Why do we like drinking water from plastic bottles? Some people think it is healthy and clean. Others drink bottled water because it's easy--you can carry it around with you. In hot countries, like Greece, we often buy bottles of cold water in the summer.

    However, making tots of plastic is not a good idea for many reasons. First of all, we need a lot of oil for plastic products. We usually use oil as a source(资源) of energy. If we reduced the number of bottles we made, we wouldn't need so much oil. Plastic bottles also pollute the environment. If we recycled all our plastic bottles, we wouldn't need so much space for rubbish dumps. But in Greece, we don't recycle much of the plastic we use. In 2006, Greeks recycled only about 10% of plastic waste. The rest became rubbish on land and in rivers and seas.

    So next time you want to throw away a plastic bottle in the litter bin, stop and think. If you recycled it, you would help the environment. But what can you do when there isn't a recycling bin near you? Well, there are lots of useful ways that you can use your bottles again. For example, an empty bottle makes a great piggy bank for your pocket money, and if you cut a bottle in half, you will have a plant pot. Go green! You can make a difference.

    The American Computer &. Robotics Museum was open to visitors in 1990 in Bozeman, Montana. At first it was planned to build in Princeton, New Jersey. The founders moved to Bozeman in 1988 and after looking at the area they decided to build the museum there. With Yellowstone National Park to the south and Glacier National Park to the northwest, the museum attracts thousands of visitors from all 50 states and over 50 countries. The American Computer &. Robotics Museum has been written about in many publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times, QST and USA Today.

    When visitors first enter the museum, they are shown a video introducing the museum and its collections. All visitors are given the chance to join in tours led by friendly tour guides. We have had visitors aged from3 to 93- it is a big family. Over 1,000 exhibitions are shown in the 6, 000-squaremetre museum. Travelling through our museum, you will see the exciting 20,000 years of history of the information age. Technology becomes easier to accept when one learns about its origins(起源) in the natural process(进程) of human development.

How long are you allowed to watch TV every day at home? One hour? Two hours? Or never? Do you think it's fair? Well, you may think you should {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (allow) to watch TV as much as you like. However, in an island country called Iceland, there used to be {#blank#}2{#/blank#} day when people were not allowed to watch TV at all. Let's learn more about it.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} 1987, there was no TV broadcast in Iceland on Thursday. This may sound awful, {#blank#}4{#/blank#} it's true. Thursdays were traditionally a day to communicate with family and friends in the country. It's believed that the reason for {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (have) such a rule is that the government doesn't want to have a nation filled {#blank#}6{#/blank#} TV-addicted (沉迷电视的) people. In 1966, {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (something) was shown on the country's only state-run television station on Thursdays. The idea behind the {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (decide) was to make Thursdays a day for socializing (社交).

Later, it was decided that nothing would be shown on TV during the whole month of July. As July was considered as a vacation month, it was also expected that the local people could keep {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (they)away from TV and spend their days outdoors. {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (luck), the Thursday ban (禁令) ended in 1983 while the July ban lasted until 1987.

Do you know a special kind of forest in China? We call it" the mangrove(红树林)" or" the red forest". Are the mangroves red? No, mangroves don't have red leaves. They are green.

 Mangroves grow in the water on the coast. The place of mangrove planting in China is between 20°-30°N and 105°-120°E. Some parts of the trees are out of the water. They are home to reptiles like snakes. The other parts in the water make great homes for baby sea animals, like baby fish.

 Mangroves can grow as high as 10 meters. They keep the land away from strong winds and waves(海浪). Like other trees, mangroves take in CO₂ to make O₂. They are helping to make air clean on earth. But now many mangroves are in danger. We need to do more.

Tips for Writing Better Articles

Many of us don't spend a lot of time improving our writing skills. This can be a problem when we hand in our articles. Good writing skills will help us improve our grades and benefit us later in life. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Make good word choices.

When we' re not sure which word is the right one for a sentence, look it up in a dictionary. Many of us choose words in a hurry and don't take the time to decide if they' re proper. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

Check facts.

If we want people to believe what we write, we must make sure our facts are true. We should use dependable facts.

Rewrite.

A common problem is that we don't like to rewrite. In fact, rewriting is the best way to find out and correct some mistakes, like grammar and spelling mistakes.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} though it takes more time and more work.

Read aloud.

Sometimes it's easier to find problems with spelling, word usage, and grammar when we read aloud. Reading al oud helps us not only find out our problems but also develop our writing.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

Preparing a list is necessary for writing a good article. Such a list includes: Is there a proper title? Have we explained every point? Are all the parts of the article included? This can help us to make sure that we have covered everything.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#} But with a few simple steps, we can improve our writing skills and learn how to write better articles.

Daming lives in Beijing. Read and learn about her day.