The African elephant, the largest land animal remaining on earth , is of great importance to African ecosystem(生态系统). Unlike other animals, the African elephant is to a great extent the builder of its environment. As a big plant-eater, it largely shapes the forest-and-savanna(大草原)surroundings in which it lives, therefore setting the terms of existence for millions of other animals that live in its habitat(栖息地).

    It is the elephant's great desire for food that makes it a disturber of the environment and an important builder of its habitat. In its continuous search for the 300 pounds of plants it must have every day, it kills small trees and underbushes, and pulls branches off big trees. This results in numerous open spaces in both deep tropical forests and in the woodlands that cover part of the African savannas. In these open spaces are numerous plants in various stages of growth that attract a variety of other plant-eaters.

    Take the rain forests for example. In their natural state, the spreading branches overhead shut out sunlight and prevent the growth of plants on the forest floor. By pulling down trees and eating plants, elephants make open spaces, allowing new plants to grow on the forest floor. In such situations, the forests become suitable for large hoofed plant-eaters to move around and for small plant-eaters to get their food as well.

    What worries scientists now is that the African elephant has become an endangered species. If the elephant disappears, scientists say, many other animals will also disappear from vast areas of forest and savanna, greatly changing and worsening the whole ecosystem.

    The meaning of silence varies among cultural groups. Silences may be thoughtful, or they may be empty when a person has nothing to say. A silence in a conversation may also show stubbornness, uneasiness, or worry. Silence may be viewed by some cultural groups as extremely uncomfortable; therefore attempts may be made to fill every gap (间隙) with conversation. Persons in other cultural groups value silence and view it as necessary for understanding a person's needs.

    Many Native Americans value silence and feel it is a basic part of communicating among people, just as some traditional Chinese and Thai persons do. Therefore, when a person from one of these cultures is speaking and suddenly stops, what maybe implied (暗示) is that the person wants the listener to consider what has been said before continuing. In these cultures, silence is a call for reflection.

    Other cultures may use silence in other ways, particularly when dealing with conflicts among people or in relationships of people with different amounts of power. For example, Russian, French, and Spanish persons may use silence to show agreement between parties about the topic under discussion. However, Mexicans may use silence when instructions are given by a person in authority rather than be rude to that person by arguing with him or her. In still another use, persons in Asian cultures may view silence as a sign of respect, particularly to an elder or a person in authority.

    Nurses and other care-givers need to be aware of the possible meanings of silence when they come across the personal anxiety their patients may be experiencing. Nurses should recognize their own personal and cultural construction of silence so that a patient's silence is not interrupted too early or allowed to go on unnecessarily. A nurse who understands the healing (治愈) value of silence can use this understanding to assist in the care of patients from their own and from other cultures.

    Shyness is the cause of much unhappiness for a great many people. Shy people are anxious and self-conscious; that is, they are excessively concerned with their own appearance and actions.

    Worrisome thoughts are constantly occurring in their minds: what kind of impression am I making? Do they like me? Do I sound stupid? Am I wearing unattractive clothes? It is obvious that such uncomfortable feelings must negatively affect people. A person's conception of himself or herself is reflected in the way he or she behaves, and the way a person behaves affects other people's reactions. In general, the way people think about themselves has a profound effect on all areas of their lives.

    Shy people, having low self-esteem, are likely to be passive and easily influenced by others. They need reassurance that they are doing "the right thing." Shy people are very sensitive to criticism; they feel it confirms their feelings of inferiority. They also find it difficult to be pleased by compliment with a statement like this one, "You're just saying that to make me feel good. I know it's not true." It is clear that while self-awareness is a healthy quality, overdoing it is harmful.

    Can shyness be completely eliminated, or at least reduced? Fortunately, people can overcome shyness with determined and patient efforts in building self-confidence. Since shyness goes hand in hand with a lack of self-esteem, it is important for people to accept their weaknesses as well as their strengths. Each one of us is a unique, worthwhile individual, interested in our own personal ways. The better we understand ourselves, the easier it becomes to live up to our full potential. Let's not allow shyness to block our chances for a rich and fulfilling life.

    Based on the State Information Center (SIC)'s definition for a sharing economy, payment for knowledge can be regarded as a process of turning knowledge into commercial products or services. To be specific, people can share their knowledge with others via Internet platforms, meanwhile bringing themselves extra income. These platforms, at the same time, earn their profits on that.

    The year 2016 marked the beginning of knowledge payment in China. An investigation jointly conducted by Guokr and Netease's online platforms shows that 70% of users have paid for online learning; while in 2015, the number was only 26%.

In May, 2016, Zhihu, a Chinese question-and-answer website, launched Zhihu Live (payment sharing). Within three days, these new platforms attracted over one million users. In June, Luo Zhenyu, founder of LUOgic Show, launched Li Xiang's Commercial References on iget(得到网)，and within two days over four million users subscribed; in August, Z/"7m's approval & tip function, Snowball O&A, Lenovo's Zhiliao Q&A came online; in September, Huxiu (虎嗅网)began to provide in-depth reports to VIP payment members. Other paid knowledge platforms such as Ximalaya FM, Douban，have also been developing their knowledge payment services.

    People with a wealth of knowledge and experience in specific areas are the most likely to benefit from payment for knowledge. Senior managers in large multinational companies like Google, financial elites with top university backgrounds and well-known psychologists, can all profit from these online platforms. But the opportunities also favor the ordinary: a body-builder, a girl who traveled around the world, or a student that passed a postgraduate entry exam can all set up a live classroom. One hundred minutes of audio sharing cost ¥ 19.9 or $2.9, and thousands of users might pay and join the course, bringing those with specific knowledge remarkable income.

    In the 2017 China's Sharing Economy Development Report provided by the SIC，the turnover in China's knowledge market measures about Y61 billion, or $9 billion，which is a 205% growth compared to last year; the number of payment for knowledge users reached 300 million, accounting for half of all Chinese Internet Users.

    The investigation shows that, males are the majority of the users, accounting for nearly 60%: 25-35 year olds account for 59.3%, which mirrors the majority of Internet users, 63% of the paying users are college graduates, and 53.9% of the paying users have an income of Y3-8k,or $ 441-1176, and most are employees and junior management.

    Rivers are earthly arteries(要道) for the nutrients, deposits and freshwater that sustain healthy, diverse ecosystems. Their influence extends in multiple dimensions—not only along their length but below­ground to aquifers(蓄水层) and periodically into nearby floodplains.

    They also provide vital services for people by fertilizing agricultural land and feeding key fisheries and by acting as transportation corridors. But in efforts to ease ship passage, protect communities from flooding, and draw off water for drinking and irrigation, humans have increasingly constrained and broken these crucial water ways. “We try to control rivers as much as possible,” says Gunther Grill, a hydrologist at McGill University.

    In new research published in May in Nature, Grill and his colleagues analyzed the barriers to 12 million total kilometers of rivers around the world. The team developed an index(指数) that evaluates six aspects of connectivity—from physical fragmentation (by dams, for example) to flow regulation (by dams or levees) to water consumption—along a river's various dimension. Rivers whose indexes meet a certain threshold(临界值) for being largely able to follow their natural patterns were considered free­flowing.

    The researchers found that among rivers longer than 1,000 kilometers (which tend to be some of those most important to human activities), only 37 percent are not blocked along their entire lengths. Most of them are in areas with a minimal human presence, including the Amazon and Congo basins and the Arctic. On the contrary, most rivers shorter than 100 kilometers appeared to flow freely—but the data on them are less comprehensive, and some barriers might have been missed. Only 23 percent of the subset of the longest rivers that connect to the ocean are uninterrupted. For the rest, human infrastructure is starving estuaries(河口) and deltas (such as the Mississippi Delta) of key nutrients. The world's estimated 2.8 million dams are the main cause, controlling water flow and trapping deposits.

    The new research could be used to better understand how proposed dams, levees and other such projects might impact river connectivity, as well as where to remove these fixtures to best restore natural flow. It could also help inform our approach to rivers as the climate changes, says Anne Jefferson, a hydrologist at Kent State University, who was not involved in the work. Existing infrastructure, she says, “has essentially been built to a past climate that we are not in anymore and are increasingly moving away from.”

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