A recent study found people's lives are made shorter in North China. It is showed the life expectancy(平均寿命) had been cut down by 5.5 years there. Researchers（研究者）think that the heavy air pollution in China should be to blame(承担责任). It's really the truth. Our government has already done something. However, it doesn't seem to work so well.

    “Air pollution in China is doing harm to people's health. The harm is much more serious than we can imagine,” said Chen Yuyu of Beijing University, one of researchers of this study.

    Dirty air brings serious problems in North China. In January this year, the air pollution was worse than that in other places. That was caused by rising temperature and waste gas（气体）from coal heating（燃煤）.

    Chinese government should strongly fight with air pollution. They should think of more proper ways to deal with the problem. People should be encouraged to take buses, ride bicycles or walk, instead of driving cars. The factories that pollute heavily should be closed.

    “We need to improve our environment, although it might be expensive. Protecting our environment means protecting ourselves,” Li Hongbin, another researcher of the study said.

    People have always wanted to know what our future will look like. Go on reading this text, and you will know what will happen in the next fifty years.

    How can we know what the future will look like? To be able to understand the future, you have to know the past, what has taken us to where we are today and what has changed along the way? The world has changed a lot in the last 150 years, but people are driven by the same basic needs as they were 150 years ago. Will this change in the next 150 years? No.

    What inventions have really made a different in the last 150 years? In the past years, the inventions that have changed most people's everyday life are telephone, radio, television, computer, the car and the internet. Then we of course have a lot of inventions that have made life easier, like new medicine, faster cars, trains, etc. In general, people have been working hard in the last 150 years to make inventions that will make the world a better place. Since there is still much to do in the area, this will be important for at least the next 150 years.

    Why do we need to guess the future? Guessing the future is important for two reasons: First, we need to start to think about what kind of future we would like for ourselves and our children. And then we need to know what decisions we need to make today that will give us the best future.

    Recently, a designer in Hong Kong has invented a special book that can transform (变形) into a piece of furniture. The special book is called Bookniture. It can be unfolded to become a chair or a small table. People can either carry it around for a portable (轻便的) chair or can store it in their homes to use as extra furniture.

    The book was designed by Mike Mak. He came up with the idea after never having enough seats for his friends in his home in Hong Kong.

    “I love having friends at my place, but I have never had enough seats for everyone—we would always end up with just sitting on the floor. 1 really want a seat that doesn't take up any floor space when I don't need it. One day, the empty space on my bookcase drew my attention.  Then came the new idea—Bookniture, furniture hidden in a book,” said the 30-year-old designer.

    Made from fully-recyclable kraft paper (牛皮纸) , the book measures 33 cm by 18 cm. It expands (扩大) to 14 times bigger once it's opened, and can support up 10 1,000 kg of weight.  It comes in two colors, brown and black, and can be bought for between￡55 and ￡57.

    Napoga is a girl in Ghana, Africa. It is hard for her family to get clean water. Every morning, she leaves home at half past five to get clean water for her family in a village far away. It takes her six hours to get enough clean water for daily cooking and drinking. She has no time to go to school or to play with her friends. Millions of people in the world are like Napoga. They can't get enough clean water to keep healthy.

    Earth Day is on April 22. But on all the other days, we must also remember it. The water we use is the most important natural resource on the Earth. Water covers about 75% of the Earth's surface. But most of that is sea water. We can't use it for many things. Fresh water covers only less than 1% of the Earth's surface.

    You probably feel lucky that your life isn't as hard as Napoga's. But that doesn't mean you don't have to worry about water. We all face serious water problems. One of them is water pollution Lots of kinds of things from cars, factories, farms and homes make our rivers, lakes and seas dirty. Polluted water is very bad for people to drink. And dirty water is bad for fish too. Now, 34% of all kinds of fishes are dying out. Scientists say that in 30 years, more than half of the people in the world won't have enough clean water. We have to learn how to save more water for ourselves and our children.

A pop singer has to work very hard to become popular. He must give the public what they really want and need, or he must find a new way of singing that will a {#blank#}1{#/blank#} their attention. Even when he has succeeded and his records are sold e{#blank#}2{#/blank#}, he can not rest. Then he must work h {#blank#}3{#/blank#} than ever to remain popular, because there are always younger singers trying to become famous and to steal some of the popularity.

The life of a successful pop singer isn't e {#blank#}4{#/blank#} at all. He can only relax when he is alone, because everything he does is watched and reported by the special newspaper written for the fans. The fans are the most i {#blank#}5{#/blank#} people in the world for the singer. They buy his records, they go to his concert, and they make him rich and famous. But they can be very d{#blank#}6{#/blank#}  , too. Sometimes they do anything to get a souvenir (n. 纪念品). They steal handkerchiefs, they tear off buttons，and they even cut off pieces of the unlucky singer's hair. Many singers have been forced to ride(v.即兴表演). A pop singer has to spend a lot of money on clothes b{#blank#}7{#/blank#} he must always look special and different. And most important, he must always keeping smiling.

    Last Monday afternoon my classmates and I went to eat in a small dining place near our school.

    It wasn't {#blank#}1{#/blank#} good time for us to get there as there were so {#blank#}2{#/blank#} people. So we {#blank#}3{#/blank#} to wait for a table. We waited for about half an hour before we could sit down and started to {#blank#}4{#/blank#} some food. Later our potato and mutton noodles came. However, there {#blank#}5{#/blank#} only a little mutton in the noodles! The waiter said, "I know the mutton noodles are short of mutton. But it is not as {#blank#}6{#/blank#} as before, right? A large bowl was 15 yuan before and now it is only 12 yuan." Then one of my classmates found a fly(苍蝇) in his noodles. "Wow! How can your restaurant be so unclean?!" My classmate asked the waiter. "Don't worry, boy. The fly is free. You don't need to pay {#blank#}7{#/blank#} it," said the waiter.

    {#blank#}8{#/blank#} terrible the place is! We were so angry {#blank#}9{#/blank#} we couldn't say a word! Then we took some photos of the noodles and put {#blank#}10{#/blank#} on our WeChat Moments(朋友圈). Now fewer and fewer people would like to eat there.