Australia is the smallest continent in the world. It is a little smaller than China. It is on the Southern Hemisphere of the earth. Australia is big, but its population is small. The population of Australia is nearly as large as that of Shanghai.

    Enough laws have been made to fight against pollution. The cities in Australia have little air or water pollution. The sky is blue and the water is clean. You can clearly see fish in the rivers. Plants grow very well.

    Last month we visited Perth, the biggest city in Western Australia, and went to a wild flower exhibition. There we saw large numbers of wild flowers on show, most of which we had never seen before. We had a wonderful time. Perth is famous for its beautiful wild flowers. Every year in spring Perth has a wild flower exhibition. After visiting Perth, we spent a day in the countryside. We sat down and had a rest near a path at the foot of a hill. It was quiet and we enjoyed ourselves very much. When we heard bells ringing at the top of the hills, we looked up, but what we saw made us pick up all our things and run back to our car as quickly as we could. There were about three hundred sheep coming towards us along the path.

    Australia is famous for its sheep and kangaroos. After a short drive from any town, you will find yourself among the white sheep. Sheep, sheep, everywhere you can see sheep.

    Cuyahoga Valley National Park Volunteer Program

    Building a Community of Park Stewards

    Position Title: Wildlife Volunteer – Butterfly Monitors (2 positions)

    Dates: Mid May to September, 2018

    Hours: 8 ~ 16 hours / week

    Location: Cuyahoga Valley National Park

    Duties: Park staff will train volunteers in butterfly identification and data recording for one week before volunteers work in team of two to help track butterfly monitoring areas. Butterfly monitoring areas are 1 ~ 2 miles in length and are walked one time per week. There are a total of three butterfly monitoring areas within the park. Butterflies are identified by using binoculars （望远镜） or by netting and releasing. Data is recorded on data sheets.

    Skills Required: Applicants must have self motivation and desire to work with others. Volunteers will work during days when temperature is 70 degrees or more, between 10:30 am and 5 pm. Ability to walk a long distance in hot and humid conditions is needed. Skills with basic butterfly identification are not a must but helpful.

    Requirements: Applicants must complete a National Park Service Agreement and have their backgrounds looked into. U. S. citizenship is required. Applicants must be current Kent State University students.

    How to Apply: Please request an application from Mike Johnson at gkovach@kent.edu and send it back to Mike Johnson at gkovach@kent.edu, with the above position title as the subject, by February 15, 2018. If offered an interview, please come to Cuyahoga Valley National Park with your personal resume introducing your education and your previous work experience.

    For further information, please call Jamie Walters at (330) 657-2142 or email jwalters@forcvnp.org.

    My dad loved pennies, especially those with the elegant stalk of wheat curving around each side of the ONE CENT on the back. Those were the pennies he grew up with during the Depression (大萧条).

    As a kid, I would go for walks with Dad, spying coins along the way—a penny here, a dime (一角硬币) there. Whenever I picked up a penny, he'd ask, "Is it a wheat?" It always thrilled him when we found one of those special coins produced between 1909 and 1958, the year of my birth.

    One gray Sunday morning in winter, not long after my father's death in 2002, I was walking down Fifth Avenue, feeling bereft. I found myself in front of the church where Dad once worked. I was warmly shown in and led to a seat. Hearing Dad's favorite "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God", I burst into tears. We'd sung that at his funeral. After the service, I shook the pastor's hand and stepped onto the sidewalk—and there was a penny. I bent to pick it up, turned it over, and sure enough, it was a wheat. A 1944, a year my father was serving on a ship in the South Pacific.

    That started it. Suddenly wheat pennies began turning up on the sidewalks of New York everywhere. I got most of the important years: his birth year, my mom's birth year, the year he graduated from college, the year he met my mom, the year they got married, the year my sister was born. But alas, no 1958 wheat penny—my year, the last year they were made.

    The next Sunday, after the service, I was walking up Fifth Avenue and spotted a penny in the middle of a crossing. Oh, no, it was a busy street; cabs were speeding by—should I risk it? I just had to get it.

    A wheat! But the penny was worn, and I couldn't read the date. On arriving home, I took out my glasses and took it to the light. There was my birthday!

    I found 21 wheat pennies on the streets of Manhattan in the year after my father died, and I don't think that's a coincidence.

    Michael Faraday was the son of a blacksmith. There were four children in his family and, with his father often ill and unable to work, Michael Faraday had to earn his living from an early age. This meant little or no schooling. However, the family belonged to a religious group, and Faraday learnt to read and write at Sunday School.

    When he was only fourteen, Faraday found a job as a bookbinder（装订工）.He used to read the books he was given to bind and he became very interested in the scientific books, particularly the ones about electricity. His interest soon took a practical path and he began conducting his own experiments. These were very basic because Faraday had to make all of his equipment himself. However, he was very careful and kept a clear written record of all his findings.

    One day he was given an entrance ticket to the Royal Institute chemistry lecture, given by Humphry Davy. Determined to work for this great scientist, he sent Davy a job application and included his laboratory reports on the experiments he had carried out. In 1813 Davy offered Faraday a job as one of his laboratory assistants. Faraday learnt quickly and soon was recognized as a very able analytical chemist. Later he went to work at the Royal Institute.

    Michael Faraday was, perhaps, the greatest practical scientist of the 19th century. As a chemist, he discovered the benzene（苯）,which is now the focal point of chemical study. He also proved the relationship between electricity and chemical bonding（化学键合）.As a physicist, he invented the dynamo, which led to the later invention of the electric motor. He also discovered the effect of magnetism（磁）on light rays.

    It has been a year since I found out my friend had passed away. I still store his phone number, even though I know calling the number will never reach him again. I feel like if I deleted (删除) his phone number, it would mean he was really gone.

    Over the past few years, we have planned to travel together just to see the dolphins in the sea. However, for some reasons it didn't happen, yet I always took his calls over the years. We shared a lot of interests.

    When I knew that he had been diagnosed (诊断) with a very serious illness and was in hospital, I remembered sending messages to him. I did not receive a message back, so I left a voicemail. A week later, I sent him a message once again. However, I still didn't get a reply. I thought he was busy. During the next several months I was very busy, too. Suddenly, in that mid-summer, I received a short message: "Sorry, Marlynn, He has passed away."

    I was very sad and surprised at the words. I was very sad and regretful. I regretted that I let the months pass without trying again. I worked with many people who had also lost their best friends. The sadness is often unspeakable. There is guilt (内疚), helplessness and sadness that is difficult to put into words.

    Now I try to be grateful for the times and memories we have. I realize the best thing that we can do is value the ones we love.

There're plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables available in local markets.But while those red juicy strawberries look  fresh,consumers have no way  of knowing how  long the  fruit  can be  stored  at  home.The  same  goes  for distribution centers and supermarkets.

Now,the food technology startup OneThird,located in the Netherlands,is looking to change that with an infrared (红外线)scanner that can accurately predict how long fresh fruits and vegetables will last.The startup is named OneThird because one-third of food is wasted due to spoilage(变质)every year.

The startup's founders were inspired by a UK company that uses this type of technology in the medical field and decided to see if it was applicable for food."I looked at the challenges in the food-supply chain and found out that 40 percent of food waste is fresh produce.One of the biggest causes of waste is that nobody knows shelf life." founder and CEO of OneThird,Marco Snikkers said.  Quality inspections at farms and distribution centers are done manually(手动地).An inspector checks the fruits and vegetables and makes notes about the size and quality.Then the food is sent to consumers without considering travel time or how long the produce will remain usable.

Using the infrared scanner at the distribution center means that inspectors can use the information to approve shipments that will ensure the produce can be distributed on a timely basis.This means that a shipment of ripe tomatoes will not be sent long distances away.

OneThird's scanner combines the technology of optical scanners,image modeling,and Artificial Intelligence to provide accurate shelf-life predictions.  The startup found that the technology can reduce up to 25 percent produce waste that was caused by spoilage. "Global food waste has an enormous environmental impact;reducing global food waste cuts global greenhouse gas emissions and promotes global food security,"said Jacob Smith,a climate expert from the University of Maine.