If you visit some villages in the English countryside, you might be lucky to see Morris dancing (莫里斯舞). People are not sure how old this kind of dancing is. Some think it started 2,000 years ago, but most agree that Morris dancing is probably about five centuries old.
Many agree that it celebrates traditional English farm life on holidays. Morris dancers wear traditional costumes. Usually, this is a white shirt, a bright jacket, a hat and small bells called "jingle bells". There are different styles of Morris dancing from different places around England.
In Cotswold Morris, the dancers usually carry white handkerchiefs (手绢) and sticks, which they hit as they dance. Each dance has six male dancers in Cotswold style, with a musician who plays a pipe(管乐器) or a violin.
Morris dancing styles from the north of England often use swords(剑) instead of sticks, and dancers can look a little like soldiers, which is different from southern styles. It is common in this style for men and women to dance together.
Border Morris comes from the west of England, near the border with Wales. Dancers in this style usually wear normal clothes decorated with pieces of colorful paper, and sometimes they put black paint on their faces.
Morris dancing is an old English tradition but it's facing a big crisis (危机). As the years go by, fewer and fewer young people join Morris dancing groups. Some worry that if nothing is done to change this, the tradition will die out.
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①Animal behavior (行为) is an interesting and attractive study. Scientists research the ways animals use to look for food. They study how animals protect themselves from their predators, and which animals kill other animals for food. All of this helps us understand how useful animals can be.
②Each country or culture raises some animals for food. In the United States, people mainly eat meat from cows, chickens and pigs. In other countries, people might raise sheep or buffalo for meat. The
se differences come in part from weather and other environmental conditions. People around the world eat all kinds of fish and shellfish from oceans and rivers. In some countries, people don't always choose some animal groups, such as dogs, for food while in other countries such animals may become people's favorite food.
③In West Africa, animals provide humans with more than food. They have been helping people do daily work for thousands of years. Horses, oxen, and other work animals pull heavy things. Elephants, camels, and other animals carry people and things from place to place. Carrier pigeons (信鸽) have been used to send messages.
④People also receive health benefits(利益) from animals. For example, dogs and cats can help calm people down. This is helpful for people fighting illnesses. Animals can also reduce stress, helping people to draw their attention to learning new information, such as reading. When people are walking their dogs or horses, it encourages exercise.
⑤Animals and humans share space on Earth, so keeping a healthy relationship with animals, around us is in our best interest.
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Alizee Buysschaert, the founder of Zero Waste Shanghai, has received many messages about trash sorting(分类)in the past month. She said, "Almost everyone I talk with asks me about trash sorting. Even last night when I was in a bar, I heard people talking about how they should sort their trash. When I first came to Shanghai in 2014, people were not fully aware of trash sorting, and everything went in one bin, but things change so quickly. "
Shanghai became the first city in China to carry out its strictest-ever trash sorting rules on July 1st, 2019. They require every family and office to sort theirtrash into four kinds —recyclable waste, harmful waste, wet waste and dry waste. Individuals(个人)who fail to sort trash face fines(罚款)of up to 200yuan(about $30). Companies can be fined up to 50, 000 yuan.
There has been a heated discussion about trash sorting online. Some people praise Shanghai for being a role model in solving the trash problem, while others think it brings inconvenience to their daily lives, and make jokes about sorting their trash.
One of the most popular jokes goes, "Think about pigs before sorting your trash —things pigs can eat go to wet waste, things pigs don't eat are dry waste, things pigs might die from while eating them are harmful, and things that can be sold for money to buy a pig belong to recyclable waste. "
Xiao Guiyu, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, said, "Although it's a joke, it makes everyone understand the key of trash sorting easily. "As for the inconvenience, the government replied that the new rules are laws, and just like traffic rules, people have to learn to keep it as long as they live in Shanghai.
New York City in the United States has an unusual way of cleaning up its polluted Hudson River: oysters(牡蛎).It is part of a plan to clear up the river by increasing the oyster population. Oysters may help to make the waters clear again and bring back more sea life. How do oysters do it?
Oysters act as natural "water purifiers". They are filter feeders(滤食性动物).That means they take in water through their gills(腮) and filter out the food in it, such as algae(藻类), which they then eat. A single adult oyster can filter up to 189 liters of water in a day. As they feed, oysters also filter other harmful things out of the water.
One of these is nitrogen(氮气), a chemical found in septic tanks(化粪池).Sometimes nitrogen gets washed into rivers and oceans when it rains. Too much nitrogen in the water causes much algae to grow. The algae uses up the oxygen in the water, which can harm other sea life. Oysters filter nitrogen out of the water and use it to grow their shells.
Oysters also build reefs(珊瑚礁).They are important to the whole sea system. Oysters attach(依附)themselves to hard surfaces under water like rocks. Then more oysters attach themselves on top of those. As the oysters grow, their shells mix together to form a reef.
Oyster reefs provide homes for plants and animals. Reefs also help to protect the shoreline. Large reefs reduce the effect of waves coming in from the ocean, and help to reduce flooding and protect the coast.
Over the years, the New Yorkers have done a lot for the river. But it will still take tens of years before the nitrogen is completely filtered out of the water and the new reefs grow. Luckily there are already signs that the ecosystem is healthier.
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