“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.

    The largest campaign of killing rats in history is set to poison millions of rats on the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. Scientists say the campaign planned for 2013 and 2014 will restore beautiful South Georgia to the position it once held as the world's most important nesting sites for seabirds.

    It was sailors in the late 18th century who unintentionally introduced rats to what had been a fresh environment. “If we can destroy the rats, at least 100 million birds will return to their home on South Georgia,” says Tony Martin, a biology professor at the University of Dundee who was invited to lead the project.

    South Georgia is by far the largest island to get rid of animals that destroy native wildlife after being introduced deliberately or accidentally by people. Though rats and mice have done the most damage, cats, foxes, goats, deer, rabbits and other species have been targeted in the campaigns around the world.

    South Georgia is seven times the size of New Zealand's Campbell Island, currently the largest area ever killing rats. The successful war against Campbell Island rats was carried out in 2001 with 132 tons of poison dropped from five helicopters.

    “New Zealand pioneered the techniques for ridding islands of rats and in fact our operation on South Georgia is based on New Zealand's technology.” Says Martin. “Some New Zealanders will be helping our campaign, including our chief pilot, Peter Garden, who was also chief pilot for the projects at Campbell Island and Rat Island, in the Aleutian chain of the north Pacific.”

    The second and third stages in 2013 and 2014 will involve dropping as much as 300 tons of poison from the air onto every part of the island where rats might live. It is a huge operation, carried out during the stormy southern autumn when the rats are hungry and the risks of poisoning native wildlife are less than in the spring and summer months. “Ideally we'd do in winter but the weather makes that too risky,” Martin says.

    The ecological payback will be priceless. But Martin says, “The full benefits will take decades to arrive, because some of these birds are slow to hatch.”

    When her classmates were having a good time, Molly sat at the picnic table alone. She remained awkward around her classmates. She seemed unsure of what to do or say, yet I could see her eyes longing for acceptance. Many students had already decided that her friendship would not be worth the energy required to overcome the awkwardness. Others teased her. Most ignored her except for one.

    Brianna, the class clown, was making the other students laugh, as usual. “Brianna, do you see Molly down there? Would you mind walking down there and inviting her to come up here with the rest of us?”

    Brianna sighed. I could tell she didn't want to sacrifice precious minutes of her own recess (休息) to do what I was asking of her, but I also knew her heart. She often thought of others before herself— a rare character for anyone, much less a kid.

    Knowing this choice was hard for her, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a D-buck, our class currency. Though bribery (行贿) was not the ideal way to handle this situation, I needed her cooperation.

    “Here, I'll pay you for your time.”

    She offered an insincere smile, grasped the green paper, and headed down the hill.

    As the rest of the children screamed and laughed, my eyes locked on Brianna as she neared the picnic table. Molly could be difficult, and I wouldn't have been surprised if she sent Brianna back alone, refusing her invitation. When she encouraged herself to a standing position, I sighed with relief.

    A minute later, I felt a tap on my shoulder. “Here, Mrs. D.” She handed me the D-buck.

    “Why?” I asked.

    “I shouldn't keep this,” Her eyes fell to her feet, guilt radiating from her quiet voice. “I don't want Molly to think I only went to get her so I could earn a D-buck. She's my friend.”

    A moment later, they were all laughing again, and who should I see among them, laughing for the first time that week? Molly.

"You can you up, no can no bb." The latest Chinglish buzz phrase, having swept through Chinese cyberspace (网络空间) and society, has now made a landing overseas, entering the US web-based Urban Dictionary.

According to the entry put forward by "gingerdesu", "You can you up" which means "If you can do it, go ahead and do it", is a Chinglish catch phrases referring to people who criticize others' work, especially when the critic is not so much better.

As well as "You can you up", other Chinglish catch phrases, such as "tuhao" and "no zuo no die", have also been recorded on the site.

    Coined with roots in Chinese grammar, and even containing Pinyin, Chinglish words and phrases are even spreading beyond grass roots (草根) websites.

In 2013, "dama" and "tuhao" found their way into The Wall Street Journal and the BBC, and words such as "feng shui", "Chengguan" and "people mountain people sea" have been admitted to the Oxford English Dictionary.

"The frequent use of Chinglish by foreign institutions suggests that people are looking more to the lifestyle and popular culture of China," says Zhang Yiwu, professor of Peking University's Department of Chinese Language and Literature.

"Words like 'dama' and 'tuhao' are so vivid. My friends and I use them a lot —it's so much fun," said Satoshi Nishida, a Japanese student studying at Beijing Language and Culture University.

"Behind these Chinglish words and phrases is the Chinese culture. They are reflections of the changes and trends in the Chinese society and they help people from other countries to understand what's happening in China," according to Xing Hongbing, a professor of Beijing Language and Culture University.

"When the price of gold went down last year, while the super purchasing power of the Chinese bargain-hunting middle-aged women drew worldwide attention, there was no effective way available in other languages to describe them, and 'dama' filled the gap very neatly," says Xing.

Teenage summer camps

    We helped on a nature reserve(保护区)for a week. We did different things every day, including cutting the reeds(芦苇),by the lake. Every day, we took turns to cook, in teams of five. When it was our teams turn, we made a simple dinner of pasta and salad for everyone. Judging by the fact that there was none left, we didn't do too badly!

-Adam

    We stayed with families who had kids our own age, and because they were on a mid-term break they came with us on all the trips. So except when we were actually in a language class, we were spending time with our new friends. It was a great way to practice the language we had been working on in the classroom.

-Oliver

    Every morning we had the same breakfast, and then cleaned up the camp. When it was all completely tidy, we could head off for the day. The first time we went into the city, we were put into teams and given lists of things to spot, like statues, squares and other landmarks. With some help from the locals, my team found almost all of the things on our list and came second. We went to different museums and galleries in and around the city every day. It was a great chance to learn about another country and its history.

-Sarah

    We stayed in a youth center in the suburbs, and went into the center of town by bus every day. It was a good way to see a bit of the city, and it didn't take long to get to the theater where we had our classes. I loved the atmosphere in the old building, and we could walk around during our breaks and watch rehearsals(排练). We learned a great deal and I'm looking forward to putting it all into practice at my school drama club next term!

-Malika

The Hanfu, cheongsam (or qipao), Tang suit, and Zhongshan suit are the four most distinctive types of traditional Chinese clothing.

The Hanfu is one of China's oldest traditional clothes, dating back over 3,000 years. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Until the Han Dynasty, the Hanfu was adopted and strongly promoted. It then became the national clothing of the Han ethnic(民族的) people. It also had a far-reaching influence on neighboring Asian countries. Nowadays, the clothing gains in popularity again especially on special occasions.

The cheongsam originated in the Qing Dynasty. It has mainly developed into Beijing styles, Shanghai styles and Hong Kong styles. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Beijing styles are more traditional and conservative and brighter. More Western elements are used in the designs and colors of Shanghai styles. Hong Kong styles have shorter sleeves and are always decorated in a simpler way.

The Tang suit, in many cases, refers to a type of Chinese jacket rather than the clothing of the Tang Dynasty. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} As the Tang Dynasty was famous for being powerful in the world, foreigners called the Chinese people living abroad "the Tang people" and their clothes "Tang suits". Traditional Tang suits usually have Chinese characters on them to express good luck or best wishes. 

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Nowadays, Tang suits are a kind of formal dress worn on special occasions like Chinese New Year.

First advocated by Sun Yat-sen, the Zhongshan suit, also known as the Mao suit, is a type of men's jacket. They can be worn on formal and casual occasions because of their symmetrical(对称的) shape, general appearance, elegance, and stable impression. The colors of Zhongshan suits are various, but usually plain, including black, white, blue, and grey. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

A. This name came from overseas.

B. The most popular ones include fu and shou.

C. Almost every dynasty had its own unique clothes.

D. Wearers choose different colors for different situations.

E. It was constantly improved throughout several dynasties.

F. It combines traditional Chinese and Western clothing styles.

G. There are many differences in decorations, colors and designs.