The Nazca Lines are a series of large ancient geoglyphs (地画) in the Nazca Desert, in southern Peru. It is ranging from geometric patterns to drawings of different animals and stylized human-like forms. The ancient lines can only be truly taken in from high in the air, leaving generations puzzled as to how these precise works could have been completed long before the documented invention of human flight.

    The Lines were first spotted when commercial airlines began flying across the Peruvian desert in the 1920,s. Who built them and what was their purpose? Are they roads, star pointers，maybe even a gigantic map? If the people who lived here 2,000 years ago had only a simple technology, how did they manage to construct such precise figures? Did they have a plan? These markings are like a vast puzzle.

    The Nazca Lines are the most outstanding group of geoglyphs in the world. There are also huge geoglyphs in Egypt, Malta，United States (Mississippi and California), Chile，Holivia and in other countries. But the Nazca geoglyphs, because of their numbers， characteristics, dimensions and cultural continuity as they were made and remade throughout a certain history period, form the most impressive archeological (考古学的) group.

    The Nazca plain is unique for its ability to preserve the markings upon it, due to the combination of the climate (one of the driest on Earth, with only twenty minutes of rainfall per year) and the flat, stony ground which minimizes the effect of the wind at ground level. With no dust or sand to cover the plain and little rain or wind to erode (腐蚀) it, lines drawn here tend to stay drawn. These factors, combined with the existence of lighter-colored subsoil beneath the desert surface, provide a vast writing pad that is suited to the artist who wants to leave his mark eternal.

    Each year, the National Council of Teachers of English（NCTE）presents several awards to recognize outstanding books written for all age levels. Earlier this month at a book awards luncheon（午宴）held during their 107th Annual Convention，they announced the winner of the 2018 Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children.

    Dan Santat was named the winner of the 2018 Charlotte Huck Award for his novel AFTER THE FALL, the inspiring epilogue（后记）to the beloved classic nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. The Charlotte Huck Award was established in 2014 to promote and recognize fiction that has the potential to have a positive effect on children's lives. The award honors Dr. Charlotte Huck, a professor at Ohio State University who devoted her career to promoting the role of children's books in young people's academic, social, and emotional development. Each year，the committee selects a winner and recommended titles appropriate for children.

    “Charlotte Huck was a supporter for children's books as teaching tools,” says Erika Dawes, chair of the Charlotte Huck Award committee. “Books like these award winners, books that promote imagination, wonder and sympathy, fill a critical need in our classrooms.”

    Jason Chin was named winner of the 2018 Orbis Pictus Award for his book GRAND CANYON, an illuminating（启蒙的）look at one of the planet's most fascinating features. The Orbis Pictus Award, established in 1989, is the oldest children's book award for nonfiction.

    Honor and Recommended Books in each category were also announced at the awards luncheon, where the 2017 winners（Jason Reynolds and Melissa Sweet）delivered speeches. Dan Santat and Jason Chin are invited to speak at next year's Annual Convention.

    Antarctica, with its seemingly endless icy beauty, is one place where one look is worth a thousand words. My own dream to see it came true last January when I joined the sixth exploration crew(考查队) of the China National Marine Bureau. We spent 10 days connecting flights to reach our goal, but finally arrived at the Great Wall Station on Antarctica on the eve of Chinese New Year.

    There are only two seasons in Antarctica: winter and summer. You get polar nights in winter and polar days in summer. Day is longer than night in summer, and the temperature often reaches below zero. Luckily, there are no snowstorms in summer, which makes it the best season to travel. What I imagined before starting for Antarctica was a world of ice, storms, endless cold and loneliness. When I stopped on Antarctica for the first time, however, I saw rich, energetic and beautiful scenery that was beyond anything I had imagined.

    We only spent 11 days at the South Pole, but every minute was spent taking pictures and losing our heart to the wonderland. Beauty enveloped us as we watched the world around us. The mountains, oceans, ice, snow, sky, earth and people all seemed to have their own stories.

    Rocks from Antarctica are considered valuable. Unfortunately, I didn't bring one back. However, my heavy bags full of films are certainly worth that. It is in these pictures that the true Antarctica comes alive.

    Three years ago I worked for a few weeks as a doctor in a new dental clinic(牙科诊所）at Victor Harbor to the south of Adelaide and an hour further away than my usual workplace. My first day there was a driving to a new clinic and getting used to the clinical environment.

    As it was all new to me, I took off my rings: my wedding ring, and one that was an anniversary(周年纪念日)gift from my husband. I put them in a tissue(纸巾)and placed them beside my computer. During my lunch break, I noticed the tissue and thought that it did not look very clean and threw it into the rubbish bin. I went about my work and my day went well; I met new patients and felt that I had been productive

    Driving home at the end of the day, just moments before I reach that were missing. I felt the heat in my body rise, my cheeks(脸颊)burning red. I felt sick to my stomach.

    I spat an hour or so making calls, trying to find my rings. The first people I called were and clinical leader and they gave me a few phone numbers for cleaners I got in touch with already who managed the leaning services for the clinic, and she told me that the bins had already been collected.

    I knew nothing could be done now. I had lost my rings. Bu after two or so hours, I received the most amazing phone cal. The cleaner had gone through the bins and found my rings! I was so thankful to her, someone who had taken the trouble to go through the bins-which is not a pleasant task-to find my priceless rings.

    I worked at that clinic the following day, so I bought chocolates to thank this wonderful person. Unfortunately I did not get to meet her as she was not at work that day.

    Whenever we're introduced to strangers, we make snap decisions about them according to our first impressions. Are they attractive or how much do they earn?

    For most Brits, simply asking someone how much they're worth' financially is considered very impolite. Thankfully, most people are kind enough to drop several hints (暗示)about their relative wealth or successful careers They always post on social media about flying to a meeting for work. They're always wearing clothes with labels big enough to silently scream about how rich they are and how well they're doing.

    It's a worrying trend, and I'm not immune to it. I've felt the warm happiness of knowing I earned more than somebody, and the baseless grey irritation of knowing that I earn less than another. I've checked into places while I know full well that anybody reading it will get jealous.

    It seems as though self-worth is increasingly being tied to the careers we choose and the money we earn. A study in 2013, for example found that nearly 17% of unemployed Americans were depressed compared to almost 6% of those who had a permanent job.

    We need to stop placing so much value on what a person earns. Don't get me wrong-being ambitious is not a fault, and achievements should always be celebrated. But when a person uses their success to judge you negatively it becomes a problem.

    If you want to know what you're really worth, here's a tip: It doesn't have anything to do with your bank account. It's about how many times you've been there for your friends. It's how many times you've been kind to a stranger It's every time you did something unselfish, or told your partner you loved him/her, or treated someone with respect no matter where they were in their own life.

    Self-driving cars have been backed by the hope that they will save lives by getting involved in fewer crashes with fewer injuries and deaths than human-driven cars. But so far, most comparisons between human drivers and automated vehicles have been unfair. Crash statistics for human-driven cars arc gathered from all sorts of driving situations and all types of roads. However, most of the data on self-driving cars' safety have been recorded often in good weather and on highways, where the most important tasks are staying in the car's own lane and not getting too close to the vehicle-ahead. Automated cars are good at those tasks, but so are humans.

    It is true that self-driving cars don't get tired, angry, frustrated or drunk .But neither can they yet react to uncertain situations with the same skill or anticipation of an attentive Unban driver. Nor do they possess the foresight to avoid potential dangers. They largely drive from moment to moment, rather than think ahead to possible events literally down the road.

    To a self-driving car, a bus full of people might appear quite similar to an uninhabited field. Indeed, deciding what action to take in an emergency is difficult for humans, but drivers have sacrificed themselves for the greater good of others. An automated system's limited understanding of the world means it will almost never evaluate (评估)a Situation the same way a human would. And machines can't be programmed in advance to handle every imaginable set of events.

    Some people may argue that the promise of simply reducing the number of injuries and deaths is enough to support driverless cars. But experience from aviation(航空)shows that as new automated systems are introduced, there is often an increase in the rate of disasters.

    Therefore, comparisons between humans and automated vehicles have to be performed carefully. To fairly evaluate driverless cars on how well they fulfill their promise of improved safety, it's important to ensure the data being presented actually provide a true comparison. After all, choosing to replace humans with automation has more effects than simply a one-for-one exchange.