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      A new collectionof photos brings an unsuccessful Antarctic voyage back to life.

Frank Hurley's pictures would be outstanding—undoubtedly first-rate photo-journalism—if they had been made last week. In fact, they were shot from 1914 through 1916, most of them after a disastrous shipwreck(海滩), by a cameraman who had no reasonable expectation of survival. Many of the images were stored in an ice chest, under freezing water, in the damaged wooden ship.

The ship was theEndurance, a small, tight, Norwegian-built three-master that was intended to take Sir Ernest Shackleton and a small crew of seamen and scientists, 27 men in all, to the southernmost shore of Antarctica's Weddell Sea. From that point Shackleton wanted to force a passage by dog sled(雪橇) across the continent. The journey was intended to achieve more than what Captain Robert Falcon Scott had done. Captain Scott had reached the South Pole early in 1912 but had died with his four companions on the march back.

As writer Caroline Alexander makes clear in her forceful and well-researched story The Endurance, adventuring was even then a thoroughly commercial effort. Scott's last journey, completed as be lay in a tent dying of cold and hunger, caught the world's imagination, and a film made in his honor drew crowds. Shackleton, a onetime British merchant-navy officer who had got to within 100 miles of the South Pole in 1908, started a business before his 1914 voyage to make money from movie and still photography. Frank Hurley, a confident and gifted Australian photographer who knew the Antarctic, was hired to make the images, most of which have never before been published.

    Teaching materials for learning Chinese are provided here. There are sites where you may find interesting instructions suitable for you. Here are some sites to begin your surfing.

    You may start with these pages from this website — just to get a little taste of it without working too hard.

    A Is For Love

    Flash cards for learning a few Chinese words

    Listening to the sound of Chinese

    Play a few words of Chinese on your computer.

    A few Chinese words

    Each word is enlarged for easy study.

    If you are studying Chinese, these tools can help.

    Zhongwen site

    More than a dictionary!

    Clavis Sinica

    Excellent program by Professor David Porter. It displays a whole document in Chinese [GB] or [BIG5], and gives individual word's definition, pronunciation as well as much more information when you click on that word. If you are studying Chinese, this is a very useful tool.

    Chinese Character Visual Dictionary

    If you like to know more, go to the following sites on the Internet.

    The Chinese Outpost

    Pronunciation, Character and Grammar By Mark Andrew Baker. The best. A must-visit site.

    Learn Cantonese / Mandarin Online

    Internet Based Chinese Teaching and Learning

    Rainland Kids discover Chinese — Site is in Germany

    If you want to have a better understanding of China, go to this one.

    Wanfang Data

    As an affiliate (分支) of Chinese Ministry of Science & Technology, Wanfang Data has been the leading information provider in China since 1950s. With a wide range of database resources and value-added services, Wanfang Data has become a gateway to understanding Chinese culture, medicine, business, science, etc.

    Fikiri Kiponda's path from accountant to marine (海洋的) conservationist was sparked by a chance encounter.    After securing his dream job, Kiponda decided he wanted more. He wasn't quite sure what he was looking for until he ran across some turtle hatchlings.

    He didn't know it was turtle. Fortunately enough he got the right person to ask and he got motivated. That person was Nkindi, a staff member at the Watamu Conservation project who later invited him to volunteer on the project. He later left his accounting job and fully devoted himself into the world of sea turtles. Now，he runs and spends his time nursing critically endangered sea turtles back to health.

    Sea turtles have been around for nearly 110 million years and are now considered highly endangered. Their preservation rests on activities of conservationists such as Kiponda as these turtles face numerous threats and signs of their extinction in the next 50 years.

    Local fishermen traditionally catch them to supplement their own low catch rates and sell them for their oil. As changes are made to accommodate more hotels for tourists, there is less available beach land for turtle nesting.

    Kiponda's passion has now spread to his community, changing their attitude towards sea life preservation with his “by-catch release programme.”

    Through this program, fishermen are now paid for returning turtles accidentally caught in their fishing nets. The healthy ones are tagged and released into the marine park while he takes care of sick and injured turtles back to health.

    Before the launch of pioneering spirit like this, turtles caught by fishermen were used for their meat and their oil extracted (提炼) for its medicinal properties.

    “Releasing the turtle back into the ocean is a very good feeling, like, you feel like you've done something concrete and I guess everybody would love to do that...so I guess it's unique work.”

    Norman Borlaug, who is making a difference, is known around the world. He is often described as the man who has saved more lives than any other person in history. Norman Borlaug is considered the father of what has been called the Green Revolution. His ideas about agriculture increased crop production and ended hunger in many nations. Mr. Borlaug continues to be a leader among agricultural researchers.

    Norman Borlaug was born in 1914 on a farm in the American state of Iowa. In the middle of the 20th century, world population was expanding faster than food production. Experts said many people in developing countries would face starvation.

    Norman Borlaug was an agricultural researcher at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico. He developed methods of growing wheat that increased the amount harvested by three times. He later repeated this success in India, Pakistan and Africa.

    His methods of farming saved millions of people who would have starved to death. Norman Borlaug was given the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in 1970.

    Norman Borlaug is still urging experts to think about the needs of people around the world. His latest concern is a disease in wheat called UG99. He says it has the power to destroy most of the wheat being grown around the world. He says reductions in agricultural programs have made it harder to take action against such threats.

    Mr. Borlaug's granddaughter Julie works at the center named after him at Texas A&M University in Dallas. She says his worry about food problems rises from the belief that hunger is unacceptable. She says Norman Borlaug still believes it is our responsibility as human beings to feed one another.

    Alibaba, Bank of China and Huawei—these are the dream employers for Chinese students, according to a new survey.

    “The survey of more than 55,000 students, conducted by the research firm Universum, has found that roughly a quarter want to work for an international company, while only 9％ want to work for a start-up. Five percent want to start their own business.”

    The students said that work-1ife balance was the most important career goal, followed by job stability. When it comes to desirable companies, Bank of China has been named the top choice by business students for seven consecutive years, and the gigantic state-owned firm shows no signs of giving up its lead.

    William Wu, the China country manager for Universum, said that banking remains an attractive industry for young Chinese. “China's government is now emphasizing the revolution of the finance industry, which leaves the younger generation with the impression that although banking is a traditional industry, there are still a lot of development opportunities.” Wu said.

    E-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA, Tech30) improved six places from 2014, ranking second among business students. Alibaba's rise shouldn't come as much of a surprise—the company held a record-breaking $25 billion IPO in September.

    Among engineering students, Alibaba was once again a bridesmaid. Instead, Huawei—a telecoms infrastructure firm that now makes consumer products-took the top spot.

    “Both of these companies are pioneers in terms of local companies going international.” said Wu. “It shows that… an international development strategy has a positive influence among Chinese young talents.” Tech companies ruled the rankings for humanities students, with Alibaba—which was ninth in 2014 —landing at the top. Last year, Apple was the Number l choice of Chinese students.

    While visiting the North pole in winter may not be at the top of your bucket list, the ever-changing ICEHOTEL, which opened its doors to visitors on December 14 this year, may change your mind.200 km north of the Arctic Circle in the Swedish village of Jukkasjārvi, the hotel, which is carved entirely from ice, is rebuilt annually.

    The 35 rooms, built to accommodate visitors on all kinds of budgets, vary from expensive suites to basic rooms that are furnished with just an icy bed and a reindeer skin. Among the highlights this year is the “Spruce Woods” suite. Sculpted by Christopher Pascoe and Jennie O'Keefe of Canada, it describes a camping scene complete with a classic microbus, a forest, and even an artificial campfire.

    There is also the artfully-carved “Living Ocean” suite to remind visitors of the importance of saving our oceans. The room is full of carved sea life that includes coral and a shark “swimming” right over the ice bed. “The suite is inspired by global warming and the overfishing that affects our oceans.” says artist Jonathan Paul Green. “I also think the idea of using frozen water from a river in northern Sweden to create an ocean with shells, fish, and corals is exciting.”

    The nearby “Haven” suite is a “magical gate of ice” guarded by two large animals. “We are inspired by the meeting between people and want to create an experience that invites curiosity and creativity, "says artist Jonas Johansson." It feels like a dream to get to work with ice that allows our love for light, shine, and reflection to wander freely from thought to creation.”

    Regardless of whether visitors select the carved suites or the basic ice rooms, the temperature is always set to a bone-chilling －5℃! That is why guests are advised to snuggle(蜷缩)up inside sleeping bags and wear gloves and winter hats all night. Not surprisingly, most end up spending just a single night at this unique hotel before moving on to the conventional and warmer hotels nearby.