Why do we like drinking water from plastic bottles? Some people think it is healthy and clean. Others drink bottled water because it's easy--you can carry it around with you. In hot countries, like Greece, we often buy bottles of cold water in the summer.

    However, making lots of plastic is not a good idea for many reasons. First of all, we need a lot of oil for plastic products. We usually use oil as a resource of energy. If we reduced the number of bottles we made, we wouldn't need so much oil. Plastic bottles also pollute the environment. If we recycled all our plastic bottles, we wouldn't need so much space for rubbish dumps. But in Greece, we don't recycle much of the plastic we use. In 2006, Greeks recycled only about 10% of plastic waste. The rest became rubbish on land and in rivers and seas.

    So next time you want to throw away a plastic bottle in the litter bin, stop and think. If you recycled it, you would help the environment. But what can you do when there isn't a recycling bin near you? Well, there are lots of useful ways that you can use your bottles again. For example, an empty bottle makes a great piggy bank for your pocket money, and if you cut in half, you will have a plant pot. Go green! You can make a difference.

Surprising Camara.

    WATCH out! A slingshot(弹弓) is aimed at you. But don't be afraid. It's just a camara. It's called Slingshot Camara. The camara will catch your Surprised look. Pull the rubberhand(橡皮筋)back and shoot. It takes a Picture. Two designers from South Korea made's.

Making Use of Smog

    SMOG(雾霾)is annoying. But what if it could be made into a diamond(钻石)? A “Smog Free Tower” will try to do that, although the diamonds will not be as real ones. Black particles(颗粒)in smog and diamonds are mostly carbon. A designer from the Netherlands made the tower.

New Flower Home

    WHEN plants get too big, you have to move them from a small flowerpot to a big one. Now, the special Growth Flowerpot can save you time and energy. It's made of a special materal in origami style. It gets bigger and bigger as the plant grows. It is from Belgium.

Easy Bike Parking

    PARKING a bike is not easy in big cities. Here comes the bicycle-parking tower. You only need to use a card and push a button. Then the tower can hold your bike in an empty place inside it. You don't even need to lock the bike.

Solar Charged Light

    YOU can put it in your pocket. But if it's inflated(充气), it turns into a light! This is LumnAID, a solar light that can be on for 16 hours after recharging(充电) with just seven hours of sunlight. Two US students designed it.

B

    No Car Day was first started by 34 cities in France on September 22, 1998. It was started to protect the environment. By now, more than 1,000 cities around the world have had a No Car Day.

    The first No Car Day in China was in Chengdu in 2001. Other cities including Taipei, Shanghai and Wuhan, also support the day.

    In Beijing, more and more people are taking part in the activity. It asks drivers to leave their cars at home for one day each month and walk or ride a bike to work. It also calls on Beijingers not to use cars on June 5th (World Environment Day). The slogan for the day is, "If we drive for one less day, we can have one more nice day."

    So far, more than 200,000 drivers have shown their support. "We can't control the weather, but we can choose not to drive," said Wu Zhonghua, a car club chairman. Beijing is trying to have 238 blue sky days this year. In the first quarter of 2007, Beijing only had 52 blue sky days. This was 11 days less than the number for the same period last year. Much of the dust comes from the desert, but cars cause most of the air pollution. We must do more for No Car Day.

    Everyone has got two personalities (性格)—the one that is shown to the world and the other that is secret and real. You don't show your secret personality when you're awake because you can control yourself, but when you're asleep, your sleeping position shows the real you. In a normal night, of course, you often change your sleeping positions. The important position that best shows your secret personality is the one that you go to sleep.

    If you go to sleep on your back, you're a very open person. You normally trust people and you are easily influenced by new ideas. You don't like to make people unhappy, so you never express your real feelings. You're quite shy and you aren't very confident.

    If you sleep on your stomach, you are a person who likes to keep secrets. You worry a lot and you're always easily becoming sad. You never want to change your ideas, but you are satisfied with your life the way it is. You usually live for today not for tomorrow.

    If you sleep on curled up (蜷缩) , you are probably a very nervous person. You have a low opinion of yourself and often protect yourself from being hurt, so you are very defensive. You're shy and you don't usually like meeting people. You like to be on your own.

    If you sleep on your side, you have usually got a well-balanced (平衡的) personality. You know your strengths and weaknesses. You're usually careful. You have a confident personality. You sometimes feel worried, but you don't often get unhappy. You always say what you think, even if it makes people angry.

    What is the most stressful (有压力的) thing in school? It is probably exams. Exams can put us under a lot of stress. But some students do better under stress, while others do not. So, why do some students behave better under stress?

    It all comes down to dopamine (多巴胺). Dopamine is a chemical in our body that sends signals in the brain. It has many important roles: influencing memory, attention and how we learn.

    Our brains work best when there is a balance (平衡) of dopamine—not too much or too little. Our brains control dopamine in two ways. It either takes out dopamine quickly, or bit by bit. Exam success can be connected to how fast dopamine goes back to a balance, according to new research from the University of Missouri, reported Yahoo.

    What happens when we take an exam? If you become stressed, your brain will start to overload on dopamine. It is like a cup overflowing with water. The quicker you are able to go back to a balance of dopamine, the quicker you can focus, helping you do better on a test.

    Scientists found that, during a test, people who slowly got back to a balance of dopamine scored 8 percent lower. That's the difference between a good mark and a bad mark.

    But don't fear, there is good news for every student. The study also found that the more practice you get, the less stressed you will be. So, it turns out that     .

    Goal(射门)! Football, or soccer, is one of the world's most popular sports. The game first came from old China, though the modern football game began on the streets of old England. The rule is simple: get the ball in the other team's goal, not using your hands or arms. With simple rules and easy equipment(设备), people can play football anywhere. But the game needs teamwork.

    The men's game came into the Olympics at the 1900 Paris Games in France. The women's game came into the Olympics at the 1996 Atlanta Games in Georgia. At the Olympics, players play for two 45-minute halves, with 11 players on each team.

    At the Olympics, we make 16 men's and 12 women's teams into groups of four teams. Each team plays against every other team in their group. The best eight teams in the men's and women's competitions move onto the quarterfinals. In the end the best one will become the winner of the game.