Monarch butterflies (黑脉金斑蝶) are a common summer sight in the northern United States and Canada. These large orange and black insects (昆虫) brighten parks and gardens as they fly lightly among the flowers. However, one of the last West Coast homes of the Monarch butterfly may soon disappear. Strangely, it is in a town that calls itself Butterfly USA, Pacific Grove, California.

    The town of Pacific Grove loves the butterflies. Every year they have a parade (游行) and hundreds of children dress up as butterflies. Monarch butterflies are the town mascot. Tourism is very important, and many people come to see the butterflies. The butterflies are good for the development of the town.

    What makes monarchs particularly interesting is that they migrate (迁飞) —all the way to California or Mexico and back. They are thought to be the only insect that does this.

    Every year in the late summer monarchs begin their journey to the south. Those heading for Mexico go first for the Louisiana-Mississippi area, then fly across the Gulf of Mexico into Texas. Once in Mexico, they settle themselves in one of about fifteen places in a mountain forest filled with fir trees. Each place provides a winter home for millions of monarchs. The butterflies are so many that they often cover entire trees. When spring comes, they begin their long journey north.

   The question is often asked whether every butterfly makes the roundtrip jouney every year. And the answer is no. The average monarch lives about nine months. So one flying north might lay eggs in Louisiana and then die. The eggs of that generation may be found in Kentucky; the eggs of the next generation may end up in Wisconsin or Michigan. The last generation of the season, about the fourth, will make their way back to Mexico and restart the journey.

   Scientists learn about monarchs' migration by catching and making marks on the insects. By recatching a monarch with such a mark and noticing where it came from, the next scientist can get to know things like the butterfly's age and its routing(路线).

While nature lovers across the world wish all humans to realize the significance of their natural surroundings, many Australians are turning caring for the environment into a way of life.

   Julie Astonis, an Australian housewife in Brisbane is one such example. Even though autumn is approaching Australia's Brisbane in April, one can still watch colorful blooming (盛开的) flowers in Julie's little garden, as she tells that in her community, "Each of us has a beautiful yard. The whole community, from children to elderly people, takes care of the environment as if they are taking care of their own garden."

   "Gardening is the most popular club in our community," she says. "A lot of retired people don't just regularly organize gardening lectures, but also personally visit families in the community to provide gardening training. So you can see that flowers continue to blossom in our gardens throughout the year.

   Talking about her people's sense of caring for the environment, Julie says when people in the community take along their dog; they always carry a garbage bag to deal with the dog's waste. "In our community, you will never experience the embarrassment of stepping on the dirty waste while you are walking on the grass," says Julie with a smile. "Taking care of the the dog's waste can also help to develop children's sense of responsibility!"

   As to protecting water resources, the Australian government has made strict rules for families. Julie says, "We certainly would not use tap water to water the flowers!" She says almost every family in her community has a huge tank used to store rainwater, which is later used as the resource of all outdoor water use, including car washing and watering the garden.

   This year, they also asked people to connect the water tank with their toilets.

Rain and cold weather this summer saw honey yields from hives(巢) fall by almost three-quarters, the British Beekeepers Association(BBKA)said today. The average crop per hive was down 72% compared to last year, with just 3.6 kg (81 b) of honey produced compared to an annual average, the annual honey survey by the BBKA revealed.

   The survey of 2,712 beekeepers in England, Northern Ireland and Wales found that 88% said this summer's bad weather caused the descent in honey yields. The bad weather made it difficult for bees to excrete(排泄), which led to disease easily, and the bad weather also increased the risk of keeping bees for heavy rain caused the places which bees regularly visited to meet natural disasters. The bad weather also influenced the plants flowering which increased the cost of keeping bees. The BBKA issued a midsummer warning to feed bees if necessary to avoid dying from hunger. But in London, which recorded the worst results with just 2.5 kg (5.61 b) of honey harvested on average, beekeeping experts said that in addition to the bad weather there was a lack of food for bees in the city.

   Angela Woods, secretary of the London Beekeepers Association, said, "Rather than putting beehives on office roofs, we encourage companies in London that want to help to look at different ways of supporting bees and beekeepers. We need more food for the bees and better-educated beekeepers."

   Elsewhere, the weather was the main problem. Peter Hutton, a beekeeper in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, said, "It has been the most difficult year I have known in my 53 years of beekeeping. Bad weather in spring prevented bees in many areas from collecting nectar (花蜜)from early-flowering crops such as oilseed rape(油菜), and the rain continued in many places throughout June and July, preventing honeybees from searching for food on later crops."

   The BBKA warned that as well as reducing the honey harvest, the bad weather is likely to have a longer-term influence as it will have affected the normal process of breeding for the queens, which mate(交配)on the wing on fine, still summer days. As a result they may have mated poorly and be unable to produce enough new babies to see groups through the winter.