Day 1

    I first heard of “Show Racism (种族歧视) the Red Card” when my friend Jill asked me to support their work. Basically, it's an organization which uses professional (职业的) footballers to help fight racism in sport and society. A few weeks later, he asked me if I wanted to do a bit more for them. I thought he probably meant for me to give money or do some voluntary work. But then he told me that a group of about 20 people were getting sponsored (赞助) to play the highest ever game of rugby (橄榄球) at 5,140 meters on Mount Everest.

Day 4

    We're making our way up to the base camp — that's where most climbers start their final climb to the top — and then, we'll play our game. Today we started out at 8 am. We had to cross three suspension bridges (悬索桥). One of them was so high that you couldn't see the bottom. Then we walked through some beautiful forest areas before we started a two-hour uphill hike to Namche Bazaar.

Day 10

    Base camp is basically just a lot of stones and tents. The walk up was really exhausting. Maybe if I was fitter, I wouldn't find this so hard, but then it was not just me — all of us got very short of breath.

Day 11

    Today we played our game. It was supposed to be a “friendly” game, and last night, we had agreed we'd just walk and not run. However, it was a really heated game and two players were even sent off. We only played for 14 minutes. I think someone would have got hurt if we'd played any longer! My team won and I scored the last try! Of course, none of this matters. What's really important is that we did it and we've raised a load of money.

    A girl with blue eyes is a blue-eyed girl. A man with long legs is a long-legged man. A woman with white hair is a white-haired woman. Children who have good looks are good-looking children. What do you do when you want to buy clothes? You go to a shop. If you can find clothes that are the right size for you, and if they are ready to wear, you will probably buy them. They are called ready-made clothes. If you can not find clothes that are the right size, you will go to a tailor's shop. A tailor is a man who makes clothes. He will measure you carefully and will then make clothes for you. Such clothes are called tailor-made clothes.

    What do we call a man who is dressed badly? We call him a badly-dressed man. A woman who is dressed well is called a well-dressed woman.

    What do you wear when it rains heavily? You wear a coat that will keep the rain out. Such a coat is called a raincoat. It is made of waterproof cloth-cloth that does not let water pass through. We have a lot of rain in England. If you come to England, bring a raincoat and an umbrella. You will find them useful.

    If the floor, walls and ceiling of a room are made so that sound cannot pass through the wall, we say that the room is sound-proof. There are sound-proof rooms in all broadcasting stations.

    The latest study by the University of Florida has found that eating from smaller, less beautiful, and even paper plates will help prevent overeating. Eating with a fork instead of a spoon can help you lose weight, the researchers say. Much to their surprise, they find that putting mirrors in the dining room will also help reduce weight.

    The researchers asked 185 college students to choose a chocolate cake or a fruit salad, and evaluated the taste. Those who ate in a room with a mirror scored the taste of junk food much lower than those in a room without a mirror. But the taste of fruit salad remained the same in any case.

    Lead scientist, Dr. Ata Jami, says that a glance in the mirror tells people more than just about their physical appearance. It enables them to view themselves objectively and helps them to judge themselves and their behavior in the same way that they judge other people.

    The mirrors were found to push people to compare and match their own behavior with accepted social standards. The researchers believe it proves that people don't want to look in the mirror when they feel they are following the social standards. When they look in the mirror with mouths full of junk food, feelings of discomfort and failure can be increased. Therefore, the presence of the mirror lowers the taste of unhealthy food.

    However, researchers say this is only the case if people select the food they are eating, because they are responsible for that choice. The researchers suggest that mirrors be placed in dining rooms and other eating spaces, so that people will start eating more healthily.

    A mother goat is able to pick out her own baby from its voice alone by the time the kid is just five days old.

    Researchers from University of London played kids' bleats to female goats and studied their responses. They were surprised to find that the animals were able to pick out their own kids' voices.

    “A mother and the kid rely a lot on smell to recognize one another and, in the wild, during the first week of their lives, the animals hide in grass and don't call much. It's a strategy they use to avoid enemies,” Dr Elodie Briefer, who led the research, explained to BBC News. “The mother call to the kids when she want them to come and feed, so we expected that kids would recognize the mothers' voices.” In fact, this was the case for deer, which also use this hiding strategy, although they do not belong to the same family of species as goats.

    She and her team recorded and played back young kids' calls to the female goats and recorded their responses. She explained, “Even when the calls came from kids that are five to six days old, we could see the mothers responding more to the voices of their own babies.” Hearing the voice of their own kids, the females would look towards the speaker that the sound was coming from, moving around and calling in response.

    The scientists say that understanding how goats behave and communicate is very important. “This helps us understand just how smart these animals are,” said Dr. Briefer. “Farmers might be able to change their way to raise goats considering this natural behaviour.”

    You may not have heard of it before, but solid rain (固体雨)has been helping Mexican farmers fight droughts(干旱) for over ten years. The magic solid rain looks like sugar and it can take in water up to 500 times as its own size and keep it in the ground for up to a year.

    The story of solid rain began in 1970, when American scientists developed a product used to take in water and help keep babies' bottoms dry. However, a Mexican chemical engineer saw this magic product as an opportunity to fight the drought. He developed a different kind of the product, which could be mixed with soil and slowly feed water to crops over a long period of time. His company, Solid Rain, has been quietly selling the product to Mexican farmers for over 10 years.

    Solid rain seems to be working wonders in Mexico. However, it has not come into use around the world. Well, that's mainly because a lot of people still don't know about it. The Mexican company has invested (投资) almost nothing into marketing, relying instead on word of mouth between Mexican farmers. However, recently, they have gotten requests from other dry countries like India and Australia.

    Solid rain has received the Ecology and Environment Award, but it has also received some negative views. Dr. Linda Scott says that the product is hardly new and that there is no scientific evidence that it can hold water for a year or last in the ground for ten years. Besides, solid rain can cause more harm than good in certain conditions.

    However, real-life use seems to show that solid rain is actually of great use to their farms. Frank Torres, a former green bean farmer used to rely on it even though drought wasn't such a big issue. He said that the production had increased by 50%.

The terraced rapeseed(油菜)flower hills of Jiangling,Wuyuan is well-known as one of the four "seas of flowers" in China,attracting thousands of plant-loving tourists to come and appreciate and photograph the vast and endless rapeseed flower fields.

"Rapeseed flowers are the messenger of spring," said Bin Zhan,manager of Jiangxi Wuyuan Tourism."Jiangling is the best place for a relaxing spring trip to enjoy the most visually impressive views of golden seas of rapeseed blossoms covering layered terrace fields."

The rapeseed blossom in the terraced fields of Jiangling,located 45 kilometres to the northeast of Wuyuan County,Jiangxi Province,reached full bloom in the second week of March.

This year,Wuyuan restores ancient farming traditions and practices to give visitors an idea or the history,culture and folk customs of the county by adding scarecrows(稻草人) in the rapeseed flower fields.The creative scarecrows of Wuyuan County are designed in the shapes of popular cartoon characters,Hui-style architecture and folk customs.They are placed in the rapeseed fields to provide more fun and interactions for visitors on flower-viewing tours.

"As flower viewing is becoming more popular in recent years,Jiangling is seeing a growing number of returning visitors,especially professional photographers who come back every year for the dramatic rapeseed blossoms," Zhan said."The blossoms only last one to two months.April is the last chance to catch a flower-viewing tour this year."

In addition to flower viewing,Wuyuan County is also home to the most well-protected ancient Hui-style architecture in China.As one of the most beautiful countryside villages in China,it attracts photographers from around the world every year to document not only the natural scenery,but also the unique farming culture and folk traditions.