Dazha Crabs from Yangcheng Lake

    With the Mid-Autumn Festival coming, the time for crabs is around the corner! Dazha Crabs from Yangcheng Lake in China are believed to be the best freshwater crabs.

    “They are delicious, because the bottom of Yangcheng Lake is hard and the crabs grow strong by walking on such a hard surface,” said one sales manager in Suzhou.

    Li Lei, a crab lover from Beijing, said “It's very delicious! But there are too many fake Yangcheng Lake Dazha Crabs”.

    “Maybe the crabs from other regions can appear to be glistening green back, white belly after people wash them, but the golden fine hair on crab claws is still a point of pride and is exclusive to Dazha Crabs from Yangcheng Lake,” said the manager.

    The best time for enjoying them is during September and October of Chinese lunar calendar. “When the season for crabs arrives, the Dazha Crabs from Yangcheng Lake are flown to various cities so that people's appetites can be satisfied,” said the sales manager. “They are really expensive here, sometimes more than 320RMB/500g, 10% of my salary!” said Li Lei.

    Dazha Crabs are usually steamed or boiled for within 20 minutes before they come on the dinner table. They are often enjoyed with vinegar mixed with minced ginger to add flavor and get rid of the cold. People who are particular about how they eat crabs also need to have high-grade Shaoxing rice wine to warm their stomachs.

    There is much work required to eat crabs. So much shell!Most people use both hands and teeth while eating Dazha Crabs. “The eating way is not graceful or elegant,” said Huck. “However, some professionals of eating crabs can use tools to take all the meat out of the crab without damaging a single bite and the crab can be restored to its original shape if the empty shells are pieced together!” said Han Mei, another Dazha crab lover.

    The Lifecycle of a T-shirt

    We all probably have a lot of T-shirts, but do you ever stop and think about the influence of a T-shirt on the planet? You'd probably be surprised to learn what's involved in the lifecycle of just one T-shirt.

    There are 5 major stages: material, production, shipping, use and disposal. The material stage involves farming, irrigating, fertilizing, harvesting and ginning. While cotton is a natural fiber and not as harmful to the environment as manmade fibers, it still takes a toll in the material and production stages. Commercial cotton farming uses a large amount of water, and the use of pesticides (杀虫剂) is widespread across the globe, especially in cotton farming. Studies have shown that farmers spend around $4.1 billion on pesticides annually, of which 25% was spent on cotton crops in the US.

    Once the cotton is grown and harvested, so begins the production stage: spinning, knitting, bleaching, dyeing, cutting, sewing, etc.——these processes also use a great deal of water and energy. Commercial dyes and bleaches are harmful pollutants and can eventually pollute groundwater.

    After the T-shirt is produced, it enters the transportation stage. This often involves overseas shipping. Take a look in your closet. Chances are that most of your cotton garments (衣服) are made in China or India. Garments can be shipped via plane, ship or truck…, all of which spill CO₂ into the atmosphere. Calculations show that CO₂ emissions from light trucks alone amount to 1.15 pounds per mile.

    Once the T-shirt reaches the retail market, it is purchased. This stage may seem like the least environmentally damaging part. But consider the number of times you've washed and dried your favorite T-shirt. Washing machines are certainly becoming more efficient. However, the average American household does 400 loads of laundry per year, using about 40 gallons of water per load. Such excessive water use is combined with the large amount of energy used by dryers.

    The final stage of life is disposal. This releases harmful emissions, or involves a landfill where cotton takes years to break down. Current US records show that an estimated 15% of clothes and shoes are recycled, which means that consumers send a shocking 85% of these materials to landfills.

    We all need new clothes every once in a while, but let's all try to keep in mind what goes into the production of clothing... It has a real impact on the planet.

    There are a lot of things you can do to help reduce your impact. Reuse and recycle clothes. If they're too worn out to wear, cut them up and use them as cleaning rags. Donate them to charity or another organization that recycles textiles. When possible, make an effort to buy organic cotton. Turn down the thermostat on your washer, and line dry your clothes when the weather will allow it.

    After two years of careful consideration, Robert McCrum has reached a conclusion on his selection of the 100 greatest novels written in English. Take a look at a few in his list.

    The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan (1678)

    A story of a man in search of truth told with the simple clarity and beauty of Bunyan's prose makes this an English classic.

    Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719)

    By the end of the 19th century, no book in English literary history had enjoyed more editions and translations. This world-famous novel is a complex literature that one cannot resist.

    Gulliver s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726)

    A great work that s been repeatedly printed, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels comes third in our list of the best novels written in English.

    Clarissa by Samuel Richardson (1748)

    Clarissa is a tragic heroine, pressured by her dishonorable family to marry a wealthy man she dislikes, in the book that Samuel Johnson described as “the first book in the world that shows the knowledge about the human heart”.

Tom Jones by Henry Fielding (1749)

    Tom Jones is a classic English novel that gets the spirit of its age and whose characters are well-known since they have come to represent the society at that time.

    Emma by Jane Austen (1816)

    Jane Austen's Emma is her most outstanding work, mixing the best parts of her early books with a deep sense of feelings.

    The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (1838)

    Edgar Allan Poe's only novel－a classic adventure story with supernatural elements－has fascinated and influenced generations of writers.

    I first met Paul Newman in 1968, when George Roy Hill, the director of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, introduced us in New York City. When the studio didn't want me for the film - it wanted somebody as well known as Paul — he stood up for me. I don't know how many people would have done that; they would have listened to their agents or the studio powers.

    The friendship that grew out of the experience of making that film and The Sting four years later had its root in the fact that although there was an age difference, we both came from a tradition of theater and live TV. We were respectful of craft(技艺) and focused on digging into the characters we were going to play. Both of us had the qualities and virtues that are typical of American actors: humorous, aggressive, and making fun of each other — but always with an underlying affection. Those were also at the core(核心) of our relationship off the screen.

    We shared the brief that if you're fortunate enough to have success, you should put something back — he with his Newman's Own food and his Hole in the Wall camps for kids who are seriously ill, and me with Sundance and the institute and the festival. Paul and I didn't see each other all that regularly, but sharing that brought us together. We supported each other financially and by showing up at events.

    I last saw him a few months ago. He'd been in and out of the hospital. He and I both knew what the deal was, and we didn't talk about it. Ours was a relationship that didn't need a lot of words.

New archaeological discovers suggest that trade between Europe and Asia along the Silk Road probably began in some form many centuries earlier than once thought. The findings, coupled with a widening range of scientific and historical research, could add a fascinating new page to the epic of the Silk Road.

The latest and most surprising discovery is pieces of silk found in the hair of an Egyptian mummy from about 1000 BC, long before regular traffic on the Silk Road and at least one thousand years before silk was previously thought to be used in Egypt. Other research may extend human activity along this route back even further, perhaps a million years to the migration of human ancestors into eastern Asia.

The official origin of East-West commerce along the road is usually placed in the late 2^nd century BC when an agent of the Chinese Emperor Wu-di returned from a dangerous secret mission across the western desert into the remote high country of Central Asia. The agent, Zhang Qian, travelled as far as Afghanistan and brought back knowledge of even more distant lands such as Persia, Syria and a place known as Lijien, perhaps Rome. Historians have called this one of the most important journeys in ancient times. His journey opened the way for what have been thought to be the first indirect contacts between the ancient world's two superpowers, China and Rome. Chinese silk, first traded to central Asian tribes for war horses and to the Parthians of old Persia in exchange for acrobats and ostrich eggs, was soon finding its way through a network of merchants to the luxury markets of Rome.

But the new discoveries show that Chinese silk was apparently present in the West long before the Han emperor started organized trade over the Silk Road. The research could change thinking about the early history of world trade and provide insights into the mystery of just how and when Europe and the Mediterranean lands first became aware of the glorious culture at the other end of Eurasia.

American country music is also known as country western music. It has a very long history. It comes from the folk songs of immigrants (移民) from Britain.

 Country music uses simple music and words to express everyday feelings such as loneliness, love, and sadness. That is to say, country music describes life. It talks about friends and enemies, trucks and roads, farm and crops. People in many parts of the world like country music, because everyone can understand what the music is about.

Country western music became popular first among cowboys (牛仔) in the American west countryside. Cowboys had to take care of cows day and night. When they were alone with the cows, they often sang beautiful and peaceful songs to calm the animals and to overcome their own fear. They were not well-educated and so they sang about their daily life in very simple words. They played guitars, violins and other instruments. In the south of America, many people added instruments from their homes, like bottles and spoons. When cowboys visited their friends and families on holidays like Thanksgiving, they usually sang and played country western music.  

In recent years, many musicians have made country western music a little different from the one in the past. These changes make the songs sound even better. Today singers such as Carth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, Eddie Rabbitt, LeAnn Rimes, Randy Travis and a group called Alabama are singing and playing in different styles. They have brought country western music more and more fans from all over the world.