Is it possible to be born shy? Many scientists say yes. They say 15 to 20 percent of babies behave shyly. These babies are a little quieter and more watchful than other babies. Interestingly, these shy babies usually have shy parents. As a result, scientists think that some shyness is genetic.
    Family size might causepeople to be shy as well. Scientists at Harvard University studied shy children. They found that 66 percent of them had older brothers and sisters. As a result, they became shy. At the same time, children with no brothers and sisters may be shy as well. Growing up alone, they often play by themselves. They are not able to learn the same social skills as children from big families.

    You may also be shy because of where you were born. When scientists studied shyness in different countries. They found surprising differences. In Japan, most people said they were shy. But in Israel, only one of three people said so. What explains the difference? One scientist says the Japanese and Israelis have different opinions of failure. In Japan, when people do not succeed, they feel bad about themselves. They blame（责备）themselves for their failure. In Israel, the opposite is true. Israelis often blame failure on outside reasons, such as family, teachers, friends, or bad luck. In Israel, freedom of opinion and risk taking are strongly supported. This may be why Israelis worry less about failure and are less shy.

    For shy people, it can be difficult to make friends, speak in class, and even get a good job. But scientists say you can get over your shyness. They suggest trying new things and practicing conversation. And don't forget—if you are shy, you are not the only one.

    You don't have to be bored on a rainy day. Here are some new ideas:

    Tell stories. You might tell stories you have heard before, or you might make up some wonderful stories.

    ①___________. You can learn to cook a pizza or maybe some cookies. Give your friend a chance to help in the kitchen and make something tasty.

    ②___________. You might write stories on your own and then read them aloud to others, or you might write a story together.

    ③____________. Think of some scenes and then play a game. Act as teachers, doctors, nurses or policemen. You can dress up in whatever you may have.

    ④____________. Pick out some music and dance around in the room. You can also sing while others are dancing.

So on the next rainy day, try some of these ideas for a day full of fun!

    More than 1,000 different kinds of pieces of plastic, including 115 cups, 25 bags, four bottles and two pairs of shoes, have been found inside a dead whale(鲸鱼) in Indonesia, according to local officials.

    When the whale was found on the island, it was already decomposing when animal doctors arrived. So they were unable to be sure if the plastic caused its death, said Lukas, the leader of the World Wildlife Fund in Indonesia. The plastic weighed about 6 kilograms, or 13 pounds, he said.

    But pictures of the dead whale caused a warm discussion. The people in the country have started to realize that it is because of using too much plastic. So has the government. Indonesia, a nation of about 260 million people was the world's second-biggest producer of plastic waste in 2018, behind only China.

    If the whales eat too much plastic, they will have a wrong feeling. They think that they are full. And that will lead them to eat less food that provides all the good things they need, said Nicholas who is the leader of the Ocean Conservancy. Moreover, eating too much plastic can make them reduce their weight, their energy and slow down their swimming. As a result, whales are easier to be hurt by the sharks and many other dangerous animals in the sea.

    More than 800 kinds of animals in the sea are affected by about 8.8 million tons of plastic which is thrown away freely in the ocean each year. Plastic can also stop the animals moving freely and sometimes they will cause them to die because they have to be under the water for too long. Some plastic can make a small hole in their stomachs after they eat it.

    People don't like trash. Trash is smelly, dirty, ugly, broken and useless. That's why we throw it out. But everyone knows that trash influences our environment. It can pollute our land, water and air. So it's important to recycle our trash as much as possible.

    Some Americans were very interested in recycling and they were curious about what really happened to their trash. So, what did they do? They became detectives and decided to "Follow that trash!"

    They took some items out of their recycling bin and put electronic tags (标签) on them. The tags sent signals to a computer so people could follow their trash on its journey. They found that some trash only travelled a few kilometers but much of it went into landfills.

    Waste management companies in America think this detective work will be helpful to them. Dealing with waste is very expensive and this u trash tracking" will help them to become more useful. It will save their time and money.

    However, the trash detectives say it's also important to reduce the amount of trash we produce. After all, if we produce less waste, we won't have to worry about where it goes.

    There are lots of objects that we see in the sky. During the day we see the sun. After the sunset in the evening, we see mostly the stars. Not all the lights in the sky that we see are really stars.

    Of course, we see the moon. Some of the other lights in the sky are planets. Planets revolve (转动) around the sun like earth does.

    Once in a while someone will see what they call a shooting star.

    Shooting star looks like a star that is moving quickly across the sky. Some people believe that seeing a shooting star will bring them good luck. It's hard to find shooting star because they disappear fast.

    The correct name for a shooting star is meteor. Besides very large objects like stars, planets and moons, space has lots of little objects. These can be rocks in space left over from old planets.

    These objects can even be as small as dust. These objects are called meteorites(陨石).

    When a meteorite gets close to the earth, it gets pulled towards the earth by gravity. Earth is surrounded by atmosphere. Atmosphere is made up of air and clouds. A meteorite blows up in the earth's atmosphere. This makes the short bright moving light in the night sky. A meteorite thus turns into a meteor.