1970 was "World Conservation Year". The UN wanted everyone to know that the world was in danger - they hoped that governments would act quickly in order to conserve nature. Here is one example of the problem. At one time there were 1,300 different plants, trees and flowers in Holland, but now only remain 860. The others have been destroyed by modern man and his technology. We are changing the earth, the air and the water, and everything that grows and lives here. We can't live without these things. If it continues like this, we shall destroy ourselves.

       What will happen in the future? Perhaps it is more important to ask "What must we do now?" The people who will be living in the world of tomorrow are the young of today. A lot of them know that conservation is necessary. Many are helping to save our world. They plant trees, build bridges across rivers in forests, and so on. In a small town in the United States a large group of girls cleaned the banks of 11 kilometers of their river. Young people may hear about conservation through a record called NO ONE'S GOING TO CHANGE OUR WORLD. It was made by the Beatles and other singers. The money from it will help to conserve wild animals.

    Have you ever stayed in a hotel? Most Chinese hotels often provide guests with things like disposable(一次性) toothbrushes, toothpaste, shampoo and slippers. Many guests like the idea because they don't have to bring their own. But, if you travel to Beijing, remember to bring your own things. Starting from June, some hotels in Beijing will no longer provide guests with these disposable things. They want to ask people to use less disposable things.

    Many disposable things are made of plastic. People throw them away after only using them once. It is a waste of natural resources(资源) and is very bad for the environment. Do you know, one Chinese makes as much as 400kg of waste a year! Most of that waste comes from disposable things. In Beijing, people throw away about 19, 000 tons of plastic bags and 1, 320 tons of plastic lunch bowls every year! Plastic can take between 100 and 400 years to break down. So the less plastic we throw out, the better. So, wherever you travel, bring your own things and use them again and again.

    Back at home and at school, you can also do something, you can also do something to make our world a better place. Try to do these things in your daily life: Use cloth shopping bags, not plastic ones. After using a plastic bag, wash it out and let it dry. Then you can use it over and over again. Do not use paper cups. At your school canteen(食堂), use your own bowl and chopsticks instead of disposable ones.

    To protect our environment and our home, it is very necessary and important for us to save natural resources(资源).

Everybody dreams. But only some people remember their dreams. Our dreams often include all the senses —- smells, sounds, sights, tastes and things we touch .Sometimes we dream the same dream over and over again.

    Early in the twentieth century, two famous scientists developed their personal ideas about dreams. Austrian psychiatrist (奥地利心理学家) Sigmund Freud wrote a book called "The Interpretation (诠释) of Dreams" in 1900. Freud believed people often dream about things they want but can't have. Swiss (瑞士) psychiatrist Carl Jung worked closely with Freud for several years, but he believed dreams provide solutions to problems we face when we are awake.

    Other researchers are studying how dreaming helps our bodies work with problems and very sad emotions (感情). Robert Stickgold is a professor of psychiatry (心理学教授) at Harvard University in Massachusetts. He says that when we dream, the brain is trying to make sense of the world. He does not agree with Sigmund Freud that dreaming is the way we express our hidden feelings and wishes.

    Scientists believe it is important to keep researching dreams. Doctor Stickgold says it's more than one hundred years since Sigmund Freud wrote his important book about dreaming. Yet there is still no agreement on exactly how the brain works when we are dreaming or why we dream.