You may have seen a talking parrot on a TV show, in a movie, or even in someone's home. The parrot has learned to copy sounds that people make. Birds are not the only animals that can copy the noises they hear. Dolphins, bats, and some apes also copy sounds. Now we can add elephants to this list of copycats.

    Dr. Joyce Poole is a zoologist. She studies the sounds of elephants. While she was in Kenya, she would hear strange noises made by Mlaika after sunset. Mlaika was a 10-year-old African elephant.

    Mlaika lived near a highway. Dr. Poole says, “I could not tell the difference between Mlaika's call and the distant truck noise.” She and other scientists studied Mlaika's sounds. It turned out that Mlaika was copying the sounds of the trucks driving by. Why would Mlaika copy trucks that she heard going by on the highway? Animals that are able to copy sounds may enjoy practicing new sounds. When they are kept outside of their natural environment, they may copy unusual sounds. That may be why an elephant would copy the sound of a truck.

    “Mlaika was not the only copycat elephant,” Dr. Poole says. Calimero is a 23-year-old male African elephant. He spent 18 years with two female Asian elephants. Asian elephants make chirping sounds (sounds made by birds) to talk with one another. African elephants usually do not make chirping sounds. But Calimero now does. He is copying his Asian elephant friends. Dr. Poole says that elephants need to form bonds with their family and friends. She says, “They make sounds to communicate with each other. When they are separated, they use sounds to keep in contact.”

    Parrots, dolphins, humans, and elephants show that being a copycat is one way that animals and people make new friends and keep old ones.

    Hidden from the noise of Washington, D.C., Hillwood Museum is a special treasure. It contains (包含) one of the finest personal collections (收藏) of Russian and French art in the world.

    Hillwood Museum was once the home of Marjorie Merriweather Post. She was a rich businesswoman. She owned one of the largest food companies in the United States. She was also very interested in collecting beautiful French art and furniture.

    She moved to Russia in the 1930s as her third husband, Joseph Davies, became the American ambassador (大使) in Moscow. Marjorie Merriweather Post had a love for Russian art as well. She bought the house in Washington in 1955 and she wanted to make it into a museum after her death. Many art experts helped Mrs. Post create its fine collection.

    Hillwood has many rooms which are filled with her treasures. Visitors can see beautiful music boxes from the eighteenth century and colorful paintings of European princesses (公主). Experts say the ancient wood and gold furniture from France is some of the finest ever made. Visitors can even look at Mrs. Post's jewels and clothes.

    The museum also has several beautiful gardens. One is designed like the gardens in Japan. It has a bridge and visitors can watch flowers floating in the water. Flowers are also grown all the year in a special glass building or greenhouse. These flowers are placed in the house throughout the year.

After a walk, visitors can rest at a nearby eating place. They can also buy objects to remember this special museum.

    Derek Rabclo is not the only surfer to conquer Hawaii' s famous Pipeline big wave break, but while all others use their sight to do it, this young professional surfer must rely only on his other senses. That's because he is completely blind.

    When Derek was born, over 24 years ago, he got his name from Derek Ho, the first Hawaiian surfing world champion. A surfing enthusiast himself, Emesto dreamed that his son would share the talent of his uncle, a professional surfer. Unfortunately, Derek was born completely blind, but this didn't slop his family from believing lhat he could do anything he wanted, even if that meant becoming a surfer.

    At age 2, Derek received a bodyboard and the beaches of Guarapari, Brazil, became his backyard. He was always comfortable in the water and surfing was in his blood, but he didn't actually try riding a wave until he turned 17, when his father bought him a surfboard. His father taught him the basics and encouraged him to keep practicing, but after successfully standing up on the surfboard, Derek knew he needed to become much better if he was going to achieve Emesto's dream and become a professional surfer. So he joined the Praia do Moroo surf school, where he studied under coach Fabio Maru.

    Standing up on a surfboard and conquering small waves is one thing, while gathering the courage to take on Hawaii's board-breaking Pipeline is another. But that's exactly what Derek Rabelo set out to do just months after learning how to surf. Everyone told him it was too dangerous, but he felt he could do it. And he did, earning the praise of famous professional surfers like Kelly Slater and Mick Fanning. Now 24, Rabelo has been surfing the Pipeline every winter since.

    Around the world there are some festivals that for some of us may sound bizarre.

    In England they celebrate the rolling cheese race, which occurs every year during the last Monday in May. This festival's characteristic is a contest where an official rolls cheese down a steep hill and festival- goers go chasing after it. The winner is the first one to reach and catch the cheese.

    Another festival celebrated in England is the world championship of grimaces (鬼脸). It is a celebration that dates back to 1297 and is celebrated during the month of September. The task is to perform the best grimace using anything you can to win.

    The worldwide championship of wife lifting is celebrated in Finland. The game is based on Viking traditions where a man should carry away his neighbor's wife. According to the rules, any woman above 17 is considered as a wife, so if you are within this age, take care while visiting this country during the month of July.

    Many of you have watched Pirates of the Caribbean and have known something about pirates. The 19^th of September has been declared worldwide as the day to talk like a pirate. Plenty of people have celebrated it thanks to the publicity (宣传) on the Internet.

    First staged in 1998, the Boryeong Mud Festival is an attraction that pulls more than a million visitors to the South Korean City. As you all know, the town is said to be rich in minerals, so there is no shortage of mud. Mud is trucked onto Daecheon Beach for tourists and locals to enjoy the festival to their best.

    The Monkey Buffet Festival is held in Thailand to develop tourism. It's an unusual feast held for about 600 monkeys. The Monkey Buffet Festival is held in honor of the Hindu gods Ram and Hanuman and involves 3,000 kilograms of vegetables and fruits being laid out for monkeys to stuff themselves.

    The clock always seems to be ticking rather too fast in the doctor's office and the queue of patients outside the door seems to be pressing rather too hard. Some say it's high time for the model of short, sharp one-to-one appointments to give way to shared medical appointments (SMAs共享医疗预约).

    SMAs are doctor-patient visits in which a group of patients receive patient education and counseling (咨询), physical examination and medical support in a group setting. Typically SMAs are designed to have one or more doctors attend to a group of patients who share a common illness or medical condition. In contrast to one-to-one visits, SMAS provide a longer appointment time-frame as well as the opportunity for patients to have improved access to their physicians and meanwhile pick up additional information and support from peers.

    However, doctors who have pioneered the shared appointment approach report that there are significant challenges involved. Dr. Sumego, director of shared medical appointments, Cleveland Clinic, identifies culture change as the most significant challenge. Physicians and nurses are trained in a model of personal service and privacy; the SMA approach is a fundamental challenge to those fixed ideas. They need shared goals and a way of testing the innovation against agreed standards. Dr. Sumego says, "The physicians may be worried about the possible chaos and efficiencies that are marketed. They also have to make the patients understand what their appointment is, and what the expectation is."

    "So, if an organization was looking to start shared medical appointments, I would advise them to start the buy-in from a few champion physicians, develop the work-flow and develop some experience. Provide some support behind what that best practice should look like. Create some standards so that, as the concept spreads, you can employ that experience to start the next shared medical appointments and the next."

Westwinds Farm Campsite

    Open April - September

    (Booking is advised for holidays in July and August to guarantee a place.)

    Jim and Meg Oaks welcome you to the campsite. We hope you will enjoy your stay here. We ask all campers to show due care and consideration whilst staying here and to observe the following camp rules.

    Keep the campsite clean and tidy: dispose of litter in the bins provided; leave the showers, toilets and washing area in the same state as you found them; ensure your site is clear of all litter when you leave it.

    Don't obstruct rights of way. Keep cars, bikes, etc. off the road.

    Let sleeping campers have some peace. Don't make any noise after 10 o'clock at night or before 7:30 in the morning.

    Dogs must be kept on a lead. Owners of dogs that disturb other campers by barking through the night will be asked to leave.

    Disorderly behavior will not be tolerated.

    The lighting of fires is strictly prohibited.

    Ball games are not allowed on the campsite. There is plenty of room for ball games in the park opposite the campsite.

    Radios, portable music equipment, etc. must not be played aloud.

    The management reserves the right to refuse admittance.