They’re in restaurants, hotels and homes all over the world. The saltwater aquarium, with its colour fish, bring a piece of the wild into your living room.

But do you really know where those saltwater fish come from? A full 97 percent, yes, almost all kinds of saltwater fish can’t be bred in captivity (人工养殖).They must instead be taken from the ocean. And how is that done?

Most of the time, with sodium cyanide, it is a harmful chemical compound that many fish collectors in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia use to catch fish. They mix it with water and use it on the fish. Stunned, the fish can then be easily caught.

What does cyanide do to the fish? There is a scientific study on cyanide’s effects. When there is cyanide in water, fish lose their balance and have difficulty breathing. Some fish simply die then and there. Many, many more die on the way to captivity.

Although cyanide fishing in the Philippines, Sir Lanka, and Indonesia is not allowed, it sill happens too often. According to the World wildlife Fund, up to 90 percent of the saltwater fish that enter the US each year are caught this way. The Center for Biological Diversity is calling on the US government to avoid these imports.

“Compared to many environmental problems now facing the world’s oceans, this is one that can easily be solved,” said Nicholas Whipps of the Center. “Because the US is such a powerful market player in this industry, the responsibility to stop this practice falls largely on the United State’ shoulders.”

In the Philippines, private planes bring in cyanide to the fisherman and then take away the live fish. Live fish give the fisherman a better life than dead ones, so more and more fishermen have turned from supplying the fish-for-food trade to the fish-for-aquariums trade.

The Center for Biological Diversity hopes the government will use the law to turn away cyanide-caught fish and persuade people to buy those only raised in captivity.

Chinese is one of the world’s most widely spoken language. As one of the six official languages used by United Nations, Chinese now has gained itself greater status (地位) in the world. Chinese is interesting and special. Unlike most other languages, Chinese has a written form and several spoken forms. The official language of China is the Mandarin (普通话).

Mandarin is a statement in China. It is the common language of all modern Han nationality people. Mandarin is shaped and based on the Beijing dialect (方言) and other dialects spoken in the northern areas of China. Mandarin is taught in schools throughout the country. The media, officials, and the government use Mandarin as their main language. When you type in Chinese, you use a phonetic system, called pinyin, which matches the Mandarin pronunciation. Mandarin is used as a mother tongue by most people who are about one fifth of the world’s population. Chinese once had very great influence on some neighboring countries with their languages and characters, such as Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese and so on. In addition to China, Mandarin is an official language in several other countries in Asia.

Nowadays, with the development of China, Chinese people not only speak Chinese, but also learn other languages, such as English. English is a required course and universal education in China and has great popularity. Many Chinese people can speak basic English, especially the youth, students, and staff of service trades like hotels, restaurants, airlines, banks and post offices. In large cities, there are more people who can communicate with foreigners in English. The language communication now is not a problem at all for those that wish to come to China.

Now Chinese is becoming more and more popular. As long as you know Chinese, you’ll also be fine anywhere in China.

Recently researchers at the University of Zurich are adding a new member to the drone ( 无人机） family. Unlike most drones whose application is to make selfies ( 自拍)or transport something, this drone was built with first aid workers and rescue efforts in mind. Disaster sites are rarely logical shapes and sizes. So having a drone that could change its shape and size to fit through tight spaces on the fly could prove extremely valuable.

As is often the case in experimental robotic projects, researchers met some technical setbacks ( 挫 折 )at the beginning. The airplane mode of the existing aircraft such as passenger planes，helicopters and the common drones couldn’t meet the demand of different environmental features.   Eventually, they   turned to   animals   for inspiration— specifically   how some   birds can fold their wings to fly through narrow passages.

What makes it distinguishing is that when faced with a narrow passage, it can change into   an H shape. Or it can shrink itself into an O shape, arms folded into its body. And if that wasn’t enough, it can also transform into a T shape, allowing an onboard camera mounted (镶嵌)on the central frame to get as close as possible to its focal object.

While the working concept model is impressive, the researchers aren't done with the folding drone yet. They want to improve the structure of the drone so that it can fully fold in three dimensions, offering even more shapes. And they want to create full auto-operation—a drone that looks at the shifting terrain(地形）in，for example, an apartment building partly destroyed by an earthquake and changes its shape to meet its current needs.

Researchers say their final goal is to give the drone a high-level instruction such as “enter that building, inspect every room and come back and let it figure out by itself how to do it”. Therefore, it’s reasonable to hope the new drone will play an important supporting role in   disaster rescue.