The oddness of life in space never quite goes away. Here are some examples.

    The Women's Institute is urging supermarkets to do more to help consumers reduce their home food waste, after a survey of its own membership showed widespread confusion about “best before” and “use by” labeling(标签) on packaging.

    Its new analysis of products on supermarket shelves found that “once-opened” instructions were often contradictory and often failed to make clear whether they were a guide to food safety or quality. Only 45% of 5,000 WI members surveyed understood that best-before dates were a sign of food quality, while 26% did not understand that the more important use-by dates were a decisive guide to food safety.

    In its report on food waste, the WI said supermarkets were “potentially contributing to home food waste by leading customers to buy more food than they need, and giving conflicting and confusing on-pack information that leaves customers unsure about how long a product remains safe to eat in the home setting”. The 42-page report is part of the WI's ongoing campaign to reduce food waste. To underline the point about conflicting information, it cites(引用) a can of Sainsbury's own-brand sweetcorn advising consumers to eat it within one day of opening, while a similar tin from Waitrose gave consumers two days to finish it. Green Giant sweetcorn, however, has no specified date for eating once opened.

    Marylyn Haines Evans, chair of the Women's Institute's public affairs said: “WI members are some of the more informed members of society about food and cookery, but they are still confused about food labelling and 'once-opened' information. So we would like supermarkets to extend the amount of time that consumers have to use a product in their homes by making all of their once-opened instructions on product packaging consistent, and completely remove once-opened instructions on products where food safety is not an issue.”

    Something about the four World Famous Statues

    The Little Mermaid

    The statue The Little Mermaid sits on a rock in the Copenhagen harbor at Langelinie in Denmark. Tourists visiting for the first time are often surprised by the relatively small size of the statue. The Little Mermaid is only 1.25 meters high and weighs around 175kg. designed by Edvard Eriksen, the statue was erected in 1913 to commemorate（纪念）the fairy tale The Little Mermaid. The poor lady has lost her head several times but each time it has been restored. Copenhagen officials announced that the statue may be moved further out in the harbor, as to avoid further vandalism(故意破坏)and to prevent tourists from climbing onto it.

    David Statue

    David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture sculpted by Michelangelo from 1501 to 1504. The 5.17 meter marble statue portray the hero after his victory over Goliath, Michelangelo chose to represent David before the fight contemplating(沉思)the battle yet to come. To protect it from damage, the famous statue was moved in 1873 to the Accademia Gallery in Florence in Italy, where it attracts many visitors. A replica was placed in the Piazza della Signoria, at the original location.

    Great Sphinx

    Located at the Giza Plateau near Cairo in Egypt, the Great Sphinx is one of the largest and oldest statues in the world, but basic facts as who was the model for the face, when it was built, and by whom, are still debated. It is the largest monolithic(独块巨石的)statue in the world although it is considerably smaller than the pyramids around it. Despite conflicting evidence and viewpoints over by the years, the traditional view held by modern Egyptologists at large remains that the Great Sphinx was built in approximately 2500 BC by the Pharaoh Khafre, the supposed builder of the second pyramid at Giza.

    Statue of Liberty

    The Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people France to celebrate the centennial of the signing of the United States Declaration of Independence, stands upon Liberty Island and is one of the most famous symbols in the world. It represents a woman wearing a stole, a radiant crown and sandals, trampling a broken chain, carrying a torch her raised right hand and a tabula ansata tablet in her left hand. The construction of the statue was completed in France 1886 until the jet age, it was often one of the first glimpses of the United States for millions of immigrants.

    The weather is very important to farmers. The calendar might say “August”， but the weather's more like October. For some farmers the cool weather is a good thing. For others, it's a cause for concern.

    At Apple Hill, the cooler weather was giving the Boeger Winery a chance to concentrate on bottling instead of picking. “Things were really maturing, it has just been a welcome relief to have more time to prepare.” said Greg Boeger of Boeger Winery.

    But down in the Delta, the earlier hot weather has them two weeks ahead of schedule. Their harvest actually started on Tuesday, and this cooling trend is a worry. There have been no problems yet, but for each of the last two years heavy rain right after Labor Day was a problem, one that Don Pylman would not like to see repeated.

    “If it doesn't start raining, we're in good shape，” said Pylman. “If the sun comes out and clears up we can get right back to work, but if we do get rain, the rots will start.”

    The kind of grape makes a difference as well. Thin­skinned grapes like the chardonnay variety are much more sensitive to rain than some of the others. They're also more difficult to dry off.

    The summer before my dad died, we moved house. Up until that point, our family had our own space to spread out. Money was tight, so there was no television set, but we owned a turntable on which my dad's records played constantly. Mostly, it played Bob Dylan. Tracks from The Basement Tapes and Desire became an important part of our new life. My brother and I, aged 8 and 10, climbed trees, built hideaways and learned the words of Clothes Line Saga. We would chant over the, lost in our own joy.

    It was January when my dad left us forever because of the cancer. He was 36 going on 37 then, the same age as Dylan. Afterwards, our laughter disappeared, but we kept on playing the records, which became our only ritual of remembrance. The two men became so intertwined in my head, I struggled to tell them apart.

    Dylan was my dad's gift to me. What child wouldn't be fascinated by songs full of pirates and seasick sailors? How did it feel to have No direction home? Farewell, Angelina became my party-piece. I would sing this at church cheese and wines to the assembled audience. A lot of donations were made.

    Growing up, I remained a fan of the music, but I wasn't obsessed with Dylan until one day in early 1995, my brother bought us both tickets to see him play at Brixton Academy. London felt like a long way to go. But finally seeing Dylan step out onto the stage brought a sudden rush of excitement.

    I have seen Dylan a couple of times since. My brother is not around so much these days. But he was up for a visit recently. We passed a happy evening laughing and drinking, while his son, aged nine, performed his party—piece Subterranean Homesick Blues for us. He sang it word-perfect. And so it goes on: Dylan's music as a gift, passed down the generations.

    July 16th was a bad day for Mr. Arthur Johnson. In the morning, he set out from his home in Santa Barbara, California. It was the start of his summer holidays and he decided to visit Wends at Las Vegas, then he hoped to go fishing in Lake Mead, 40 km from Las Vegas.

    Johnson's troubles started while he was driving happily across the Mojave Desert. His car went wrong and he tried to repair it. Then, to make matters worse, his attempts to start the car used up the battery (电池) and left it useless. After Johnson had waited an hour in the hot sun, a Canadian driver, John Williams, stopped and tried to help him. When both men failed, Williams promised to telephone a workshop to ask it to send a truck to pull the car away and repair its fuel pump.

    Johnson left the keys in his car and sat in the shade of a large tree. Soon he fell asleep. While he was sleeping, a repair truck arrived from San Pedro (the nearest town) and pulled his car away. Later on, Johnson woke up and thought that somebody had stolen his car. He started to walk back towards San Pedro but a police car stopped him to find out why he was walking in the desert.

    Johnson looked like a man wanted in Los Angels for robbery, so the police detained him at San Pedro for the night. The next day, Johnson telephoned his friends in Los Angeles. They drove to San Pedro and made the police believe that Johnson was a harmless salesman, so they set him free.