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CHRONOLOGICA

——The Unbelievable Years that Defined History

DID YOU KNOW…

  In 105AD paper was invented in China?

  When Columbus discovered the New World?

  The British Museum opened in 1759?

CHRONOLOGICA is a fascinating journey through time,from the foundation of Rome to the creation of the internet. Along the way are tales of kings and queens,hot air balloons…and monkeys in space.

    Travel through 100 of the most unbelievable years in world history and learn why being a Roman Emperor wasn't always as good as it sounds,how the Hundred Years' War didn't actually last for 100 years and why Spencer Perceval holds a rather unfortunate record.

    CHRONOLOGICA is an informative and entertaining tour into history, beautifully illustrated and full of unbelievable facts. While CHRONOLOGICA tells the stories of famous people in history such as Thomas Edison and Alexander the Great, this book also gives an account of the lives of lesser-known individuals including the exploeer Mungo Park and sculptor Gutzon Borglum.

    This complete but brief historical collection is certain to entertain readers young and old,and guaranteed to present even the biggest history lover with somgthing new!

    Last night, on my way home I stopped because of being attracted by some hamburgers at a fast food restaurant. On my way in, a homeless man approached me and asked, “Do you have any bottles lying around?” I knew he would recycle them for a few cents, but I didn't have any, so I said no. And again he asked, “Can you spare some change ?” I smiled, and said no again. He was very respectful; he smiled back and said, “OK, thank you.” Even though he didn't have anything, he was still in good spirits. From the way he spoke I could tell he was smart.

    Then I bought one hamburger and enjoyed my meal, but in the back of my mind I wondered whether the homeless man was hungry. After I finished my meal I decided to order another one for him. At this point I didn't know if he was still around, but I tried anyway.

    At the counter I ordered a hamburger and also a hot chocolate, because it was cold outside, and I thought it would help warm him up. They delivered me the hot chocolate first and as I waited for my hamburger, I noticed the homeless man was standing right beside me. I looked at him and smiled, “This hot chocolate is for you.” He replied like a gentleman, “Thank you so much. That's very kind of you.”

    I always believe no matter how hard up I am, there are always those who are worse off than I. When you help someone, it's not always about money, it's about love. The love you give today, someone might forget tomorrow. It doesn't matter. Love anyway, because the greatest thing you can give is love.

    Kids are cool to wear blue jeans and T-shirts today. It is fashionable like that. Fashion refers to the styles of dress that are currently popular. Fashion goes beyond just clothes, though. It's important for some people to wear only the latest fashions and styles. For others, though, keeping up with trends isn't that important. The one thing that stays the same with fashion is this: it always changes!

    During the 1960s and 1970s, Hippies made bell-bottomed blue jeans (喇叭裤) popular. Also, in the 1980s, Michael Jackson made parachute pants (降落伞裤)all the fashion. Now try to find these items in today's clothing stores!

    Do you know why fashions change? The answer is probably as simple as the fact that people change. Over time, the new replaces the old People are influenced greatly by popular culture, including athletes, musicians, movies stars, as well as popular films, television shows, books and music. We are also influenced by the fashion industry's advertising.

    The stars of popular culture are always searching for a new angle to maintain (保持) their popularity. Often these new angles come in the form of new clothing or hairstyles. When people see these new styles, they often want to imitate (模仿) their favorite stars. To do so, they seek out the latest fashions to make themselves look like the people they want to imitate. In this way, fashions evolve and change over time.

    Clothes have been used to separate people into groups for many years. Even today, brand-name, clothing that is more expensive than other types of clothing can be used by some people to make themselves different from others.

    Unfortunately, this can often have the effect of distancing certain groups from others. Don't forget that it's always OK to develop your own sense of style that is unique and separate from what the fashion world determines! Stay true to yourself and let your personality - not your clothes - speak for who you are!

    A university in southwest China's Chongqing City set up a reading room as part of a campaign(活动)that stops students from taking their mobile phones with them in case the device distracts(使分心)them from focusing on their studies.

    Reportedly a student named Hu Xiaopeng taking part in the campaign studied 530 minutes without using his mobile phone. Unlike Hu, another one picked up his mobile phone in less than 20 minutes. "Having seen many students use their mobile phones in the library, a habit that shortens their study time and negatively affects their learning, we decided to open this reading room," said Zhang Shuran, the person responsible for the project at the university.

    Zhang added that students can keep their phones in appointed bags with numbers on them. The bags are placed on a desk near the door of the reading room. "Staff members at the reading room will check the phones when there's a call," said Zhang, adding that they will inform students when their parents or teachers call them, but will not tell students if an unknown person is calling or when there is a text message. Based on the time students hand in their phones when they come to the reading room and the time they get them back when they leave the room, Hu Xiaopeng from College of Animal Science and Technology of the university set a record of the longest time. Hu spent 530 minutes studying without using his phone. Though feeling somewhat surprised, Hu said, "It's bad to keep mobile phone with you when you are reading or studying."

    The campaign has attracted nearly 200 students since it was started a week ago. Some Internet users praised the campaign. One user named Liu Jingchang said, "It's good. I don't bring my phone when going to the library in case I get distracted."

    Rivers are earthly arteries(要道) for the nutrients, deposits and freshwater that sustain healthy, diverse ecosystems. Their influence extends in multiple dimensions—not only along their length but below­ground to aquifers(蓄水层) and periodically into nearby floodplains.

    They also provide vital services for people by fertilizing agricultural land and feeding key fisheries and by acting as transportation corridors. But in efforts to ease ship passage, protect communities from flooding, and draw off water for drinking and irrigation, humans have increasingly constrained and broken these crucial water ways. “We try to control rivers as much as possible,” says Gunther Grill, a hydrologist at McGill University.

    In new research published in May in Nature, Grill and his colleagues analyzed the barriers to 12 million total kilometers of rivers around the world. The team developed an index(指数) that evaluates six aspects of connectivity—from physical fragmentation (by dams, for example) to flow regulation (by dams or levees) to water consumption—along a river's various dimension. Rivers whose indexes meet a certain threshold(临界值) for being largely able to follow their natural patterns were considered free­flowing.

    The researchers found that among rivers longer than 1,000 kilometers (which tend to be some of those most important to human activities), only 37 percent are not blocked along their entire lengths. Most of them are in areas with a minimal human presence, including the Amazon and Congo basins and the Arctic. On the contrary, most rivers shorter than 100 kilometers appeared to flow freely—but the data on them are less comprehensive, and some barriers might have been missed. Only 23 percent of the subset of the longest rivers that connect to the ocean are uninterrupted. For the rest, human infrastructure is starving estuaries(河口) and deltas (such as the Mississippi Delta) of key nutrients. The world's estimated 2.8 million dams are the main cause, controlling water flow and trapping deposits.

    The new research could be used to better understand how proposed dams, levees and other such projects might impact river connectivity, as well as where to remove these fixtures to best restore natural flow. It could also help inform our approach to rivers as the climate changes, says Anne Jefferson, a hydrologist at Kent State University, who was not involved in the work. Existing infrastructure, she says, “has essentially been built to a past climate that we are not in anymore and are increasingly moving away from.”

Yuan Longping, known as the "father of hybrid rice", was born in 1930 in Beijing. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(learn) that farmers often had poor harvests and sometimes even had a serious {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(short) of food to eat, he chose to study agriculture and graduated from Southwest Agricultureal College in 1953.

After his graduation, Yuan {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(devote) his life to finding ways to produce more rice. He realized that larger fields were not the solution {#blank#}4{#/blank#} food crisis. Instead, farmers needed to boost yields in the fields they had. Through intense effort, Yuan got over enormous technical {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(difficulty) and developed the first hybrid rice in 1974, which enabled farmers to expand their output {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(great). Yuan's rice has helped feed not just China, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} many other countries that depend on rice as well. Yuan Longping cares little for wealth or fame. Instead, he {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(make) large donations to support agricultural research.

{#blank#}9{#/blank#} impresses people most about Yuan Longping is his ongoing ability {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(fulfill) his dreams. Despite his advanced years, Yuan Longping is still young at heart and full of vision, and everyone is waiting to see what he will dream up next.