I grew up poor. We had little money, butplenty of love and attention. I understood that no matter how poor a person was, they could still afford a dream. My dream was athletics.

    By the time I was sixteen, I was good at baseball and football. My high-school coach was Ollie Jarvis. He not only believed in me, but taught me the difference between having a dream and showing conviction（信念）.

    One summer a friend recommended me for asummer job. This meant a chance for money in my pocket — cash for dates withgirls, certainly, money for a new bike and new clothes, and the start of savings for a house for my mother.

Then I realized I would have to give up summer baseball to handle the work schedule, and that meant I would have to tell Coach Jarvis I wouldn't be playing. I was dreading（害怕）this, but my mother said: "If you make your bed, you have to lie in it."

When I told Coach Jarvis, he was as madas I expected him to be. "Your playing days are limited. You can't afford to waste them," he said.

   I stood before him with my head hanging, trying to think of the words that would explain to him why my dream of buying my mom a house.

"How much are you going to make at this job, son?" he demanded.

"Three twenty-five an hour," I replied.

"Well," he asked, "is $3.25 an hour the price of a dream?"

    That question laidbare for me the difference between wanting something right now and having agoal. I devoted myself to sports that summer, and within the year I was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates to play rookie-league ball, and offered a $20,000 contract. I signed with the Denver Broncos in 1984 for $1.7 million, and boughtmy mother the house of my dream.

    Against the assumption that forest fires in Alaska, Canada and Siberia warm the climate, scientists have discovered that cooling may occur in areas where burnt trees allow more snow to mirror more sunlight into space.

    This finding suggests that taking steps to prevent northern forest fires to limit the release of greenhouse gases may warm the climate in northern regions. Usually large fires destroyed forests in these areas over the past decade. Scientists predict that with climate warming, fires may occur more frequently over next several centuries as a result of a longer fire season. Sunlight taken in by the earth tends to cause warming, while heat mirrored back into space tends to cause cooling.

    This is the first study to analyze all aspects of how northern fires influence climate. Earlier studies by other scientists have suggested that fire in northern regions speed up climate warming because greenhouse gases from burning trees and plants are released into the atmosphere and thus trap heat.

    Scientists found that right after the fire, large amounts of greenhouse gases entered the atmosphere and caused warming. Ozone（臭氧）levels increased, and ash from the fire fell on far-off sea ice, darkening the surface and causing more radiation from the sun to be taken in. The following spring, however, the land within the area of the fire was brighter than before the fire, because fewer trees covered the ground. Snow on the ground mirrored more sunlight back into space, leading to cooling.

    “We need to find out all possible ways to reduce the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.” Scientists tracked the change in amount of radiation entering and leaving the climate system as a result of the fire, and found a measurement closely related to the global air temperature. Typically, fire in northern regions occurs in the same area every 80 to 150 years. Scientists, however, found that when fire occurs more frequently, more radiation is lost from the earth and cooling results. Specifically, they determined when fire returns 20 years earlier than predicated, 0.5 watts per square meter of area burned are soaked up by the earth from greenhouse gases, but 0.9 watts per square meter will be sent back into space. The net effect is cooling. Watts are used to measure the rate at which energy is gained or lost from the earth.

    At the beginning of the century there was a big farm called Hollywood Ranch. It was near Los Angeles in California. A few years later Hollywood was one of the famous places of the world. From 1910s to the 1950s Hollywood was the film center of the world. Every family knew the names of its film stars Charlie Chaplin, Grete Garbo, Bergman and hundreds more.

    The reason why people went to Hollywood to make films was the sun. At first people made films in New York on the east coast of the United States. But then they heard about Los Angeles where there are 350 days of sun every year. As they made all the films by sunlight, the west coast was a much better place to work.

    Also near Hollywood you can find mountains and sea and desert. They did not have to travel far to make any kind o film

    When TV became popular in the 1960s, Hollywood started making films for television. Then in 1970s they discovered people still went to cinema to see big expensive films. After twenty years they are still making films in Hollywood and people watch them all over the world.

    Will it matter if you don't take your breakfast? Recently a test was given in the United States. Those tested included people of different ages, from 12 to 83. During the experiment, these people were given all kinds of breakfasts, and sometimes they got no breakfast at all. Special tests were set up to see how well their bodies worked when they had eaten a certain kind of breakfast. The results show that if a person eats a proper breakfast, he or she will work with better effect than if he or she has no breakfast. This fact appears to be especially true if a person works with his brains. If a student eats fruit, eggs, bread and milk before going to school, he will learn more quickly and listen with more attention to class.

    Opposite to what many people believe, if you don't eat breakfast, you will not lose weight. This is because people become so hungry at noon that they eat too much for lunch, and end up gaining weight instead of losing. You will probably lose more weight if you reduce your other meals.

    Many wealthy and well­traveled people want a completely new experience, but they don't necessarily want to give up luxury (奢华的) accommodations and service. The following vacations could be best choices.

    Cruise down the Amazon River

    Aqua Expeditions takes up to 32 passengers at a time on guided journeys of three, four, or seven days down the Amazon River. Those adventurers see forests and waterfalls, visit local fish markets, and take canoe trips. They also take in wildlife such as capuchin monkeys and river dolphins.

    Go Glamping in Montana

The Resort at Paws Up located on a cattle ranch(牧场) is a standout in the type. The ranch rents homes with up to four bedrooms, but it's the luxury tents that offer closer communion with the outdoors. Tents are arranged into camps, each of which has a private chef and butler, the latter of whom helps build campfires and arrange daytime activities. Guests can participate in a cattle drive, go clay shooting, take a hot air balloon trip, or ride horses.

    Climb inside a Volcano in Iceland

    Iceland is famous for its volcanoes and has plenty of luxury hotel options. Thrill­seekers can actually go down into the dormant (休眠的), 700­foot­deep Thrihnukagigur, by using an open elevator. Take a helicopter if you want to skip the 2­mile hike to the volcano, and arrange a private tour to avoid crowds. And visitors traveling there can enjoy the luxury hotel such as the ION Luxury Adventure Hotel and the Hotel Rangá.

Five trends to watch in the coming year

The number 21 is connected with luck, risk, taking chances and rolling the dice, all of which seem strangely appropriate for a year of unusual uncertainty. As 2021 approaches, here are some trends to watch in the year ahead.

⒈ Fights over vaccines

As the first vaccines become available in quantity, the focus will shit from the heroic effort of developing them to the equally difficult task of distributing them. Vaccine negotiations will accompany fights within and between countries over who should get them and when.

⒉ A mixed economic recovery

As economies bounce back from the pandemic, the recovery will be inconsistent, as local outbreaks and restrictions come and go — and governments turn from keeping companies on life-support to helping workers who have lost their jobs.

⒊ A less footloose world

Tourism will shrink and change shape, with more emphasis on domestic travel. Airlines, hotel chains and aircraft producers will struggle, as will universities that rely heavily on foreign students.

⒋ An opportunity on climate change

One positive side to the crisis is the chance to take action on climate change, as governments invest in green recovery plans to create jobs and cut emissions. How ambitious will countries' reduction promises be at the UN climate conference, delayed from 2020?

⒌ The year of déjà vu

That is just one example of how the coming year may feel, in many respects, like a second take on 2020, as events including the Olympics, the Dubai Expo and many other political, sporting and commercial gatherings do their best to open a year later than planned.