Harper Lee, whose 1961 novel To Kill a Mockingbird on the racial troubles of the American deep south, has died at the age of 89.

    Until last year, Lee had been something of a one-book literary legend. To kill a Mockingbird sold more than 40 million copies around the world and earned her a Pulitzer prize, remaining a towering presence in American literature. Another novel, Go Set A Watchman, was controversially published in July 2015 as a “sequel” to Mockingbird, though it was later confirmed to be Mockingbird's first draft.

    But from the moment Mockingbird was published to almost instant success, the author consistently avoided public attention. Lee had lived for several years in a nursing home near the house in which she had grown up in Monroeville, Alabama—the setting for Maycomb of her famous book. Her neighbor for 40 years, Sue Sellers, said, “She was such a private person. All she wanted was privacy, but she didn't get much. There was always somebody following her around.”

    James Naughtie, BBC Books Editor, commented on the novels of Harper Lee: “I think she stands, particularly among American readers, as someone who shone a light into a very dark place. She was writing at a time when people were beginning to lift the lid on everything in the South which they'd chosen not to understand. That all changed in the 1960s. So I think her status for writing that book in its extraordinarily direct way will remain.

    The University of Waikato is a good choice for those who want to be a success. The university is internationally recognized for its excellence and achievements. It will help you develop advanced research skills. As a university student you can get first-class research facilities (设施) with trained teachers to help, support and advise you in your study. We pride ourselves on our high standards, our research success and our international recognition. For further information: inf@waikato.ac.nz.

    Degree

    We offer a wide choice of bachelor's degrees(学士学位) for international students, which includes: Arts, Communication Studies, Social Sciences, etc. Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Education are only for New Zealand citizens, for further information: deg@waikato.ac.nz.

    Tuition Fees(学费)

    Tuition fees are different from department to department, generally from $5,000 to $6,000 a year. For further information: tui@waikato.ac.nz.

    Accommodation(住宿)

    You can have a room in a 4-bedroom flat, which will cost about $100 a month with other regular living costs of about $150 a month for one person. For further information: acc@waikato. ac.nz

    Health

    The Student Health Service provides excellent medical services for students. The Medical Centre is open five days a week, including student holidays with four doctors and nurses to meet your medical needs. For further information: heal@waikato.ac.nz.

    Sports

    The Centre is a great place to have sports activities. Trained exercise teachers can help you work out a training plan and keep you active. The sports hall has volleyball, basketball and indoor football courts and a swimming pool as well. There are also a large number of sports clubs at Waikato. For further information: sport@ waikato.ac.nz

    Barbara McCintock was one of the most import scientists of the twentieth century. She made important discoveries about genes（基因） and chromosomes （染色体）.

    Barbara McClintock was born in 1902 in Hartford, Connecticut. Her family moved to Brooklyn area of new York City in 1908. Barbara was an active child with interests in sports and music. She also developed an interest in science.

    She studied science at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Barbara was among a small number of undergraduate students to receive training in genetics in 1921. Years later, she noted that few college students wanted to study genetics.

    Barbara McClintock decided to study botany, the scientific study of plants, at Cornell University. She completed her undergraduate studies in 1923. McClintock decided to continue her education at Cornell. She completed a master's degree in 1925. Two years later, she finished all her requirements for a doctorate degree.

    McCintock stayed at Cornell after she completed her education. She taught students botany. The 1930s were not a good time to be a young scientist in the United States. The country was in the middle of the great economic Depression. Millions of Americans were unemployed. Male scientists were offered jobs. But female geneticists were not much in demand.

    An old friend from Cornell, Marcus Rhoades, invited McClintock to spend the summer of 1941working at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. It is a research center on Long Island, near New York City. McClintock started in a temporary（临时的）job with the genetics department. A short time later, she accepted a permanent （永久的） position with the laboratory. This gave her the freedom to continue her research without having to teach or repeatedly ask for financial aid.

    By the 1970s, her discoveries had an effect on everything from genetic engineering to cancer research. McClintock won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1983for her discovery of the ability of genes to change positions on chromosomes. She was the first American woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize.

    It is reported that a record-breaking high-speed rail will connect Inner Mongolia in the north to Hainan in the south. According to the Shaanxi Development and Reform Commission, the proposed line will operate at a speed of 350 kilometers per hour(217 mph).

    Beginning in Inner Mongolia's Baotou city and running through southern Shaanxi, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong, its final stop would be in Haikou city on Hainan Island, China's southernmost province.

    Though the exact length of the proposed route has not been released, it will likely become the world's longest high-speed rail line as the journey by road between Baotou and Haikou is approximately 3, 000 kilometers(1, 864 miles) long. Currently, the world's longest high-speed rail line is almost 2, 300 kilometers long (1, 429 miles), running from Beijing to Guangzhou.

    The proposed rail is part of China's aim to create another "Silk Road of the 21st Century" and improve the country's transportation network while driving land development and urbanization(城市化) in some provincial areas.

    Many of the provinces through which the high-speed trains will travel are near major bodies of water, such as the Yellow River in Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi province, the Yangtzi River in Hubei and the South China Sea, where the line would end. It will also take passengers to popular tourist attractions including Zhangjiajie, Xi'an, Guilin and minority areas in western Hunan and Hubei.

    "The country is now shifting its focus and investing in the western regions and economically underdeveloped areas, making up for China's long debt to these areas, " Tan yuzhi, professor of the School of Economics and Management at Hubei University for Nationalities, told local media. " The project will significantly narrow regional disparities(差异) and solve minority issues."

    However, Deng Hongbing, director of China University of Geosciences' Center for Regional Economic and Investment Center, said that if the north-to-south railway is to go ahead, there needs to be a sound ecological program in place to ensure the protection of these underdeveloped and ecologically sensitive areas.

Gorgeous Mother's Day Gift

If you're stuck for a Mother's Day gift, why not try something that tugs at the heartstrings? A company that specialises in turning life stories into long-lasting books has developed a simple way to show your mother or grandmother how much they mean to you.

The company has created a full-colour book that captures all your family memories. And it's a gift that can be enjoyed over and over again by future generations. The company sends you a set of questions by email, and these help you make a personalised book that's unique to your parent or grandparent.

This hardbound（精装的） book is a bargain compared to a private autobiography, which can cost thousands of pounds and take ages to finish.

The company was started by two siblings. After their dad died young and they saw their grandma struggle with Alzheimer's, they wanted to find a way to save life stories before it was too late. When you buy a photo book, the company will give some money to the Alzheimer's Society charity. They help you make the book and keep your stories safe until it's printed.

The photo book costs£149, but you can pay £50 more to get an extra copy for your family and friends. If the person who gets the book doesn't like it, they can get their money back in 30 days.

As a cheaper alternative, you could get an £11.99 scrapbook from the Internet and put your own pictures in it to save money. The company also sells different kinds of photo books, like the Mini Hardback Photo Book which is now only £20.80, down from £26.

People who routinely eat a lot of red meat may be increasing their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes （糖尿病）, according to a new study. Processed red meats, like bacon and hot dogs, are linked to an even higher risk.

Researchers tracked the eating habits of more than 200,000 people engaged in long-term health studies for up to 36 years and found that those who regularly consumed a lot of red meat — more than a serving per day — had a significantly higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

"When we looked at the women and men who consumed the most red meat compared to the least, we found about a 50% increase in risk," says study author Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. The results were published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

It turned out that the participants in the study who consumed high amounts of red meat also had higher body weight. They consumed more calories （热量） and were less physically active compared with those who consumed the least red meat.

Given that, in the US, only about 4% of people are identified as vegetarians and only 1%vegans, it's not realistic to think that people will give up red meat altogether. So how much red meat is OK to consume? US dietary guidelines don't clearly state an amount, but a recent review of observational studies suggests it's reasonable to limit daily consumption of unprocessed red meat to 50 to 100 grams to prevent high blood pressure and heart diseases. Willett's recommendation goes even further. "A limit of one serving per week of red meat would be reasonable for people wishing to improve health and well-being," Willett says.

Given the large body of evidence that links too much red meat consumption to increased risks of heart disease and cancer, Christopher Gardner, a food scientist at Stanford University, points out that recommendations to limit the consumption of red meat, particularly processed red meat, have been made by many national and global health organizations.