◆The Big Cake Show comes to the WestPoint Arena in Exeter, England, March 21-22. Hopefully, cakes of all sizes will be on sale and on show. An impressive list of famous people sharing their great knowledge and skill includes Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood and Gregg Wallace. Tickets, from ￡12, are available online (bigcakeshow.com).

    ◆From January 17 to March 8, RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey, England has some special guests to brighten the winter: beautiful butterflies. The Glasshouse introduces a group of butterflies from other countries feeding on fruit and the juice-rich plants of the Exotic Zone. Tickets for adults are ￡13.20, for children are ￡6.60. For a family with 2 adults and 2 children, they should pay ￡32.75 in total. For groups of more than 10 adults, each should pay ￡10.80 (rhs. org.uk/wisley).

    ◆The week-long London Wine Week starts from May 18. Buy a ￡5 wristband to qualify for a pocket-sized guidebook and discounted wine around the capital. Partnering with London' s best bars and restaurants, we will be organizing events such as master classes and meet-the -maker time, plus offering discounts to wristband wearers (londonwineweek.com).

    ◆The World Shakespeare Festival begins in April, with everything from foreign productions of Shakespearean plays at Shakespeare's Globe to Shakespearean plays at the Royal Opera House. Plays will run until the end of the year in London, Birmingham, Newcastle and Gateshead. And there' s a programme of events such as director talks and family workshops. Prices start from ￡60 (worldshakespearefestival.org. uk).

    Night of the Living Zoo

    When: October 30th, 2016, 18:30-22:00

    Where: Lower Zoo

    Cost:

    Tickets now are on sale to FONZ (Friends of the National Zoo) members only! Not a member? Join now to get tickets at the member rate. FONZ members may purchase up to six tickets at the member price. Non-member tickets go on sale September 25th.

    General Admission: Includes live music, performance artists -including fortune tellers, fire breathers, as well as access to animal exhibits after hours, and interesting outdoor games. Also, all guests will receive free bottled water.

$ 20 FONZ members; $ 30 non-members.

    VIP Tickets: Include access to the VIP area, animal performances and private games, etc.

    $ 55 FONZ members; $ 80 non-members

    Details:

    It's back. Prepare to witness dangerous acts and amazing sights at the Zoo's annual Halloween event, Night of the Living Zoo. With live music, performance artists, and games, it's a special night of fun that you won't want to miss.

    FONZ encourages you to take public transportation and drink responsibly.

    Metro (地铁): The Zoo's Connecticut Avenue entrance is between the Red Line's Cleveland Park and Woodley Park Metro stops.

    Uber is Night of the Living Zoo's transportation partner this year! New to Uber? Sign up for $ 20 off your first ride (new users only).

    Parking: Parking at the event will be $ 22.

How can I fight laziness?

    Lazy people will never amount to anything in life. However, laziness can be defeated once a few changes have been made in your mind.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Many people lack sleep constantly, since they stay up too late and get up too early to prepare for work. These people have little motivation once they arrive home. Laziness works hand in hand with a lack of motivation and a tendency to put off things. By adjusting your sleep schedule to provide a few more hours of meaningful rest, you can fight laziness throughout the day.

    Another way to fight laziness is to change your mind from passive to active. Some people treat their lives as if they were pushed from task to task. Others take a more proactive approach, viewing each task as a challenge they must overcome alone. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Some people fight laziness by removing the temptations(诱惑) that surround them. A television in the living room may provide entertainment, but watching too much TV often contributes to laziness. Create a reward system for yourself, just as parents do for a child to promote responsibility {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Spouses(配偶) and children may all have different energy levels, but laziness can be spread if not dealt with immediately. To fight household laziness, lead by example. Be the first to collect and wash dishes after a meal. Others in the home may eventually follow your example and perform their own task. It is difficult to practice laziness when you are surrounded by motivated people.

    Finally, taking exercise regularly can help you fight laziness. Enough exercise and a balanced diet can help you to develop a healthy lifestyle {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Knowing how to fight laziness is important.

B. One way to fight laziness is to get enough sleep.

C. Laziness can also be a lasting problem at home.

D. Complete a few tasks and reward yourself with what you enjoy, such as a good dinner.

E. It can enable you to have more energy and help lift your spirits.

F. With strong determination, you will be able to achieve your goal.

G. Laziness sets in when you no longer feel in charge of your own life.

    First-time shoppers at Seattle-based Amazon Go may feel as though they were stealing. That's because the 1,800 square-foot grocery store, which opened its doors to the public on January 22, has no cashiers or even checkout counters. Instead, as the name indicates, customers merely grab what they need and go! But before you start celebrating, the goods are not free—the cost of the purchase(s) is/are calculated electronically using “Just Walk Out” technology.

    The process is simple. Upon entering the store, shoppers “sign-in” by scanning their smartphones. Every item selected gets added to the bill automatically. If the customer changes his mind, all he has to do is return the purchase to the shelf, and it will be removed from the final bill. Though consumers will not find everything they need, they will be able to buy basics like bread, milk, and drinks. There are also numerous ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner choices made by chefs in the on-site kitchen. Those that prefer to cook at home can select from the wide variety of Amazon Meal Packages.

    Once the customer exits the store, the system processes the purchases and charges the cost to their Amazon account. Within seconds, the customer is notified of the deal with a digital receipt that lists each item bought, as well as the time spent in the store. The accurate tracking is possible thanks to multiple smart cameras that monitor everything the shopper is doing. Kumar explains,“Cameras figure out which interactions(互动) you have with the shelves. Computer vision figures out which items are taken. Machine-learning also determines which item it is.” The company insists that the system is so accurate that shoplifting(偷盗) is impossible. And they should know, considering that Amazon employees have been shopping there since 2015!

    The store has raised some concern about the jobs of the over 3.5 million cashiers in America. However, Amazon officials say they have nothing to worry about because human employees are not being displaced. They are simply assigned other essential tasks, like preparing meals, restocking shelves, assisting customers, and solving technical issues.

    Over millions of years, African penguins have developed a keen sense of where to find food. Once they're old enough, they set off from the shores on which they were hatched（孵化） for the first time and swim long distances in search of tasty fish like anchovies and sardines. But they don't search directly for the fish themselves. When African penguins head out to sea, they look for areas with low surface temperatures and high chlorophyll（叶绿素）. Because those conditions signal the presence of algae（藻类）. And lots of algae means lots of plankton（浮游动物）, which in turn means lots of their favorite fish. Well, that's what it used to mean.

    Climate change plus overfishing have made the penguin feeding grounds a mirage（海市蜃楼）. The habitat is indeed plankton﹣rich, but now it's fish﹣poor. Researchers call this an "ecological trap." "It's a situation where you have a signal that previously pointed an animal towards good﹣quality habitat. That habitat has been changed, usually by human pressures. The signal stays, but the quality in the environment gets worse."

    Richard Sherley, a zoologist at the University of Exeter and his team used satellite imaging to track the African penguins from eight sites along southern Africa. Historically, the birds benefited from tons of fish off the coasts of Angola, Namibia and western South Africa, but now they're going hungry.

    "I was really hoping we'd see them going east, and finding areas which the fish had moved to but it ends up being quite a sad story for the penguins." said Richard.

    The researchers calculate that by falling into this ecological trap, African penguin populations on South Africa's Western Cape have declined by around 80 percent.

    Some research groups are exploring the idea of moving them to a place where they can't get trapped, like the Eastern Cape. But Sherley thinks that a solution in the long run means making and carrying out rules to create more sustainable（可持续的） fishing industry, which needs public support.

How long does a year last?{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Your parents might say that a whole year can pass―in the blink of an eye. Why does time seem to pass faster as we get older?

{#blank#}2{#/blank#} This physical change causes the rate at which we take in and process new information to decline. Babies, for example, move their eyes much more often than adults because they're processing images at a faster rate. They take in a lot of information and do many things in a single day.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}However, as people's brains degrade over time, fewer images are processed in the same amount of time. Therefore, older people receive less information during a day than younger people. This causes things to seem as though they're happening more quickly.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}People may measure time by the number of memorable events that can be recalled within a certain period. Have you ever noticed that when you recall your firsts, they seem to be in slow motion? That's because when something is a first, there are many exciting things to remember. Recalling these memories makes you feel like they took forever.

For many adults, life is routine. When they look back, they might feel like there are not many novel things to remember.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Children might say that a year lasts forever.

B. Different people have different feelings toward time.

C. Therefore, time seems to be moving faster to them.

D. As we grow older, we become less interested in new things.

E. This makes them feel like a single day lasts for a long time.

F. According to scientists, our brains degrade and change over time.

G. In addition, people may also feel time differently due to psychological reasons.