English Audio Request

27.
Learning to ski is one of the most humbling experiences an adult can undergo (that is one reason to start young). After all, an adult has been walking for a long time; he knows where his feet are; he knows how to put one foot in front of the other in order to get somewhere. But as soon as he puts skis on his feet, it looks as though he had to learn to walk all over again. He slips and slips, falls down, has trouble getting up, gets his skis crossed, tumbles again, and generally looks and feels like a fool.

28.
The most common mistake made by amateur photographers is that they are not physically close enough to their subjects. This means that the center of interest― the subject―is just a spot, too small to have any impact. Even when it is big enough to be recognized, it usually carries little meaning. Viewers may think that a subject is small because it is supposed to be. When you look at other photographers’ work, pay attention to how they fill the frame. Everything in it should serve the message of the image. If you see things through your camera lens that distract from what you are trying to say, get rid of them. So when you photograph people, remember to get closer to them to exclude unwanted objects.

29.
Darwin was the first to propose that long necks evolved in giraffes because they enabled the animals to eat the treetop leaves.
This seemingly reasonable explanation has held up for over a century, but it is probably wrong, says Robert Simmons, a behavioral ecologist. Simmons was studying eagles in Africa when he came across a pair of male giraffes locked in combat.
He saw the male giraffes battling for mates by swinging their powerful necks, which were over six feet long and weighed more than 200 pounds. He observed that in contests of this type, males with the longest, thickest necks usually won.
So Simmons became convinced that this competition for mates, not stretching for treetop food, was what drove the evolution of the neck.