The Asian elephant has been respected for centuries and is still used today for ceremonies and religious purposes. It is respected, not only because it plays a role in Asian culture and religion, but also because it is a key biological species in the tropical forests of Asia.

    The Asian elephant is the largest land mammal in Asian. It is smaller than the African elephant, with relatively smaller ears. Asian elephants have a single “finger” on the upper lip of the long trunk, while African elephants have a second on the lower tip. A number of adult male Asian elephants have no tooth, and the percentage of males carrying ivory(象牙）is different from only about 5% in Sri Lanka to 90% in south India. Asian elephants keep their ears in constant motion in order to free the heat they produce. The species is reported to have well-developed hearing, vision, and smell , and they are also fine swimmers.

    Asian elephants prefer to convey something to form groups surrounding 6 to 7 related females that are led by the oldest female. Like African elephants, these groups occasionally join others to form herds, although these associations are relatively temporary.

    More than two thirds of the day may be spent feeding on grasses, but large amounts of tree bark, roots, leaves and small stems are also eaten. Crops such as bananas, rice and sugar plants are favored foods. Besides, they need to drink at least twice a day so the source of water is quite important.

    The Asian elephant used to live from modern Irap and Syria to the Yellow River in China at first, but it is now found only from India to Vietnam, with a tiny population in the extreme southwest of China's Yunnan Province. More than 100,000 Asian elephants may have existed at the start of the 20^th century. The population is estimated to have fallen by at least 50% over the last 60-75 years.

    You should make thorough plans before you undertake a camping trip. Just follow these simple camping guidelines to make your trip safe and rewarding.

Selecting an appropriate tent

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} When determining the size of your tent, you should take into account the number of campers as well as the camping equipment necessary for your trip. There should be enough room in tihe tent for the camping equipment{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

Importance of food

    While camping, you will need enough food to give you enough energy for your outdoor work.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}You should use a two burner stove to do all your cooking. Insist on simplicity in cooking and use vegetables and ready-made food during your trip to minimize cooking time.

Adequate sleep

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Nights are generally cooler than the days so you need to have enough warm clothes to feel comfortable enough to sleep during the night. When buying a sleeping bag, check that you feel comfortable in it. Extra air mattresses (气垫) may be included in your camping equipment to make your bed more comfortable.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Bear these camping guidelines in mind and make sure you are fully prepared to enjoy your camping trip.

A. All campers should have adequate sleep during the night.

B. Thus you must have an efficient arrangement for food preparation.

C. The best camping trips are had by those people who prepare the best.

D. Take healthy and nourishing food with you to meet energy demands during your trip.

E .The comfort level in a tent determines the success of a camping trip.

F. The size is the most important thing you should carefully consider when choosing a tent.

G. It will destroy the mood of the entire camping trip if you don't have a good sleeping bag.

    Would you buy a car that released calming smells into the air when you are stuck in heavy traffic? Would you buy a robot that smells like a human being?

    Many people have seen the 3-D computer-made environments of virtual reality (VR). Now these virtual worlds will not just look and sound real. Researchers have created VR environments that even smell like the real things. With the new technology, users open a virtual door and step into a new environment, like a rainforest. After they enter this virtual world, special equipment releases forest-like smells into the air to make the experience seem more real.

    Suzanne Fisher-Murray said, “it is a really wonderful experience that you have because you're exploring this environment and you have smells with it.”

    In the United States, Smell-O-Vision was designed to provide smells during the showing of a movie. The Smell-0-Vision system was once popular in the 1960s. Now, Emanuela Maggioni says it is close to becoming popular again. “The connection with emotions, memories, and…the sense of smell,” Maggioni said. “It is unbelievable what we can do with technology.”

    The uses for smell technology are not just limited to films and the performing arts. Researchers showed a computer program where users could imagine themselves driving a car. The system included a special smell-spraying machine. Dmitrijs Dmitrenko said, “We want to deliver the smell of lavender（薰衣草）every time the person drives over the speed limit. We choose lavender because it's a very calming smell.”

    Scientists are experimenting with smell instead of sounds or image-based alerts on telecommunications equipment. And businesses are already using smell to influence people's behavior. “Not only.…in stores…But on the other side, you can create and stimulate immediate buying,” Maggioni said. “So you're in a library and you smell coffee and actually you are unconsciously having the need to drink a coffee.”

    Every one complains（抱怨）. Even if you argue that you are the happiest person in the world, you still complain sometimes.

    Sometimes you complain: without even realizing it, but rarely is it ever helpful. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Here are some tips to stop complaint and give up the negative thoughts: {#blank#}2{#/blank#}When you find yourself thinking or saying a negative comment about something or someone, stop and force yourself to say something positive instead. Seek the help of a cheerful friend to change you when you complain and help you to see the positive in the situation.

    Make a list of things that we are grateful for.

    We often complain about the things we don't have without noticing those things we already have.

    Be grateful for what we have in our life because we are lucky simply for being ourselves. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Learn to adapt to the changes. There are many things we can't change.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Always find the positive side of each situation, regardless of however difficult the situation is. With parents' and friends' support, we can survive any life changes.

    Find what makes you happy.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Maybe it is time to make the hard decision to move on to another job or career.

    Uncover what your biggest complaints are about and see if you can change the situation to make you happy. Choose happiness, focus on the positive, and be kind always!

A. Sometimes this list can be easy, full of hobbies you enjoy.

B. Are you constantly complaining about your present job?

C. So how can you manage to force yourselves to end complaining?

D. Set down things we are thankful for and we'll see that we don't have any reason to complain.

E. Change the way you think.

F. The best and only thing we can do is to accept them.

G. Make positive people friends.

    Turning the lights out or wearing a blindfold while eating could be a quick way to lose weight, according to scientists. The simple trick works because it stops diners eating for pleasure rather than for calories. It also triggers (引发) a part of the brain that is worried that unseen food may go bad.

    An experiment by the University of Konstanz, in Germany, found that people who were blindfolded consumed nine percent fewer calories before they felt full, compared to those who could see. They also vastly overestimated how much they had eaten because they could not see how much was left on the plate. Blindfolded volunteers estimated(估计) they had eaten 88 percent more than they actually had.

    Scientists believe that not seeing food on the table also allows the body to know when it is full in real time rather than remembering past experiences where it might have taken a full plate to feel full.

    In the experiment, 50 people were blindfolded and 40 were allowed to see their food. All were told not to eat within two hours of the experiment. They were then given three 95g bowls of chocolate ice cream and invited to eat for 15 minutes. Their bowls were taken away and the remaining ice-cream weighed, while the participants were quizzed on how much they thought they had eaten.

    On average the group who could see ate 116g while the blindfolded groups ate 105g. However, the blindfolded group believed they had eaten 197g while compared with 159g for the non-blind volunteers. They were also asked how pleasant the ice-cream tasted and the blindfolded group rated lower than those who could see.

    “The experienced pleasure of eating was significantly lower in the blindfolded group. Not seeing the food might have decreased the appetite. Sight plays an important role in the eating experience and in the overall dining experience.”

    Previous studies have shown that the visual influence of food plays a large part in the taste. While restaurants that allow diners to eat in the dark state that it triggers other senses, in fact eating in darkness is likely to taste far milder than usual.

New research into a long-lived tree has shown some of the tricks that have helped it survive for thousands of years. The ginkgo(银杏树) is a huge, slow-growing tree with fan-shaped leaves, native to China, but planted in parks and gardens across the world. Some of the largest ginkgoes are said to be more than 3, 000 years old.

In order to discover how these and other trees can live for so long, scientists from the US and China studied 34 healthy ginkgoes of different ages. The team studied growth rings in each tree's trunk(树干), as well as cells(细胞) from the bark, leaves and seeds. They found that 600-year-old trees were just as healthy as 2-year-olds.

To learn more, the team then looked in detail at the DNA of nine trees aged between three and 667 years old. DNA is the chemical in the cells of plants and animals that holds instructions that tell any living thing how to grow and develop-including what to do at different times in its life At the beginning of a tree's life, DNA instructs the cells in a seedling to divide quickly so the tree grows rapidly. The cells also make special chemicals to help the young plant survive difficult situations, such as disease. As most trees grow older, their DNA tells their cells to divide more slowly (so growth slows down) and to make fewer chemical defenses(防御).

Ginkgoes, however, do things differently. The team found that although their growth finally slows, both young and old trees make protective chemicals." The secret is keeping a really healthy defense system," said researcher Richard Dixon." As ginkgoes age, they show no sign of weakening their ability to defend themselves from things like disease. "Other trees that live for a long time may have the same ability.

For all their defenses, though, ginkgoes cannot live forever--they finally meet with deadly accidents such as fire, disease and storms. While they last, however, these leafy trees are some of the most beautiful trees in the world.