English has now achieved global status (position). Whenever we turn on the news to find out what's happening in East Asia, or Africa, or South America, or anywhere, local people are being interviewed and telling us about it in English.

    Indeed, if one looks at the facts about the amazing reach of the English language, he or she would be surprised. English is used in over 90 countries as an official or semi-official language. English is the working language of many international colleges as well as of most international research scientists. It is believed that over one billion people worldwide are learning English now.

    One of the most remarkable sides of the spread of English around the world has been the extent (程度) to which Europeans are accepting it as their language. English is spreading from northern Europe to the south and is now firmly set up as a second language in countries such as Sweden, Norway, Netherlands and Denmark. If one visits any of them, it would seem that almost everyone there can communicate with ease in English.

    Recently, a special survey of Europeans' use of languages has just been published. The report said that English is the most widely known foreign language now, with 43% of Europeans saying they speak it and that Sweden now holds the most of English speakers, with over 89% of the population. What's more, English is the language rated as the most useful language to know, with over 77% of Europeans who do not speak English as their first language considering it useful.

    English has without doubt become the global language.

The Penguins

    Skipper and his fellow penguins were originally just supporting roles in animated film Madagascar (2005). But in 2008 they took leading roles in their own TV series, and in 2014 starred in the film Penguins of Madagascar. The penguins' wisdom and humor not only appeal to kids, but also serve adult audiences well. So, it's not surprising that they get their own movie.

Scrat

    A small and furry squirrel with a long tail from animated movie Ice Age (2002), Scrat played a supporting role but has won the hearts of both children and grown-ups with his persistence(毅力). In the film, his chasing after his prized acorn(橡子) causes an Earth-shattering geological event. Scrat is a big part in the lasting attraction of the movie series Ice Age. Today, Scrat has his own animated mini-movies.

    You may have seen many pumpkins in posters and TV shows recently since Halloween came on October 31.

    Lanterns made of pumpkins, also known as jack-o'-lanterns, are often seen during Halloween. Many people in the U.S. like to make them and put them in front of their houses. People hollow out（挖空）a pumpkin, carve a face on one side and place a candle inside to make the pumpkin glow. The lanterns can look funny or scary.

    This is not the only way in which pumpkins are part of American culture.

    During the Thanksgiving holiday, pumpkin pie is a common food. It is made from pumpkins and has some delicious spices to give it a nice flavor. People often put some cream on top of it before serving it. It is one of my favorite things to eat during Thanksgiving.

    There is also “pumpkin chucking”. It's a competition where people build machines to throw pumpkins through the air. The person whose pumpkin flies the farthest wins the competition. The world record for pumpkin chucking was set in Utah in 2010. The distance for that world record was about 1.69 kilometers!

    Finally, there are also pumpkin growing contests. For these contests, farmers try to grow the biggest pumpkins they can. The person who has the biggest pumpkin will win the first prize.

    Many animals recognize their food because they see it. So do humans. When you see an apple or apiece of chocolate you know that these are things you can eat. You can also use other senses when you choose your food. You may like it because it smells good or because it tastes good. You may dislike some types of food because they do not look, smell or taste very nice. Different animals use different senses to find and choose their food. A few animals depend on only one of their senses, while most animals use more than one sense.

    Although there are many different types of food, some animals spend their lives eating only one type. The giant panda eats only one particular type of bamboo. Other animals eat only one type of food even when given the choice. A land of white butterfly will stay on the leaves of a cabbage, even though there are plenty of other vegetables in the garden. However, most animals have a more varied diet. The bear eats fruits and fish. The fox eats small animals, birds and fruits. The diet of these animals will be different depending on the season.

    Humans have a very varied diet. We often eat food because we like it and not because it is good for us. In countries such as France and Britain, people eat foods with too much sugar. This makes them overweight, which is bad for their health. Eating too much red meat and animal products, such as butter, can also be bad for the health Choosing the right food, therefore, has become an area of study in modern life.

    Nearly 20 U.S. states have started carrying out former president Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, which places limits on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants in an effort to reduce the impacts of climate change. The plan has been in legal limbo (边缘) for the past year. Yet scientists have now calculated another outcome of the policy: harm to crop yields (产量) if the plan is cancelled. Along with carbon pollution, coal-fired power plants spew (喷出) pollutants that form what we know as smog. The contribution of smog to increased rates of asthma (哮喘) and premature deaths was already known. The new research estimates the extent to which smog, under air-pollution policies-4n place before the Clean Power Plan, would limit production in 2020 of four major crops: corn, cotton, potatoes and soybeans.

    Led by environmental engineer Shannon L. Capps, now at Drexel University, the team also sketched the extent to which those crop production losses would reduce under three nationwide scenarios (方案). One improved the efficiency of individual power plants. Another modeled a policy similar to the Obama plan, setting state CO₂ emissions goals for the electricity department. A third established a tax on carbon emissions, under which emissions fell the most. But the greatest drop in smog-forming pollutants—and greatest gains in crop yields—came from policies such as the Clean Power Plan.

    Researchers calculated how well each scenario would reduce the potential productivity loss (PPL) of each crop. PPL is a projected value for 2020 and indicates how much crop growth would suffer because of smog. Scenario 2 most closely agrees with results expected from the Clean Power Plan.

Smoking is harmful.But as soon as you quit the habit, everything will be OK,right?Wrong.

New research has found that even if you give up smoking, the damage it has done to your genes will stay there for a much longer time.In the research, a team of US scientists studied the blood of 16,000 people.Among them, some were smokers, some used to smoke, and the rest were non-smokers.Scientists compared their genes and found that more than 7,000 genes of smokers had changed--a number that is one-third of known human genes.

According to NBC News, both heart disease and cancer are caused by genetic changes.Some people may have had the changes when they were born, but most people get them in their day-to-day lives while doing things like smoking.

When you stop smoking, a lot of these genes will return to normal within five years.

This means your body is trying to heal (治愈) itself of the harmful effects of smoking.But the changes in some of the genes stay for longer.They can stay for as long as 30 years.It's almost like leaving a footprint on wet cement (水泥)—it will always be there,even when you've walked away and when the cement becomes dry.

Although the study results may make people unhappy, there is a bright side:the findings could help scientists invent medicine to treat genetic damage caused by smoking or find ways to tell which people have heart disease or cancer risks.