DEATH VALLEY

Death Valley doesn’t sound like a very inviting place. It is one of the hottest places in the world. The highest temperature ever recorded in there was 134 degrees Fahrenheit. That is the highest ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere. And that was in the shade! Death Valley in California covers nearly 3,000 square miles. Approximately 555 square miles are below the surface of the sea. One point is 282 feet below sea level—the lowest point of the Western Hemisphere. In Death Valley, pioneers and explorers faced death from thirst and the searing heat. Yet despite its name and bad reputation, Death Valley is not just an empty wildness of sand and rock. It is a place of spectacular scenic beauty and home to plants, animals, and even humans.

In 1849 a small group of pioneers struggled for three months to get across the rough land. They suffered great hardships as they and their wagons traveled across the salt flats in the baking sun. They run out of food and had to eat oxen and leave their possessions behind. They run out of water and became so thirsty they could not swallow the meat. They found a lake and fell on their knees, only to discover it was heavily salted. Finally, week and reduced to almost skeletons, they came upon to a spring of fresh water and their lives were saved. When they finally reached the mountains on the other side, they slowly climbed up the rocky slopes. One of them looked back and said, “Goodbye, Death Valley.” That has been its name ever since.

Death Valley is the driest place in North America. Yet far from being dead, it is alive with plants and animals. They have adapted with this harsh region. In the salt flats on the valley floor, there are no plants to be seen. But near the edge, there are grasses. Farther away, there are some bushes and cactus. On higher ground there are shrubs and shrub-like trees. Finally, high on the mountainside, there are pine trees.

What is not visible are the seeds lodged in the soil, waiting for rain. When it does come, a brilliant display of flowers carpets the once barren flatlands. Even the cactus blossoms. It is the most common of all desert plants. As the water dries up and summer nears, the flowers die. But first they produce seeds that will wait for the rains of another year.

At noon on a summer day, Death Valley looks truly devoid of wildlife. But in reality, there are 55 species of mammals, 32 kinds of birds, 36 kinds of reptiles, and 3 kinds of amphibians. During the day, many seek shelters under rocks and in burrows. As night approaches, however, the land cools. The desert becomes a center of animal activity. Owls hunt for mice. Bats gather insects as they fly. The little kit fox is out looking for food, accompanied by snakes, hawks, coyotes, and bobcats. Many of these animals, like the desert plants, have adapted to the dry desert. They use water very efficiently. They can often survive on water supplies that would leave similar animals elsewhere dying of thirst.

Humans have also learned how to survive in this land. Little is known about the first people, the lake Mohave people, except that they hunted there 9,000 years ago. From 5,000 to 2,000 years ago, the Mesquite Flat people inhabited the region. Then the Saratoga people came. Finally, about 1,000 years ago, the earliest of the Shoshone natives moved in. To this day, a few Shoshone families live the winter months in the desert.

The natives knew where every hidden spring was. They also knew the habits of the desert animals, which they hunted. The natives, and later even the prospectors, ate every imaginable desert animals. They ate everything from the bighorn sheep to snakes, rats and lizards. They were often on the edge of starvation. In autumn they gathers nuts from the pine trees. Other foods they ate included roots, cactus plants, leaves and sometimes insects.

The early prospectors didn’t know the desert as well as the natives. Many died looking for gold and silver in Death Valley. Others did find the precious metals. Then a “boomtown” was born. First it consisted miners living in the tents. Then permanent buildings were built. But when the mine failed, the town that built up around it did too. Today the remains of these “ghost towns” are scattered about Death Valley. They have names like Skidoo, Panamint City, Chloride City, and Greenwater.

Going to Death Valley once means danger, hardship, and even death. Today, visitors can drive there in air-conditioned comfort. They can stay in hotels. They don’t have to worry about dying of hunger or thirst. They can look upon the hills, canyons, and cactus with appreciation rather than fear. They can admire the beauty of this strange land. They can leave with happy memories.

THE MYSTERY OF ROANOKE ISLAND

Everyone loves a mystery. Books, stories, movies, and television programs involving mysteries are very popular. Fictional mysteries are fun to try to solve before the author finally reveals the secret. However, there are many real-life mysteries that have never been solved. One of them is the mystery of the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke.

The story begins in 1585. An English explorer named Sir Walter Raleigh wanted to start settlements in the New World for his glory and that of his queen, Elizabeth, I. Raleigh sent 108 men to settle on Roanoke Island, off the coast of Virginia. However, these men were soldiers and didn’t know how to farm. They quickly ran out of food. By 1586 the settlers were sick and starving.

One day some English ships anchored near the island. The captains of these ships agreed to take the settlers back to English. The settlers brought back with them Indian corn and potatoes, which were unknown in English. Sir Walter Raleigh planted the potatoes on his estate in Ireland. Later they became a chief source of food for the Irish people.

Raleigh was still determined to start a colony in Virginia. This time he decided to include farmers and families who could build things and survive in their settlement. In 1587 he sent 150 men, women, and children in three ships across the sea. Many had sold everything they owned in hopes of a better life in the New World. The ships were on their way to Chesapeake Bay, where it was thought a settlement could be more successful than on Roanoke Island. However, the ships’ captain stopped at Roanoke and refused to take his passengers any farther. They had no choice but to settle on the island.

They repaired the old fort and began to build cabins. But they soon realized they would need many more supplies than they had brought with them. It was decided that their leader and governor, John White, should go back to England for help and more provisions. A week before he sailed, White’s daughter gave birth to a baby girl—the first English child to be born in America. Her name was Virginia Dare. As conditions on the island were difficult, some of the settlers want to move to another place. Before Governor White left, he told them that if they left the island, they should carve on a tree the name of the place where they were going. If they had troubles, they should put a cross above the name.

Upon reaching England, White discovered that England was at war with Spain. Every ship in the country was needed. He and Sir Walter Raleigh tried in every way to send ships to the stranded little colony across the sea. But it was not to be. Three years passed before White was able to return to Roanoke Island.

In August of 1590, the governor stepped ashore at Roanoke. He walked to the settlement with fear in his heart. Upon reaching it, he found only deserted ruins. The cabins had been destroyed and the ground was overgrown with high grass and weeds. He found rusted pieces of metal and moldy books. It was obvious the colony had been abandoned for at least a year.

White was deeply troubled. But then, at the entrance of the settlement, he saw the word CROATOAN carved in a tree. There was no cross above the word. Croatoan was the name of a nearby island Inhabited by a friendly native tribe. White was confident the settlers would be found.

The ship’s captain agreed to sail to Croatoan the next morning. But during the night, there was a terrible storm. The ship lost all but one anchor. The captain was more concerned for his ship than for the colonists, so he sailed away from the storm. But the storm followed and blew them far into the Atlantic. The captain refused to go back, so White unhappily was taken back to England.

Although several search parties were eventually sent to Roanoke and Croatoan, not one clue to the fate of the settlers was ever found. Governor White would never know what happened to his daughter and grandchild, or all the others who had so bravely made the journey with him.

Ironically, the fate of Governor White also became a mystery. It is not known where or when he died. There is a record that in 1606 a man named John White died “in parts beyond the sea”. It seems very likely that White died still searching for the men and women he had left with a promise of help, but was unable to save.

ALASKA—THE LAST FRONTIER

There is nothing small or ordinary about Alaska. It is America’s largest state. It has the highest mountain and the largest glacier in North America. Its chain of volcanoes is the longest in the world. It has vast regions of uninhabited land richly diverse in both geography and wildlife. It is a remarkable place known as the “Last Frontier.”

Alaska fits its name very well. It comes from the word alyeska, meaning “Great Land” in the language of its native Aleut people. Alaska covers 591,004 square miles. Rhode Island would fit into Alaska 480 times! The highest point in Alaska is 20,320-foot Mount McKinley. The 16 highest mountains in the United States are all in Alaska. There are also about 100,000 glaciers. The largest, Malaspina Glacier, covers 850 square miles. Alaska also has more than three million lakes and 3,000 rivers, much more than any other state.

Everything about Alaska seems to be big. The largest salmon on record was caught in 1985 in Alaska’s Kenia River. It weighed 97 pounds, 4 ounces. It brown bears, called Kodiak bears, are the world’s largest bears. Even the vegetables grown there are big. Cabbages have been known to weigh 95 pounds and carrots to be 3 feet long! If you took a trip through Alaska, it would take quite a long while to cover its vast territory. You’d have to take an airplane from place to place because much of Alaska doesn’t have roads.

Along the coast you will see thousands of islands, rocks, and reefs. You’d see glaciers and icebergs, which are huge pieces of glaciers that fall into the water. Glaciers cover nearly 29,000 square miles of Alaska. Most are in the south and southeast.

In south-central Alaska, you’d fly over the Alaska mountain Range and Mount McKinley. Thousands of visitors have climbed up Mount McKinley. Others have died trying. The youngest person to climb Mount McKinley was Taras Genet of Talkeetna, Alaska, who climbed it in 1991 when he was 12 years old.

No doubt you would visit several of Alaska’s national parks. In these protected lands there are glaciers, mountains, active volcanoes, lakes, rivers, forests, and wildlife of many kinds. Besides Kodiak bears, there are grizzly bears, polar bears, moose, caribou, wolves, porcupines, beavers, mountain goats, foxes, and squirrels. Alaska has 450 kinds of birds. In its waters, whales and dolphins swim along the coast. Seals, walruses, and see otters are also found there.

Part of Alaska lies within the Arctic Circle. The land there is called tundra. There are no trees because the soil is permanently frozen. This frozen soil, called permafrost, thaws on the surface during the summer, when it is covered with a thick layer of mosses, wildflowers, and grasses. People who live there have a special problem because of the permafrost. A house built on it sometimes causes it to thaw beneath the house. The thawed soil begins to sink down, and the house goes with it! Many arctic inhabitants build their houses on platforms so they can be moved from time to time.

If you lived in the arctic, you would why Alaska is also called the “Land of the Midnight Sun.” At Barrow, the northernmost point, the sun does not set from May 10 to August 2. There is daylight all that time. But from November 18 to January 24, Barrow has no sunlight. Then the average temperature is minus 11 degrees Fahrenheit. If you went to the arctic in the spring and autumn you’d see the northern lights. This is a natural phenomenon in which the night skies are filled with spectacular colors, also called the aurora borealis.

Alaska is a very different and special place, and so are its people. Alaska has a very small population for such a big place. Many Alaskan towns have fewer than 100 residents. One such town is Chicken, which has a population of 37. Many towns, like Chicken, have unusual names, such as Clam Gulch, Candle, Beaver, Deadhorse, King Salmon, and Eek. Many were named by the adventurous and often eccentric prospectors who came to Alaska looking for gold in the 1800s.

Most Alaskans live in the cities, such as Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau, where there is work and a modern way of life. The population of Alaska is growing rapidly, and today about two-thirds of Alaskans were born elsewhere. They come from many countries to work in the oil, mining, timber, and fishing industries.

Native-born Alaskans include both native peoples and the descendants of the early settlers. The natives, which are the Eskimos, Aleuts, and Indians, migrated to Alaska from Siberia as far back as 15,000 years ago. Some of the natives still live the way their ancestors did, hunting and fishing in the wilderness. Others have modern lives in the cities. However, no matter where they live or when they got there or what ethnic group they belong to, all Alaskans have one thing in common. That is the splendors of the great land in which they live.

Pink Floyd

Have you ever watched TV series named "Friends"? If the answer is yes, maybe you still remember that Chandler said Pink Floyd? I have watched Friends so many times, still, i totally have no idea about Pink Floyd. I even thought that was some kind of celebrity, just guess.
One day, when i was sitting on the chair and watching Friends, i thought that i need to try to find out who is Pink Floyd. I used google, Wikipedia to find that Pink Floyd is a famous English band. And i found some beautiful musics from youtube, such as "wish you wer here","time","money", and so on.