The French submarine is called Le Triomphant, meaning “the winner”. The name of the British submarine is Vanguard, meaning “the leading position in an army”. It’s clear from the submarines’ names that they were made for victory.

However, it was an accident, rather than a victory, that led these two submarines to recently make news headlines across the world.

On February 16, Britain and France admitted that two of their nuclear — armed submarines, HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant, collided while deep in the Atlantic in early February. Both submarines were on secret patrols (巡逻) and carrying nuclear arms when they collided.

Le Triomphant had no idea that it had run into HMS Vanguard until several days later. The French navy at first believed that Le Triomphant had hit an “object, probably a container (集装箱)”.

Investigations have begun to work out how such a collision could have happened. Both submarines are equipped with state-of-the-art (最先进的) technology that is supposed to find other submarines. Yet, neither submarine saw the other until it was too late.

One idea being considered was that their anti-sonar (抗声呐) equipment, which hides submarines, was just too effective in hiding one from the other.

Submarines use sonar to sense what is in the sea near them. Sonar is a submarine’s ear. Many sea animals use sonar as well. Dolphins produce high-pitched (声调高的) clicks. When these clicks hit an object, some of the sound will echo (发出回声) back to the “sender”. By listening to the echo and working out the time it took before the echo came back, the dolphin can work out how far away the object is.

There are two kinds of sonar: active sonar, which sends out signals, and passive sonar, which listens for signals with extremely sensitive microphones.

The two submarines were designed to be very quiet and as hidden as possible because a submarine’s job description (工作职责) is not to be found. Many modern submarines do not use active sonar, only passive sonar. This makes it very difficult for a submarine to “hear” if another submarine is near.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense (国防部) has said the collision did not lead to any radioactive leaks (放射物泄漏). The chance of a full nuclear explosion was almost impossible. However, experts say that if the walls of the submarines had broken, or a fire had been started, there could have been a major disaster.

A senior British Navy source told The Sun newspaper that the possible consequences of such a collision were “unthinkable”.

“It’s very unlikely there would have been a nuclear explosion. But a radioactive leak was a possibility. That would have been a national disaster.” he said.

After more than a year of bitter political debate, President Obama sat down in the White House East Room on March 23 and signed the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law with a pen, and then another pen, and another. Obama used 22 pens to sign the $938 billion health care bill.

The practice of using different pens to sign important legislation(法规)dates at least as far back as Franklin Roosevelt. The reason is fairly simple. The pen used to sign historic legislation itself becomes a historical artifact. The more pens a President uses, the more thank-you gifts he can offer to those who helped create that piece of history. The White House often give pens to supporters of the newly signed legislation. When Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, he reportedly used more than 75 pens and gave one of the first ones to Martin Luther King Jr. And in 1996, President Clinton gave the four pens he used to sign the Line-Item Veto bill to those most likely to appreciate the bill’s consequence.

Once they’re given away, some pens end up in museums; others are displayed proudly in recipients’(接受者) offices or homes. But they sometimes appear again, like in the 2008 presidential campaign(竞选活动), when John Macain promised to use the same pen given to him by President Reagan to cut pork from the federal budget.

Not every President goes for the multipen signature, however. President George W. Bush preferred signing bills with only one pen and then offering several unused “gift” pens as souvenirs.

Most 5-year-olds are just learning their ABCs but one little girl from the UK has actually written a book that was published in January 2022. Bella-Jay Dark from Weymouth, is the world’s youngest female to be published and was awarded the title by Guinness World Re-cords. Her book, The Lost Cat tells the story of Snowy, a cat who got lost after going outside alone at night. She hopes the book will teach children not to go outside at night alone.

While many adult writers find inspiration for their books from life experiences, Bella’s creative vision actually came from one of her drawings. “It started off as a picture. My daddy said I could make a book and a story came from the picture,” Bella said.

Her mom, Chelsie Syme, was surprised that the book turned out as well as it did. “I am just really proud of her; I did not think it was going to go this far, so I’m just proud and want to see her get the acknowledgement she deserves.”

But how do you get a child’s homemade book published? According to Syme, they took Bella’s book to a book fair and found a publisher willing to take a chance on it. Syme helped Bella with proofing copies and making necessary changes. To earn the Guinness World Record title of The World’s Youngest Published Author, female, the book has to be published by a commercial publishing house and have at least 1,000 copies printed and sold. Bella’s book met the criteria, so she was awarded the title.

Besides being an accomplished author, Bella is just a regular kid who enjoys reading, swimming, and playing on her tablet. In her free time, she is currently working on a sequel(续篇)to Snowy’s story. Who knows what pearls of wisdom will come next?