozen food. “Taking photos of food enables people to show off and to share their mealtime moments—from the everyday to the special, ”said marketing director Margaret Jobling．

    The reaction to the Picture House has been great so far. And the pay-by-picture concept has proven to be an effective way. Alternative payment methods are actually gaining popularity among a lot of businesses. Last year in a cafe in Germany customers pay by how much time they spend there, not by what they eat．

    An Italian company has created the world's first underwater farm. The station named Nemo's Garden consists of five biospheres(生物圈) fixed to the bottom of the sea off the coast of Savona, Italy. They're being used to grow strawberries, beans, garlic, and lettuce.

    “The main target of this project is to create other sources of plant production in areas where environmental conditions make it difficult to grow crops through traditional farming, including lack of fresh water, fertile soil, and extreme temperature changes,'' said project spokesperson Luca Gamberini.

    The five biospheres, currently floating between depths of 18 and 36 feet, are constantly watched by Ocean Reef Group —— a diving equipment company——from a control center on dry land. According to various news reports, the plants are watered by drips of water on the inner walls of the biospheres. With a constant temperature of 79 degrees day and night, and humidity(湿度) at around 83 percent, the conditions are ideal for plants to grow well. The high amount of carbon dioxide also encourages growth.

    Ocean Reef president Sergio Gamberini said he came up with the idea of growing plants underwater during a summer vacation in Italy. In his own words, he wanted to do something that's different and to show the beauty of the ocean. After two years of failed attempts, they finally were able to get these five biospheres working. Their success may lay the foundation for a new form of crop production that can be done without harming the environment.

    In fact, the biosphere seems to be attracting wildlife. Octopuses(章鱼) and endangered seahorses are taking shelter under the structure, while crabs(螃蟹) are climbing up the anchors and into the greenhouses. None of the creatures have damaged the plants so far. “It's so kind of science-fiction to see these two different forms of life interact,” Gamberini said.

    Food is one of the necessities in our daily life. It serves as a form of communication in two fundamental ways. Sharing bread or other foods is a common human tradition that can promote unity and trust. Food can also have a specific meaning, and play a significant role in a family or culture's celebrations or traditions. The foods we eat—and when and how we eat them—are often unique to a particular culture or may even differ between countrysides and cities within one country.

    Sharing bread, whether during a special occasion or at the family dinner table, is a common symbol of togetherness. Many cultures also celebrate birthdays and marriages with cakes that are cut and shared among the guests. Early forms of cake were simply a kind of bread, so this tradition hits its roots in the custom of sharing bread.

    Food also plays an important role in many New Year celebrations. In the southern United States, pieces of corn bread represent blocks of gold for prosperity (兴旺) in the New Year. In Greece, people share a special cake called vasilopita. A coin is put into the cake, which signifies (预示) success in the New Year for the person who receives it.

    Many cultures have ceremonies to celebrate the birth of a child, and food can play a significant role. In China, when a baby is one month old, families name and welcome their child in a celebration that includes giving red-colored eggs to guests. In many cultures, round foods such as grapes, bread, and moon cakes are eaten at welcome celebrations to represent family unity.

    Nutrition is necessary for life, so it is not surprising that food is such an important part of different cultures around the world.

A

My First Marathon（马拉松）

    A month before my first marathon, one of my ankles was injured and this meant not running for two weeks, leaving me only two weeks to train. Yet, I was determined to go ahead.

    I remember back to my 7th year in school. In my first P.E. class, the teacher required us to run laps and then hit a softball. I didn't do either well. He later informed me that I was ＂not athletic＂.

    The idea that I was ＂not athletic＂ stuck with me for years. When I started running in my 30s, I realized running was a battle against myself, not about competition or whether or not I was athletic. It was all about the battle against my own body and mind. A test of wills!

    The night before my marathon, I dreamt that I couldn't even find the finish line. I woke up sweating and nervous, but ready to prove something to myself.

    Shortly after crossing the start line, my shoe laces(鞋带) became untied. So I stopped to readjust. Not the start I wanted!

    At mile 3, I passed a sign: ＂GO FOR IT, RUNNERS!＂

    By mile 17, I became out of breath and the once injured ankle hurt badly. Despite the pain, I stayed the course walking a bit and then running again.

    By mile 21, I was starving!

    As I approached mile 23, I could see my wife waving a sign. She is my biggest fan. She never minded the alarm clock sounding at 4 a.m. or questioned my expenses on running.

    I was one of the final runners to finish. But I finished! And I got a medal. In fact, I got the same medal as the one that the guy who came in first place had.

    Determined to be myself, move forward, free of shame and worldly labels(世俗标签), I can now call myself a ＂marathon winner＂.

    Most animals on land are known to us, but many living things underwater are not. Now let's get to know some of them.

    Sea cucumber

    Sea cucumber are strange animals living at the bottom of the sea. They wear brown or pale green coats with many sticks up. When summer comes, they stay deep to sleep because they are afraid of heat. And when it is autumn, they move to shallow (浅的) water and get their food.

    Pike

    The pike is a kind of freshwater fish. They are good swimmers and like swimming near boats, waiting to be fed. They have sharp teeth to catch fishes. When they are young, they live in groups. However, when they grow up, they prefer to live alone.

    Cuttlefish

    A cuttlefish can swim quite fast, so it is also called rocket (火箭) fish. It has eight arms and two feelers on its head, just around its mouth. It ejects ink (喷墨) when it is in danger. Its meat is delicious, and it is often the first choice for many people.

    Octopus

    An octopus has long arms, with which to catch food and protect itself. When it is sleeping, one or two of its arms are still on duty, keeping moving. Once it feels something dangerous, it can wake up at once to take action.

    I became a magician by accident. When I was nine years old, I learned how to make a coin disappear. I'd read The Lord of the Rings and risked coming into the adult section of the library to search for a book of spells (魔法) — nine being that curious age at which you're old enough to work through more than 1, 200 pages of mysterious fantasy literature but young enough to still hold out hope that you might find a book of real, actual magic in the library. The book I found instead taught basic sleight-of-hand (戏法) technique, and I devoted the next months to practice.

    Initially, the magic wasn't any good. At first it wasn't even magic; it was just a trick — a bad trick. I spent hours each day in the bathroom running through the secret moves in front of the mirror. I dropped the coin over and over, a thousand times in a day, and after two weeks of this my mom got a carpet sample from the store and placed it under the mirror to eradicate the sound of the coin falling again and again.

    I had heard my dad work through passages of new music on the piano, so I knew how to practice — slowly, deliberately, going for precision rather than speed. And then I tried the illusion (错觉) in the mirror and an unbelievable scene took place. It did not look like a magic trick. It looked like a miracle. I knew that I had got what I wanted.

    One day I made the performance on the playground. We had been playing football and were standing by the backstop in the field behind the school. A dozen people were watching. I showed the coin to everyone. Then it disappeared. The kids screamed. They yelled, laughed, scrambled away. Everyone went crazy. This was brilliant.