Lindsay Renwick, the mayor of Deniliquin, a country town in New South Wales, misses the constant whir（嗡嗡声）of the rice mill whose giant fans dried the rice. The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere (南半球), once processed enough grain to meet the needs of 20 million people globally. But six years of drought have had a destructive effect, reducing Australia's rice crop by 98 percent and leading to the mothballing of the mill last December.

    Drought affects every agriculture industry based in Australia, not just rice – from sheep farming, the country's other backbone, to the cultivation of grapes for wine, the fastest-growing crop there, with that expansion often coming at the expense of rice. The drought's effect on rice has produced the greatest impact on the rest of the world, so far. It is one factor contributing to skyrocketing prices, and many scientists believe it is among the earliest signs that a warming planet is starting to affect food production.

    Researchers are looking for solutions to global rice shortages – for example, rice that blooms earlier in the day, when it is cooler, to fight against global warming. Rice plants that happen to bloom on hot days are less likely to produce grains of rice, a difficulty that is already starting to emerge in inland areas of China and other Asian countries as temperatures begin to climb. 'there will be problems very soon unless we have new varieties of rice in place,” said Reiner Wassmann, climate change director at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI). The recent reports on climate change carried a warning that could make the news even worse: that existing models for the effects of climate change on agriculture did not yet include newer findings that global warming could reduce rainfall and make it more variable.

    Yet the effects of climate change are not uniformly bad for rice. Rising concentrations (浓度) of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, can actually help rice – although the effect reduces or disappears if the plants face unnecessary heat, inadequate water, severe pollution or other stresses. Still, the flexibility of farmers here has persuaded some climate experts that, particularly in developed countries, the effects of climate change may be relieved, if not completely avoided. “I'm not as negative as most people,” said Will Steffen, director of the Fenner School of Environment and Society at Australian National University. “Farmers are learning how to do things differently.”

    Meanwhile, changes like the use of water to grow wine grapes instead of rice carry their own costs, as the developing world is discovering. “Rice is an essential food,” said Graeme Haley, the general manager of the town of Deniliquin. “Wine is not.”

Good jobs for Sports

    If sports are something that appeals to you, it stands to reason that you would do well in them. Here are some tips that can help you become a good player.

    Set ambitious but realistic goals. If you want to be great at sports, you need to set your aims high.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Instead, you should take a look at what you are, and figure out where you think you would like to be. Give yourself a suitable amount of time to achieve that goal.

    Be patient{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Impatient athletes tend to make poor ones. If you're not patient, you'll try to jump into advanced techniques long before you're ready. You'll feel discouraged when you don't see immediate improvement.

Join a sports team. Most of the sports teams are free to join. If you go to school, you should go for team tryouts when they're happening{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Accept criticism（批评）.When you play sports, you will unavoidably receive criticism, whether from a coach or other players{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Are they angry because you missed a pass, or do they sincerely want to help you improve? In a lot of cases, you can use criticism as motivation to get better.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} A skill become mastered when you're able to do it without thinking. Given enough time and practice, a skill will eventually fall under this category. When in a game, you won't have time to think everything through, so practice until it's all automatic.

A. You also need to be clear about what you are good at.

B. Practice until your skills become second nature.

C. If you're not in school, you can find a sports club online.

D. This does not mean being unrealistic.

E. Skills are often slow to build.

F. You need to take most of it with a grain of salt.

G. An important reason people join sports teams is to make friends.

Jealous Ken

    Dick and Ken lived in the same street. Both children had a good home and lots of nice things. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} In other words, Ken was a jealous(嫉妒的) boy.

    Dick and Ken grew up and got jobs. At first, they both cycled to work every morning. Then Dick bought a motorcycle. Every morning, Dick on his motorcycle rode past Ken on his bicycle, and Ken felt jealous. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} He was happy until Dick bought a car.

    Ken worked hard until he had enough money for a car. He bought a car, and it was as good as Dick's car. There were a lot of other cars on the road, so the journey to work was slower, but Ken was happy.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} So Ken worked very hard, and yesterday he bought an expensive new car. This morning Ken left home in his new car. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} But Ken was happy because his car was bigger, better and faster than Dick's car.

    Then he saw Dick behind him, but Dick was not in a car. Dick was riding a bicycle. It was a new bicycle. The cars moved very slowly, so Dick cycled past them easily. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} He watched from his big, expensive car and felt jealous.

A.     Dick was very proud of his new car.

B.     But after a year, Dick bought a bigger car.

C.     Both Ken and Dick walked to work every day.

D.    So Ken bought a motorcycle and he was happy.

E.     Ken watched as Dick cycled away in front of him.

F.     But Ken was unhappy because some of Dick's things were better than his.

G.    There were cars in front as far as he could see, and none of them could move.

    Humor plays an important role in relationships. In new relationships, humor can be an effective tool not just for attracting the other person but also for overcoming any awkwardness or embarrassment.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Sharing the pleasure of humor creates a sense of connection between two people. When you laugh with one another, you create a positive tie between you. This tie acts as a strong buffer(缓冲) against stress, disagreements, disappointments, and bad patches in a relationship. And laughter really is infectious.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} But don't worry if you're not naturally a lighthearted, humorous person—you can learn to access your playful side and develop your sense of fun.

    Like any tool, humor can be used in negative as well as positive ways. Humor can only help you overcome relationship problems when both partners can understand the joke.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} If your partner or friend isn't likely to appreciate the joke, don't say or do it. Humor in relationships should be equally fun and enjoyable for both people.

Don't use humor to cover up other emotions.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} That's when it is used as a cover for avoiding, rather than coping with, painful emotions. You can be funny about the truth, but covering up the truth isn't funny. When you use humor and playfulness as a cover for other emotions, you create confusion and mistrust in your relationships.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} The important thing is to find enjoyable activities that help you embrace your playful nature with other people. As humor and play become an unseparated part of your life, you'll begin to find daily opportunities for using your new-found skills to help build and maintain your relationships.

A. Humor can help you and your loved one.

B. There are times when humor is not healthy.

C. It's important to be sensitive to the other person.

D. It's never too late to develop your humorous side.

E. The more you joke, play, and laugh—the easier it becomes.

F. Just hearing someone laugh can make you smile and join in on the fun.

G. In longer-term relationships, humor can keep things exciting and fresh.

Sustainable Cities Need More Than Parks, Cafes and a Riverwalk

    There are many standards that aim to rank how green cities are. But what does it actually mean for a city to be green or sustainable?

    We've written about what we call the "parks, cafes and a riverwalk" model of sustainability, which focuses on providing new green spaces, mainly for high-income people. This vision of shiny residential towers and waterfront parks has become a widely-shared conception of what green cities should look like. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Gentrification(住宅高档化) has become a catch-all term used to describe neighborhood change, and is often misunderstood as the only path to neighborhood improvement. In fact, its defining feature is displacement. Typically, people who move into these changing neighborhoods are wealthier and more educated than residents who are displaced.

    A recent flood of new research has focused on the displacement effects of environmental cleanup and green space initiatives. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Land for new development and resources to fund extensive cleanup of poisonous sites are scarce in many cities. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} And in neighborhoods where gentrification has already begun, a new park or farmers market can worsen the problem by making the area even more attractive to potential high-income people and pricing out long-term residents. In some cases, developers even create temporary community gardens or farmers markets or promise more green space than they eventually deliver, in order to market a neighborhood to buyers looking for green pleasantness.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} It makes deindustrialization seem both inevitable and desirable, often by quite literally replacing industry with more natural-looking landscapes. When these neighborhoods are finally cleaned up, after years of activism by longtime residents, those advocates often are unable to stay and enjoy the benefits of their efforts.

A. This phenomenon is often missing from development projects promoted as green or sustainable.

B. This phenomenon has variously been called environmental, eco-or green gentrification.

C. Greening and environmental cleanup do not automatically or necessarily lead to gentrification.

D. This creates pressure to rezone industrial land for residential towers or profitable commercial space, in exchange for developer-funded cleanup.

E. But it can drive up real estate prices and displace low- and middle-income residents.

F. Environmental gentrification naturalizes the disappearance of manufacturing and the working class.