He wishes the holiday season would end already. His back aches, his red suit feels like a spacesuit, his cheeks have gone tight from smiling for 12 hours—and still the kids keep coming and coming, like ants at a picnic. As Christmas becomes more commercialized (商业化) across the U. S. and Canada, so must Santa Claus. As the holiday begins earlier each year, so must its spokesmen.

    The questions from children these days are harder than ever. Now, with thousands of children expecting a father or mother serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, the questions are as heart­breaking as they are unanswerable. For example, “Can you please bring Daddy home from the war in time for Christmas morning？”

    Santa Claus; also have a pretty good chance of getting sued (指控). A professional Santa Claus in Canada told a story: A Santa had a girl on his knee, and he commented, “You have nice eyes and nice hair.” The girl later said it was sexual harassment (骚扰). When a Santa feels anxious, he often shows it in the same ways ordinary people do. The Santa Claus were always seen to hang around at the dinner table when the show ended. Many of them just sleep in bed for several days and don't see other children again.

    Most foodies (吃货) agree that eating healthy food is important. But sometimes making good food choices can be tough. Now, there are apps that can help people learn about the food they eat to improve their diets and their dining out experiences.

Cheese & Wine Pairing app

    Wine and cheese can be a great combination. But which wines go best with which cheeses? Max McCalman's Cheese & Wine Pairing app can help. It provides information about hundreds of different cheeses and advises wines to pair with each. Max McCalman's Cheese & Wine Pairing app is free for iPhones and iPads.

Calorific app

    What does 200 calories look like? It can be hard to picture. Calorific provides images of 200 calories worth of food. The pictures can help people on a diet and those who just want to eat healthier food. The app is free for iPads and iPhones. There is also a version that provides more information for a price.

    HappyCow app

    Vegetarians do not eat animal meat. Vegans do not eat any animal products. The HappyCow app is made for both groups. Users can search for vegetarian-vegan restaurants and stores around the world. A free version of HappyCow is available for Android that has ads and requires an Internet connection.

    LocalEats app

    Restaurant chains, like McDonald's, can be found almost anywhere a person might travel. But sometimes travelers want to eat like locals. LocalEats is designed for that. It lists locally owned restaurants so users can try foods from that area. The app costs about a dollar.

    I began cycling in 2004 when I was a poor student. It was dangerous, sure, but cycling is the fastest, cheapest point-to-point form of transport in Melbourne. I own a car now, but that's just for transporting the baby or groceries.

    I hate driving. So it's been quite encouraging watching the growth in cyclist numbers over the past decade. It is said that over 10,000 cyclists enter the CBD (Central Business District) each day, taking pressure off public transport. But as more people take to cycling as a way of transport, the number of cyclists seriously injured or killed keeps increasing. And that is a sign that our infrastructure (基础设施) is still not good enough.

    Melbourne was once a dream for cyclists—flat, long, wide roads, with plenty of paths along rivers. Now, cycling can be deadly, with roads taken up by cars. I have a friend who broke her back and was lucky to escape death and others with broken bones. In my time riding, I've been forced off the road by a truck, cut off by four-wheel drives, and told to get off the road. Drivers are a particularly rude to cyclists. And that's a sign of exactly one thing: inadequate infrastructure.

    We shouldn't need to be taught how to coexist in the same narrow space. Drivers and cyclists should be kept apart. Designing bike paths so riders are channelled between moving cars and parked cars is deadly. All it takes is one daydreaming driver to fling open the door and you are gone. That's what happened to the young university student James.

    This year, there are to be new cycling lanes (车道) built on Glen Road, where James died in 2010. But these lanes are not safe. Cyclists must still pass between two rows of cars.

    Heard the Good News?

    Heavy TV headphones are now a thing of the past, thanks to Hearing Specialists who have developed new ultra-lightweight wireless rechargeable TV ear-buds, which enable the wearer to hear any TV show much more clearly. This unique speech clarification audio works for those with any level of hearing loss, and has been proven to outperform even the most advanced digital hearing aids for TV clarity.

    How is this Possible?

    Hearing specialist Don Hudson says the new TV Voice Pro Air ear-buds clarify TV dialogue automatically, based on the intelligence of over 100 hearing test results.

    Customers reported that traditional headphones were too heavy, only allowed them to view TV while sitting in one position, and made them feel cut off from their family and surroundings.

    "Our customers were wanting an ultra-lightweight TV listening experience, so that they could enjoy TV their way, sitting down, lying down or walking around, without discomfort."

    What's More?

    TV Voice Pro Air clarifies TV dialogue automatically. With just one click, the transmitter is guaranteed to connect to any TV, old or new, in under 2 minutes. The users can hear the TV at their preferred loudness of the sound from up to 35 feet from the TV, without affecting others in the room.

    As a special offer, Readers Digest readers can use Gift Voucher Code READERSDIGEST for $50 off the original retail price $299 and enjoy free shipping available only until December, 31st 2019. So reach us now by visiting www. TvVoicePro.com to order online or over the phone on 415 -277-2026.

Atmospheric （大气层的） rivers are long and narrow bands of water vapor （水蒸气） in Earth's atmosphere, which are called "large rivers in the sky". These rivers form over warm ocean waters. They are huge. They can be 930 miles long and one-third that wide.

Like real rivers, they carry huge amounts of water. These large streams of small water drops are blown by wind over land. When that happens, the water vapor cools down and condenses （凝结）. Atmospheric rivers can be good. They bring water to dry areas. However, they can cause huge, fast-moving storms. Some cause snowfalls that bury towns. They are also the main cause of floods on the U.S. West Coast.

Atmospheric rivers are hard to predict. But scientists are working to change that. Marty Ralph, a scientist who works at the University of California, directs the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes (CW3E). They created the first computer model to predict atmospheric rivers on the U.S. West Coast. This model uses a program that runs on a computer to create a model of a real-world event. CW3E also studies atmospheric rivers using planes. Pilots drop instruments into atmospheric rivers to collect information like temperature and wind speed, which helps with forecasting.

Will climate change affect atmospheric rivers? Climate change happens naturally over a long period of time. But today, it is largely caused by human activities and is causing the Earth to warm, which affects atmospheric rivers.

Atmospheric rivers are pushed by the wind. Those winds are driven by the temperature differences between the poles and the equator （赤道）. But the poles are also warming faster than areas near the equator. That makes the temperature difference between the areas smaller. This can make winds weaker.

Climate change might not cause more atmospheric rivers. But there may be very, very wet seasons and very, very dry seasons. Such a seesaw in rainfall could make it harder to manage what water there is.

It was a Sunday and the heavy storm had lasted all night. The morning after the storm, though, was beautiful: blue skies, warm air and a calm, inviting sea touching the shore gently.

My father realized it was a good day for fishing and invited my sister and me to go with him. I was only 14 and fishing had never been my thing, but I decided to go all the same. I'm so glad I did.

On the road to the harbour we could see the terrible destruction on the coast, but the harbour itself was in fairly good shape. After all, it was protected by the arms of a bay that had only one tiny channel to the sea. As we got on board, we noticed two big hums (脊背) in the distance.

On approaching them, we saw it was a mother whale with her baby. We couldn't believe it—there aren't any whales along the coast here. The storm must have driven them across the ocean into the bay, in which the still water was so badly polluted that nothing could survive.

The little baby whale—actually as big as our boat—was obviously stuck and could not move. The mother dived under the water and came up suddenly, making big whirlpools (漩涡) and waves. "She's trying to help her baby, but on the wrong side," my father said. At this point, my father moved our boat in a semicircle to the other side and, heading the boat towards the baby whale, pushed it gently. With our several gentle pushes the big hump turned over and disappeared under water. Then it swam up right beside its mum. They struggled in their desperate attempts to escape but missed the exit and started heading in the wrong direction. We hurried up to the whales and tried to lead them towards the bay channel. Slowly, they let us lead them, sometimes rising from the water right beside us to breathe—and to give us a trusting (信任的) look with those huge eyes. Once they hit their first part of clean water flowing straight from the sea, the mum gave us a wave with her tail and off they swam into the distance.

In the excitement it had felt like only a few minutes, but we had been with those wonderful animals for almost an hour and a half. That was the simple and lasting beauty of the day. Nearly four decades later, I still look back fondly to that golden day at sea.