Holidays

    Along the river banks of the Amazon and the Orinoco there lives a bird that swims before it can fly,flies like a fat chicken,eats green leaves,has the stomach of a cow and has claws（爪）on its wings when young.They build their homes about 4.6m above the river,an important feature（特征）for the safety of the young.It is called the hoatzin.

    In appearance,the birds of both sexes look very much alike with brown on the back and cream and red on the underside.The head is small,with a large set of feathers on the top,bright red eyes,and blue skin.Its nearest relatives are the common birds,cuckoos.Its most striking feature,though,is only found in the young.

    Baby hoatzins have a claw on the leading edge of each wing and another at the end of each wing tip.Using these four claws,together with the beak（喙）,they can climb about in the bushes,looking very much like primitive birds must have done.When the young hoatzins have learned to fly,they lose their claws.

    During the drier months between December and March,hoatzins fly about the forest in groups of 20 to 30 birds, but in April,when the rainy season begins,they collect together in smaller living units of two to seven birds for producing purposes.

Are we alone in the universe? A team of scientists announced on January 6, 2015 that they had identified eight planets beyond our solar system, three or four of which orbit in their stars' "Goldilocks Zone" — the region where temperatures are not too hot or too cold for water, which is a necessary ingredient for life as we know it, to exist liquid form. This may be good news for people hoping that Earth is not the only inhabited world in the universe.

    The scientists, led by Dr. Guilermo Torres of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, made the discoveries using data collected by the planet-seeking Kepler telescope.

    NASA launched Kepler in 2009. Since then, the telescope has identified more than 1,000 planets outside of our solar system. Torres and his team analyzed the data about the eight newly discovered world to determine which ones are most likely to be similar to our Earth.

    Among the new discoveries, the scientists say the planets called Kepler438b and 442b are the closest to Earth. Kepler 438b is just about 10% larger than our planet, and gets 40% more of its energy from its star than Earth receives from the Sun. Temperatures there would be about 140 degrees. Kepler 442b is about 33% larger than Earth, but receives 30% less energy from its star. That would make it a potentially chillier world than our own. Torres says it is possible for life to exist and survive in either of those temperatures, but for that to happen, these planets would need to have another key ingredient for life: a heat-trapping atmosphere like Earth's.

    While these findings add to the possibility that life exists beyond Earth, Torres cautions against drawing conclusions, “We are not claiming they are inhabited,” he says. In fact, these planets are so far away that the scientists cannot observe them directly, which can be explanation for why for now it remains unknown whether these planets contain life. But the discovery of planets in their stars' habitable zones suggests that somewhere out there, some form of alien life may have taken hold.

    who doesn't love sitting beside a cosy（舒适的）fire on a cold winter's night ? Who doesn't love to watch flames (火苗) curling up a chimney ? Fire is one of man's greatest friends, but also one of his greatest enemies. Many big fires are caused by carelessness. A lighted cigarette thrown out of a car or train window or a broken bottle lying on dry grass can start a fire. Sometimes, though, a fire can start on its own. Wet hay (草) can begin burning by itself. This is how it happens: the hay starts to rot (腐烂) and begins to give off heat which is trapped inside it. Finally, it bursts into flames. That's why farmers cut and store (贮存) their hay when it's dry .

    Fires have destroyed whole cities. In the 17th century, a small fire which began in a baker's shop burnt down nearly every building in London. Moscow was set on fire during the war against Napoleon. This fire continued burning for seven days . And, of course, in 64 A. D. a fire burnt Rome. Even today, in spite of modern fire - fighting methods, fire causes millions of pounds' worthy of damage each year both in our cities and in the countryside. It has been wisely said that fire is a good servant but a bad master.

    In 1800, only three percent of the world's population lived in cities. Only one city — Beijing — had a population of over a million. Most people lived in rural areas, and never saw a city in their lives. In 1900, just a hundred years later, roughly 150 million people lived in cities, and the world's ten largest cities all had populations exceeding one million. By 2000, the number of city dwellers exceeded three billion; and in 2008, the world's population crossed a tipping point — more than half of the people on Earth lived in cities. By 2050, that could increase to over two-thirds. Clearly, humans have become an urban species.

    In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many people viewed cities negatively — crowded, dirty environments full of disease and crime. They feared that as cities got bigger, living conditions would worsen. In recent decades, however, attitudes have changed. Many experts now think urbanization (城市化) is good news, offering solutions to the problems of Earth's growing population.

    Harvard economist Edward Glaeser, author of The Victory of the Cir, is one such person. Glaeser argues that cities are very productive because "the absence of space between people" reduces the cost of transporting goods, people, and ideas. While the flow of goods has always been important to cities, what is most important today is the flow of ideas. Successful cities enable people to learn from each other easily, and attract and reward smart people with higher wages.

    Another urbanization supporter is environmentalist Stewart Brand. Brand believes cities help the environment because they allow haft of the world's population to live on about four percent of the land. This leaves more space for open country, such as farmland. City dwellers also have less impact per person on the environment than people in the countryside. Their roads, sewers, and power lines need fewer resources to build and operate. City apartments require less energy to heat, cool, and light. Most importantly, people in cities drive less so they produce fewer greenhouse gases per person.

    So it's a mistake to see urbanization as evil; it's a natural part of development  The challenge is how to manage the growth.

    People all have something to say. Some express their passion (强烈的感情) through clothe, art, or community involvement. Others express themselves with poetry, which has diverse poetic forms to express unique thoughts, experiences, and imagination at the fourth annual People's Poetry Festival held Feb. 28 through March 2.

    "The People's Poetry Festival keeps getting bigger and bigger—it's an event we're really proud of," said Dr Mark Hartlaub, College of Liberal Arts Dean at Texas. The festival covered a wide variety of topics including nature, humor, women and history. From the panels to the open microphone night, the islander's community, along with 43 published poets from around the country, local high school students, and the general public came together to share their love of poetry.

    The panels were full of passionate readings and lively discussion. For the first time ever, musical poetry was performed at the event. The "Homebrewed" panel was made up of all local poets. The "From Page to the Stage" panel focused on slam (抨击) poetry, and the "Humor" panel greeted levels of laughter from the crowd. All the panels were live streamed on the People's Poetry Facebook page. "The poetry and poets were all my students wanted to talk about in class this week," said Dr. Chuck Etheridge, professor of English who attended many of the panel readings.

    Celebrating exceptional writers is another part of People's Poetry Festival. On opening night, the People's Poetry Festival committee named Madeline Ricondo of Tuloso-Midway as the winner of the Robb Jackson Writing Award for high school students. This award honors the late Dr. Robb Jackson, Texas A&M University System Regents Professor and professor of English at A&M-Corpus Christi, whose poetry shared his life experiences and observation of Corpus Christi. Ricondo received a $100 gift card, plus, three poetry books with local ties including a copy of Jackson's "Open Heart". The people's Poetry Festival committee also recognized Juan Manuel Perez, award-winning poet and local history teacher, as the 2019—2021 Poet Laureate (桂冠诗人) of Corpus Christi.