Terrible disasters in the last 50 or 100 years have become increasingly common. Over the last 30 years, the number of weather-related disasters has increased quickly, and the disasters have also affected more people and caused more economic loss. However, much of this could be avoided through disaster risk reduction(DRR降低灾难风险).

    A meeting, held in Sendai, Japan last month, opened one day after Cyclone Pam（飓风Pam）hit Vanuatu, which struck the islands with winds of up to 340km/h and destroyed the island nation. The speech by the President of Vanuatu was given shortly after that. He begged the international community for support and stronger commitment (承诺)to helping them manage climate and disaster risks. In the face of disasters, it is always the developing countries that suffer most. Damage in these countries is often worse and unluckily, there is limited money and technique to prevent these disasters.

    In fact, we have seen Asian countries-especially those that have suffered a lot in disasters can't pay the price. Great loss Asia has suffered comes to a total of almost $ 53 billon yearly over the past 20 years.

    At the same time, studies have shown once again that proper prevention saves lives and damage. With this in mind, people at the Sendai meeting were able to come up with new agreements that effective ways of disaster risk reduction will be carried out in the coming years for those who easily get damaged in disasters.

Learning, Fast and Deep

    Over the past five years researchers in artificial intelligence have become the rock stars of the technology world. A branch of AI known as deep learning, which uses neural(神经的) networks to scan through large volumes of data looking for patterns, has proven so useful that skilled practitioners can command high six-figure salaries to build software for Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.

    The standard route into these jobs has been a PhD in computer science from one of America's top universities. Earning one takes years and requires a personality suited to academia, which is rare among more normal folk.

    That is changing.

    Last month fast.ai, a non-profit education organization based in San Francisco, kicked off the third year of its course in deep learning. Since its foundation it has attracted more than 100, 000 students around the globe from India to Nigeria. The course and others like it, come with a simple idea: there is no need to spend years obtaining a PhD in order to practise deep learning. Creating software that learns can be taught as a craft, not as a high intellectual pursuit to be undertaken only in an ivory tower. Fast. ai's course can be completed in just seven weeks.

    To make it accessible to anyone who wants to learn how to build AI software is the aim of Jeremy Howard, who founded fast.ai with Rachel Thomas, a mathematician. He says school mathematics is sufficient. "No. Greek. Letters," Mr. Howard intones, pounding the table with his fist for punctuation.

    Some experts worry that this will serve only to create a flood of unreliable AI systems which will be useless at best and dangerous at worst. In the earliest days of the Internet, only a select few nerds, namely computer holies with specific skills, could build applications. Not many people used them. Then the invention of the World Wide Web led to an explosion of web pages, both good and bad. But it was only by opening up to all that the Internet gave birth to online shopping, instant global communications and search. If Mr. Howard and others have their way, making the development of AI software easier will bring forth a new crop of fruit of a different kind.

    The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th of the first month of the lunar calendar. This day is always the first full moon in the new year. Ancient people also called it Shangyuan Festival. Celebrations and traditions on this day began from the Han Dynasty and became popular in the Tang Dynasty.

    Watching the red lanterns is one of the main traditions. Lanterns of different shapes and sizes are usually put on trees, or along river banks on show. It is said that sky lanterns were first used by Zhuge Kongming to ask for help when he was in trouble. Today, when the lanterns slowly rise into the air, people make wishes. Another tradition is guessing lantern riddles. The riddles are usually short, wise, and sometimes humorous. The answer to a riddle can be a Chinese character, a famous person's name, or a place name.

    The most important thing is to eat sweet dumplings with different tastes. In northern China, they are called yuanxiao while in southern part they're named tangyuan. Because making sweet dumplings is like a game or an activity, they are usually done happily by a group of friends or family members.

    In old times, the Lantern Festival was also a good time for young people to find love. Watching lanterns gave young people a chance to meet each other. And there were many romantic stories about this festival. A line from Xin Qiji, a poet during the Song Dynasty, shows this, "Hundreds and thousands of times I searched for her in the crowd. Suddenly I turned, and there she stood in the dim light. "

    In a word, the Lantern Festival has brought us Chinese so much fun and joy over the years. We hope the young people can carry on these traditions and take pride in Chinese culture.

Crocodiles today look very similar to ones from 200 million years ago. There are also very few species alive today—just 25. Other animals such as lizards (蜥蜴) and birds have achieved a diversity of many thousands of species in the same amount of time or less.

Prehistory also saw types of crocodile we don't see today, including giants as big as dinosaurs, plant-eaters, fast runners and snake-like forms that lived in the sea. The rate of their evolution is generally slow, but occasionally they evolve more quickly because the environment has changed. In particular, their evolution speeds up when the climate is warmer, and their body size increases.

The body size of crocodiles is important because it interacts with how fast animals grow, how much food they need, how big their populations are and how likely they are to become extinct. The limited diversity of crocodiles and their apparent lack of evolution is a result of a slow evolutionary rate. It seems the crocodiles arrived at a body plan that was very efficient and perfect enough that they didn't need to change it in order to survive. This perfection could be one explanation why crocodiles survived Cretaceous period (白垩纪), in which the dinosaurs died out.

Crocodiles generally develop better in warm conditions because they cannot control their body temperature and require warmth from the environment. The climate during the age of dinosaurs was warmer than it is today, and that may explain why there were many more varieties of crocodiles than we see now. Being able to draw energy from the sun means they do not need to eat as much as a warm-blooded animal like a bird or a mammal (哺乳动物).

In the 16th century, the nearby country of Wales was joined to the Kingdom of England. Later, in the 18th century, the country Scotland was joined {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(create) the Kingdom of Great Britain. Finally, in the 20th century, the southern part of Ireland broke away from the UK,{#blank#}2{#/blank#}resulted in the full name. They use the same flag,{#blank#}3{#/blank#}(know) as the Union Jack, as well as share the same currency and military {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(defend). However, they also have some differences. 

The United Kingdom has a long and interesting history to explore. Some of the Romans' great{#blank#}5{#/blank#}(achieve) including {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(build) towns and roads, The Normans conquered England after the well-known Battle of Hastings in the 11th century. They had castles built all around England, and made changes {#blank#}7{#/blank#}the legal system. The Normans were French, so many French words {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(slow) entered into the English language.

Studying the history of the country will make your visit much more {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(enjoy). If you keep your eyes open, you will be {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(surprise) to find that you can see both its past and its present.

If you use "123456", "password'' or "qwerty" as a password, you're probably aware that you're at the risk of being attacked by hackers(黑客). But you're not alone. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Recently, password management service NordPass has carried out a study to determine the 200 most commonly used passwords around the world. They analyzed the data across 50 countries.

The findings show password choices are often attached to cultural references. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. In the UK, "liverpool" was the third most popular password, with 224,160 hits, while the name of Chilean football club "colocolo" was used by 15,748 people in Chile, making it the fifth most common choice.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Women tend to use more positive and affectionate(深情的) words and phrases such as "sunshine" or "I love you", while men often use sports-related passwords. In some countries, men use more swear words than women.

Choosing long and complex passwords remains the main authentication mechanism (身份验证机制) for computers and network-based products and services. But we know people continue to choose weak passwords and often don't manage them securely. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

To overcome the security issues linked with password-based authentication systems, researchers and developers are now concentrating on creating authentication systems which don't depend on passwords at all. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} For example, two-factor authentication (2FA) and multi-factor authentication (MFA) methods are good ways to secure your accounts. These methods combine a password with biometric information (for example, a face scan or fingerprint) or something distinguishable, like a captcha(验证码). All in all, a secure password is the first line of defense against Internet attacks. Don't give up security for convenience.

A. As a result, they put themselves under potential online security threats.

B. The findings show that passwords tell our emotions and our identity.
C. Besides, there are other ways to protect your personal information.  

D. These are among the most popular passwords around the world. 
E. The report also reflected different preferences between genders. 

F. People in some countries take inspiration from a football team.  
G. They need the support of computer experts.