We are lucky to live in a rich country where we have many things. However, most of us usually1 some things.

    Electricity(电) is one thing that we waste 2. Lights, TVs, 3 and other things are often kept on even when no one is using them. We should turn them off when we do not need them. It 4 less than a second to do it. Anyway, not wasting electricity saves money, because we do not have to 5 the electricity we do not use.

    The second thing that we often waste is water. Fresh water is precious(宝贵的) ， 6it shouldn't be wasted. It is only a simple matter of turning off a tap. I am sure 7 can do this easily if he wants to.

    8 big waste is food. My mother 9cook so much food that much of it was thrown away. I told her we had wasted so 10 food. She thought I was right and now cooks 11 what we can eat.

    It is not 12   to waste anything. I find there is a simple 13of not wasting things. That is to use only what we 14. Do not touch what we do not need. 15 this way we can stop being wasteful.

    “Without music, life would be a mistake,” famous German philosopher(哲学家) Friendrich Nietzsche said over a century ago. Music is a big part of our lives. But in recent years, some US schools have cut music classes to control budgets(预算).

    For example, Chicago public schools hurt arts education when it fired(解雇)over 1,000 teachers. Among them, 10 percent of the teachers taught art or music, according to The Washington Times. In fact, this is not just a problem in the US. In other countries, such as China and the UK, music classes are not thought to be as important as ones like science, math and history. That's partly because music is not seen as a very important life skill, and it isn't tested. Many students are busy with schoolwork, so parents and students choose to focus on subjects that are tested more often.

    However, learning music is beneficial(有益的)in many ways.

    When playing music, you need different abilities to work together. It is not as simple as it looks, according to Kenneth Guilmartin of Music Together, an early childhood music development program. For example, when playing the piano, people see music notes and decode(解码)them in their brains. They also use their fingers to make sounds. You need to deal with all these things at the same time.

    Music has a special connection with science as well. You can see that many scientists are good at playing music: Einstein played the violin, and German physicist Max Planck was talented in playing the piano.

    Many people are trying to save the earth with special days like "Meatout Day", "Earth Day" and "Buy Nothing Day".

    "Meatout Day" is on March 20. Many people around the world don't eat any meat for one day. In this way, they'll get healthier and reduce greenhouse gases (减少温室气体).

    "Earth Day" is on April 22nd. Many people all over the world try to do something green on this day. In Italy, people don't use plastic bags. In Canada and Norway, people ride bicycles and don't use their cars. In the USA, people dress up like plants and animals to dance in Times Square, New York.

    "Buy Nothing Day" is usually on the fourth Friday in November. On this day many people don't buy anything. "Buy nothing" means "make no rubbish". When you make less rubbish, you can make a cleaner earth.

    Do you want to join them? Then you can remember these special days and do something green.

    Everybody hates rats. But rats may soon be man's new good friends. What happens after an earthquake? We send in rescue dogs. Why? Because they can smell people. Dogs save lives. They help rescuers to find living people. But dogs are big and they can't get into small spaces. So now a new research project is using a smaller animal to save lives: the rat.

    How does it work? First, the rat is trained to smell people. When this happens, the rat's brain gives a signal. This is sent to a small radio on its back, and then the rescuers follow the radio signals. When the rat's brain activity jumps, the rescuers know that someone is alive. The rat has smelled that person.

    Although there are already robots which can do this job, rats are better. Robots' noses don't work well when there are other smells around. Rats are good at that. Rats can also see in the dark, they are cheaper and quicker to train than dogs, and unlike robots, they don't need electricity!

    The "rat project" is not finished. But a scientist says, "It would be great. A rat could get into any place we couldn't get to, and a rat would get out if it wasn't safe." Perhaps for the first time in history, people will be happy to see a rat in a building (but only after an earthquake, of course).

    Imagine you are taking a walk on the beautiful beach. Just then, your feet step over something and you hear a crack (噼啪声) —an empty plastic bottle. Things like this are happening more often because of sea rubbish.

    Studies show that 80% of all the waste is from the land. The waste is mainly plastics (塑料制品) which are really hard to degrade (降解). So the rubbish will remain there for a long time. Some of the pollution is caused accidentally. For example, about 10,000 product-filled boxes are lost at sea every year from business ships. Sometimes people just throw things into the water from boats or land. Many large rubbish areas are formed in the North Pacific Ocean.

    Thankfully, the situation isn't ignored (忽视). Groups like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are taking action to help clean the sea. Since 2006,76 projects have cleared out 3,814 metric tons (公吨) of rubbish from the sea. Methods of rubbish cleaning include using machines to remove (移除) the waste away from the surface of sea water. Besides, special nets are set by the mouths of rivers to stop the rubbish before it reaches the sea. If everyone does his part, sea rubbish seems like a problem that can be solved.

    What is the hardest sport in the world? Some people say it's boxing (拳击), because boxing is dangerous and boxers have to be strong and fast. Other people say the hardest sport is soccer.

    However, most people say the hardest sport is the triathlon (三项全能运动). A triathlon is a race that includes three sports. First, racers swim. After that they ride bicycles and finally they run. In the most common triathlon, racers swim 1.5kilometres, bike 40 kilometres, and run 10 kilometres. The winner is the person who finishes the race first.

    There is another kind of triathlon too. It is called the "Ironman Triathlon (铁人三项)". This triathlon is much longer. People who finish this triathlon are called "ironmen" or "ironwomen". This is because these people are so strong that their bodies are just like iron (铁).

    In the past, there were other races including three sports. However, they didn't use the word "triathlon". That word was first used to describe a race in California in 1974.

    Triathlon racers have to train very hard for their races. Many of them swim and run. A lot of people also do things like yoga (瑜伽). They have many different ways to prepare, but they all have the same goal. They want to be in perfect shape.

    To be an ironman or an ironwoman, you have to be strong and smart. You should know how to save energy during the race.