Charles Dickens (1812—1870), the great nineteenth century English novelist, was born near Portsmouth. His father ran heavily into debt (债) and when he was twelve, he had to go and work in a factory. The only formal education he received was a two-year schooling at a school for poor children. In fact, he had to teach himself all he knew. He worked for a time in a lawyer's office. After that, he worked as a reporter in the law courts, and later for London newspapers. His life as a writer of novels began in 1833 with short stories and essays in newspapers, and in 1837 his novel “The Pickwick Papers” made him the most popular author at his time in England.

    He was a great observer (观察者) of people and their places because he was concerned about life and conditions in mid-nineteenth century London. He wrote 19 novels all his life and in many of them, Dickens gave a picture of all classes of England society, showing deep concern for the poor.

    Many of his novels like “Oliver Twist”, “David Copperfield”, “Nicholas Nickleby”, “Great Expectations”, “A Tale of Two Cities” and so on drew attention to the unfair social conditions that existed in England over a hundred years ago. Dickens wished to see improvement in the living conditions of the poor, but failed to find any useful method to achieve that goal.

    There might be as many as 10 million species of complex life on this planet today —— a huge number. But add up all of the complex species that ever lived and some biologists think the grand total would be about five billion. The estimate leads to an astonishing conclusion: a staggering 99% of species are not around any more. They have been driven to extinction.

    More species are joining the ranks of the extinct every year. Many scientists believe we are living through an episode of remarkably rapid extinction, on a scale that has been seen only five times in the last half a billion years.

    They call this current episode the sixth mass extinction —— a large, global decline in a wide variety of species over a relatively short period of time. And they tend to agree that humans are the main cause.

    Over-hunting, overfishing, and human-driven habitat loss are pushing many species to the brink. In fact, we have changed the planet so much that some geologists are now suggesting that we have entered a new phase in Earth's history; an epoch they call the ＂Anthropocene＂. By 2100, it is expected that humans will have caused the extinction of up to half of the world's current species.

    Because we are living through this extinction, it is relatively easy for us to study the driving forces behind it. But how do we determine what caused other mass die-offs that happened long ago? To do so we have to look at what archaeologists, palaeontologists, geologists and other scientists have concluded from the evidence they have gathered.

    The trouble is, those scientists do not always agree with one another —— even about the most recent extinction event. As well as the five-or six- mass extinctions, there have also been many smaller extinctions.

    One of these mini extinction events happened towards the end of the Pleistocene, a few tens of thousands of years ago. It is sometimes called the ＂megafaunal＂ extinction because many of the species it claimed were particularly large animals, weighing more than 97lb (44kg). However, its cause remains a debate amongst scientists.

    Camping is a good way to spend time along with your kids and to show them how wonderful nature can be. Through camping, children can discover new things about nature, such as flowers, birds, and other small animals. Camping gives kids time to get away from all the electronics (电子) of today's culture. So it is necessary to plan exciting and enjoyable family camping trips with your children while they are young.

    When planning your family camping trip, consider the activities your kids like: games, hiking, swimming, boating, bicycling, etc. Select a camping place that has some of the activities the kids are interested in. Meal planning is an important part of your camping trip. Plan the meals together, and kids love to choose what they want to eat.

    When starting to pack for your trip, let the kids pack their own items (物品) . Each person should have his/her own sleeping bag with a luggage (行李) bag to put it in. Personal items should be packed with their sleeping bags. Encourage the kids to put their items in a certain place and always return it when they have finished using it.

    When you have arrived at your campsite, make all the camping activities a family activity, which will help children to realize how important team-work is. Everyone can have his/her own job sitting up the campsite. Meal time can be a fun time. So let the older ones help with the cooking on your outdoor camping stove while the younger ones get the picnic table ready.

The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most diverse places in America, a wonderful place filled with people from all backgrounds. Each of them drew something different from their own experience. Their stories are the focus of Status Update, an exhibition of 14 projects offered by Dundon and former WIRED contributor Pete Brook. The show at SOMarts uses personal tales to show the Bay Area's culture. 

The Bay Area is a microcosm (缩影) of the national melting pot, a place where people of color comprise 58 percent of the overall population and are a majority in four of the region's five countries, San Francisco in particular is the type of place where you can' t walk down the street without hearing another language. Yet the change is not all for the better. The gap between rich and poor is widening at a frightening speed, and San Francisco is becoming less diverse as minorities escape from the city for more affordable communities elsewhere in the region. 

Status Update reflects these changes and the challenges they bring. Joseph Rodriguez's Faces of Foreclosure features quiet images of people like Ethel Gist, who lost her home in the East Bay suburb of Brentwood six years ago. Photographer Sam records Oakland resident Shannon and his efforts to provide for his daughter. And Laura Morton documents millennials (千禧一代 )hoping to make their way to the top in Silicon Valley in her series Wild West Tech. 

Status Update starts a conversation about how the Bay Area is changing, and what people can do to build up a more just equitable (公正的) society. "I hope people walk away from this show with a little more respect for our neighbors and communities and the ways we depend on one another." Dundon says. "we're all out here together"

It began on a cold rainy day in an alley (小巷) outside Lagos. But 11-year-old Anthony Mmesoma Madu from Nigeria seemed 1 , dancing barefoot across puddles (坑), jumping, and turning around. His2 took a quick video, 3 it on social media, and went back to teaching.

Then the 4 of "likes" and "shares" filled these few simple seconds with the potential (潜力) of 5 a new life. Actress Viola Davis saw the video and 6 , "It reminds me of the 7 of my people. We create, soar, imagine, have great passion, and love...despite the difficulties that have been put in front of us. Our people can 8 !!!"

In the past few weeks, some 15 million people from around the globe watched, fascinated, as Anthony danced across the puddles. Thanks to this support, he received a 9 to study virtually with some of the world's best ballet dancers a at New York's American Dance Theatre.

Famous male ballet dancer Calvin Royal Ⅲ was also 10 by Anthony's dancing. He offered help and 11 Anthony and his classmates. He told the young dancers, "You are not only 12 your world there in Africa but you re changing the minds of many people.

Many people in Anthony's community have never seen a 13 dancing ballet before. He told BBC, "When my friends see me dancing, they are 14 ," ‘What is this boy doing? Is he doing a foreign dance?' Where I Where I live there are no male ballet dancers like me.

But now, his love of dancing is 15 for Anthony, his incredible teacher, his classmates, future Nigerian dancers as well as boys who love ballet.

Iˈve always loved the ocean. In the {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (seven) grade, I started volunteering at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. I was upset to learn that many sea animals eat plastic garbage, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (think)it is food. 

I decided to do something {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (educate) people about this problem. I held presentations at schools to teach kids about plastic waste. I wanted to reach businesses too. I decided that if I learned of a company{#blank#}4{#/blank#} used a lot of plastic, Iˈd send it an email urging it to cut back. 

One day, I saw a commercial for a health-care company. People in the ad were using plastic straws （吸管）. I found the contact information of the company{#blank#}5{#/blank#} emailed its president. I told him how {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (harm) plastic could be to the environment and asked him to consider using more eco-friendly options. I was so{#blank#}7{#/blank#} (excite) when he wrote back to me. He said he would make sure that the company cut its use of plastic straws in half. 

I kept going. Whenever I heard of businesses using plastic, Iˈd send an email. One of the biggest companies I wrote to {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (be) Alaska Airlines Paris. A company{#blank#}9{#/blank#} (represent) wrote back and told me the airline was switching over{#blank#}10{#/blank#}plastic to paper cups on all of its 1, 200 daily flights.