Elephants on the coast of Thailand are acting strange.They stamp their feet and motion toward the hills.The sea draws back from the beaches.Fish fall heavily in the mud.Suddenly,a huge wave appears.This is no ordinary wave.It is tsunami!

    Tsunami waves are larger and faster than normal surface waves.A tsunami wave can travel as fast as a jet plane and can be as tall as a ten-story building.Imagine dropping a stone into a pond.The water on the surface ripples（起涟漪）.A tsunami is like a very powerful ripple.Tsunamis begin when the ocean rises or falls very suddenly.Large amounts of seawater are displaced.This movement caused huge waves.

    For a tsunami to occur,there must be some kind of force that causes the ocean water to become displaced.Most tsunamis are caused by underwater earthquakes.However,volcanoes ,landslides（塌方）,large icebergs,and even meteorites（陨石）are capable of causing one of these mighty waves.

    Tsunamis are extremely powerful.Ordinary waves lose power when they break.Tsunami waves can remain powerful for several days.Because tsunami waves are so strong,they can kill people,damage property,and completely ruin an ecosystem in just one hour.

    Scientists have no way of predicting when a tsunami will hit.However,if a powerful enough earthquake occurs, scientists can send out a warning or a watch.A warning means that a tsunami will very likely hit soon.A watch means that conditions are favorable for a tsunami.When people are informed of a watch or a warning,they have more time to prepare.It is best not to get caught unaware when a tsunami is on the way.

    They aren't great artists like Leonardo da Vinci or Vincent van Gogh, but their paintings are just as popular on Chinese social media, with millions of Chinese people willing to pay for them.

The 36 works were painted by ordinary Chinese people who live with autism (自闭症) or cerebral palsy (脑瘫), aged from their early teens to late thirties. They all studied art at World of Art Brut Culture (WABC), which is a Shanghai-based non-profit organization (非赢利组织) for art education. The project was started by WABC and supported by the Tencent Charitable Foundation. Users could buy a digital copy of each painting by donating (捐赠) 1 yuan or more. By Aug 29, donations totaled more than 15 million yuan, with about 5.8 million people participating (参与).

    “The paintings by these autistic kids and adults are beautiful: the style is similar to that of the Dutch artist Van Gogh. I'm really impressed by their talent,” Feng Li, a customer service officer in Shanghai, told the South China Morning Post.

    However, the popular campaign also led to certain questions.

    Li Laoxi, an experienced special education teacher in Hangzhou, said that based on his experience, people with autism could only draw a few lines or fill in colors under the guidance of their trainers. “Maybe there are some geniuses out there, but I've never met them”. Others questioned where the money would go, as the donations went to WABC instead of the painters. In response to these concerns, Miao Shiming, founder of WABC, said the money would be used to employ art teachers, buy supplies, and rent facilities. Meanwhile, Tencent said that all donation information would be open to the public.

B

    These days, young people in some English-speaking countries are speaking a strange language, especially when communicating on social media.

    Look at these words chosen by The Washington Post: “David Bowie dying is totes tradge,” and “When Cookie hugged Jamal it made me totes emosh.” Or this sentence: “BAE, let me know if you stay in tonight.”

    What on earth do they mean? Well, “totes” is a short form of “totally”. Similarly, “tradge” means “tragic” and “emosh” means “emotional”. It seems that, for millennials（千禧一代）, typing in this form is not only time-saving but fashionable.

    As you can see, many millennial slangs（俚语）are formed by so-called “totesing”—the systematic abbreviation（缩写）of words. The trend might have started with “totally” becoming “totes”, but it now has spread to many other English words.

    The origins of other millennial slangs are more complex than “totesing”.“Bae”, for example, has been widely used by African-Americans for years. It can be an expression of closeness with one's romantic partner or, like “sweetheart”, for someone without romantic connection. After pop singer Pharrell used the word in his work, “bae” became mainstream.

    Some people might think millennial slangs lower the value of the English language, but Melbourne University linguist（语言学家）Rosey Billington doesn't agree. She says when people are able to use a language in a creative way, they show that they know the language rules well enough to use words differently. Two other linguists, Lauren Spradlin and Taylor Jones, share the same view. The two analysed hundreds of examples of totes-speak and discovered totesing has complex roots.

    It isn't simply an adult version of baby talk, nor a clever way to minimize your word count. Rather, it is a highly organized system that relies on a speaker's mastery of English pronunciation. It is about sounds, follows sound system of English and has strict rules.

    Renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking died peacefully at his home in the British university city of Cambridge in March 14 at age 76.

    Hawking, whose 1988 book "A Brief History of Time" became an unlikely worldwide bestseller and cemented (奠定) his superstar status, dedicated his life to unlocking the secrets of the Universe. He held the post of Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, which is a position that was once held by Sir Isaac Newton.

    Born in 1942 in Oxford, where his parents spent the final months of pregnancy to avoid the bombings of London, Hawking was said to have been a good student although it wasn't until he was in his 20s that his true potential began to really shine through. Having initially wanted to study Mathematics, Stephen Hawking chose, instead, to read natural sciences with emphasis on Physics.

    Having found University life boring, so much so that he joined the University rowing team to relieve the boredom, it was only following an oral examination that he was awarded a first class degree.

    While at Cambridge, Hawking was diagnosed with a motor neurone (神经元）disease. He was initially given two to three years to live. The illness gradually robbed him of mobility, leaving him confined to a wheelchair, almost completely paralysed and unable to speak except through his trademark voice synthesiser (合成器）.

    Stephen Hawking led an incredible and well documented life. He was referred to in many TV programs, films, and even songs, and appeared as himself in a number of programs including Red Dwarf and the Big Bang Theory. His genius and wit won over fans from far beyond the world of astrophysics (天体物理学）, earning comparisons with Albert Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton.

    Binge-watching (刷剧) is when a person watches more than one episode of a TV show one after another. With developments in the speed and connectivity of the Internet, increases in technology and the rise of on-demand entertainment companies, people can now watch their favorite shows directly on the Internet at their convenience.

    This behavior is nothing new. In fact, “binge-watching” has been officially listed in dictionaries since 2015. The entertainment companies recognize this behavior and many take steps to encourage it. Often, instead of releasing each episode on a week-by-week basis, an entire series will become available at the same time. Once the episode finishes, many platforms will display pop-ups with “you might like” suggestions, or will automatically play the next episode.

    However, this wonderful gift may in fact be poisonous. Recent research from British media Ofcom suggests that this behavior may have become a hindrance (障碍). Out of the more than half of British adults who watch more than one episode of a show in a row, almost a third have admitted missing sleep or becoming tired as a result; and one quarter have failed to do their household chores. Next well be missing work!

    Bingeing has other connections—binge eating, binge drinking and binge smoking, all of which are often associated with compulsive (强迫性的) behavior, a lack of control and possible route to addiction. Lindsey Fussell, consumer group director at Ofcom, said, “The days of waiting a week for the next episode are largely gone, with people finding it hard to resist watching multiple episodes around the house or on the move.” If people find binge-watching hard to resist, coupled with the fact that it has shown to lead to negligence (疏忽) in many, are we witnessing the birth of a new type of addiction?

    The large amount of information and entertainment that television and online media can bring us is, many would say, a good thing. It offers us opportunities to better understand the world we live in, educate ourselves and enjoy much needed downtime. However, like any behavior done to an extreme degree, it can become dangerous. And when the activity begins to bleed into other areas, causing us to stop functioning-then it becomes a problem. So, what's the answer? Neither a tiny amount, nor too much. After all, as the old proverb says, a little of what you fancy does you good.

    Every year, millions of people head to London's Trafalgar Square to see Nelson's Column, and the four lion statues that “guard” it. And last month, during the London Design Festival, a bright red lion sculpture was added to the collection.

    But this was more than just a statue: It had a large open mouth, with an LED screen inside it. At the same time, passersby could type in random words on a screen close to the lion, which were used to produce an AI-created poem. The most interesting part of the poems lies in their randomness, as the words that people choose to enter include many things, such as the time, the weather and their mood. In the daytime, the finished poem appeared on the LED screen, but at night, it was projected (投射) onto the lion's body and the famous Nelson's Column, in a 1ovely light display.

    Es Devlin, the sculpture's creator, was inspired by the history behind the four historic lion statues. Edwin Landseer, the designer of the lions, wanted them to look much more animated, but Queen Victoria refused his plan. This made Devlin wonder, "What if we could give a lion a poetic voice?" According to Devlin, although England has seen many poems about national identity in recent years, these works have been lacking imagination. "I wanted to make a piece that was poetic and collective" he told BBC News.

    After standing for almost 180 years, the purpose of Trafalgar Square has changed over the years. But thanks to the high-tech lion and its poetry, the square is standing the test of time.