“I see you've got a bit of water on your coat,” said the man at the petrol station. “Is it raining out there?”“No, it's pretty nice,” I replied, checking my sleeve. “Oh, right. A pony(马驹) bit me earlier.”
        As it happened, the bite was virtually painless: more the kind of small bite you might get from a naughty child. The pony responsible was queuing up for some ice cream in the car park near Haytor, and perhaps thought I'd jumped in ahead of him.
        The reason why the ponies here are naughty is that Haytor is a tourist-heavy area and tourists are constantly feeding the ponies foods, despite sighs asking them not to. By feeding the ponies, tourists increase the risk of them getting hit by a car, and make them harder to gather during the area's annual pony drift(迁移).
        The purpose of a pony drift is to gather them up so their health can be checked, the baby ones can be stooped from feeding on their mother's milk, and those who've gone beyond their limited area can be returned to their correct area. Some of them are also later sold, in order to limit the number of ponies according to the rules set by Natural England.
        Three weeks ago, I witnessed a small near-disaster a few mils west of here. While walking, I noticed a pony roll over on his back.       “Hello!” I said to him, assuming he was j  ust rolling for fun, but he was very still and, as I got closer, I saw him kicking his legs in the air and breathing heavily. I began to properly worry about him. Fortunately, I managed to get in touch with a Dartmoor's Livestock Protection officer and send her a photo. The officer immediately sent a local farmer out to check on the pony. The pony had actually been trapped between two rocks. The farmer freed him, and he began to run happily around again.
      Dartmoor has 1,000 or so ponies, who play a critical role in creating the diversity of species in this area. Many people are working hard to preserve these ponies, and trying to come up with plans to find a sustainable(可持续的) future for one of Dartmoor's most financially-troubled elements.

    Most people would say the sea is blue and green. But the people who live near the coast of Zhejiang may say it is red. It is not people who caused the colour change, but very small living thing in the sea. They are algae(藻类)and protozoa(原生动物). They come in many different colours; red, yellow or brown. Red is the easiest of those to see so when this happens people call it a “red tide.”

    Red tides only happen when conditions in the sea are right. In the past few years, factories and people have been putting more chemicals into the sea. These chemicals help algae and protozoa to grow very quickly. The temperature of the sea is also important. Red tides usually happen at 20 to 30 degrees Celsius. Red tides often happen in dry, warm areas where there is little wind. Living things grow easily in these places. Sometimes fishermen help red tides by mistake. They put small sea animals into the water for food to help fish grow.

    Those living things do more than change the colour of the water-they also put poison and mucus(黏液)into the sea. This is had for fish. The poison is bad for their brains. And too much mucus in the sea fills up fish's gills(鳃) so they can't breathe. Lots of dead fish and other sea animals are now washed up on Chinese beaches.

    Red tides can be bad for people too. We shouldn't eat fish from red-tide waters. The algae gets inside of fish and it smells bad. It can make your eyes water. If people eat fish with too much algae inside they could die.

    Fishermen in Zhejiang are having a hard time right now. Because of the red tide, they are selling 30% less fresh seafood than usual.

    In China red tides usually happen in May and June around places like Fujian Guangdong and Hong Kong.

    Many other countries sometimes also have red tides. But it seems that we have few ways to stop red tides. They can last as long as 16 months.

    It used to be a matter of fact when Peter Pan – a character from James Matthew Barrie's 1911 book – said: “All children, except one, grow up.”

    But this “fact” doesn't seem to apply to today's world anymore.

    According to the NPD Group, a US market research company, sales of toys to adults in the UK increased by more than 20 percent in 2016, three times the pace of the children's toy market itself. These toys ranged from puzzles and Lego building sets to vehicle models and action figures. And more than half of the sales came from millennials – people born between the 1980s and 2000s.

    “Adults of the 21st century are channeling (疏导) their inner child, one toy at a time,” commented website Koreaboo. This is also why these adults are sometimes referred to as “kidults”.

    According to Frederique Tutt, an analyst at NPD, the motivation of these grown-ups is to escape the stress of today's fast-paced world. They are driven toward the more immediate pleasures brought by toys than those brought by, say, getting a promotion, which is far less easy to achieve.

    “It reminds me of the playful side of life,” Rob Willner, a 25-year-old PhD student in the UK, told The Telegraph when talking about his love for Lego, which he said brings him both comfort and entertainment.

    Despite this, some social scientists see the trend as disturbing. To Frank Furendi, a professor at the University of Kent in the UK, the fact that so many adults are pursuing “the thrills (刺激) of youth” is the evidence that “adulthood has got nothing attractive about it anymore”, he told The New York Times.u “That's actually quite sad.”

    But scientists are probably just worrying too much. According to Canadian comic book artist Todd McFarlane, collecting toys could simply be a way for people to express their individuality (个性).

    “It's just pop culture stuff. It's stuff that says, 'I like a little of this and I like a little of that',” he told ABC News. “[It's] no big deal.”

    So now that over 100 years have passed since Peter Pan, perhaps it's time to introduce a new “fact”, as stated in the tagline (品牌宣传词) of the UK fashion brand KIDULT: “Growing old is mandatory (强制性的), but growing up is optional.”

    A newly-published study has shown that loneliness can spread from one person to another, like a disease.

    Researchers used information from the Framingham Study, which began in 1948. The Framingham Study gathers information about physical and mental( 心 理 的 ) health, personal behavior and diet. At first, the study involved about 5,000 people in the American state of Massachusetts. Now, more than 12,000 persons are taking part.

    Information from the Framingham Study showed earlier that happiness can spread from person to person. So can behaviors like littering and the ability to stop smoking.

    University of Chicago psychologist (心理学家) John Cacioppo led the recent study. He and other researchers tried to show how often people felt lonely. They found that the feeling of loneliness spread through social groups.

    Having a social connection with a lonely person increased the chances that another person would feel lonely. In fact, a friend of a lonely person was 52% more likely to develop feelings of loneliness. A friend of that person was 25% more likely. The researchers say this shows that a person could indirectly be affected by someone's loneliness.

    The effect was strongest among friends. Neighbors were the second most affected group. The effect was weaker on husbands and wives, and brothers and sisters. The researchers also found that loneliness spread more easily among women than men.

    The New York Times newspaper reports that, on average, people experience feelings of loneliness about 48 days a year. It also found that every additional friend can decrease loneliness by about five percent, or two and a half fewer lonely days.

    Loneliness has been something to do with health problems like sadness and sleeping difficulties. The researchers believe that knowing the causes of loneliness could help in reducing it.

    The study suggests that people can take steps to stop the spread of loneliness. They can do this by helping individuals they know who may be experiencing loneliness. The result can be helpful to the whole social group.

    Like any new ninth-grader on the first day of school, Joemar Class had ninth-grader- emotion (情绪). He's not used to school in Hartford. He's used to going to school in his home town of Florida, used to seeing his friends, used to having class in Spanish.

    "Nervioso," he said in Spanish.

    We first met Joemar in mid-October in the San Juan Airport. His father, Guillermo Class, had sold his car to buy plane tickets to get his kids and fly them up from Puerto Rico. The island was almost destroyed (毁坏) by the deadly storm—Hurricane Maria.

    Now, they are settling into their new home in Hartford's South End. A week later, and, using his wife's car, Class drove 16-year-old Joemar to his first day at Bulkeley High School. After a short ride, he got out in front of his new school. Inside, he met Gretchen Levitz—the school's program director.

    "I see you have new uniform (校服)," Levitz said. "You look great. Are you ready for a good first day?"

    Then he met couple of teachers.

     "Hello," they each said in Spanish. They asked where he's from, and told him they were happy to see him. Then Levitz took him on a quick tour of the school before classes began—to her office the school store, the library, and the dining hall.

    A total of 19 languages are spoken in Bulkeley High School. "We have so many new students coming here from other countries every single day," Levitz said. "So it's not like he's the only one who has that feeling."

    "You could tell he's little worried," Guillermo said as we left." But, at the same time, he's looking forward to it."

Everyone likes travelling. Travelling makes a person relaxed and get lots of knowledge, especially for teenagers. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} You don't need to be rich to travel, but knowing how much money you have is necessary. If you are not available, you may decide to put off your trip.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}If you are working, check how much vacation time you have saved up. Check your calendar and decide how many days you can spend travelling.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Find out the right season and the right time to leave. For example, if you want to be a tourist in Hangzhou, you'd better start your trip in April or May.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}There are many websites that you can use to search for your flights, your hotels and many other places which you can visit. You can even book (预订) everything online.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Think about what to take during the trip. Your ID card, your passport, your phone, your underwear, your shoes and everything you have to take. Or you will spend your money buying them again.