More and more Americans are showing an interest in healthy and locally-produced food. As the interest increases, raising chickens has been gaining popularity in some American cities.

 “Look, we get three eggs this time.”

    Collecting eggs is a daily pleasure for the Hurst family. Naomi Hurst says her family started to raise chickens in back of their home in Maryland a month ago.

   “We have wanted to try having backyard chickens for a couple years now. And really just didn't have the time to build my own coop（鸡笼；鸡舍） and  look out where to buy chickens. And then we met Rent a Coop,” said Naomi Hurst. Rent a Coop is a chicken rental business. Tyler Phillips launched the company with a partner 18 months ago. It comes with a mobile coop on wheels, two egg-laying hens, feed, bedding, water bowl, feed bowl, and our 24-hour chicken hotline. You can call with any questions. The price is 185 dollars for four weeks. After the four weeks passed, individuals can extend the rental agreement, return everything or purchase the animals and supplies.

Tyler Phillips designs and makes the coops. He says he wants to do as little damage as possible to the environment.

 “We always try to have as many recycled materials as possible. And I want the coops to be safe for kids. I want the chickens to be comfortable and they have access to the grass while being inside the coop. I want it to be easily movable, light weight,” he said.

Some cities require people have large pieces of land, if they want to raise farm animals. Others require an agreement with neighbors, limit the number of chickens, or, even ban the birds.

  Tyler Phillips expects that would change as interest in small poultry (家禽) coops grows. 

“I see cities around the D. C. area changing laws almost monthly and different cities will change the law to being prochicken(赞成养鸡). That is happening all around the United States,” he said,

He believes that there will be chicken rental businesses in most American cities within five years.

Painting

    The art of creating pictures using colors, shapes and lines is called painting. Museums and galleries show the paintings of professional (专业的) artists. But painting is also a popular form of entertainment and creative expression.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Experienced painters usually use a brush to apply oil paints to a canvas cloth surface. Young painters usually use watercolors on pieces of paper. Very young children may use finger paints to create paintings.

    Painters can use their art to express devotion to a religion, to tell a story, to express feelings and ideas, or simply to present a pleasing picture. Religious paintings often show a god or a scene from a sacred text (圣典). Other common subjects have been famous legends and events in history, as well as scenes from daily life. Artists also paint portraits (画像), or pictures of people{#blank#}2{#/blank#}All of these types of paintings show the human figure in some way.

    Some kinds of paintings do not focus on people. In landscape (风景) painting the focus is on scenes from nature. Artists also paint still objects such as fruits and vegetables{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Some artists communicate their ideas through pictures that do not represent any object.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Paintings dating back 15,000 years have been found on the walls of caves in France and Spain{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Samples of painted pottery (陶器) from at least 5,000 years ago have been found in China and Iran. The ancient Egyptians decorated their temples with beautiful paintings. People in ancient Greece painted decorative objects such as vases in addition to the walls of temples.

A. These works are called still-life paintings.

B. These works can communicate a special feeling.

C. Humans have been making paintings for thousands of years.

D. People of all ages create pictures using a variety of materials.

E. Cave paintings generally show animals that early humans hunted.

F. The design of a painting is the plan of its lines, shapes and colors.

G. Sometimes artists make portraits of themselves, which are called self-portraits.

    Most people who fly on passenger planes in the United States do not lose their luggage. Even if the luggage is lost, usually it is only delayed. Most “lost” luggage is found in a few days. Airlines search for the owners of unclaimed(未认领的) bags for up to three months. But when the owners cannot be found or the bags are not claimed, they are sold to a store in the small city of Scottsboro, in the southern state of Alabama.

    About one-half of one percent of all luggage passing through US airports is unclaimed. Many of the missing bags, and what is in them, are sold at the Unclaimed Baggage Center. Seven thousand items arrive at the store every day. Tom Barnes, who was shopping at the store said, “I can go into any of the large shopping centers, like the international malls. I can walk through there for an hour and come out with three items. But I come into this store, and then I come out with my car full of stuff.”

    Brenda Cantrell, who works at the store, said, “The Unclaimed Baggage Center is the only store in America that buys and resells unclaimed baggage from the airline industry. You would be surprised at all the jackets, eyeglasses, neck pillows, blankets, laptops, Kindles, iPads, and you know, all kinds of expensive electronics.”

    The store says it once sold a container for flowers for $80 that was found to be worth $18,000. And it says a painting it sold for $25 was later found to be worth $25,000.

    The store buys the luggage from the airlines. It does not examine the things inside them before buying them. Only about half of the items in the bags are suitable for sale at the store.

    Some people say it is not fair to the owners of the lost passage to sell their goods. Customer Daniel Martin is not one of them, saying, “I feel the airport may try to find the people that lose the things. If they've tried and they can't get a hold of them, it's better than throwing them away or just letting them rot in a warehouse somewhere.”

    Teachers' Day is, interestingly, not celebrated on the same day all over the world. In some countries it is marked by a holiday, in others it is a working day.

    International Teachers' Day is celebrated on October 5. Being held ever since 1994, it is in honor of teachers' organizations worldwide. Its aim is to encourage supports for teachers and to meet the needs of students.

    China   In 1939, Teachers' Day was set for August 27, Confucius' birthday. In1951, the celebration was stopped. However, it was founded again in 1985, and the day was changed to September 10.

    India   Teachers' Day is celebrated on September 5 in honour of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the second president of India, whose birthday falls on that day.

    Russia   In Russia, Teachers' Day was celebrated on the first Sunday of October between 1965 and 1994. Since 1994, the day is observed on the October 5, just the same day as World Teachers Day.

    The US   In the US, Teachers' Day is non-official holiday. It is celebrated on the Tuesday of the first full week of May. A number of activities are organized in schools to honor teachers. The celebrations can continue for the whole week of May.

    Thailand   In Thailand, National Teachers' Day is celebrated every year on January 16. The first Teachers' Day was held in 1957. The day is a holiday in schools.

    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.

    Nasr Majid started hunting this fall at Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (保护区)on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in USA, He's one of the relatively few new hunters who officials hope will help stop a nearly four-decade decline nationally in what has become a hobby for fewer than 5 percent of Americans.

    Natural resources and wildlife, officials in Maryland are encouraging hunting of deer, turkeys and some other wild animals, which is believed to be good for the environment. Without hunting, they say, sika deer will overpopulate the wildlife refuge and they'll overeat the bushes and other plants that provide important habitat for birds. On the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay, hunting is also important to prevent the spread of diseases such as Lyme.

    In many families, the hunting tradition has been handed down for generations^ But as longtime sportsmen age and children lose interest, the number of hunters in the United States fell by 2 million, from 2011 to 2018, to about 11 million.

    "Everything is changing. Kids are growing up in front of video games and computers instead of going hunting." said Chris Markin, a hunting specialist for the state natural resources department. "Adults usually focus on working and providing for their families. Those pressures are preventing many other potential hunters from going out, and from raising the next generation of hunters."

    To avoid such a decline, a new approach is needed. Government agencies and nonprofit groups are now launching mentoring (指导) programs to train more hunters, which not only helps preserve an industry and a culture but also means more protection for wildlife and their habitats through deer population control and investment.

    Luckily, there are those still eager to learn, like Majid. He was just looking for an outdoor hobby he could share with his children when he came across the mentors-hip program. Now, he feels capable of hunting on his own, but also has someone he can text with questions that pop up. His new pastime has already paid off for him—on his second hunt with his mentor, in the last minutes of daylight, he bagged his first deer.