Opened in 1847, the London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo. Today it houses over 760 different species of animal and is the only zoo in London where you can experience big animals.

    Explore the “Into Africa” exhibit (展览) where you can come face to face with some of Africa's most unusual animals including hunting dogs, or try “Meet The Monkeys” an exciting walk-through experience. Other top exhibits include the Butterfly Paradise, where you can enjoy many species of butterfly as they fly around you.

    Make sure you don't miss feeding time at the Penguin Beach and find out more about these popular creatures from the zoo's experienced keepers. Penguin Beach, with a very large pool and underwater viewing areas, allows visitors to be close to the penguins like never before.

    Built in 2013, Tiger Territory is a great experience taking visitors deep into the world of these wonderful creatures.

    Rainforest Life is London's only living rainforest, where visitors can meet a variety of beautiful rainforest species including. In the all-new “Night Life” area you will discover the bats, and rats.

    With over 12,000 animals to see and incredible animal displays taking place throughout the day (including feeds and keeper talks), no visitor leaves disappointed. Learn more about London Zoo in our Interview with a Zoo Keeper on our London Pass Blog.

    You can visit the London Zoo for free with a London Pass—a fantastic saving of £23 for adults and over £16 for children. Children aged 3-4 will be charged on entrance fee for London Zoo.

    City people usually think they are a lot smarter than country people. They often laugh at simple country ways. But people do not laugh at country music. It is one of the most popular kinds of music in the United States today.

    Perhaps it is so popular because it is about simple but strong human feelings and events—love, sadness, good times and bad times, it tells real life stories and sounds the way people really talk. As life becomes more and more complicated(复杂的), it is good to hear music about ordinary people.

    Country music, sometimes called country western, comes from two kinds of music. One is the traditional music of the people in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. The other is traditional cowboy music from the West. The singers usually play the guitars, and in the 1920s they started using electric guitars.

    At first city people said country music was low-class. It was popular mostly in the South. But during World War Ⅱ, thousands of Southerners went to the Northeast and Midwest to work in the factories. They took their music with them. Soldiers from the rest of the country went to army camps in the South. They learned to like country music. Slowly it became popular all over the country.

    Today country music is popular everywhere in the United States and Canada, in small towns and in New York City, among black and white, and among educated and uneducated people. About 1,200 radio stations broadcast country music twenty-four hours a day. People sing it in their languages. The music that started with cowboys and poor farmers is now popular all over the world.

    It seems that in many places storms visit more often. When a storm is coming, most people leave the area as quickly as possible and head for safety. But there are a few people who will get into their cars and go straight for the center of the storm. These people are willing to risk being killed by floods or 100-kilometer-an-hour winds for the excitement of watching the storm close up.

    "Storm chasing" is becoming an increasingly popular hobby, especially in the Midwest of the United States, where there are frequent storms between March and July. A storm chaser begins the day by checking the Internet for the latest weather reports, and then drives up to 1,000 kilometers to where the storm will be and waits for it to develop.

    Although anyone can do it, storm chasing is extremely dangerous. The power of a big storm can throw a cow into the air or destroy a whole house in seconds. Storm chasers are also often hurt in accidents caused by driving in a heavy rain. If you are a beginner, it is much safer to join a group for storm-chasing vacations during the storm season.

    Even then, storm chasing is not all adventure and excitement. "Storm chasing is 95% driving," says Daniel Lynch, who spends most of his summer storm-chasing. "Sometimes you can sit around for hours waiting for something to happen, and all you get is blue sky and a few light showers."

    However, for storm chasers, it is all worth it. "When you get close to a storm, it is the most exciting sight you will ever see in your life," says Jasper Morley. "Every storm is an example of the power of nature. It is the greatest show on Earth."

    At the age of seven, while his friends were spending their allowances on candy and toys, Jose Adolfo Quisocola, from Peru, came up with the creative idea of an eco-bank, which allows kids of all ages to become economically independent and financially wise while also helping the environment.

    Established in 2012, The Bartselana Student Bank is the world's first cooperative bank for kids. Whoever wants to join has to bring in at least 5 kilograms(11 pounds)of solid waste(paper or plastic)and establish a savings goal. Once accepted, all bank "partners" are required to deposit at least one additional kilogram(2.2 pounds)of recyclables on a monthly basis and obey other requirements, such as attending financial education and environmental management workshops. The waste accumulated is sold to local recycling companies, who, thanks to some clever negotiation by Jose, pay a higher-than-market rate for everything brought in by Bartselana Student Bank members. The funds received are placed in the individual's account where they collect until his／her savings goal is reached. The account holder can then withdraw his／her money, or choose to leave it and continue to grow for a bigger target.

    "At the beginning, my teachers thought I was crazy or that a child could not undertake this type of project," Jose recalls." They did not understand that we are not the future of the country but its present. Luckily, I had the support of the school principal and an assistant in my classroom."

    The youngster's persistence paid off. Today, the eco-bank, which now has the support of several local institutions, has ten educational centers and begins accepting applications from kids all across Peru. On November 20, 2018, the young boy was awarded the famous Children's Climate Prize (CCP)."Jose's eco-bank is a brilliant way of linking economy and climate impact, both in thought and practice. The potential impact is amazing," a judge said.

    Hopefully, Jose's success will inspire more kids and adults to come up with new ideas that create value while helping the environment. As the boy says," Together we can change the world…we just need an opportune it."

    Our mother earth is going through a very tough situation and we, the entire human race, are destroying our environment or unconsciously without even realizing its consequences. Now we have to act very smartly and plan something to sustain what we still have, getting all necessary support from nature to lead healthy lives.

    Gardening is always an excellent and environmentally friendly idea. If you can go for sustainable gardening, then it will be even more useful for all. Gardening is a favorite hobby for many. It is time to channelize your hobby towards a more meaningful motivation.

    When we do gardening we need to use different ingredients (材料) to grow plants. Some of them are natural resources like water, soil, sunshine, and many things like this. Using these resources smartly is a part of sustainable gardening. Some simple techniques include: use less water and organic things to grow plants; try to store rainwater so that you can use them for gardening; try using less energy to drive devices; avoid using plastics in any form while gardening; reuse the leaves from your garden to fertilize them. These are the basic sustainable measures. To do so we need to have proper knowledge about gardening and its requirements so that we can use proper resources without wasting any of them.

    In today's busy life we don't get much time to spend on our environment. Gardening gives us a chance to do so. We can also have some pesticide-free (无农药的) and fresh food if we grow them in our garden. This is the right time to do some good to protect our own environment and gardening is one of the easiest ways. Do you want to start gardening, but you're not sure how? Click here: http://www.gardenhowto.com.

For many students who desire to move around but not far freely, one of the most common vehicles is the bicycle. For such a seemingly simple invention, its story is not that simple.

Most historians trace its origin back to 1817, when a German nobleman named Karl von Drais invented a wooden, two-wheeled machine that riders moved forward with their feet. His invention became popular in both England and France, where it eventually became known as the velocipede. Unfortunately, it was eventually banned as a danger to pedestrians and was rarely seen after the early 1820s.

Things were quiet for several decades until the bicycle development took off in the 1860s. An important milestone happened in Paris in 1863 when pedals (踏板) were added to the front axle (轴) . This occurred in Pierre Michaux's workshop but it's unclear whether he or his employee, Pierre Lallement, should be given credit for the innovation. Lallement moved to the United States, where he obtained a patent for "improvements in velocipedes" in 1866. These new machines proved to be popular, and the name "bicycle" had come into use by 1869. However, many people referred to them as "bone shakers", which described their clunky ride due to a heavy wooden frame and steel wheels.

In the 1870s, "high wheelers" or "penny-farthings" became popular. However, with a large front wheel and a much smaller rear wheel, they could be dangerous, if riders had to stop suddenly, as they would "take a header" when their momentum (动量) carried them over the front wheel onto their heads. Eventually, English inventor John Kemp Starley designed a "safety bicycle" with two same small wheels, a chain drive, and a set of gears. With tires added in and brake (刹车) systems bettered in the following decades, bicycle production had skyrocketed to over one million bicycles by 1899.

Mass production of bicycles increased their popularity greatly, since they became affordable for the average person. Over the course of the 20th century, manufacturers continued to improve the features and design of bicycles as new technologies appeared.