Tu Youyou, 84, honored with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Oct 5, 2015. She was the first Chinese citizen to win a Nobel Prize in science for her work in helping to create an anti-malaria(疟疾) medicine. In 1967, Communist leader Mao Zedong decided there was an urgent national need to find a cure for malaria. At the time, malaria spread by mosquitoes was killing Chinese soldiers fighting Americans in the jungles of northern Vietnam. A secret research unit was formed to find a cure f or the illness. Tw o years later, Tu Youyou was instructed to become the new head of Mission 523. Researchers in Mission523 pored over ancient books to find historical methods of fighting malaria. When she started her search for an anti-malarial drug, over 240,000 compounds(化合物) around the world had already been tested, without any success.Finally, the team found a brief reference to one substance, sweet wormwood（青蒿）, which had been used to treat malaria in China around 400 AD. The team isolated one active compound in wormwood, artemisinin（青蒿素）, which appeared to battle malaria-friendly parasites（寄生虫）. The team then tested extracts（提取物） of the compound but nothing was effective until Tu Youyou returned to the original ancient text. After another careful reading, she improved the drug recipe one final time, heating the extract without allowing it to reach boiling point.

After the drug showed promising results in mice and monkeys, Tu volunteered to be the first human recipient of the new drug. “As the head of the research group, I had the responsibility.” she explained.

    Have you ever heard of a great Chilean poet? He was once referred to as the Picasso of poetry. Beloved by Chileans of all classes, he is one of the most widely read and respected poets in history. And this year is the 114th birthday of Pablo Neruda(1904—1973).

    Born with the name Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basolto, he was a tall, shy and lonely boy. He loved to read and started to write poetry when he, was ten. The American poet Walt Whitman, whose framed picture Neruda later kept on his table, became a major influence on his work.

    However, his father did not like the idea of having a poet for a son and tried to discourage him from writing. To cover up the publication of his first poem, he took the pen name Pablo Neruda.

    In 1924 Neruda gained fame with his most widely read work “Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair”. Yet his rich experience as a diplomat and exile made him go beyond the theme of love. His work also reflected the political struggle of the left and development of South America. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971.

    Neruda loved the sea which he saw as creative, destructive and forever moving. He found inspiration in the power and freedom of the waves and the seabirds on the coast. “I need the sea because it teaches me,” he wrote. “I move in the university of the waves.” He loved how the sea forever renewed itself, a renewal echoed（共鸣）in his work.

    Lagoon Bar, Iceland

    Blue Lagoon in Iceland is truly the place where you can get rid of all troubles. Here the warmth of hot springs gets you close to nature. A wonderful bar is opened among the hot springs. While you're sitting in the hot water, waitresses bring you a range of cocktails.

    What to order: cocktail “Blue Lagoon” and white wine.

    Baobab Tree Bar Wine Cellar, South Africa

    In the hollow (洞) of a huge 6,000-year-old baobab tree you can not only drink a cocktail, but also rest from the heat of Limpopo Province. Once this safe heaven was known only to the Bushmen, but now this ancient tree is the tourist destination for all kinds of tourists.

    What to order: anything in a glass.

    The Birdsville Hotel and Pub, Australia

    At the edge of the Simpson Desert, among the sand dunes (沙丘), which are the favorite spot for the mice, there is a hotel and a pub. The walls of this bar are decorated with old hats and posters of beer, the oldest of which dates from 1884. Most visitors of this building are the amateurs of racing. They come to this village for the September competition. However, the pub is not empty also on other months: the airstrip (飞机跑道) is located nearby, so those who get off the plane are going to have a glass or two of beer first.

    What to order: a pint of beer.

    Floyd's Pelican Bar, Jamaica

    It appears that these huge palm leaves and trunks fell into the ocean long time ago. They floated on the waves and then piled up year by year, sticking out of the ocean. That's probably how the Pelican Bar, located about a mile from the southwest coast of Jamaica, is built on. Some of its visitors have no room to be fitted inside the bar, and they just drink standing in waist-deep water.

    What to order: cocktail “Pelican Perfection”.

    In my memory, winters always used to be really unpleasant. You had to dress like a bear just to keep warm when you went outside. You were often cold, wet and no more than one step away from the thin ice on the lake. If you worked over time and went home in the dark, you would arrive home to an ice-cold house. And that would mean turning on the heating and waiting.

    Fortunately, things don't have to be so challenging any more. Technology, engineering and design have developed, giving us new solutions to old problems. It means dealing with winter needn't be like skating on thin ice.

    With a smart thermostat(恒温器), our homes can be toasty when we need them to be. Many models go with smartphone APPs that allow you to regulate temperature from a distance, so we can warm up the house before we arrive home. According to techradar.com, a large technology news and reviews website, Tado's model has a voice control function, while the Nest “learns” your habits and heats the house for you.

    Clothes have been given an upgrade, too. Electronic heated jackets and trousers heat up when you turn them on. What better way to keep warm in the dead of winter? At the touch of a button, or through an APP on our phones, the clothes produce heat from materials placed inside. Many models offer three levels of heating which stay warm for over 12 hours.

    Finally, there is the headgear(头部装备) - Hats that have speakers which are included in the cloth using Bluetooth technology, so we can listen to our favourite music or, in some cases, have a phone call using the in-built microphone. All while keeping the head warm and avoiding coldness.

    For many, the thought of winter used to be enough to make their blood run cold. But using technology, life needn't freeze up. There's no reason why winter can't be really, really cool.

    Keeping a busy social life among lots of friends may keep people thinner than spending hours doing some exercises, according to scientists. They say that socializing and meeting with friends help increase levels of brown fat in the body which burns calories to produce heat.

    Living in an exciting social environment was found to reduce fat in mice's belly by half over four weeks, even if they ate more.US researchers say that social excitement aids weight loss by turning white fat into brown fat. White fat stores calories and makes us fatter, while brown fat burns energy to produce heat. Turning white fat into brown fat is extremely difficult, normally requiring long-term stay in cold conditions or exciting part of the body's nervous system.

    However, scientists from Ohio State University now think that having a busy social life is an even more effective way of changing white fat into brown fat. The team came up with their theory by studying the effects of various living environments on mice. Those, who lived alongside a greater number of mice, had more space and toys to excite themselves and they lost far more weight over the course of the study than their “couch potato” fellows.

    Study's author, Dr Mattew During whose team's findings appear in the journal Cell Metabolism, said,“I'm still amazed at the degree of fat loss that occurs.” Explaining how new technology had threatened face-to-face socializing, he added,“It's not just a sedentary (久坐的)lifestyle and high calorie foods, but an increasing lack of social activities.” Co-author Dr Lei Cao said,“Loneliness is a potential factor for cancer and death; it's equal to cigarette smoking to a certain extent. Social activities are very vital.”

Save the Animals

    Animals are natural resources(资源）that people have wasted all through our history.

    Animals have been killed for their fur and feathers(羽毛), for food, for sport, and simply because they were in the way. Thousands of kinds of animals have disappeared from the earth forever. Hundreds more are on the danger list today. About 170 kinds in the United States alone are considered in danger.

    Why should people care? Because we need animals. And because once they are gone, there will never be any more. Animals are more than just beautiful or interesting. They are more than just a source of food. Every animal has its place in the balance(平衡)of nature. Destroying one kind of animal can create many problems.

    For example, when farmers killed large numbers of hawks(鹰), the farmers stores of com and rain were destroyed by rats and mic. Why? Because of hawks ate rats and mice that multiplied(繁殖)quickly

    Luckily, some people are working to help save the animals. Some groups raise money to let people know about the problem .And they try to get the governments to pass laws protecting animals in danger.

    Quite a few countries have passed laws. These laws forbid(禁止)the killing of any animals or plants on the danger list. Slowly, the number of some animals in danger is growing