In the depths of the French Guianese rainforest, there still remain unusual groups of indigenous(土著的) people. Surprisingly, these people live largely by their own laws and their own social customs. And yet, people in this area are in fact French citizens because it has been a colony(殖民地) of the French Republic since 1946. In theory, they should live by the French law is often ignored or unknown, thus making them into an interesting area of “lawlessness” in the world.

        The lives ofthese people have finally been recorded thanks to the effects of a Frenchman form Paris called Gin. Gin spent five months in early 2015 exploring the most remote corners of this area, which sits on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, with half its population of only 250,000 living in its capital, Cayenne.

“I have a special love for the French Guianese people. I have worked there on and off for almost ten years,” says Gin. “I've been able to keep firm friendships with them. Thus I have been allowed to gain access to their living environment. I don't see it as a lawless land. But rather I see it as an area of freedom.”

“I wantedto show the audience a photographic record touching upon the uncivilized life,” continues Gin. “I prefer to work in black and white, which allows me to show different specific worlds more clearly.”

His black-and-white pictures present a world almost lost in time. These pictures show people seemingly pushed into a world that they were unprepared for. These local citizens now have to balance their traditional self-supporting hunting lifestyle with the lifestyle offered by the modern French Republic, which brings with it not only necessary state welfare, but also alcoholism, betrayal and even suicide.

    ◆The Big Cake Show comes to the WestPoint Arena in Exeter, England, March 21-22. Hopefully, cakes of all sizes will be on sale and on show. An impressive list of famous people sharing their great knowledge and skill includes Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood and Gregg Wallace. Tickets, from ￡12, are available online (bigcakeshow.com).

    ◆From January 17 to March 8, RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey, England has some special guests to brighten the winter: beautiful butterflies. The Glasshouse introduces a group of butterflies from other countries feeding on fruit and the juice-rich plants of the Exotic Zone. Tickets for adults are ￡13.20, for children are ￡6.60. For a family with 2 adults and 2 children, they should pay ￡32.75 in total. For groups of more than 10 adults, each should pay ￡10.80 (rhs. org.uk/wisley).

    ◆The week-long London Wine Week starts from May 18. Buy a ￡5 wristband to qualify for a pocket-sized guidebook and discounted wine around the capital. Partnering with London' s best bars and restaurants, we will be organizing events such as master classes and meet-the -maker time, plus offering discounts to wristband wearers (londonwineweek.com).

    ◆The World Shakespeare Festival begins in April, with everything from foreign productions of Shakespearean plays at Shakespeare's Globe to Shakespearean plays at the Royal Opera House. Plays will run until the end of the year in London, Birmingham, Newcastle and Gateshead. And there' s a programme of events such as director talks and family workshops. Prices start from ￡60 (worldshakespearefestival.org. uk).

    About ten men in every hundred suffer from color blindness in some way. Women are luckier; only about one in two hundred is affected in this matter. Perhaps, after all, it is safer to be driven by a woman!

    There are different forms of color blindness. In some cases a man may not be able to see deep red. He may think that red, orange and yellow are all shadows of green. Sometimes a person cannot tell the difference between blue and green. In rare cases an unlucky man may see everything in shades of green — a strange world indeed.

    Color blindness in human beings is a strange thing to explain. In a single eye there are millions of very small things called "cones". These help us to see in a bright light and to tell difference between colors. There are also millions of "rods", but these are used for seeing when it is near dark. They show us shape but no color.

    Some insects have favorite colors. Mosquitoes prefer blue to yellow. A red light will not attract insects, but a blue lamp will. In a similar way human beings also have favorite colors. Yet we are lucky. With the aid of the cones in our eyes we can see many beautiful colors by day, and with the aid of the rods we can see shapes at night. One day we may even learn more about the invisible colors around us.

    For high school leavers starting out in the working world, it is very important to learn particular skills and practice how to behave in an interview or how to find an internship (实习). In some countries, schools have programs to help students onto the path to work. In the United States, however, such programs are still few and far between.

    Research shows that if high schools provide career-relat­ed courses, students are likely to get higher earnings in later years. The students are more likely to stay in school, graduate and go on to higher education.

    In Germany, students as young as 13 and 14 are expected to do internships. German companies work with schools to make sure that young people get the education they need for future employment.

    But in America, education reform programs focus on how well students do in exams instead of bringing them into contact with the working world. Harvard Education school professor Robert Schwartz has criticized education reformers for trying to place all graduates directly on the four-year college track. Schwartz argued that this approach leaves the country's most vulnerable (易受影响的)kids with no jobs and no skills.

    Schwartz believed that the best career programs encour­age kids to go for higher education while also teaching them valuable practical skills at high school. James Madison High School in New York, for example, encourages students to choose classes on career-based courses. The school then helps them gain on-the-job experience in those fields while they're still at high school.

    However, even for teens whose schools encourage them to connect with work, the job market is daunting. In the US，unemployment rates for 16-to 19-year-olds are above 20 percent for the third summer in a row.

"The risk is that if teenagers miss out on the summer job experience, they become part of this generation of teens who had trouble in landing a job," said Michael, a researcher in the US.

    Everybody hates rats (big mice). But in the earthquake capitals of the world — Japan, Los Angeles, Turkey — rats will soon be man's best friends.

    What happens after an earthquake? We send in rescue dogs. Why? Because they can smell people. Dogs save lives. They help rescuers to find living people. But dogs are big and they can't get into small spaces. So now a new research project is using a smaller animal to save lives: the rat.

    How does it work? First, the rat is trained to smell people. When this happens, the rat's brain gives a signal (信号). This is sent to a small radio on its back, and then the rescuers follow the radio signals. When the rat's brain activity jumps, the rescuers know that someone is alive. The rat has smelled that person.

    Although there are already robots which can do this job, rats are better. Christian Linster at Cornell University, New York, says, "Robots' noses don't work well when there are other smells around. Rats are good at that." Rats can also see in the dark. They are cheaper and quicker to train than dogs, and unlike robots, they don't need electricity!

    The "rat project" is not finished, but Julie Ryan of International Rescue Organization in Scotland says, "It would be wonderful. A rat could get into spaces we couldn't get to, and a rat would get out if it wasn't safe." Perhaps for the first time in history, people will be happy to see a rat in a building (but only after an earthquake, of course).