Although environmental problems have existed for centuries, some people still care little about our environment. Problems like ice melting, electronic waste are lighting up news programs and becoming part of an ongoing dialogue about the environment.

    As a teenager, what do you think all the problems mean for your future and for the future of the planet? For our October 2016 writing contest, we want you to really consider what you think about environmental problems.

Use these questions to help focus your essay

● What environmental problem do you think should cause the greatest alarm and action?

● Do you think that you have a personal responsibility to help solve environmental problems or do you feel helpless against the struggle?

● What do you think could help a specific environmental problem?

Don't try to answer all these questions. Use one of them to make a personal essay.

The title of the essay

    When you hand in your essay, title it as: Environmental Problems: _______.

    Include the phrase “Environmental Problems” as the beginning of your essay title, but then make the rest of your story title unique. Examples:

● Environmental Problems: Trashy Behavior and the Plastic Bottle

● Environmental Problems: We Can't Exist If We Refuse to Change

Rules:

1) This is a non-fiction essay contest.

2) Essays are 500 words or less.

3) Essays must be your original work.

The deadline:

Midnight Oct. 30, 2016

Results:

    The winner will be posted on our writing contest website or on Teen Trend Report after Nov. 26, 2016.

    The need to feed a growing population is putting much pressure on the world's supply of water. With 97% of the world's water too salty to be drunk or used in agriculture, the worldwide supply of water needs careful management, especially in agriculture. Although the idea of a water shortage(短缺)seems strange to someone fortunate enough to live in a high rainfall country, many of the world's agricultural industries experience constant water shortages.

    Although dams can be built to store water for agricultural use in dry areas and dry seasons, the costs of water redistribution(重新分配)are very high. Not only is there the cost of the engineering itself, but there is also an environmental cost to be considered. Where valleys(山谷)are flooded to create dams, houses are lost and wildlife homes destroyed. Besides, water may flow easily through pipes to fields, but it cannot be transported from one side of the world to the other. Each country must therefore rely on the management of its own water to supply its farming requirements. This is particularly troubling for countries with agricultural industries in areas dependent on irrigation. In Texas, farmers' overuse of irrigation water has resulted in a 25% reduction of the water stores.

    In the Central Valley area of southwestern USA, a huge water engineering project provided water for farming in dry valleys, but much of the water use has been poorly managed.

    Saudi Arabia's attempts to grow wheat in desert areas have seen the pumping of huge quantities of irrigation water from underground reserves. Because there is no rainfall in these areas, such reserves can only decrease, and it is believed that fifty years of pumping will see them run dry.

根据短文内容，选择最佳答案，并将选定答案的字母标号填在题前括号内。

    “This is your last chance,” warned Mrs Gillfeather. I broke out in a sweat and my hands started to shake. We both wanted to get to sleep, but before we could, I had to put a cannula(针管) in her arm.

    Before becoming a doctor I'd only a vague idea what a cannula was, coming from an hour spent with a plastic arm while at medical school. Once I became a doctor, however, I couldn't seem to get away from them.

    For those of you who are lucky enough to have never come into contact with one, they're tiny little tubes that are put into a vein(静脉)so that fluid or medicines can do directly into the blood. That's the theory. Unfortunately, the problem is that for them to work, you have to get them into the vein in the first place. This tends to be trickier than you'd imagine—and it's a job that tends to fall on the junior doctors.

    Mrs Gillfeather's veins were particularly elusive that evening. I'd been jabbing the needle in for at least 20 minutes.

    “Isn't there someone else who could do this?” she asked, for the fourth time. “Someone who knows what they're doing, perhaps,” she said under her breath, just loud enough for me to hear.

    Finally, I got it in. Mrs. Gillfeather and I both breathed a sigh of relief

    Just as I was about to leave the ward, the nurse called me over, “Max, there's another cannula to do on bed 16.”

French lessons in France

    Whatever your level is, choosing to take French lessons in France is the best way to learn French. Place yourself in the local culture and practice your newly found skills in your free time.

    You will be taught by native (本地的) French speakers who have a love for teaching and use excellent teaching techniques. Lessons are interesting and you will speak French on the first day both inside and outside the classroom.

    Learners

    Suitable for all levels from beginners to advanced (高级的)

    Over 18 years old

    Class Schedule (课表)

    Classes start on Mondays and run throughout the summer.

    Please arrive at the school by 8:15 am on your first day for a short level test. It will help to place you in the right class.

    Classes run from Monday to Friday each week.

    Classes start at 8:45 am each day depending on your level.

    You will have 3 classes per day lasting 55 minutes each.

    You will have a short break between classes.

    Free Time and Tours

    The school offers a lot of cultural activities throughout the week. These activities can include cooking lessons, wine and cheese tasting, visits to Paris, cycling, movies and much more.

    You will have plenty of free time to explore (探索) the local area and practice your newly found language skills or just relax on this learning holiday with a difference.

    Other Information

    You should bring a small dictionary, pens and paper with you.

    Get more from your holiday, have fun, meet new people and take home a new language skill that will stay with you forever.

    It took place at the Biltmore Hotel. My grandmother, my mother, and I were having lunch after a morning spent shopping. I gladly ordered a Salisbury steak. When brought to the table, it was accompanied by a plate of peas. I do not like peas now. I did not like peas then. I have always hated peas.

    “Eat your peas,” my grandmother said.

    “Mother,” said my mother in her warning voice. “He doesn't like peas. Leave him alone.”

    My grandmother did not reply, but leaned in my direction, looked me in the eye, and spoke out the fateful words that changed my life, “I'll pay you five dollars if you eat those peas.”

    I only knew that five dollars was a huge, nearly unimaginable amount of money, and awful as peas were, only one plate of them stood between me and the possession of that five dollars. I began to force them down my throat.

    My mother looked livid (铁青色的). My grandmother had a self-satisfied look and said, “I can do what I want, Ellen, and you can't stop me.” My mother glared at her mother. She glared at me. No one can glare like my mother. If there were a glaring Olympics, she would undoubtedly win the gold medal.

    I, of course, kept shoving peas down my throat, and every single pea made me want to throw up, but the magical image of the five dollars floated before me, and I finally swallowed every last one of them. My grandmother handed me the five dollars with satisfaction. My mother continued to glare in silence.

    That night, at dinner, my mother served two of my all-time favorite foods, meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Along with them came a big, steaming bowl of peas. She offered me some peas, and of course I declined. My mother fixed me with a cold eye as she heaped（堆积) a huge pile of peas onto my plate. Then came the words that were to haunt (萦绕) me for years. “You ate them for money,” she said, “You can eat them for love.”

    “To another little girl.”

    That's what 3-year-old Ariana of Winterport, Maine, said when her father Josh Smith asked where her donated (捐赠的) hair was going to go. It was then that the dad of two realized his young daughter had a heart that was too big for words.

    “I run a charity called Extra Life where I play video games to help raise money for kids,” he said. “Ariana happened to be sitting next to me when a video was playing, showing a little girl who was bald(秃顶的), lying in a hospital bed with tubes in her.” When their daughter got curious, Smith and his wife Crystal explained how medicine was what made the child in the video lose her hair.

    “Without a second thought, Ariana said, 'She can have some of my hair,'” Smith said. “That's when my wife told me that there are many organizations that we could donate it to.” The Smiths chose “Locks of Love” to send Ariana's generous gift to a child with medical hair loss.

    A week later, Ariana was taken to the family hairdresser where 10 inches was cut from her hair.

    “It was her first haircut,” Smith told ABC News. “She can be so selfless like that. Her first reaction is 'How about me giving up something that I have, so a little girl can feel pretty?'” Smith posted his daughter's moving gesture on his personal webpage, where it has received almost 645,000 views in just two days.

    “She'll take an adult-like approach and it's really amazing,” Smith said. “She is just a little kid, but if she sees somebody in need, she certainly cares for them. This made Ariana feel special and she'd definitely like to do it again.”