When Zhi Yueying,then 19,went to the remote Niyang village in Yichun City,Jiangxi Province,to work as a village teacher in 1980,villagers were doubtful if she was going to stay long.
Over the past four decades,Zhi has devoted herself to rural education.She is a recipient of Touching China awards that recognize the most inspiring role models in 2016.She was also awarded as a model poverty fighter by the government.Zhi has a profound understanding of the importance of education in the mountains.Over the years,she has taught the students and cared for them,since many of them were "left-behind" children whose parents migrated to other places to work.More than 1,000 students of hers have left the mountain area,and created a better life for themselves.
Located amid the mountains,the village was very poor and far from any town.Villagers had to hike in the mountains."I arrived at the school in an early evening,and was shocked.I had known the conditions were poor,but the reality was worse." Moreover,local people needed to go downhill to buy daily necessities,and transport them back in their hands or balanced across their shoulders."I had never walked uphill on a mountain road before,so I walked much more slowly than others;sometimes I walked slowly behind too much and was scared to tears," says Zhi.Sometimes she had to walk uphill by herself with a flashlight at night.The wild boars and rabbits sometimes frightened her and she enhanced her courage by singing loudly.
But she gradually got used to her life there.At the beginning,she found many local people valued their sons far more than their daughters,and would not like to let them attend school.Zhi went to their homes repeatedly and gradually persuaded them to send all their children to school.For those who could not afford the tuition,she spared her own money to help.
Zhi says seeing her students do well beyond the mountains is deeply rewarding."My dream,the same as before,is to stay by the side of more children.I know poverty will forever say goodbye to the mountainous villages,to my students,and to myself," says Zhi.
Plants may tell us when they're in trouble.Thirsty tomato and tobacco plants make clicking sounds,researchers have found.The sounds are ultrasonic (超声波的),meaning they are too high-pitched for human ears to hear.But when the sounds are transformed to lower pitches,they sound like popping bubbles (爆破的泡泡).Plants also make clicks when their stems (茎) are cut.
"It's not like the plants are screaming," says Lilach Hadany,an evolutionary biologist working at Tel Aviv University in Israel."Plants may not mean to make these noises.We've shown only that plants create informative sounds."
Hadany and her colleagues first heard the clicks when they set microphones next to plants on tables in a lab.The microphones caught some noises.But the researchers needed to make sure that the clicking was coming from the plants.So,the scientists placed plants inside soundproof boxes in the basement,far from the noise of the lab.There,microphones picked up ultrasonic pops from thirsty tomato plants.Though it was outside humans' hearing range,the clicking made by plants was about as loud as a normal conversation.
Cut tomato plants and dry or cut tobacco plants clicked,too.But plants that had enough water or hadn't been cut stayed mostly quiet.Wheat,corn and grapevines also made sounds when stressed out.
The researchers don't yet know why plants click.Bubbles forming and then popping inside plant tissues that transport water might make the noises.But however they happen,pops from crops could help farmers,the researchers suggest.Microphones,for example,could monitor fields or greenhouses to detect when plants need to be irrigated (灌溉).
Hadany wonders whether other plants and insects already tune into plant pops.Other studies have suggested that plants respond to sounds.And animals from pests (害虫),moths to mice can hear in the range of the ultrasonic clicks.Sounds made by plants could be heard from around five meters away.Hadany's team is now studying what the living things near the plants will do after hearing the sounds.
When a new school semester begins,many children felt very bad about it.They feel very nervous about going back to school.According to the experts,it's totally normal.Transitions(转变) are hard for everyone,.That's because routines are healthy for us,and changing into a new one can throw us off.
For parents,it's really important to know that it's very normal for their children to have a whole range of feelings about going back to school—from excitement,to anxiety and sadness,to even anger..They might have stomachaches or headaches when thinking about returning to school in September.And that's all normal,too.
One of the best ways to ease into a new routine is to help the children focus on what they are looking forward to,.It could be one friend they're excited to see or even the idea of walking to school every day.
.Walking or biking by the school can help.Hanging out with a kid who's going to be in the same grade is a better way to relieve anxiety.
Getting enough sleep,exercising,and talking to reliable adults and friends are other effective ways to cope with anxiety and negative feelings.."If bedtime is now super late,or there is no bedtime,try to move it an hour earlier every night leading up to your first day of school," said an expert.
A.whether you're a kid or an adult
B.rather than what makes them feel nervous
C.instead of returning to school without preparation
D.For some kids,those feelings can even be physical
E.Most parents don't have empathy for their children's feelings
F.Besides,getting used to the new environment before school starts is also a good idea
G.It's also suggested that kids should get their bedtime back on track a week ahead of school
China is known as the home of tea.It is said that Shennong discovered tea around 2700 BCE.At first,tea leaves (chew).During the Tang Dynasty,(advance) were made in the processing of tea.The leaves were steamed,oxidized(氧化) and pounded into the cake form.This made tea easier (transport) and more pleasing to the tongue.
The earliest batch(批次) of tea is often ready to be picked before Qingming.This precious small output of tea,widely (seek) after for its outstanding quality,is called Mingqian tea.The seasonal tea is known its tender leaves and fresh flavor.They have better favor than theater batches which can be grown overnight.
East China's Zhejiang Province is acknowledged as a major producer of tea.In spring,local hillsides (fill) with tea workers sowing seeds on their land.In the peak seasons,many tourists flood to witness the beautiful scenery of tea farms for (they),while enjoying a cup of tea.
There are many ways you can experience tea culture in China.You can visit a tea plantation in Hangzhou or elsewhere to learn tea is grown and harvested.You can sit inside a (tradition) teahouse and take in the classical atmosphere as you drink tea.
