Andy never wanted to go to bed on time. His parents had explained to him how important it was to go to bed early and get a good rest. But Andy paid no attention to them, and they didn't know what to do until one weekend when they were visiting Andy's grandparents.

    Grandpa Peter heard all about it and said, "This sounds like a job for Tubby." So Andy's parents loaded the cat onto the car and returned home.

That night, at bedtime, the same problem happened. Andy didn't want to go to bed, and even though his parents waited a while to see if Tubby would solve the problem, nothing happened.

    Hours later, Andy finally decided to go to bed. But what a surprise when he entered his bedroom! Tubby was in his bed, totally sprawling out, pot-belly in the air, and snoring like an express train.

    Andy tried to move the cat, but there was no way of moving him an inch. That night he hardly slept, lying on one tiny corner of his bed.

    The next day the same thing happened, even though Andy was much more tired from not having slept well. When the third day arrived, he had understood that if he wanted to sleep in his bed, he would have to get into it before Tubby did. That night, when his parents only started to mention the topic of bedtime, Andy rushed upstairs and dived into bed. His parents could not believe it. They knew nothing about Tubby in the bed, nor did they understand why Andy went to bed on time without complaint. They were so happy about this that they stayed up quite late, celebrating.

    Today, the world's diversity (多样性) of food crops is quickly decreasing. But scientists around the world are taking action. They are building seed banks. At seed banks, scientists store the seeds of many different crops.

    There are now 1,400 seed banks around the world. However, some banks are in warm countries. If the electricity fails, the seeds will get too hot and die. Other seed banks are in countries troubled by war. Sometimes people damage the seed banks. If this happens, valuable seeds can be lost forever!

    The organization Global Crop Diversity Trust decided they wanted to deal with this problem. So, they decided to build a global seed bank. This seed bank would contain a back-up, or extra copy, of all the world's seeds. Smaller seed banks would still collect and keep local seeds. But they would also send copies of their seeds to the global bank.

    Scientists from the Global Crop Diversity Trust chose the cold, snowy mountains of Svalbard, Norway to build the global seed bank — the Svalbard Global Seed Vault (斯瓦尔巴全球种子库). Organizations, farmers, or local seed banks store their extra seeds there. And the people who place their seeds in the vault are the only people who can take them out. They pay to ship their seeds to Norway, but it does not cost them any money to store their seeds. The Global Crop Diversity Trust pays for this.

    Cary Fowler is a scientist who heads the Global Crop Diversity Trust. He said, “If the Seed Vault simply supplies seed banks with copies of seeds that those banks lost by accident, the Seed Vault will be worth more than it cost.”

    Do you like shopping? Or does the thought of wandering round the shops fill you with terror? For some of us, shopping is an enjoyable way of spending our spare time and our money. For me, it's something I would rather avoid. Thank goodness for the Internet! It's more convenient to buy CDs, electrical items, and even food from the comfort of your sofa. But that's not the only reason: price is an important factor. We can buy goods and services cheaper online. But sometimes the problem is knowing what to buy. This has led to a type of shopping called “showrooming”.

    Showrooming is something I've done. I will go to a shop to see, touch and try out products but then go home and buy them online at a knock-down price. I'm not alone in doing this. Research by a company called Foolproof found 24% of the people showroomed at Christmas in 2013.

    Amy Cashman, Head of Technology at TNS UK, says the reasons for this new shopping habit are that people are lacking time, lacking money and they want security about the products they are buying. She explains that consumers are not only shopping online at home but they are using the Internet in store or on their smart phones to shop around.

    But does this mean technology will kill shops? Certainly shops will change. They will have to offer more competitive prices or encourage people to buy more by giving in-store discounts or free gifts.

    We mustn't forget that buying in a shop means you can get expert advice from the sales assistant and you can get good aftercare. It's good to speak to a real human rather than look at a faceless computer screen, but at least by showrooming, you get the best of both worlds.

    China is using travel as an important tool to help strengthen its economy. At the recent First World Conference on Tourism a Chinese official spoke about the government's plan for using tourists and the money they spend. The head of China's National Tourism Administration, Li Jinzao, said that China plans to send 150 million travelers along what he called the “One Belt, One Road”. In the next five years, these tourists are expected to spend $200 billion, he said. This spending estimate is likely to raise expectations among countries along the ancient Silk Road, which links China to its neighbors.

    China has reasons to feel it can use tourism to influence the foreign policy. Governments across the world are changing their immigration(移民) rules to welcome the growing numbers of Chinese tourists. Chinese citizens are now going to places where in the past Chinese rarely went. Marketing expert Michel Gutsatz said that among Chinese travelers, South Korea and Thailand are popular destinations. Outside of Asia, he said, Chinese are more likely to visit Europe than North America. These changes, he said, are the results of young Chinese travelers, who spend more and travel independently.

    Spending by Chinese tourists has lifted the economies of several Asian countries, including Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. It is expected that the number of Chinese traveling overseas to reach 242 million by 2024. In a single year, that number would be equal to the total number of tourists received by Germany, Iran, Indonesia and Egypt combined.

    China is now the biggest business travel market in the world. The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) recently announced that China has overtaken the United States in business travel. Chinese spent just over $290 billion. This year, GBTA predicts that the Chinese business travel market will grow over 10 percent, while the US business travel market will grow less than 2 percent.

    OK, so it's not a real war but the U. S. and China are at the beginning of a trade war thanks to President Trump's policy. The Chinese government raised $34 billion in new duties on goods exported from the U.S. last week in answer to President Trump's unwise tariffs(关税) of $34 billion on Chinese goods.

    Farm and seafood-producing states are going to be hit hardest by China's new tariffs on U. S. goods. States where cars are made and shipped to China are on the hook as well.

    In terms of value, some 38 percent of products on the tariff list are agricultural, including soybeans, sorghum, tobacco and meat. That's nothing like good news for farm-belt states, primarily in the Midwest like Iowa.

    A wide range of seafood is on China's tarifflist. That could hurt fishery workers in Alaska and lobster(龙虾) harvesters in Maine. Alaska, for example, exported nearly $lbillion worth of seafood to China. "China is a major market for Alaska seafood," said Alexa Tonkovich, Executive Director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. "The seafood industry directly employs nearly 60,000 workers in Alaska each year and directly employs more workers than any other private industry."

    And automaking States, particularly in the South, are also at risk. Some 24 percent ofproducts on the list- in terms of value-are cars, trucks and other vehicles. Michigan alone exported $1.7 billion worth of motor vehicles and vehicle parts to China in 2017. Other states being affected include South Carolina, where BMW makes SUVs for both the U.S. and export, and Alabama, home to Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai factories.

    This round of tariffs spares some industries, like commercial aircraft. Washington State could breathe a sigh of relief, which is home to Boeing. It also, for the moment, skips tariffs on chemical products.

    Alexa Tonkovich has warned the U.S. government that the trade war could risk jobs, reduce industry profits, and cause higher prices for consumers in the U.S!

    Mill 180 Park is truly a park for the 2lst century, designed to copy all of the great urban parks -Central Park in New York City, Hyde Park in London and Ueno Park in Tokyo. Through the use of computerized sound and some other modern systems, we've brought the outside in, surrounding our visitors with green space and a remarkable sense of the natural world.

    We spent a lot of time trying to learn why these parks are so beloved, what makes them work so well for their sponsors, and how they provide a place of rest for so many.