Black Valley, 63 kilometers from downtown Chongqing, is one of the best preserved natural wonders around the municipality. The national 5A-level scenic spot is a popular summer resort for sightseeing, forest adventures, outdoor camping, hunting and angling.
Located in Heishan town, Wansheng Economic Development Zone, the scenic spot spans over 103 square kilometers, 97 percent of which are covered by primitive forests. With over 110,000 negative oxygen ions in each cubic centimeter of air, it is dubbed as a natural oxygen bar and "the most beautiful healthcare-themed valley."
Black Valley is also known as "the natural gene bank of Chongqing and Guizhou regions" for the diversity of its rare plants and wildlife, including Cathaya argyrophylla, Davidia involucrata, Trachypithecus francoisi and clouded leopards.
Scenic spot level: AAAAA
Address: Heishan town, Wansheng Economic Development Zone, 63 kilometers from downtown Chongqing
Opening hours: 8:30 am - 3:30 pm (peak season from November to February), 9:00 am-3:00 pm (off season from March to October)
Ideal sightseeing season: from May to September
Ticket price: 60 yuan ($8. 72) during off season and 100 yuan during peak season, sightseeing bus and cable not included.
Notes:
1 It is recommended that tourists start from the higher southern area for a downward journey.
2 The average temperature is 18. 1 degrees.
3 It's a good idea to experience the local folk culture of the Miao ethnic group, especially when you choose to visit in May when the traditional Caishan Festival of Miao ethnic group is celebrated.
Until 13, Parker Liautaud was an ordinary kid. That changed after he met polar explorer
Robert Swan. They began an email correspondence which turned into a friendship that eventually saw the then 14-year-old invited to join a trip to the Antarctic. He said yes almost instantly.
Friends and family, to whom he'd so far shown he had no particular interest in outdoor pursuits, particularly polar ones, were thrown into total confusion, to say the least. He ate lots of chicken, spent a long time in the gym, and proved them wrong.
The following year, Liautaud cooked up a more ambitious plan: to become the youngest-ever person to go to the North Pole. He found a new partner, Doug Stoup, and through a mixture of charm and luck raised the roughly $150,000 needed for the record attempt. Then disaster struck.
The early months of the year, when the two set out, were among the warmest on record. The North Pole, which is essentially a GPS location on a constantly-moving collection of ice sheets, became nearly inaccessible, surrounded by pieces of uncovered ocean.
A trip which had intended to raise awareness of melting ice caps had been delayed by melting Ice caps. "We would get up, battle through these difficult conditions for 150 hours, then wake up the next morning and find that we were further away from the Pole than we'd started the previous morning", he said. After 14 days' trying, they admitted defeat.
Liautaud came home and decided to try again the next spring. Conditions were cold but perfect, and he and Stoup reached the Pole in no time. While it might not have made him the youngest North-Poler, the success did give Liautaud a platform to continue advocacy against climate change, through his campaigning website. His view is that it's his generation that must push hardest for cuts in carbon emissions. He has already contributed to research projects carried out by the International Atomic Energy Agency and will soon set up two stations to record weather data.
Wildlife crossings don't just protect animals. They can also mitigate problems related to wildlife-vehicle collisions (碰撞) and save significant money for a community.
Wildlife crossings are man-made structures that help animals move safely around their habitat. They are often paths under or over another existing road or railway, or underground passages for animals to get past for food or avoiding attacks.
Some animals are unable to migrate to survive. People still rely on highways for business and travel, and animals continue to have mobility needs for survival, though. When new roads are built, animals living in a part of their habitat can greatly increase the number of wildlife- vehicle collisions while trying to cross the new barriers.
In a new study, Wisnu Sugiarto, a Washington State University economics doctoral student, examined data for 13 of the 22 wildlife crossings, including bridges and underpasses, in the Washington State. He compared the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions each year before and after the construction of a wildlife crossing. He considered the area within 10 miles of a crossing.
Then he compared his analysis to a separate area in the state with no crossings at all. "The findings reported that wildlife crossing structures reduced the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions by one to three accidents on average per mile per year," Sugiarto said. "Therefore, building wildlife crossing structures is typically an essential and effective strategy to reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions. "
"Prior to working on this research, I wasn't aware of any strategies to reduce wildlife vehicle collisions. I also thought we couldn't do much about it, partly because we wouldn't be able to communicate with wildlife and control their movement," Sugiarto added. "However, it turns out that there are multiple strategies to deal with issues related to wildlife-vehicle collisions and we can do something about them."
It is reported that the government has invested $ 350 million over five years for the construction of wildlife crossings. Every wildlife crossing offers a mean benefit of between $235,000 and $443,000 each year.
There is a picture: A polar bear is lying lifeless on a beach. On the shore, in the background, stand three guards, talking to each other. One of them has a gun hanging casually on his shoulder.
This powerful image has made people question the motivation (动机) for this kind of tourism, or ecotourism. Does our proximity (接近) to large animals in the wild, frequently caused by a desire for exciting images, lead to such animals becoming accustomed to human contact? If that is the case, surely the losing side will end up paying the price for such proximity.
To my sorrow, I have recently returned from a trip to Svalbard, and stood two weeks ago on the very beach where the bear was shot. The bear's death should never have happened. Was the beach examined beforehand? Was there access to flares (照明弹) to scare off a bear that appeared suddenly? These are standard measures for any operator. The incident is probably the result of a terrible systematic (制度的) failure.
However, the incident should not deny the value of ecotourism. In its best form, this kind of travel has very little influence, or indeed has a positive effect, on the environment where it takes place. This can be achieved by making financial donations to conservation groups, providing income to local communities, or ensuring protection of certain areas or animals. In Svalbard, visitors become ambassadors (大使 ) for the endangered polar bear, increasing awareness of the fact that the far greater danger they are facing is the sea ice melt in the Arctic Ocean.
Ecotourism is an expanding market that brings benefits as well as challenges to the regions around the world in which it operates. Simply closing off these regions is not the answer.
Leonardo da Vinci and Nature
In the modern world, art and science are two very separate activities, but in Leonardo's time they were closely connected. Science meant mathematics and medical studies.
Mathematics included practical work like surveying land for making maps as well as measuring the movements of the stars in the sky. An artist might need to measure the different parts of the body. He could also use mathematics to place things in relationship to each other in a drawing or painting so the scene looked correct.
Mathematics was also connected to music because musical sounds have a fixed relationship with each other that can be described in numbers. More than this, though, Leonardo believed that numbers were a part of all things in the world, including music, and he said that "without them nothing can be done. "
"Nature has kindly given us things everywhere to copy," wrote Leonardo. In all his activities, Leonardo was trying to discover the rules that control nature. In his search for those rules, he looked very carefully at a lot of examples and details. Actual experience was more important to him than opinion, and he worked from facts to ideas. His purpose was to examine the world so he could copy it in beautiful paintings and sculptures. He also wanted to learn from the clever solutions of nature.
His quick little sketches, often done while wandering outside, helped him to catch a movement or a shape. More careful drawings would be done at a desk with a pen and ruler.
In July 2001, a small drawing by Leonardo was sold for $12 million. It was the most expensive drawing in the world.
A. Leonardo was always drawing.
B. How could these be connected with art?
C. Leonardo was also an influential philosopher.
D. Mathematicians and doctors worked to discover the unknown.
E. Above all, Leonardo wanted to understand how and why things worked.
F. Leonardo himself was a very good musician and liked to play an instrument and sing.
G. You will see a good example of such positioning in the painting of The Last Supper.
This year, I decided that it would be a(n)1cleaning and we tried to 2our house of years' of accumulated(堆积的)stuff.
The stuff was3in our house, lining the walls ,filling the shelves and 4the closets (壁橱). I couldn't remember how I got some of it, but I knew I wanted 5now. The stuff was messing up not only my home but also no6, not bringing me any bit of7.
Then we got down to cleaning. It turned out to be a8job. Twenty-year-old bills and receipts were 9in the trash bin. Outdated 10_were cleared from file cabinets. Broken bowls and damaged handcrafts also found their11 straight to the trash as well Unworn clothes and unused pans were packed up to be12to the local charity. Old books were 13up to be passed on to others to read and enjoy.
In spite of days 'hard work, it14that I was able to walk through a much tidier home. More importantly. I felt mentally 15than ever before, which was beyond my16. Cleaning is like the metabolism(新陈代谢 ) in the body, we needn't17 keep what works for us and push out what doesn't.
Therefore, we need to take 18 off our minds and bodies from time to time and to just focus on what really19to us. We can regain a free life by cutting down material things and adding20ones.
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date back to drive away work on be made up of communicate with reach out pull off lead to adapt to pull over take charge of free of charge |
Buried deep in the ruins of the Shang Dynasty, specifically in Anyang City of Henan Province, bones of the rhino(犀牛) (find) last week.
A collection of archaeological evidence has confirmed the (exist) of rhinos in ancient China. The animal was distributed across China's Central Plains, Chinese civilization originated.
Nevertheless, the rhino was no longer wandering in the region after the Han Dynasty. One explanation is it was the colder climate of Northeast Asia that saw the creature (appear) from the pages of history. , Zhou Yu, the writer of History of Chinese Armor(盔甲), offered up another explanation: the crafting of armor.
Armor was (original) made of bamboo but the material possessed limited (defend) capabilities. Leather armor later became popular during the pre-Qin period.
Zhou's book reads that the rhino's thick skin was a primary material for the creation of warriors' armor. Many ancient accounts recorded the killing of rhinos and (turn) their skin into protective covering. "The huge demand rhino skins might have caused the animal's disappearance or at least its migration from the Central Plains to the southwestern regions," Zhou told Beijing Review.
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：
1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Last weekend, all the students in my class go camping in the woods near our town. Several of our teachers joined us, too. Which surprised us was that Mr. Lee was extreme experienced in camping activities. He offered us a lot of valuable advice. Before we set off, we were also giving special instructions on discipline and behavior. Upon reaching at our destination, we were informed about various aspect of camping and everything we should pay attention to. While hike in the woods, we were really exciting to explore the wonders of nature. It was such unforgettable experience that I couldn't wait to travelling there again.
