April 4th was just another day on a Western Australia farm for Zac Mitchell, until it suddenly wasn't. In an unexpected accident, the cattle worker was feeding the animals in his charge when one bull cleaned him up and kicked his hand up against the rail, resulting in the thumb on his right hand being cut off. “My thumb was still hanging on the rail... when I got up off the ground,” Zac Mitchell says.

    His co-workers tried their best to preserve the thumb for reattachment, placing it on ice in a cooler, but two surgeries to put Mitchell's thumb back in place failed. That's when doctors came up with another suggestion: Remove one of his big toes to where his thumb used to be.

    Mitchell's lead surgeon, Sean Nicklin, understood the man's dilemma at first, calling it a “bit of a crazy idea”. After all, Zac Mitchell did not want to be injured in another part of his body. But as the thumb is incredibly important function-wise, Mitchell eventually gave in. Nicklin explains that the big toe is surprisingly fit for a thumb switch: Nerves sync up (同步) nicely, and it looks more like a thumb, though a giant one, than any other alternative they may have come up with. He added that big toes aren't as necessary for balance and walking as people believe. As far as the foot goes, occasional “fine balance” activities like surfing might be difficult, but most people without a big toe function fine in everyday tasks like walking and even competitive sports.

    The eight-hour surgery went well, and Mitchell is expected to have a year or so of recovery in front of him before he heads back into the fields.

    Do you ever dream about climbing Mount Everest, which is 8,848 meters high? If so, you're not alone. Every year, thousands of people try to climb the world's highest mountains or walk across deserts. Let's take a look at some of the 21st century's greatest adventurers (冒险家).

    Ed Stafford

    Ed Stafford from the UK is the first person to walk along the Amazon River from the mountains of Peru to the mouth of the river in Brazil. There are many dangerous animals in the rainforest, but he was only bitten by ants and mosquitoes. On his trip, Ed had to find fruit and nuts or catch fish each morning. He used a radio to ask the people of the rainforest for food and help. Many people came to meet him and guide him through the rainforest. While he walked, Ed wrote a blog to tell the world about climate change and destruction (破坏) of the rainforest.

    Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner

    Gerinde Kaltenbrunner from Austria is one of the world's greatest climbers and has climbed all the world's mountains over 8,000 metres. It's very difficult to climb in the cold weather and storms, but Gerlinde loves it. Now she spends her time climbing and helping a charity for poor children in Nepal.

    Meagan Mcgrath

    Some adventurers are always looking for a new challenge. Meagan Mcgrath from Canada has climbed mountains, ridden a bike across Canada and run races in the desert to raise money for the disabled.

    Erik Weihenmayer

    Erik Weihenmayer from the United States has climbed mountains and ridden a bike through deserts. Amazingly, Erik is blind and he wants other blind people to have active lives too. He has taken groups of young blind people climbing in Nepal.

    Water is very important to living things. Without water there can be no life on the earth. All animals and plants need water. Man also needs water. We need water to drink, to cook our food and to clean ourselves. Water is needed in offices, factories and schools. Water is needed everywhere.

    There is water in seas, rivers and lakes. Water is found almost everywhere. Even in the desert part of the world, there is some water in the air. You can't see or feel it when it is a part of the air. The water in the seas, rivers and lakes is a liquid, the water in the air is a gas, and we call it water vapor (蒸汽).

    Clouds are made of water. They may be made of very small drops of water. They may also be made of snow crystals(结晶体). Snow crystals are very small crystals of ice. Ice is frozen water. It is a solid. There can be snow and ice everywhere in winter.

    Water may be a solid or a liquid or a gas. When it is a solid, it may be as hard as a stone. When it is a liquid, you can drink it. When it is a gas, you can not see or feel it.

    Most American students go to traditional public schools. There are about 88,000 public schools all over the US. Some students attend about 3,000 independent public schools called charter schools.

    Charter schools are self­governing. Private companies operate some charter schools. They are similar in some ways to traditional public schools. They receive tax just as other public schools do. Charter schools must prove to local or state governments that their students are learning. These governments provide the schools with the agreement called a charter that permits them to operate.

    Charter schools are different because they do not have to obey most laws governing traditional public schools. Local, state or federal governments cannot tell them what to teach. Each school can choose its own goals and decide the ways it wants to reach them. Class size is usually smaller than in traditional public schools.

    Governments strongly support charter schools as a way to re­organize public schools that are failing to educate students. But some education agencies and unions oppose charter schools. One teachers' union has just made public the results of the first national study comparing the progress of students in traditional schools and charter schools.

    The American Federation of Teachers criticized the government's delay in releasing the results of the study, which is called the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Union education experts say the study shows that charter school students performed worse in math and reading tests than students in regular public schools.

    Some experts say the study is not a fair look at charter schools because students in those schools have more problems than students in traditional schools. Other education experts say the study results should make charter school officials demand more student progress.

    The spine (脊柱) stands at the center of your health, providing your body with structure and support. It also contains a major collection of nerves that deliver electric signals from the rest of the body to your brain. So it's important to take care of it.

    Staying in a good position is one of the most important things to keep your spine healthy. A proper position means standing or sitting while keeping your spins straight, except for its natural bending. Positions play a vital part even when you're asleep. Stomach sleeping is far from a good idea. Many people prefer sleeping on their side, which is in the interests of their spine. Sleeping on your back has lots of benefits yet can cause lower back pain and put some pressure on your spine.

    Staying still for too long — even if your position is good — can be hard on your back. Especially if you work at a task most of the day, it's important to get up and stretch (伸展) periodically. Strength exercises with light weights like push-ups can also help by strengthening the muscles. However, don't overdo the exercise, as repeated movements can hurt the muscles around the spine, as trying to lift heavy weights with poor technique.

    Vitamins also affect the health of your spine. In particular, vitamin B and omega-3 fatty acids help keep nerves healthy. Another important part is vitamin D, which is required for strong bones. Vitamin D can come from some foods, but it's also absorbed from sunlight, so it may help to do some exercises outside. At last, many of the actions necessary to keep a spine healthy are similar to those used to protect your health in other ways. So protect your back, and the rest of the body will benefit.

 The recent opening of a new exhibition building at the Sanxingdui Museum, in Guanghan, in Sichuan province, made the place {#blank#}1{#/blank#} instant tourist hot spot. The bronze heads, golden masks, holy trees and various statues reveal the {#blank#}2{#/blank#} ( mystery) faces of a culture dating back more than 3,000 years.

 For those who cannot make it to Guanghan, where the extensive site of Sanxingdui is located, an immersive exhibition equipped with digital technology, {#blank#}3{#/blank#} ( title) Hello Sanxingdui, {#blank#}4{#/blank#}( offer) an alternative means to be awed by the magnificence of this Bronze Age culture. It is running at the Longfu Art Museum in Beijing until Feb 29.

 It provides a time- travel experience for both an educational and artistic appeal. The journey begins {#blank#}5{#/blank#} a brief timeline of texts, photos and videos, showing how Sanxingdui was first discovered in the 1920s,{#blank#}6{#/blank#} objects were found by farmers digging an irrigation ditch(灌溉沟渠); and it highlights the important moments in the past century's continued archaeological efforts, to reveal the myths surrounding Sanxingdui and the secrets yet {#blank#}7{#/blank#} ( uncover).

 On show {#blank#}8{#/blank#} ( be) life- size reproduction s of dozens of astonishing artifacts, supervised by Sanxingdui Museum, such as 2.6- meter bronze statues, 3.8- meter- wide bronze masks and" the holy tree" standing nearly 4 meters.

 Images of these objects found at Sanxingdui and their {#blank#}9{#/blank#} ( pattern) have been digitalized, animated and projected on screens, leading the audience into the ancient kingdom of Shu, a {#blank#}10{#/blank#}( civilize) that thrived for centuries in the southwest during the Zhou Dynasty, and disappeared suddenly, leaving many myths and legends.