Read For Fun

Hi，everybody！Lets read the two funny articles.

Use Emojis Carefully

One of the nice things about emojis is that people from all over the world can understand them. But I have recently learned that some emojis have different meanings in China.

表情符号的好处之一是来自世界各地的人都能理解它们所要表达的意思。但是我最近了解到有一些表情符号在我们中国有不同的含义。

Take the basic smiley face emoji. At first， I thought it was just a normal， friendly smile. But later， I found out that it can mean something different. It can mean that someone is looking down on you or even mocking （嘲笑） you. Look， although the emoji is smiling， its eyes are looking downward， which makes it look like a fake （虚假的） smile.

就拿基本的笑脸表情来说吧。起初，我以为这个笑脸只是一个正常友好的微笑。但是后来我发现，这个笑脸可能有另一种意思，可能意味着某人看不起你，甚至嘲笑你。你看，这个表情符号虽然在微笑，但它的眼睛是向下看的，看起来就像是虚假的微笑。

Or what about the smiling face with a waving （摇摆） hand？ It certainly looks friendly enough. But actually， some people use this emoji to show that they dont want to talk to someone - the hand is waving“goodbye”， as in“never talk to me again”.

那么，微笑着挥手的表情呢？它看起来很友好，但是实际上，有些人用这个表情来表示不想和别人说话——挥手说“再见”，意思就是“不要再跟我说话”。

In fact， some emojis also have double meanings in Western countries. One of my favorite emojis is the “cry-laugh” emoji. At first， it meant “rolling on the floor laughing”. But over the years， the meaning has changed. It is often used to describe situations that are so tragic that you cant help but laugh to cheer yourself up.

事實上，一些表情符号在西方国家也有双重含义。我最喜欢的表情符号是“哭笑”。起初，它的意思是“笑到在地板上打滚”。但是这些年来，这个意思已经改变了。它经常被用来表达非常悲惨的境况，以至于你只能用苦笑让自己振奋起来。

It looks like the language of emojis changes over time， just like real languages. We should be careful how we use it when speaking to others.

看起来表情符号的意思会随着时间的推移而改变，就像真实的语言一样。当和别人聊天时，我们应该小心使用。

Whats Wrong with White Fur Animals

Can you name some animals that have white fur （皮毛）？ Arctic （北极的） foxes and white-coated weasels （白鼬） do. They live in cold， snowy places. Their white fur is the same color as snow. This helps them easily hide in their environment. Their enemies （敌人） have a hard time finding them.

你能说出那些有白色皮毛的动物的名字吗？北极的狐狸和白鼬就是这一类动物。它们居住在寒冷多雪的地方。它们的白色皮毛和雪的颜色是一样的，这有助于它们隐藏自身，躲避敌人。

But their white fur may not always be able to protect them. Because of global warming （全球变暖）， winters are starting later and ending sooner. Enemies can easily see white-fur animals when there is no snow around them. One day， there may be no more of these animals left.

但它们的白色皮毛并不总是能保护它们。由于全球气候变暖，冬季开始得越来越晚，结束得越来越快。当周围没有雪的时候，白色皮毛动物的敌人就很容易发现它们。终有一天，这些白色皮毛动物将会完全消失。

The white-coated weasel is one example of this. They live in a forest in Poland. They have brown fur in summer that turns white in winter. Scientists from Poland found that between 1997 and 2007， the number of snowy days in the weasels environment dropped from 80 days to 40 days.The number of white-coated weasels fell by 20 percent when there was less snow. Many of them were eaten by foxes and other animals.

白鼬就是一个例子。它们生活在波兰的森林里，夏天它们的皮毛是棕色，冬天它们的皮毛变成白色。波兰科学家发现，从1997年到2007年，在白鼬生存的环境里，下雪的天数从80天下降到40天。当雪少的时候，白鼬的数量下降了20%，因为许多白鼬被狐狸和其他动物吃掉了。

Maybe， In the future， the weasels might just have brown fur year-round， or change their fur later than usual.

或许，未来，白鼬一年四季都只是褐色的皮毛了，或者它们换白毛的时间会比现在更晚。