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Gently trimming your hedge(修剪树篱) every 2 weeks will thicken it up and give it a beautiful look, but heavy trimmers, wires and stepladders make hedge trimming a job that some people hate. Gtech's Cordless HT50 Hedge Trimmer makes it a pleasure.

Great Convenience

With 60 minutes of runtime, move freely around your garden without being bothered by wires and messy petrol. Running off a 18V motor, the HT50 Hedge Trimmer supplies the power directly when needed. The lightweight but super strong drive system is designed for quiet running. In addition, the precision laser cut blades(刀片) move through branches up to 25 mm thick, leaving a clean cut vital to promote a healthy hedge.

Long Reach

The HT50 Hedge Trimmer has an adjustable head so that you have full control over the cut of your hedge. The head adjusts downwards so you can cut the top of your hedge easily, and upwards so that you can cut thorny(多刺的) hedges without hurting your arms. Keep your hedges neat by cutting flat along the tops of hedges up to 10 feet tall using the 55 cm long blade.

Perfectly Balanced

Weighing only 2.94kg, the HT50 is well balanced, giving you a more enjoyable gardening experience. Get the HT50 Hedge Trimmer (£224.98) for just £149.98 if you order before May 9th 2024, with a Branch Cutter attached free of charge. Call our 24-hour freephone information and sales lines or visit our website for more information.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to travel to a foreign country without having to worry about the headache of communicating in a different language?

In a recent Wall Street journal article, technology policy expert A lec Ross argued that, within a decade or so. We'll be able to communicate with one another via small earpieces with built-in microphones. That's because technological progress is extremely rapid. It's only a matter of time. Indeed, some parents are so convinced that this technology is imminent that they're wondering if their kids should even learn a second language.

It's true that an increase in the quantity and accuracy of the data loaded into computers make them cleverer at translating "No es bueno dormir mucho" as "It's not good to sleep too much." Replacing a word with its equivalent (同义词) in the target language is actually the "easy part of a translator's job". But even this seems to be a discouraging task for computers.

It's so difficult for computers because translation doesn't—or shouldn't—involve simply translating words, sentences or paragraphs. Rather, it's about translating meaning. And in order to infer meaning from a specific expression, humans have to interpret a mass of information at the same time. Think about all the related clues that go into understanding an expression: volume, gesture, situation, and even your culture. All are likely to convey as much meaning as the words you use.

Therefore, we should doubt whether a machine is able to translate the world around us. If people from different cultures can offend each other without realizing it, how can we expect a machine to do better? Unless engineers actually find a way to breathe a soul into a computer, undoubtedly when it comes to conveying and translation meaning using a natural language, a machine will never fully take our place.

There are close to 7, 000 languages spoken on Earth. However, it's estimated that by the end of this century, up to 50% of them may be lost. 

It's commonly thought that majority languages tend to be valued for being useful and for promoting progress, while minority languages are seen as barriers to progress, and the value placed on them is seen mainly as sentimental (感情用事的). But is sentimentality really the only motivation for preserving language diversity?

Speakers of endangered languages often live in remote areas with unique landform. It is quite common for these languages to distinguish between hundreds more types of plants and animals than those known to modern science. For example, in Southeast Asia, some tribes have discovered the medicinal properties of over sixty-five hundred plant species. This has led to many of landmark achievements in medicine. 

It was once believed that the limits of one's language defined the limits of one's thought. This theory, called the Sapir-Wharf hypothesis (假说), has been largely rejected in favor of the improved version, which assumes that the language we speak does not set the limits of our thoughts, but it does direct our focus in certain ways. For example, English is a tense-based language. It's nearly impossible to talk about doing something without specifying the time — i. e. I went to the party(past), I'm going to the party(present), or I'll go to the party (future). This differs from Chinese, where it's perfectly reasonable to say, "I go to the party" without defining the "when". Thus, part of the richness of language is that it allows us to organize the world in so many unique ways. 

Some languages categorize the world in ways so different from our own that they are difficult to conceptualize (概念化). The United States employed native Navajo speakers to create a system of message coding during the Second World War. The Japanese were never able to break it, and the "code talkers" are often cited today as having helped decide the outcome of the war. 

As we've already seen, minority languages are valuable for many practical reasons. In conclusion, I'd say the short answer is yes — dying languages are certainly worth saving!

China's Ice City's melting pot of flavors welcomes tourists

（文章来源：Global Times）

With the winter tourism boom in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, it's not just the stunning ice and snow scenery that's drawing tourists from all over the country. The local cuisine is also causing a stir on the internet. Tourists across the country are sharing their food diaries about Harbin on social networks, praising it for its generous portions, satisfying flavors, and down-to-earth taste. Harbin's cuisine is a delightful fusion, shaped by the city's historical and geographical context. 

Heavily influenced by neighboring country Russia and the influx of settlers from provinces such as East China's Shandong Province in East China, Central China's Henan Province and North China's Hebei Province, this cultural melting pot has given rise to a culinary scene that beautifully combines Eastern and Western flavors.

Domestic fusion

During the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), a mass migration started. People from areas like Shandong, Henan and Hebei provinces migrated to Northeast China, a region with large areas of uncultivated land. The migrants also brought their culture and language to the land, while the immigrants brought a variety of culinary styles to Harbin, enriching its food culture. Before this migration, the local diet of the ethnic majority in the Northeast focused primarily on meat with fewer grain-based foods. The arrival of ethnic Han Chinese settlers introduced their food habits and agricultural practices to the area, significantly diversifying the local diet. 

The fusion of culinary practices led to a blend of ethnic Manchu and Han Chinese food cultures, creating a unique culinary style which combined the distinct flavors of Manchu dishes like barbecue, hot pot, and stew with Han Chinese cooking styles like braising, frying, and stir-frying. For example, Guo Bao Rou, a classic Northeastern dish, originated in Harbin in the early 1900s. Created by Chef Zheng Wen for Russian dignitaries visiting during the Qing Dynasty, its unique flavor profile, featuring a sweet and sour sauce adapted for Russian tastes, showcases the fusion of Eastern and Western influences.

The pork used in Guo Bao Rou is typically sliced pork loin, which is coated in a starchy batter. The dish's sweet and sour sauce is a simple combination of white sugar and white vinegar, often with a pinch of salt added to enhance the flavor. In Harbin, the traditional way to prepare Guo Bao Rou involves adding only garlic to the dish, although variations with additional vegetables like carrots, ginger, scallions, leek, and cilantro are found in other parts of China. During cold winter days, local eateries are often swamped by tourists, queuing to taste an authentic guo bao rou. Harbin's proximity to Russia and its role as a hub on the Trans-Siberian Railway brought a significant Russian influence to its cuisine. 

A blend of East and West

The hearty, wheat-based Russian bread, known locally as Da Lie Ba, similar to Russian black bread, is also commonly found in Harbin. Tourists often express surprise at the size of these large loaves, with some playfully noting that they are bigger than their faces. Hong chang would be another case in point. The smoked, garlic-flavored red sausage resembling Russian kielbasa. Readily available throughout the city, it reflects Harbin's Eastern European influences. 

Some local residents even give out hong chang for free to tourists, thus contributing to the warm and welcoming atmosphere of the city. "I was born and raised in Harbin. Seeing so many tourists coming from all over the country to visit my hometown and support the city's tourism makes me very proud. I feel that such a small act of kindness is just something that I should do," said Yong Di, an influencer on Douyin with 115,00 followers who was distributing Hong Chang samples.

Hong Chang was featured in multiple travel journals on social media. A post about Hong Chang by Asun, a tourist from Southwest China's Chongqing Municipality garnered nearly 150,000 likes and thousands of comments. In the video, Asun noted that a lot of Harbin locals volunteered to give free rides to tourists. 

When he dropped them to the airport at the end of their trip, he gave them some hong chang as a souvenir, along with a note that said: "We are the messengers of the city's warmth. I love my hometown. I love you friends who travel from afar to Harbin and I hope you love Harbin back." As seen on social media, the locals' acts of generosity, coupled with Harbin's unique culinary offerings, leave a lasting impression on tourists. The city's warmth does not just lie in its winter attractions, but also in the hospitality and flavors that make Harbin a memorable destination.

Nowadays, people are increasingly interacting with others in social media environments where algorithms control the flow of social information they see. People's interactions with online algorithms may affect how they learn from others, with negative consequences including social misperceptions, conflict and the spread of misinformation.

On social media platforms, algorithms are mainly designed to amplify (放大) information that sustains engagement, meaning they keep people clicking on content and coming back to the platforms. There is evidence suggesting that a side effect of this design is that algorithms amplify information people are strongly biased (偏向的) to learn from. We call this information "PRIME", for prestigious, in-group, moral and emotional information.

In our evolutionary past, biases to learn from PRIME information were very advantageous: Learning from prestigious individuals is efficient because these people are successful and their behavior can be copied. Paying attention to people who violate moral norms is important because punishing them helps the community maintain cooperation. But what happens when PRIME information becomes amplified by algorithms and some people exploit (利用) algorithm amplification to promote themselves? Prestige becomes a poor signal of success because people can fake prestige on social media. News become filled with negative and moral information so that there is conflict rather than cooperation.

The interaction of human psychology and algorithm amplification leads to disfunction because social learning supports cooperation and problem-solving, but social media algorithms are designed to increase engagement. We call it functional mismatch. One of the key outcomes of functional mismatch is that people start to form incorrect perceptions of their social world, which often occurs in the field of politics. Recent research suggests that when algorithms selectively amplify more extreme political views, people begin to think that their political in-group and out-group are more sharply divided than they really are. Such "false polarization" might be an important source of greater political conflict.

So what's next? A key question is what can be done to make algorithms facilitate accurate human social learning rather than exploit social learning biases. Some research team is working on new algorithm designs that increase engagement while also punishing PRIME information. This may maintain user activity that social media platforms seek, but also make people's social perceptions more accurate.

When Richard Oswald was growing up in northwestern Missouri in the 1950s, his dad had a firm rule: Don't plant corn until mid-May. But that rule has become a relic of the past. In Rock Port, a small farming community near the Nebraska border, the growing season now begins more than a month earlier.

That's not surprising. Across much of the US, winter is not as cold as it used to be. The four warmest Januaries on record have all occurred since 2016. In Missouri, winters are about 4 degrees hotter on average than in 1970-and farmers are starting to feel the effects.

As the planet continues to warm, cold winter weather will become less common, said Amy Butler, a re-search scientist studying climate variability. "However, less cold does not mean never cold." Butler said. In the past decade, Liz Graznak's organic vegetable farm near Columbia, Missouri, has endured increasingly extreme swings in weather. "We don't get a couple of inches of snow; we get 18 inches of snow all at once and then in five days, it's 70 degrees again." Graznak said. "We don't get a couple of inches of rain; we get a 12-inch downpour in the span of 24 hours. That's devastating(毁灭性的)to a vegetable farm."

To help protect her crops, Graznak has built four large greenhouses on her property in just over a decade. Inside, she's able to grow delicate, high-value crops, including flowers, lettuce and spinach.

But these greenhouses come at a steep cost. Nearly seven years ago, Graznak spent more than $18,000 to build a greenhouse and since then, the price has more than doubled. "When I think about these costs, in my brain, I say, ‘OK, how many heads of lettuce is that?'" She said. "I know I can sell a head of lettuce for $4, so how many heads of lettuce do I have to sell to be able to pay for that greenhouse? And that's a lot of lettuce."

Tombs dating back to 4th century discovered in Shaanxi Province

（文章来源：Global Times）

A cemetery with 285 tombs dating back to the 4th century has been unearthed in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, reported the state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday, citing the Xi'an Institute of Cul-tural Relics and Archaeology. The discovery not only sheds light on the evolution of the burial and sacrifi-cial system in ancient times, but also contributes to studies on population mixing and ethnic integration.

The tombs, which span a time from the Sixteen Kingdoms period (304-439) to the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907), were found in an orderly aligned layout. The cemetery stands as the largest independent cemetery from the period found to date. 

All the tombs in the cemetery are oriented toward the east. This practice was consistently maintained from the early years of the Sixteen Kingdoms to the Tang Dynasty, spanning over 300 years. Archaeologists say this demonstrates strong uniqueness and stability.

The find also represents a crucial link in the evolution of ancient Chinese burial practices, showcasing a unique blend of burial systems spanning from the independent mausoleum traditions of the Warring States period to the family cemetery systems of the Northern Dynasties (439-581) and Sui and Tang dynasties, according to the report. Archaeologists say the excavation of the graveyard helps shed light on the evolution of the burial and sacrificial system in northern China in the Sixteen Kingdoms period and Northern Dynasties. In addition, pottery figurines, pottery stoves and kettles, pottery lanterns and epitaph bricks imprinted with characters identifying the year the brick was made were unearthed from the tombs.

The evolving burial styles and accompanying artifacts within the cemetery suggest a cultural synthesis. The inhabitants of this cemetery adhered to their ethnic traditions while adapting elements of Han Chinese culture. This reflects the gradual integration of ethnic minorities who migrated to the Central Plains during the Sixteen Kingdoms and Northern Dynasties period, providing valuable insights into the complex historical and cultural dynamics of the Chang'an (the old name for Xi'an and capital of the Tang Dynasty) region over the 300 years spanning the Northern Dynasties and the Sui and Tang. 

The discovery will also contribute to studies on population mixing and ethnic integration in the Chang'an area, serving as an important manifestation of the characteristics of Chinese civilization, emphasizing "inclusive integration and unity in diversity," according to the report.

Antibiotics，which can destroy or prevent the growth of bacteria and cure infections,are vital to modern medicine. Their ability to kill bacteria without harming the patient has saved billions of lives and made surgical procedures much safer. But after decades of overuse, their powers are fading.Some bacteria have evolved resistance, creating a growing army of superbugs, against which there is little effective treatment．Antimicrobial（抗菌的）resistance，expected to kill 10 million people a year by 2050 up from around 1 million in 2019, has been seen as a crisis by many.

It would be unwise to rely on new antibiotics to solve the problem.The rate at which resistance emerges is increasing.Some new drugs last only two years before bacteria develop resistance.When new antibiotics do arrive, doctors often store them,using them only reluctantly and for short periods when faced with the most persistent infections.That limits sales, making new antibiotics an unappealing idea for most drug firms.

Governments have been trying to fix the problem bychanneling cash into research in drug firms.That has produced only limited improvements. But there is a phenomenon worth a look. Microbiologists have known for decades that disease-causing bacteria can suffer from illnesses of their own.They are supersensitive to attacks by phages,specialized viruses that infect bacteria and often kill them. Phages are considered a promising alternative to antibiotics.

Using one disease-causing virus to fight bacteria has several advantages. Like antibiotics, phages only tend to choose particular targets, leaving human cells alone as they infect and destroy bacterial ones. Unlike antibiotics, phages can evolve just as readily as bacteria can, meaning that even if bacteria do develop resistance, phages may be able to evolve around them in turn.

That, at least, is the theory. The trouble with phages is that comparatively little is known about them. After the discovery of penicillin, the first antibiotic, in 1928, they were largely ignored in the West. Given the severity of the antibiotic-resistance problem, it would be a good idea to find out more about them.

The first step is to run more clinical trials. Interest from Western firms is growing. But it is being held back by the fact that phages are an even less appealing investment than antibiotics. Since they are natural living things, there may be trouble patenting them, making it hard to recover any investment.

Governments can help fun d basic research into phage treatment and clarify the law around exactly what is and is not patentable. In time they can set up phage banks so as to make production cheaper. And they can spread awareness of the risks of overusing antibiotics, and the potential benefits of phages.

Fishing trips to Canada are a tradition for Jeffrey Hardy and his three friends from America. This summer in 2023, the forest air polluted with wildfire smoke forced the men to give up their mid-June fishing plan. Canada's wildfire season put its tourism industry at a crucial time.

Except some days of poor air quality, major Canadian cities remain unaffected by wildfires. The fires are in the country's northern areas that have drawn travelers interested in outdoor experiences in years past.

In a recent report by Destination Canada, a marketing organization, half of the total spent by international visitors is in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. But other Canadian destinations attractive to visitors have been affected by the wildfires.

In preparation for increasing visitor sizes and ongoing wildfires, some businesses are thinking about changing their operations, which see outdoor recreation(娱乐) as a tourism opportunity. A nonprofit travel agency is considering creating a questionnaire (调查问卷) for customers to show when they would cancel a booking because of road closes from the wildfires, poor air quality and a lack of visibility.

Tourism in British Columbia contributes (贡献) greatly to its economy. The province has various recreational offerings, from the major ski destinations to hiking along the coast. Blackcomb, a helicopter tour company, has canceled its sightseeing offerings, using most of its helicopters on the firefighting effort until at least early August." It's the question of flying our customers around on sightseeing tours or putting out fires within 10 kilometers of our bases and the communities that we live in," said Jordy Norris, the company's tourism director. "We made it clear to both our staff and our customers that we have a duty to protect the backyard."

Darrin Rigo, a photographer, recently saw a photo of a beautiful waterfall engulfed in fire on a media page. "I'm sure that's not going to last long, and everything will turn to normal." he said.

From reading to dreaming

（文章来源：Global Times）

Speaking of one's reading life, most people would probably think of their first book, or how many books they have read. For me though, I don't have an answer to either, as all the books I've read are lost in my river-like memories. While I have lost these two "essential" questions of reading, I fortunately haven't lost everything in my long memory, so let me take you into my reading life.

According to my parents, my reading life started when I was 1 year old. You probably think I'm making things up, because nobody can read anything when they are 1 year old, and I have to admit that you are right. I could only listen to small picture books on my small bed beside my mom. She was a great storyteller and always spoke while adding a lot of facial expressions. Even if I couldn't read, I could understand the meaning of her facial expressions. Sometimes I wonder why she didn't choose a job as an actress. Anyway, that was the first period of my reading life: listening.

The second part of my reading life is called "bridge book." A bridge book is a kind of book that connects picture books and textbooks. At that time, my Chinese and English vocabulary wasn't very large, so I had to turn to bridge books as they were the easiest for me. I was like a frog in a well. I didn't know there was a bigger world of books waiting for me to explore.

The next period was between when I was 5 and a half to 7 years old. In this period of my life, I started to see the world in a different and wider way. I started to walk out of that deep well and learned there were flocks and flocks of books waiting for me. I, of course, "ditched" bridge books and went into the arms of textbooks and started to read them. In the world of textbooks, I felt a door was opened in front of me, and the light was pouring through the door, so I stepped into the light and started to read tons and tons of books.

The books weren't all the same, some were romantic, like Notre Dame of Paris and Les Miserables, and some were science fiction and nonfiction. There were lots of books that I liked, for example: The Three-Body Problem and the Harry Potter series. But my favorite book wasn't any of them, it was a book called How To Build A Car by Adrian Newey. Probably you haven't heard about this book or this person, but in the F1 Paddock, Adrian and his book are very famous. 1996 World Champion Damon Hill once said, "Adrian has a unique gift for understanding drivers and racing cars. He is ultra competitive but never forgets to have fun. An immensely likable man." And the Guardian called him "the leading Formula One designer of his generation."

The reason I chose this book has everything to do with my hobby: F1. Formula One is the FIA's (Federation Internationale del'Automobile) highest level of car racing. It represents the best car making in the world. Adrian is the best of all of them. This book mainly talks about his life as a designer. It all started in 1958 when Adrian used car parts to understand how to make cars quicker.

Now you would probably ask, why do I like this book? Why would I like a kid that hadn't done well in school? What's so special about it? Isn't it just a book about an old guy who had won a lot of championships? So now I'm going to tell you what's so special about this book.

It was all because my liking of F1 and the technical parts of the cars. If I hadn't watched F1, I would never have read this book. My first memory of F1 was in 2019, in Bahrain, when Charles Leclerc's engine had a failure, and lost his win and his first pole-to-win. It wasn't a good memory but it was indeed my first memory about this sport. In 2021, I started to watch every race in the year, but instead of wanting to drive, I became very interested in how to race and in aerodynamics. After my research I found Adrian was the best, so I started to look for his autobiography and found this book. This book didn't just tell me what these cars were called, it also told me how they work. For example: Adrian tells us how he designed the brake duct and the associated wing on the RB8 with a picture. It allowed me to learn about the most advanced technology in the paddock. It also lighted up a new career path for me.

When I was young, I wanted to be a firefighter, then a doctor, then a policeman, but now I have a new career wish: to become a race car or a plane designer. After I read Adrian's autobiography I thought of this as a career, but, of course, learning physics won't be very easy, especially at that depth. Not everyone can become an expert in this subject, especially in such a precise and difficult field, but as the Chinese poem says, "The sharp sword comes from the sharpening, plum blossoms' scent comes from the cold weather." My goal is to "never give up, no matter the situation." Will you work hard and step into the future with me?