Sheridan is a town in Indiana, USA. There are lots of trees near the public schools in the town. Their leaves turn sunlight into energy.

    In Sheridan, the Sun not just provides energy for plants. It keeps schools running, too. The schools use solar panels(太阳能电池板) to turn sunlight into energy.

    The science behind solar energy is not new. But Sheridan Community Schools is the first school district (学区) in Indiana to be completely solar-powered. The district finished putting in solar panels for all three of its schools in 2016. Some of the panels can turn to follow the Sun across the sky.

    In 2008, fewer than 1,000 schools used solar power. By 2014, there were 3,727 schools with solar panels in the USA. These numbers come from a report by The Solar Foundation. Roxie Brown, a programme director there, said that the number of schools with solar panels has continued to go up since 2014.

    Solar energy has some advantages over other energy sources (来源). Sunlight is a renewable source, which means it won't run out. Solar panels don't harm the environment. Also, sunlight is free. So by using solar power, schools can save money on energy costs. Brown thinks more schools should run on solar energy. "The Sun is Earth's energy source," she says. "We're trying to make it the energy source for our houses, cars and schools, too."

    But using solar energy isn't always easy. Solar panels can be expensive to put in. The panels also take up space. But for many schools, going solar is worth it.

    What was discovered by accident? The answer is penicillin (青霉素). It kills germs. By killing germs, it saves lives. Suppose you are sick. You go to a doctor. She examines you. She says you have a "staph" infection (葡萄球菌感染). She gives you some medicine. You take it. The medicine knocks out the staph. Soon you are well. Before penicillin, this would not happen. Staph was almost sure death.

    Everyone wanted a medicine. Laboratories worked day and night. They grew the staph in small dishes. Then they tried to kill it. Nothing worked.

    The laboratory dishes had covers on them. They kept things from falling into dishes. Molds (霉菌) were a big worry. They are always in the air. You can't see them. They're too small. There are thousands of different molds. Molds can make an experiment fail. That's why dishes are covered.

    Dr. Alexander Fleming was working to kill the staph germ. He worked for years. One day he took a cover off a dish. He looked inside. There was a thick growth of staph germ. There was also some mold. Then he saw something strange. Where the mold was, there was no growth of staph. This is what Fleming probably thought. "By accident, I found a mold to kill the dreaded staph."

    This is how penicillin was found. But here's the real miracle. There are thousands of kinds of molds. But only one kind can kill staph. The mold must have fallen into the dish a few days before. The cover was probably off only a few seconds. In those few seconds the right mold fell into the right dish. Another man might have thrown the dish away. But Fleming was very careful and smart. He understood what the mold did. How lucky the humans were!

    Now too much CO makes the Earth warmer and warmer, and brings bad effect to people. To save our Earth, a new lifestyle called low-carbon life becomes popular. Low carbon means low energy and no waste. It is necessary for everybody to learn to live a low-carbon life.

    To live a low-carbon life, we'd better save as much energy as we can. For example, turn off the lights and TV when you don't use them, use cold water to wash clothes or dishes: take a short shower and try to take a cold one when the weather gets warm: don't do the cooking with electricity.

    To live a low-carbon life, we should eat less meat. Being a vegetarian can help reduce (v)one and a half ton of carbon dioxide a year, but keeping animals for food produces even more carbon dioxide than all the cars do in the world.

    To live a low-carbon life, we should plant more trees. Trees are very important for us. They can not only produce oxygen for us to breathe and keep the air clean. But also take in the harmful gases from the air. To protect trees we should stop people from cuing down trees and plant as many trees as we can.

    If we can keep them a habit in our daily life, the earth will become a safer planet for us to live on.

    Many people drive their cars to school or work now. So there are lots of cars on the streets. Sometimes, it's not easy for you to get to school or work on time(准时). Then you want to take a plane to school or work. Can your dream come true? Yes!

Four people in Germany(德国) make a new plane—Lilium Jet. It doesn't look like a plane but an egg. Many people think it looks funny. The nice "egg" can take two people and "run" about three hundred kilometers an hour.

    The Lilium Jet is not very big. So it doesn't need an airport(机场). A small place is OK.

    Some people also call the Lilium Jet "a flying car". It's not difficult for you to learn to drive it. You can drive it like driving a car.

    Maybe you can buy one in 2018 if you like it. I'm sure your trip to school or work will be great.