Our living environment is being polluted faster than before and it seems nobody can prevent it. Time brings us more people, and more people bring us more industry, more cars, larger cities and growing use of man-made materials.

      How can we understand and solve this problem? The fact is that pollution is caused by man —by his desire (欲望）for a modem way of life. So we are often ready to offer everything: clean water, good food, our health and the future of our children. There are more people from the countryside moving into the cities and enjoying the modem society. But as the technological momentum (势头) has grown in the last twenty years, pollution has become a serious problem.

      Now we have to stop to ask ourselves where we are going and why. It makes one think of the story about the airline pilot who told his passengers over the loudspeaker, “I've got some good news and bad news. The good news is that we're going at 530 miles per hour. The bad news is that we're lost and don't know where we are going.” The sad fact is that this problem becomes a true story when speaking of our modem society.

    There are many kinds of ants(蚂蚁) in America. One is very strong. People are afraid(害怕) of it and animals are afraid of it, too.

    These ants are often in big groups(群). They eat all the animals on their way. They can kill(杀死) and eat elephants. And they can eat house. Sometimes they can kill people and eat them. When the ants come near, people leave their homes. But people are sometimes happy after the ants pass by (经过), because they can see no insects(昆虫) or snakes(蛇).

Have you noticed that time seems to pass more slowly when you're waiting in a long line? But when you're playing with your friends, hours seem like minutes. Of course, time is always passing at the same speed--but why does it sometimes feel different?

A study published in the Journal of Neuroscience (神经科学杂志)can tell us the answer. Lead author Masamichi Hayashi and his research team in the US found that it has to do with neurons(神经元)in our brains that are sensitive(敏感的)to time.

The researchers measured (测量)the brain activity of 18 adults who were asked to look at a picture on a screen for a certain period of time. They were then asked to guess how long they had been looking at the picture. They were likely to guess incorrectly when they were asked to stare at the picture for very long or very short periods of time. 

After looking at their brain activity, the researchers found neurons need a certain amount of time to pass signals. When they receive repetitive stimulation(重复的刺激) (such as staring at a screen), these neurons finally get tired and don't work well. It doesn't matter whether this amount of time is long or short, as long as the stimulation is repetitive. However, other neurons still work normally, causing a different experience of time.

When you stand in line or do some other repetitive tasks, such as math homework, your time-sensitive neurons get tired and cause you to feel like time is going slowly. But when you're doing something more high-speed, such as playing soccer, you experience in the opposite way. Either way, you can't always trust your brain when it comes to your experience of time.

①Giethoorn is a magical village in northern Netherlands. It's so fantastic that some people have a hard time believing it's real. Although the small village has no roads or cars, it has plenty of boats!

②Giethoorn's most noticeable feature(特色) is its canals(运河). They serve as the village's roads. With the feature, it gets another name" Dutch Venice". Local people get around by boat or bicycle, and if they have cars, they have to park them outside the village. Boats are certainly the most important ways of transportation(运输). Bridges connect most homes and businesses, but some houses can only be reached by water. That's why postmen have to send mails by boat. 

③The second thing that visitors notice is the quiet. With a population of just over 2, 700 and without any noisy traffic, the village is what many people call a quiet oasis(绿洲). "In Netherlands'water village, the loudest sound you can normally hear is the sound of a duck or the noise made by birds, " a villager there said. 

④But that isn't to say the village is not a popular place. In fact, it has become a place of interest, offering comfortable hotels and delicious meals at waterside restaurants. 

⑤With all those wonderful views, Giethoorn is a perfect place for holiday. Would you go there if you had a chance? Visiting Giethoorn is certainly on many persons'tour list. We only have one question: When can we order the air ticket to Netherlands?

Billy Ray Harris was homeless. He spent each day on the streets of Kansas City, begging for money or food. Every day, as he sat thinking about his life, he occasionally heard the sound of a coin or two coming into his cup. One day, the noise was louder than usual. If Billy had looked up, he'd have seen a young lady on her way to work. But he didn't. Later when he looked into the cup, he could hardly believe what he saw. At the bottom was a shining diamond ring.

Billy's first thought was to go straight to a jeweller's(珠宝店) and that's exactly what he did. To his amazement, he was offered $4,000. Billy thought long and hard. Was this a mistake? It was more money than he'd seen in a long time. But then he thought about his grandfather, who had brought him up always to do the right thing, and knew he had to reconsider. His mind was made up. He'd keep the ring and maybe one day its owner would return.

Two days later, a young woman came while he was begging. She introduced herself as Sarah Darling and asked if he'd found anything unusual in his cup. Billy reached into his pocket and pulled out the ring. When he saw the smile on her face, he knew he'd made the right decision. She explained when putting the coins into his cup, she'd forgotten putting her ring in her purse.

But the story doesn't end there. Sarah told her husband the story and wanted to post it on the Internet. He thought it was a good idea. They also called on raising money for Billy. They had more than $185,000. Billy Ray Harris no longer spends his days begging. He has a home and a job. The story also made the local news and he was reunited with his two sisters, who he hadn't seen for 16 years. If he hadn't done the right thing, he wouldn't have seen his sisters again.