The pupils of Grangetown High have been busy getting to know their newest and tallest classmate — a 7-meter-tall giraffe outside their school.

    The giraffe is a huge sculpture (雕像) made by a local artist. The school's headmaster noticed the sculpture in the artist's garden as he drove past one day, and thought it would be perfect for his school. “I knew everyone would love it,” he said, “because our basketball team is known as the Grangetown Giraffes, and they wear giraffes on their shirts. So I asked them to write a letter to the artist, asking how much it would cost to buy the giraffe. He was very kind and got it ready to deliver (递送) in six weeks — all for nothing! It was expected to arrive one Sunday morning, so that the pupils would see it when they got to school on Monday — at that time they had no idea that we were getting it.”

    The artist, Tom Bennett, was a university professor (教授) of chemistry before he left that job in 2006 and only took up metalwork a couple of years ago. “I've always drawn pictures,” he said. “I can even remember doing it on my first day at school — I drew a horse. I wanted it to be the best horse picture ever, but I don't think I succeeded.” Tom's first metalwork was a bicycle for two that he and his wife could go cycling on together. “It was the most uncomfortable bike ever created,” he said, “so I gave up making bicycles and went into sculpture instead.”

    Meanwhile the pupils at Grangetown High are very happy with their new classmate. “We're going to hold a competition to give it a proper name,” said one girl. “Everyone likes the expression on its face, so perhaps that will give us some ideas.”

    It was an oral English class and in front of us was standing our teacher Lila Betray, who was a university student from the US. Somehow we came to the point whether any of us could sing an English pop song in front of the class. You know, maybe three or more out of ten Chinese students are shy in class. As a result, there was silence in class for quite a while, which made everybody feel rather embarrassed(尴尬的), including the teacher.

    I was a shy boy. However, just at that moment, a great idea struck me suddenly."Seize the enjoyment! Seize the opportunity. Yes, there couldn't be a better opportunity." I said to myself. "Why not seize it? Why should I have always to be the guy regretting missing the opportunity just because of shyness? Yes, maybe I should have a try!"

    So, I raised my hand. And I remember that it took me quite a while to think what the song's name was. Though I sang no more than five sentences because of forgetting the lyrics(歌词), their clapping hands told me that I did the job well. Later, I got a gift and I was really happy.

    I think that is one of the most unforgettable moments in my life. Through this experience, I've also got to know that we should believe that we can do the job well, no matter how difficult it seems for us. Just have a little more courage.

    When it comes to climate change, there are always some new, terrifying consequences to worry about—like ancient viruses and bacteria coming from the ice as the earth warms. Unfortunately, researchers fear we may see more of this in the future.

    Some of these viruses and bacteria may have been trapped for thousands of years, and it's not even totally clear yet what they are, let alone what kind of damage they might have.

    Researchers have met complex “giant viruses” in the melting permafrost(永久冻土) of Siberia. One such virus, 30,000 years old, was still infectious when it was discovered in 2015, though it posed no danger to humans. It turns out that permafrost is excellent at preserving bacteria and viruses that are temporarily inactive, and then become reactivated with warming.

    Scientists have discovered Spanish flu viruses in dead bodies buried in 1918 in the Alaskan tundra (冻原). When close to half of the population of a Siberian town in the 1890s died of smallpox (天花), their bodies were buried in the permafrost along the Kolyma River. The banks of that river are now beginning to wear away amid global warming, the BBC reports.

    In Siberia in August 2016, some 100 people and 2,300 deer were infected with anthrax(炭疽) in the first outbreak in the area since 1941. One boy died from the disease. Scientist believed the anthrax had been trapped in the body of a long-frozen dead deer and became active during particularly hot summer of 2016, releasing the bacteria cells into the environment.

But even in warmer climates, rising temperatures can help grow and spread dangerous diseases. Over a decade ago, researcher Paul Epstein prophesied the possible spread of mosquito-born illnesses as a result of climate change. “Mosquitoes are sensitive to temperature changes,” he said. “Warming speeds up their rates of reproduction and the number of blood meals they take, makes their breeding (繁殖) season long, and shortens the maturation period for the germs they spread” — all of which makes them more efficient at spreading disease.

    ①What is a place where you could find old pictures of camels carrying people to Mecca, Saudi Arabia (沙特阿拉伯麦加),and also books about ancient Aztecs(阿芝 特克人) in Mexico ? It is all found in the World Digital Library (WDL). Its collection is available on the Internet.

    ②The librarian of the United States Congress, James Billington, established the WDL in 2009. And John Van Oudenaren is the director. They want it to include items that are both interesting and important, which encourages them to look for things from each country, each culture and each civilization. There are 170 partners in 79 countries sending material to it, including national or university libraries, museums and other cultural organizations.

    ③The library has 8,000 items, including whole books, ancient writings, music and photographs. Every item is annotated (注解)in the 6 official languages of the United Nations: English, Arabic, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian plus Portuguese (葡萄牙语).

    ④Anyone may search the World Digital Library by subject, time period, kind of document or area of the world, whose website is www.wdl.org. Since 2009, 25 million people have visited the website from 250 places. The greatest number is from Spanish-speaking countries. The users include schools, researchers and anyone interested. A teacher from New York City said happily, “It is really wonderful to have a site where every kid in the class, no matter which country he/she is from or where his/her parents were from could search and find something about that country.”

    ⑤Mussa Maravl is a researcher for the WDL from Sudan, who works with all the materials that are in Arabic. He recently published rare photographs of Mecca from 1885. “These camels are, you know, lying their heads on the ground, which is very unusual for a camel. It means these camels have traveled so long, so far and half of those are very thin, too, meaning they have exhausted all the fat they have stored.”

    ⑥Mussa Maravl believes the library provides tools for understanding, especially among Arabs, Muslims and the United States. He says the WDL is posting many items about important developments in Arabic and Islamic science.

    10 years after my parents got married, my dad went to work in the oil fields, and soon accepted a job working overseas. The money was great, but the fact that we only saw him every other month disappointed me. My mom stayed home with her five children, raising us alone. We had a place in the country with horses, dogs, chickens and a few head of cattle. Mom was very busy, but always made time for us. Of course, lots of mothers did things like that. But Mom's greatest achievement was yet to come.

    When the oil business declined(衰退) in the 1980s, my dad and most of his friends lost their jobs. The wives were at a loss to know how to manage without large monthly paychecks. But my mom was different. She helped out by working part-time jobs and she learned to drive a semi-truck, so she could help my dad make more miles at his new job. But with three teenagers at home, she couldn't spend time on the road with him, so he decided to find a different kind of job.

    Mom found an ad for the International Air Academy in Vancouver, Washington. She had always dreamed of working as a flight attendant but had chosen a family over a career. She was fascinated by the idea that she might be able to work in the travel field after all. Having no idea how she would pay for the schooling, or even if she'd get a job, she took a leap of faith(冒险一试) and dialed the number.

    It wasn't easy, but she passed the entrance exam and was admitted to the three-month training course. That was only half the battle, though, as she still needed the tuition. She finally got a loan( 借款) to cover some of the expenses, and the president of the school gave her a personal loan to cover the rest.

    As she read her welcome packet, she realized there was a strict dress code( 着装要求), requiring professional dress each day. This was not something she had. And she also needed to see an eye doctor. Her older brother sent her enough money to buy the clothes she needed and test her eyes. And then she took her two youngest － daughters my sister and me to Vancouver, where there was an apartment waiting for her in the family housing section.

    In the first day of class, she was so nervous. I can remember her taking deep breaths and trying to calm herself before leaving. She was forty-five years old, and that made it a little intimidating to walk into a classroom full of twenty-year-olds and try to hold her own. But she stood by her commitment and graduated at the top of her class.

    Her first job as a travel agent was with a large agency in Aurora, Colorado. She felt great about her achievement and proud of the beautiful high-rise building she worked in. I was so proud of what she had done. She'd found a way to rise above the curveball( 弧线球) life had thrown at her. Instead of quitting as many of her friends had, she charged ahead and created a brand new career.

Plastic is everywhere, from the Arctic ice to vital organs in the human body. In fact, previous estimates suggest that the average person swallows a credit card-worth of microscopic plastic particles(颗粒) every week. But new research shows that this could actually be an understatement. 

Microplastics are plastics smaller than 5 millimeters, found in industrial waste, beauty products, and formed during the degradation of larger plastic pieces. Over time, they break down into even smaller nanoplastics. These tiny particles can pass through our intestines and lungs into our bloodstreams, reaching vital organs like the heart and brain. 

While the idea of eating plastic is unsettling in itself, the major concern here is that these plastic particles contain chemicals that can interrupt our body's natural release of hormones, potentially increasing our risk of reproductive disorders and certain cancers. They can also carry toxins(毒素) on their surface like heavy metals. 

In the past, researchers have shown bottled water can contain tens of thousands of identifiable plastic fragments in a single container. However, until recently, only the larger microplastics were detectable with available measuring tools, leaving the area of nanoplastics largely a mystery. 

Using Raman microscopy (显微镜学), capable of detecting particles down to the size of a flu virus, the team measured an average of 240, 000 particles of plastic per liter of bottled water, 90 percent of which were nanoplastics, a revelation 10 to 100 times larger than previous estimates. 

These plastics likely originate from the bottle material, filters used to "purify" the water, and the source water itself. "It is not totally unexpected to find so much of this stuff, " the study's lead author, Columbia graduate student Naixin Qian, said in a statement. His team hopes to expand their research into tap water and other water sources to better inform our exposure to these potentially dangerous particles. "The idea is that the smaller things get, the more of them I reveal, " he added.