Oct. 16 is World Food Day. The UN started the day in 1979. It's used to remind people not to waste food and fight hunger.

    A big number of people in the world still don't have enough food to eat. Food shortage(匮乏) is a big problem worldwide. Right now, there are more than 1000 million hungry people in the world according to the UN. Many children go to sleep hungry, and 15 million of them die of hunger each year.

    There are several reasons why there are food shortages. First,there have been more droughts(干旱) and floods recently. Also,a growing population makes feeding everyone more difficult.

    Another big reason is food waste. Most people don't realize how much food they throw away every day. Sometimes we cook too much, or we don't use it goes bad. The average(平均的) person throws away 50kg of food every year. According to the UN, more than third of all food produced worldwide goes to waste each year.

    That is over 1,300,000 million kilograms of food being wasted. The amount of food wasted in Europe can feed 200 million people, and the food wasted in Latin America can feed 300 million a year.

    So think twice next time you want to throw away food.By cutting down on food waste, we could help put food on the empty plates of some hungry children. Only order as much food as you can eat at a restaurant. If you can't eat all you order, take the rest home. Don't be too picky about food so that you don't leave any on your plate. Some food may not taste great, but your body needs it. Keep an eye on what food you have at home. Don't buy too much. Don't cook too much.

    When you throw away food, you are not just wasting the food itself. Resources(资源) are also wasted while growing, transporting and cooking the food. These things all take energy, time and water.

title:{#blank#}1{#/blank#} on World Food Day

    A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held a sign which said, "I am blind. Please help me."

    There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by could see the new words.

    Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized(认出) his footsteps and asked, "Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said, but in a different way."

    What he had written was, "Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it."

    Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

    Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.

    Everyone wants to find happiness. But sometimes looking for happiness can be as hard as looking for lost treasure. Just when you think you nearly reach it, something unexpected happens. This may trouble you a lot. Here are some tips for helping you find happiness.

    Don't put all your eggs in one basket. If you depend on one thing or one person to make you happy, it may be impossible. You need to have larger circle of friends.

    Follow your heart. When we go against our own thoughts, we usually feel sad. Follow your strong feeling and let it guide you to people and things that will improve your life. Day by day, you will be happier than before.

    Organize your ideas. Many people push away happiness when they think too much. Don't keep everything in head. Try making a list of lot of things that don't seem too big to manage on your own. You may find the list isn't as long as you thought. You can do most of the things by yourself.

    Look at your life as a whole. Most of the things that stop us from feeling happy are just some little things. Remember life is always going on and whatever the little thing is, it will finally end.

    Happiness can be hard to feel at times, so don't think there is something wrong with you if you don't feel it. The ways above will help you to feel more of it.

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    A music club was set up in Class One, Grade Eight. The students who like music can join the club. There are some students in it now.

    Li lei likes rock music best. He says, "Rock music is my favorite, because it makes me happy and exited. It sounds exciting and most people like it. I am going to become a famous singer of a band when I grow up."

    Wang Ming says, "I am from the country. So I liked country music when I was young, and I still like it now. I will sing a song when I'm sad, and then I'll get better."

    The twins like jazz best because they can dance to the music.

    Jack says, "I like pop music, but I do well in playing musical instruments, so I like classical music best. I want to continue studying classical music."

    Han and Xue like folk music best, they say it sounds wonderful. They are ready for the next school concert.

Information Card

    Last weekend, I took a trip to the popular National Air and Space Museum. I found that lots of children all over the place were happy. If ever in my life I felt like a child again, this was surely the place.

    As I went into the cockpit(驾驶舱)of an airplane, I felt that my dream of becoming a pilot came true. Everywhere I walked, I was close to airplanes. Very big spaceships and rockets were in different houses. There were kinds of cool things on show. You could join in many experiments to explore(探索)interesting things on science. The National Air and Space Museum is an excellent place to visit.

    Oh, make sure you eat something before you come into the museum because the only place you can eat something here is a Boston Market fast food restaurant. The price of the food in it is very high. I had a Big Mac meal for almost $9!

    Note-taking is a skill that can help you do well in all your schoolwork. It can make you confident(自信的)when you are studying. But unluckily, most students don't know how to take notes.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#} If your teacher writes notes on the blackboard, that's great. You can copy them or write down the most important facts of all in class. Different teachers do things differently. For example, some teachers may focus on（关注）lots of dates and facts in class, but they only write the important ones on the blackboard. Other teachers may not write anything down, but they may say something important again and again.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Don't be afraid to ask your teacher to repeat what you miss. If your teacher speaks too fast and you can't follow what he is saying, you can ask him after class.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Comparing your notes with your classmates' can be good for your learning. It can also help you and your classmates correct some mistakes.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Note-taking also needs organization. Keep notes for each subject in one notebook, so that you can find everything easily when a test comes.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#}If you decide to recopy your notes every evening, you'll surely have less time to watch TV. But you'll save time in the coming test.