This is a true story that happened in Japan. In order to repair the house, a Japanese tore open the walls. Japanese houses normally have an empty space between the wooden walls. When pulling down the walls, he found that there was a lizard(蜥蜴) staying there because a nail(钉子) from outside was hammered into one of its feet. He saw this, feeling pity and curious. When he checked the nail, he found it was nailed 10 years ago when the house was first built.

    What happened? The lizard had survived in such a position for 10 years! It has been in a dark wall partition(夹层) for 10 years without moving! Then he wondered how this lizard survived for 10 years without moving a single step—since its foot was nailed! So he stopped his work and observed the lizard: What has it been doing? What and how has it been eating? Later, he didn't know from where another lizard appeared, with food in its mouth. Ah! He was astonished and touched deeply. The free lizard had been feeding it for the past 10 years.

    Such love, a beautiful love! Such love happened with this tiny creature… What can love do? It can do wonders! Just think about it: one lizard had been feeding the other for 10 long years, without giving up hope on its partner. If a small creature like a lizard can love like this, just imagine how we can love if we try.

    Bamboo is one of the world's most useful plants. For thousands of years, bamboo has been used in many different ways-from food to medicine to clothing and, in small ways, as a building material.

    However, bamboo is not often used as a building material in the developed world. A professor at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania is trying to change that. The professor and his students are testing the strength of bamboo.They are testing how much pressure or weight it can take before breaking.

    Kent Harries is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Harries says that testing methods for bamboo need to be the same for all. They need to be standardized. Standardizing test methods for bamboo will help to bring the plant into common use. It will also give engineers and builders around the world a dependable standard.

    Harries says that bamboo is strong in nature. The strength of at least three species of bamboo is similar to steel.Besides its strength, bamboo has other features that make it very useful in building. He says it is resilient(有弹力的), meaning it keeps its shape and strength even under pressure.

    Bamboo also grows quickly. Bamboo that is suitable for construction needs much less resources than wood. The harvest cycle of bamboo is about 3 years. Softwoods such as cedar, pine and spruce have a harvest cycle of about 10 years. And hardwoods that come from flowering plants such as oak and walnut need more than 30 years.

    Bamboo is widely used as food for panda bears. It is also used for flooring and window covers. However, for building, bamboo is not used much outside its native growing area. This is mostly because of its round shape. But there are other reasons too. People think -- or have the mentality--that bamboo is a low quality building material.

    Everglades National Park (大沼泽地国家公园) is located in the state of Florida. It is the largest wilderness in the entire country and makes up 25% of the wetlands in the state. The park is home to several rare and endangered species. It is also the third largest national park in the US, after Death Valley and Yellowstone. Each year, about 1 million tourists visit the park. On a global level, it has been announced as a World Heritage Site.

    Unlike most other national parks, Everglades National Park was created to protect an ecosystem (生态系统) from damage. In 1947, President Harry Truman spoke at the official opening of Everglades National Park, saying the goal of creating the park was to protect forever a wild area that could never be replaced.

    10,000 different islands make up Everglades National Park. Each of these islands is lived by natural wildlife. The Everglades is home to about 15 species that are endangered. In addition, more than 350 bird species and 300 species of fresh and saltwater fish live within the park. The Everglades is also home to 40 species of mammals and 50 reptile species.

    There are many ways to explore the Everglades. Visitors can see alligators (短吻鳄) while hiking the Anhinga Trail. The Everglades is one of the only places on Earth where freshwater alligators and saltwater crocodiles live in the same area. Visitors using airboats are likely to see large groups of birds. Some visitors might enjoy riding bicycles through Shark Valley. Others may want to move slowly through waters where they can see insects and wildlife closely.

    According to experts, changes to the Everglades are becoming a danger to several different kinds of wildlife. They say it is a result of actions the US government began more than 50 years ago, and settlers began even earlier.

    Young people can have problems with their minds. Some students become worried because they have to study very hard. Others have trouble getting on well with people like their parents and classmates.

    Li Wen, a junior 2student from No.2Middle School, could not understand his teacher and was doing badly in his lessons. He became so worried about it that he started to cut his finger with a knife. Another student16yearold Yang Fang from No.1Middle School, was afraid of exams. She got very worried in one and when she looked at the exam paper, she couldn't think of anything to write.

    A recent report from Jiefang Daily says about 18% of Shanghai teenagers have mental problems. Their troubles include being worried and very unhappy and having problems in learning and getting on with people. Many students who have problems won't go for advice or help. Some think they will look stupid if they go to see a doctor. Others don't want to talk about their secrets Liang Yuezhu, an expert on teenagers from Beijing Anding Hospital has the following advice for teenagers：

    Talk to your parents or teachers often.

    Take part in group activities and play sports.

    Go to see a doctor if you feel unhappy or unwell.

    When Gitanjali Rao shared how she likes "finding solutions to real problems”, it was hard to imagine this dynamic 11-year-old girl could settle a problem that has escaped scientists for years.

    In just three months, Rao came up with a device（装置）that can replace the costly and lengthy tests currently used to reliably determine lead levels in our fresh water. Inspired by the current litigation （诉讼）in Flint, Michigan, a case of water pollution from 2014 to 2015, Rao designed a new testing system that resulted in her being named America's Top Young Scientist for 2017.

    Rao had been following the water problem for about two years. She was amazed by the number of people affected by lead pollution in water and wanted to do something to change this. Gitanjali spent months trying to convince local high schools and colleges to give her lab time to continue her experiment. At home, Gitanjali worked on her project in the "science room” she asked her parents to create for her. Rao has created a device that uses three parts: a cartridge, a Bluetooth reader and an app. To put it simply, the cartridge contains carbon nanotubes（纳米管） that react to lead. This reaction is then registered by the Bluetooth reader, which sends a signal to a mobile app that can tell you immediately if your water is safe to drink.

    Rao appropriately named the device Tethys after the Greek goddess of fresh water, and is hoping to make a little improvement to get the device on the market. While we may not be aware of any lead pollution present in our aging pipelines, lead poisoning can cause delays in physical and mental development. With Rao believing that the "purpose of science is to make a difference”, her incredible invention could make a difference to millions of people in the United States.

Long ago, poets in Japan listened, watched, and caught the beauty of the earth's songs like the raindrops. They did this with the tiniest poems in the world, called haiku. A haiku is a poem that is just three lines and seventeen syllables long. And the poets who wrote them watched and listened, not only with their eyes and ears, but also with their hearts!

In their haiku, the early Japanese poets caught the colours, sounds, and beauties of the seasons of the year. They sang of their islands' beauties. Their miniature poems were not meant to fully describe a scene or to explain it but rather were a flash impression. 

Interestingly enough, Japanese poetry has had a long and colourful history. In the prehaiku period in the early eighth century, Japanese poets wrote katauta, poems in a question-and-answer form, using two people. Each three-line verse contained about seventeen syllables that could be delivered easily in one breath—just as one would naturally ask or answer a question. This has remained the basic pattern for traditional Japanese poetry throughout the centuries. 

Another form that appeared was the tanka, which contained five lines and thirty-one syllables(5, 7, 5, 7, 7), written by either one or two persons. From that evolved(逐步形成) the renga, which contained more than one verse, or link. Written by three or more people, it could have as many as 100 links! The first verse of the renga introduced a subject. It had three lines and was called hokku, or starting verse. Renga parties became a great pleasure. 

Around 1450, haikai no renga became popular. This style of linked verse contained puns (双关) and was humorous and amusing. The opening three lines were still called a hokku, and from haikai and hokku the term haiku evolved.