The Bronte sisters were three sisters who became famous novelists． Their lives and works are connected with the lonely moors of Yorkshire, England, where they lived． Patrick Bronte, the sisters' father, was a poor Irishman who became the parish clergyman of the small, isolated town of Haworth, Yorkshire． Bronte was somewhat strange and tended to be strict． His wife died in 1821 and her sister brought up the family out of duty, but with little love or understanding． The sisters went to several boarding schools where they received a better education than usual for girls at that time, but in a bad atmosphere．

Few jobs were available for women at that time, and the Bronte sisters, except for occasional jobs as governesses or schoolteachers, lived their entire lives at home． They were shy, poor, and lonely, and occupied themselves with music, drawing, reading and —above all—writing． Their isolation led to the early development of their imaginations． In 1846, under the male pen names of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, the sisters published a joint volume of poems．Although only two copies were sold, all three sisters soon had their first novels published．

    Charlotte Bronte's most famous novel Jane Eyre （1847） is largely autobiographical ． Through the heroine, Charlotte relived her hated boarding school life and her experiences as a governess in a large house． Rochester, the hero and master of the house, is fictional． Jane Eyre was enormously successful, but many readers were shocked that Rochester, who tried to make Jane his mistress, should be rewarded by marrying her． Some readers were also shocked because Jane wanted to be regarded as a thinking and independent person, rather than as a weak female．

    Charlotte Bronte wrote three other novels． The first one, The Professor, was not published until 1857, after her death． Shirley （1849） is set among the labour riots of the early 1800s． Villette

    When I was a kid, I always used to wonder how in the world my father worked outside in the winter without a coat. It could be minus 20 degrees centigrade and there'd be Dad, removing snow, or perhaps chopping(砍) some wood — his coat thrown aside — wearing a shirt, a cap, and a pair of gloves.

    “Aren't you cold, Dad?” I'd ask. “No,” Dad would reply. “I'm not cold—working too hard to be cold.”

    Many times I wondered whether my father was an extremely tough man, or whether he was foolish.

    One time when I was quite young, perhaps five or so, I went ice fishing with Dad. It was a bright, clear day—and bitterly cold.

    After we'd been out on the ice for a little while, my feet started getting cold.

    “Daddy, my feet are cold.” I said.

    “Yeah, it's cold out here today,” he replied.

    “Tell you what,” he said. “Walk around. Make some circles in the snow. See how many different patterns you can make. That will get your feet warm.”

    I was just a little girl at the time but I remember thinking, “How in the world will walking around in the snow make my feet warm? Dad must be out of mind.”

    But he was my father, after all. I made circles in the snow. I made squares. Pretty soon I was having so much fun making patterns in the snow. I forgot about my feet being cold.

    Now, all these years later, I know, too, from personal experience how my father was able to take his coat off and work outside in the winter wearing just a shirt, a cap and gloves. Because I do it, too. “Aren't you cold?” my husband asked one winter day. “No,” I replied. “I'm not cold—working too hard to be cold.”

    I hope my husband has decided I'm both tough and smart. But I guess quite a bit of the time he thinks I'm foolish.

    Wherever Dad is on that great big farm in the sky—I'm sure he can't help but smile whenever I take my coat off while I'm working outside in the winter.

    Every week in China, millions of people will sit in front of their TVs watching teenagers compete for the title Character Hero, which is a Chinese-style spelling bee (拼写大赛). In this challenge, young competitors must write Chinese characters by hand. To prepare for the competition, the competitors usually spend months studying dictionaries.

    Perhaps the show's popularity should not be a surprise. Along with gunpowder and paper, many Chinese people consider the creation of Chinese calligraphy (书法) to be one of their primary contributions to civilization. Unfortunately, all over the country, Chinese people are forgetting how to write their own language without computerized help. Software on smart phones and computers allows users to type in the basic sound of the word using the Latin alphabet. The correct character is chosen from a list. The result? It's possible to recognize characters without remembering how to write them.

    But there's still hope for the paint brush. China's Education Ministry wants children to spend more time learning how to write.

    In one Beijing primary school we visited, students practice calligraphy every day inside a specially decorated classroom with traditional Chinese paintings hanging on the walls. Soft music plays as a group of six-year-olds dip brush pens into black ink. They look up at the blackboard often to study their teacher's examples before carefully attempting to reproduce those characters on thin rice paper. “If adults can survive without using handwriting, why bother to teach it now?” we ask the calligraphy teacher, Shen Bin, “The ability to write characters is part of Chinese tradition and culture,” she reasons. “Students must learn now so they don't forget when they grow up.” says the teacher.

    Against the supposition that forest fires in Alaska, Canada and Siberia warm the climate, scientists have discovered that cooling may occur in areas where burnt trees allow more snow to mirror more sunlight into space.

    This finding suggests that taking steps to prevent northern forest to limit the release of greenhouse gases may warm the climate in northern regions. Usually large fires destroyed forests in these areas over the past decade. Scientists predict that with climate warming, fires may occur more frequently over next several centuries as a result of a longer fire season. Sunlight taken in by the earth tends to cause warming, while heat mirrored back into space tends to cause cooling.

    This is the first study to analyze all aspects of how northern fires influence climate. Earlier studies by other scientists have suggested that fire in northern regions speed up climate warming because greenhouse gases from burning trees and plants are released into the atmosphere and thus trap heat.

    Scientists found that right after the fire, large amounts of greenhouse gases entered the atmosphere and caused warming. Ozone (臭氧) levels increased, and ash from the fire fell on far-off sea ice, darkening the surface and causing more radiation from the sun to be taken in. The following spring, however, the land within the area of the fire was brighter than before the fire, because fewer trees covered the ground. Snow on the ground mirrored more sunlight back into space, leading to cooling.

    "We need to find out all possible ways to reduce the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere." Scientists tracked the change in amount of radiation entering and leaving the climate system as a result of the fire, and found a measurement closely related to the global air temperature. Typically, fire in northern regions occurs in the same area every 80 to 150 years. Scientists, however, found that when fire occurs more frequently, more radiation is lost from the earth and cooling results. Specifically, they determined when fire returns 20 years earlier than predicated, 0.5 watts per square meter of area burned are soaked up by the earth from greenhouse gases, but 0.9 watts per square meter will be sent back into space. The net effect is cooling. Watts are used to measure the rate at which energy is gained or lost from the earth.

    I used to be crazy about the hunting season. The excitement of waiting for a prey(猎物)and the pride of showing off the kill fascinated me. However, everything changed after that cold morning.

    Early on that day of the late fall, I set off alone for the woods, packing a gun, a bottle of hot coffee and three thick sandwiches. After finding the fresh deer's tracks in the snow, I settled down behind a little bush.

I sat there for about an hour. It was then that I saw him. A deer, a big beautiful deer! There was no cover nearer to him than 30 yards. Surely I couldn't miss! I waited for him to realize I was there. I waited for him to be shocked and run away. But he fooled me completely. He came towards me! He was curious, I suppose, or maybe lie was stupid—how else can you explain it? Well, that deer walked right up to where I was sitting. Then he stopped and looked at me!

    What happened next is hard to believe, but it's true. And it all seemed quite natural. Just as when a friendly young deer comes near you, I reached up and scratched his head. And he liked to be scratched. In fact, he practically asked for more. Then, I fed him my sandwich! Yes, I know what a deer eats, but that deer ate my sandwich. Well, he finally went his way, down the hill and up the deer trail. Shoot him? Not me. You wouldn't have either, not after that. I just watched him go.

    When I was about half way back, I heard two shots, followed by a dull slam(撞击)a few seconds later. Those two shots usually mean a kill. I had forgotten there were other hunters that day.

    Those hunters would never know they could have scratched his head.

    "Farm to table" is the name of a movement that encourages people to eat locally grown food. The farm-to-table idea has become more popular in recent years. But there is also a movement that brings "table to farm". Its purpose is to connect people to the land and to honor local farmers by creating a sort of restaurant without walls.

    Its founder, Jim Denevan, got the idea for this kind of "culinary adventure (美食探险)", as he called it, ten years ago. He recently prepared tables for more than a hundred people at Briars Farm in Virginia. He and his eight-member team arrived the night before. Chefs (厨师) from a local  restaurant prepared the dinner.

    Jim Denevan's brother is a farmer and he himself is a chef. He thought that the idea of a meal served right on the farm made sense, though not everyone agreed.

    "But I wanted to make the idea work, so I decided to cross the country, " said Denevan. "I went all the way across the United States and set the table on farms, ranches (大牧场) and beaches, and all the places where food came from. "

    "This kind of event connects us with a lot of enthusiastic people, people that we can form relationships with, " said Matt Szechenyi, who operates Briars Farm.

    The tour of the farm ends at the dinner table. The meats in the meal come from Matt Szechenyi's farm. The vegetables come from nearby farms. Guests and local farmers sit together.

    Annoica Ingram came with a friend. "The food is wonderful. I appreciate their hard work. I see everything they have to do to take care of the animals and make sure they are well-cared-for. Without them, I think, we'll have big problems, " she said.