Disposing(处理) of waste has been a problem since humans started producing it. As more and more people choose to live close together in cities, the waste-disposal problem becomes increasingly difficult.

    During the eighteenth century, it was usual for several neighboring towns to get together to select a faraway spot as a dumpsite. Residents or trash haulers(垃圾托运者) would transport household rubbish, rotted wood, and old possessions to the site. Periodically(定期的) some of the trash was burned and the rest was buried. The unpleasant sights and smells caused no problem because nobody lived close by.

    Factories, mills, and other industrial sites also had waste to be disposed of. Those located on rivers often just dumped the unwanted remains into the water. Others built huge burners with chimneys to deal with the problem.

    Several facts make these choices unacceptable to modern society. The first problem is space. Dumps, which are now called landfills, are most needed in heavily populated areas. Such areas rarely have empty land suitable for this purpose. Property is either too expensive or too close to residential(住宅区的)neighborhoods. Long-distance trash hauling has been a common practice, but once farm areas are refusing to accept rubbish from elsewhere, cheap land within trucking distance of major city areas is almost nonexistent.

    Awareness of pollution dangers has resulted in more strict rules of waste disposal. Pollution of rivers, ground water, land and air is a price people can no longer pay to get rid of waste. The amount of waste, however, continues to grow.

    Recycling efforts have become commonplace, and many towns require their people to take part. Even the most efficient recycling programs, however, can hope to deal with only about 50 percent of a city's reusable waste.

    The Catskill Mountains are a year-round playground for outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers. You will find a number of relaxing inns ready to meet your needs.

Caleb Street's Inn

    Located in the historic village of Catskill at the base of the mountains, Caleb Street's Inn was built in 1785. It provides a view of the garden and Catskill Creek or guests can step outside for a walk along the Hudson River. A full breakfast is served every morning. Each of the four Pet-friendly rooms offers a private bath and a view of the river and neighboring buildings. Hiking trails(小路), golf courses and historic sites are only a short drive away.

Winter Clove Inn

    Nature lovers can enjoy a pleasant location in the Northern Catskill Wilderness Preserve at Winter Clove Inn. With wood floors, each room has a private bath and air conditioning(空调). With active days of tennis, hiking or cross- country skiing ahead, guests don't have to go far for a breakfast, lunch or dinner beside the fireplace at inn's restaurant.

Windham House

    A former pub built in 1805, Christman's Windham House is the oldest inn continually operating in the Catskills. The 300 acres of grounds in the town of Windham include a tennis court, golf course, heated pool and a restaurant. Guests can relax on private balconies (阳台) overlooking a golf course and take their meals at Christman's Windham House Restaurant. The inn is less than 2 miles from the hiking trails of Windham Mountain.

Washington Irving In

    If you're looking for a mountain inn with a Victorian feel, Washington Irving Inn has much to offer. Furnished with antiques, each of the 15 rooms has a private bath. Free breakfast is served. Hikers are a short walk from Kaaterskill Falls and Hunter Mountain trails.

    In the years of my growing up, Dad was hard on me. He made sure I made my bed and did my homework. As a school girl and young adult, I feared him and felt bitter about him. He seemed unhappy with me unless I got straight A's and unhappy with my boyfriends if their fathers were not as "successful" as he was. Whenever I went out with him on weekends, I used to struggle to think up things to say, feeling on guard.

    He would call in advance to make sure there was no alcohol(酒精) at the party. I got so angry with him for laying down the law. I would scream, "I hate you!" Dad would yell back, "Good! I don't care!" Deep down I knew he did.

    One time at a party, I drank too much alcohol and got so sick. I said, "Call my dad." Next thing, Dad was carrying me to the car. I woke up the next morning, thinking I would definitely be criticized(批评). As expected, I got a roasting, but I now understand why I need discipline(纪律).

    Dad was 29 when he got his big roles in films. I had an early start at the age of nine with a role in a 1990s TV series, but it wasn't until I finished film studies that I pursued my career as an actress. Like those early days for Dad, I faced lots of rejections. Working in such a competitive industry, I've sometimes thought, "I can't do this any more."

    Once, after a trip to Hollywood, I returned to Australia so depressed and spent months in my bedroom painting, listening to Eckhart Tolle's music and trying to find myself again. Dad sat me down and said, "Alice, I know it's hard, but it's all about persistence(坚持不懈)."

    Now I get to work with Dad a lot, which I love. We are both enthusiastic about acting, which comes from us being so interested in people. If it weren't for Dad, I wouldn't be where I am today. He's my biggest fan, and when you have that in your life you can go a long way.

    Jealousy is such a powerful emotion that at least one study has characterized it as the third leading cause of non-accidental homicide(杀人) in all cultures. In a recently published study, researchers experimented with dogs to see whether they, like humans, have the nature of jealousy.

In an experiment, the authors took 36 dogs—along with their owners—and observed the dogs' behavior as their masters interacted with three non-living objects. One object was a children's book, which they read aloud; another object was a plastic pumpkin lantern; and the third was a mechanical stuffed dog that gave out a bark when the owner pressed a button.

    Former studies concluded that babies were probably capable of jealousy. In the experiment, their mothers showed attention to a life-like doll instead of their child, and other objects. The babies were reportedly more likely to respond with “negative” behavior if their mother turned to pay her attention to the doll.

    In the dog experiment, authors instructed the dog owners to push the bark button on the stuffed dog's head, and then speak to it sweetly, while ignoring their own dog. After that, they showed attention to the pumpkin lantern, and read the children's book, while also ignoring their dog.

    It is interesting to see the dogs were far more likely to act aggressively when their owners spoke to the stuffed dog than when they paid attention to the other objects. One-fourth of the dogs snapped at the stuffed dog, while only one dog snapped at the lantern or the book. The dogs were also more likely to push or touch their owners as they interacted with the mechanical dogs, and tried to get in between the owner and the stuffed dog more frequently than the other objects.

    “One possibility is that jealousy developed in species of many young relying on the parents, the young compete for parental resources such as food, attention, care, and affection,” the authors wrote.

    What is the capital of Canada? If you're well-versed in geographic knowledge, you know the answer is Ottawa. But why is that? After all, Toronto is much larger than any other city in Canada. Montreal is an international city with ties to Europe. Vancouver is a major city with a very strategic port. Quebec City is centrally located.

    Why were none of these cities chosen to be the capital of Canada? As it tums out, choosing a capital city is more complicated than pointing to the biggest city on the map.

    Ottawa was a good choice because it was centrally located between two other major contenders. Montreal (which was predominantly French) and York (now Toronto, which was predominantly British). These two cities were the largest in Ontario and Quebec, which were at the center of Canada in the middle of 19th century. Picking Ottawa was a good compromise, as the Queen did not want to appear to favor one major city over the other.

    Also, unlike Toronto and Montreal, Ottawa was central but also a safe distance away from Canada's southern neighbor, the United States. It meant the capital would be safer in the event the U.S. decided to attack again. After all, it had only been 40 years since the War of 1812 when American troops had invaded as a result of British interference (干涉) in shipping. Although America was unable to capture Canada, the invasion was costly for the British government, who was not about to let it happen again.

    Hence, Ottawa was a great choice for the capital of Canada.

Elizabeth Bishop is considered one of the best American poets of the 20th century. She was born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1911. Her dad died when she was just a baby and her mom never recovered from the loss; she went to live with her grandparents in Nova Scotia, Canada when she was five. Eventually Bishop attended Vassar College, where she began to write poetry.

At Vassar she discovered Marianne Moore's poetry and met "Ms. Moore" and began their life-long friendship. She later met poet Robert Lowell. She wrote tons and tons of letters to both of them, which is good for us because we would otherwise know very little of her personal life. Bishop's poetry is sometimes considered objective and cold because it shows almost nothing about the poet or her life.

Bishop published her first book of poetry in 1946 and wrote until her death in 1979. She would spend years working on a single poem. Her poems are not the result of hasty scribbling (匆忙乱写) on paper while eating breakfast. Over a lifetime of writing, she only published about 275 pages of poetry, and about 40 of those are translations. She would look through drafts of poems again and again and improve them until they were as close to perfect as she could get them.

Reading Elizabeth Bishop is like being transported to the very place, the very moment she's writing about. She leads us to a microscope so we can see every smallest part of the scene. It seems she's always asking us to notice more, and more until the poem is so clear in our minds that it's almost painful — like a light that's too bright. It might take your eyes a while to get used to it, but once they do, you'll like what you see.