Anne LaBastille was born in New York City and grew up in New Jersey. Her first experience with the wilderness was in the Adirondacks in the northeast of New York, where she worked at a summer resort to earn money for college tuition by caring for the horses, giving riding lessons, and working as a waitress. And she has many chances to begin her adventure in the Adirondack wilderness.

    Anne returned to school in the fall, but she continued to spend as much time as she could in the Adirondacks. She grew to love her time alone in the mountains. Anne graduated from college with a bachelor's degree in conservation of natural resources and began working for the National Audubon Society in Florida as a wildlife tour leader.

    Although Anne took great pleasure in showing people the animals living in the Florida Keys and the Everglades National Park, she longed for the mountains in the northern parts of New York. Eventually, she decided to build a cabin near Black Bear Lake. Over the years, however, more and more tourists began hiking near her cabin. As a result, Anne decided to build another cabin deeper in the woods at Lily Pad Lake.

    Anne lived in the woods for most of her life. She enjoyed living alone in the woods, and her life was far too busy for her to be lonely. When she was not writing books, she wrote articles for National Geographic, Reader's Digest, and other magazines. In her later years, Anne conducted research in Guatemala on an endangered bird called the grebe. She also lectured nationwide about ecology. Besides, Anne worked with a number of organizations dedicated to conservation.

    As a respected guide, author, and conservationist, Anne not only loved the land but also had found a way to become part of it.

Come and join us to celebrate his birthday.

    A new library in Tianjin—Tianjin Binhai Public Library—recently became an online hit. The Daily Mail described it as “breathtaking”. One look at the library and you'll see why. With its very futuristic design and walls loaded with books, it's the dream library of every book lover.

    But there's a burning question lying in the back of our minds: with physical bookstores closing down one by one, what makes libraries survive the wave of digitalization? Do we really still need libraries as we've got the internet in our hands?

    Reporter Ian Clark has the answer. “Libraries are not declining in importance. People are simply changing the way they use them,” he wrote on the Guardian website. Since not everyone can afford a smartphone, a tablet or an internet connection, and not everyone knows how to search the Internet correctly and efficiently, it's public libraries that make sure that these resources are available to a larger group of people.

    And one of the pitfalls that come with online materials is that they're not always reliable. “Google doesn't tell you what you're not getting, so people need to evaluate (评估) the quality of what they see on their screens,” Sarah Pritchard, dean of libraries at Northwestern University, told Northwestern Research Magazine. And libraries are usually where that “evaluation” happens.

    But we still need the physical space that a library provides. It's something that's called a “third place”, according to the Seattle Times. This is a place in which we can fully concentrate on our study and work without easily getting distracted. Compared to other “third places” like coffee shops, libraries have a “non-commercial nature” that allows you to relax completely.

    “Nobody is trying to sell you anything in the library. There is no pressure to buy and there is no judgment of your choices,” Anne Goulding, a professor at Victoria University in New Zealand, wrote on the Newsroom website.

    It's best to plan ahead and there is no better way than to prepare for an emergency before it happens. For example, the time to plan for a fire emergency is before it happens. This is when everyone is calm and clear-thinking. This is when decisions about safe escape routes can be discussed and made. Have a family talk. Don't delay. Planning won't help after a fire starts.

    Knowing ahead of time how to get out during a fire can save needed seconds. The best way out in a fire is the route you use to go in and out every day. Yet, in a fire this route may be blocked. Be sure to plan other escape routes.

    Take each person to his or her room and describe what to do in case of fire. Give everyone a job. Older children should take care of younger ones. Plans may have to be made for anyone who cannot escape without help. Adults who can't walk should sleep on the first floor. Small children should sleep near older persons who can help them. Only healthy, able persons should sleep in hard-to-reach places such as attics or basements.

    Practice your escape plan at night when it is dark. Be sure that your plan is good and will work. For example, make sure that a child can actually open the window he is supposed to use for his escape. Teach children to close their bedroom doors. Tell them to wait by an open window until someone can reach them from outside. If an adult cannot be wakened, children should understand that they must leave by themselves.

    Choose a meeting place outside. This way you can tell if everyone is safely out of the building. Know where nearby telephones or fire alarm boxes are found.

    If you live in an apartment, try to get everyone out. Learn where the fire alarm is in the building. Your family should know what the fire alarm bell sounds like. They should know what to do when they hear it. Try to get the other families in your building together to have fire drills. Write down the telephone number of the fire department. Stick the number to each phone.

    Early warning is the key to a safe escape. It has been shown time and time again that a family can escape if warned early enough.

    A Christmas Carol was written by Charles Dickens. The first 6,000 copies of the book were sold out in a week. And the book has inspired many plays and movies. The first play was put on in 1844. The first two movies were silent films made in 1901 and 1908. Since then, the story has been remade more than 60 times for television and cinema. What makes such a tale so attractive? Audiences have always loved a good plot, a villain(反面人物)who harms other people or breaks the law, and the ending of right over wrong. The book offers all three.

    The book tells the story of a man named Ebenezer Scrooge. He is mean and cruel(残忍的)to his clerk and turns away his only living relative. One night, Scrooge is visited by three spirits. The first shows scenes from Scrooge's youth that led to this present state. The second takes him to the homes of his clerk and his nephew. Here Scrooge sees that people can be happy without lots of money. The spirit also shows him the desperate poor people of London. The third spirit shows Scrooge will die alone, and no one will care if he continues to live as he has. At last the message is understood, and Scrooge repents. He becomes generous and caring to all around him, especially to his clerk's sick son, Tiny Tim.

    Every year, thousands of people watch A Christmas Carol. Why? They may be touched by its lessons on the true meanings of wealth and happiness. They may enjoy the special effects and feelings or watching every year may be just a habit. Viewers never seem to grow tired of the old miser(守财奴), Scrooge, and his dramatic message of hope and change.