Alpacas(羊驼) are members of the camel family, having lived in South America for thousands of years. Their fur gives the animals a teddy bear_like appearance. Alpacas are too small to be used as animals of burden but are valued only for their fur. Generally, their lifespan is around 15 to 20 years.

    Alpacas are social animals that live in family groups made up of a male, females and their young. They are gentle, elegant, curious, intelligent and observant. They are safe and pleasant to be around, moving gracefully and slowly around the field, and are therefore unlikely to run into or over anyone, even small children. Occasionally, an alpaca will spit snd kick, but the soft padded(有爪垫的) feet usually do little more than just“get your attention”.

    Because these animals are environmentally friendly and need so little grass and food, you can usually raise from two to eight alpacas on an acre of land with grass or hay. A single, 60 pound bale(大捆) of hay can generally feed a group of about 20 alpacas for one day. Alpacas also require access to plenty of fresh water to drink.

    Alpaca fur is used for making knittedd and woven(编织) items, just as sheep's wool is. These items include blankets, sweaters, hats, gloves, scarves, a wide variety of textiles(针织品) in South America, and sweaters, socks, coats and bedding in other parts of the world. The fur comes in more than 52 natural colors as classified in Peru, 12 as classified in Australia and 16 as classified in the United States.

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Murcia

    I have spent about 8 months living in Murcia and I feel that I should put it as number one on my list. On my return from exploring other cities, I always feel like I'm returning home when I set foot in Murcia. The city centre is full of life and energy and has an incredible atmosphere all year round. Although the accent takes you a little time to get used to at first, you will adjust to it. Murcia is also home to some gorgeous(壮丽的) beaches and amazing coastal views. So it really does have the best of both worlds!

Gibraltar

    I visited Gibraltar during the Easter holidays and I was totally surprised by the beauty of Gibraltar! From a short cable car riding up to the top of the rock you are met with splendid views over the coast and the adorable monkeys which curiously come to greet you on your arrival. Make sure to hide all your food because they think it's a gift for them!

Valencia

    Valencia is beautiful. It's as simple as that! The river-area is so exciting and full of life, all the way up to the science museum and beaches. However, I was a little confused by the fact that the river had long been filled in and turned into a park, yet people still referred to it as The River.

Alicante

    I have spent many a weekend in Alicante, making the most of the beautiful beach in low season, before all the tourists arrive. May is the high season here, so I'd definitely recommend a visit in April, September, or October, just before or after the holiday season.

    For Suilasaikhan, a man living in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region(IMAR)(内蒙古自治区), life was hard years ago. When the wind blew, the sand made it almost impossible for him to see anything. He had to find his way back home by following the barking of dogs.

    Thankfully, things are much better today. About one third of the desert is now covered with trees, and sandstorms are less common. Ian Teh, who comes from Malaysia, came to China last year and was amazed to see people planting trees in the several deserts in northern China. "To be honest, it was hard to imagine it was ever a desert at all," he said.

    These are the results of Chinas years-long efforts to deal with desertification (沙漠化). In the 1950s, this widespread problem affected the life of about 400 million people in 18 provinces and autonomous regions in China. So China started several programs to deal with it. For example, the Three-North Shelter Forest Program, saw thousands of trees planted in northern China.

    In 1994, China joined the United Nations' convention (公约) against desertification and created the world's first law on sand prevention in 2001. With these efforts, the past five years have seen the area of desert in China decrease by 242,400 hectares.

    Desertification isn't the problem only in China. With china's success in dealing with desertification, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) believes the country is a good example for other countries to follow. "China is one of the most successful countries in greening the desert and has lessons to share with the world." UNEP Executive Director Erik Solheim told Xinhua.

    Earthquakes are something that people fear. There are some places that have few or no earthquakes. Most places in the world, however, have them regularly (有规律地). Countries that have a lot of earthquakes are usually quite mountainous.

    The earthquake which was talked about most in the United States was in San Francisco in 1906. Over 700 people died in it. The strongest one in North America was in 1964. It happened in Alaska.

    Strong earthquakes are not always the ones that kill the most people. In 1755, one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded was felt in Portugal. Around 2,000 people died.

    In 1923, a very strong earthquake hit Tokyo, the Yokohama area of Japan. One hundred and forty thousand people died. Most of them died in fires which followed the earthquake.

    One of the worst earthquakes ever was in China in 1976. It killed a large number of people. The worst earthquake ever recorded was also in China, in which about 80,000 people were killed or injured. This earthquake happened in 2008.

    Earthquakes worry people a lot. The reason is that we often do not know when they are coming. People cannot prepare for them.

    Weaving hammocks is an art that takes a sharp eye, a skilled hand and lots of patience. But in Lenwood Haddock's case, being blind works to his advantage. His trained, sensitive hands are acutely aware of every step of the process. Since beginning his craft in 1986, Lenwood has woven about 145, 000 perfect hammocks.

    Lenwood lost his sight in 1973, at age 18, during a hunting accident. “My whole working career has been blind,” he says. He first found a job as a woodworker, but when that organization closed, the North Carolina Division of Services for the Blind connected him with Hatteras Hammocks. On his first day of work. “I did a total of one hammock,” Lenwood recalls, laughing. “And then I came home and lay down to sleep. I lift weights, but I wasn't as tough as I thought until I started weaving.lt takes a lot of energy, and you're standing up all day.”

    In time, however, Lenwood found he had a knack (窍门) for the job. At first he worked on-site at the company, but after a year Lenwood moved his operation to the home workshop where he had worked for 10 years during his woodworking days.

    There, he creates dozens of hammocks each week from ropes in a variety of sizes. One day, he realized the step counter on his phone recorded him walking eight miles without ever leaving his shop.

    The process of weaving a hammock involves making and catching hundreds of loops (环). A single missed stitch (织针) creates a hole that can widen and make the hammock uncomfortable or even dangerous to use. Experienced weavers miss loops sometimes, but to his company's knowledge, Lenwood has never turned in a hammock with even one dropped stitch. Lenwood's skilled fingers are quick to catch and fix any mistakes.

    The company has acquired other brands and changed its name to The Hammock Source. Today, it is the world's largest maker and seller of hammocks, all built by hand.

    However, Lenwood's routine has changed little. He works his fingers back and forth across the rows, looping the rope and pulling it. With every hammock, Lenwood presents himself a perfect product. “I'm not sure how sighted people do it,” he admits.

    To fight for the conservation of forest ecosystem, several ecologists including Daniel Janzen convinced Del Oro, an orange juice producer, to donate part of their forestland to a national park. In return, Del Oro was allowed to throw large amounts of waste in the form of orange peels (皮) on a 3-hectare piece of land within the national park at no cost. Dealing with tons of leftover peels usually involved burning them or paying to have them poured into a landfill, so the proposal was very attractive.

    But a year later, another juice company challenged the deal in court, arguing that their competitor was “polluting a national park”. They ended up winning, and the deal between Del Oro and the national park fell through.

    Then in 2013, while discussing possible research avenues with Timothy Treuer, Daniel Janzen mentioned the orange story. Feeling interested, Treuer decided to stop by that piece of land that had been covered with fruit waste 15 years earlier. What he found shocked him.

    “While I would walk over exposed rock and dead grass in the nearby fields, I'd have to climb through undergrowth and cut paths through walls of vines (藤) in the orange peel site itself.” said Timothy Treuer.

    Treuer and his team spent months picking up samples (样品), analyzing and comparing them. They found great differences between the areas covered with orange peels and those that were not. The area with orange waste had richer soil.

    The effect that the orange peels had on the land is probably not that surprising to people familiar with composting (施肥), but what is really shocking is that a judge actually thought the waste of orange “mined” a national park and stopped it from going forward. Now that Timothy Treuer's study has received worldwide attention, this type of “ruining” is being seriously considered as a way of bringing forests back to life.