Drive through any suburb in the U.S. today,and it's hard to miss the bins that have become companions to America's trash cans.Recycling has become commonplace,as people recognize the need to care for the environment. Yet most people's recycling consciousness extends only as far as paper,bottles,and cans.People seldom find themselves facing the growing problem of e-waste.

    E-waste rapidly increases as the techno-fashionable frequently upgrade to the most advanced devices,and the majority of them end up in landfills（垃圾填埋地）.Some people who track such waste say that users throw away nearly 2 million tons of TVs,VCRs,computers,cell phones,and other electronics every year.Unless we can find a safe replacement,this e-waste may get into the ground and poison the water with dangerous toxins（毒素）,such as lead, mercury,and arsenic.Burning the waste also dangerously contaminates the air.

    However,e-waste often contains reusable silver.gold.and other electrical materials.Recycling these materials reduces environmental problems by reducing both landfill waste and the need to look for such metals,which can destroy ecosystems.

    A growing number of states have adopted laws to ban dumping e-waste.Still,less than a quarter of this refuse will reach lawful recycling programs.Some companies advertising safe disposal（处置）in fact merely ship the waste to some developing countries,where it still ends up in landfills.These organizations prevent progress by unsafely disposing of waste in an out-of-sight,out-of-mind location.

    However,the small but growing number of cities and corporations that do handle e-waste responsibly represents progress toward making the world a cleaner,better place for us all.

    People eat different things in different parts of the world.

    In south China we eat rice every day. Sometimes we eat it two or three times a day, for breakfast, lunch and supper. We usually eat it with fish, meat and vegetable.

    The Japanese eat rice, too. They also eat a lot of fish. They sometimes eat raw（生的）fish. In Africa, maize（玉米）is the most important food. People there make maize into flour（面粉）.From this flour they make different kinds of bread and cakes.

    In western（西方的）countries such as Britain, Australia and the U.S.A, the most important food is bread or potatoes. People there usually make their bread from wheat flour. They cook the potatoes in different ways. In England the most popular food is fish and chips. Sometimes people cook this food at home, but usually they buy it at the shop. They eat this food at home, in their work place, in the park or on the road. People call it "take-away" food.

    World leaders from nearly 200 countries have signed an important historic agreement to fight global climate change. The agreement came after two weeks of talks between the leaders at the 21st Conference in Paris, France.

    As part of the Paris agreement, countries said they would cut down on pollution However, according to the terms of the deal, countries that don't do this will not be punished, or fined. Instead，the document is meant to show that governments around the world take climate change seriously and are willing to work together to fight global warming.

    World leaders have met many times to discuss climate change. But, the 21st Conference of Parties, or COP21, which began on November 30 in Paris, was the first time they agreed on a global, legal pact (协定).

    Before the conference, each nation was asked to create plans on how to reach the shared goal. The pact that was signed allows countries to decide the best way to cut down their gas pollution. No matter how they decide to go green, each country must report honestly on all of their efforts. Every five years, nations must look at the work they've done and submit new plans on how they will improve over the next five years.

    In the pact, the countries pledge（承诺）to limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted（排放） by human activity to the levels that trees，soil and oceans can absorb naturally. It urges countries to spend trillions of dollars on creating new energy sources, like solar and wind power. It also requires countries to raise at least $ 100 billion each year to help developing countries.

    However, critics of the pact say it is not detailed enough, and doesn't include specifics about how the plan will be enforced and how improvements will be measured. The pact does include one large, specific goal: how countries will aim to keep global temperatures from rising more than 3.60℉(20℃) by 2100.

    Nonetheless，the agreement is considered by many world leaders to be a major victory. The U. N. has been working more than two decades to convince governments to work together to reduce man-made emissions.

    “History will remember this day,” U. N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said. “The Paris agreement on climate change is a monumental success for the planet and its people.”

    THE WEEK IN READING: THE BEST NEW BOOK RELEASES FOR APRIL, 2017

    Katherine Johnson, a brilliant mathematician at NASA (美国宇航局), began working on the space program in the 1950s. Many of NASA's first missions were made possible by her amazing calculations (计算).

    As a child, she loved to count. Her father placed great importance on education and insisted all four of his children go to college, working overtime to pay for it. Johnson said this atmosphere was important to her success. "I was always around people who were learning something. I liked to learn." She said.

    Johnson graduated from high school at 14 and college at 18. In 1953, Johnson started to work for NASA, doing the math that powered engineers' work. Then, because of her outstanding talent, she was moved to work on rockets with an all-male flight research team. As for Johnson, her calculations contributed to many of NASA's most important projects. In 1961, with the help of Johnson's work, Alan Shepherd became the first American to go into space. Johnson also lent her unbelievable talent to the success of the Apollo 13, which had trouble getting back to earth. She worked hard to calculate a safe path back to Earth for the astronauts.

    Johnson retired in 1986, but her huge contribution to the space program has only been reaching the public attention for the past few years. Part of that is because, as she is the first to admit, science is based on collaboration. "I never took any credit because we always worked as a team, it was never just one person," she said in a 2010 interview.

    Earlier this year, NASA named a new data center after her. She was also given a Silver Snoopy award, which recognizes "outstanding performance, contributing to flight safety and mission success."

    At the age of 14, James Harrison had a major chest operation and he required 13 units (3.4 gallons) of blood afterwards. The blood donations saved his life, and he decided that once he turned 18, he would begin donating blood as regularly as he could.

    More than 60 years and almost 1,200 donations later, Harrison, whose blood contains an antibody (抗体) that has saved the lives of 2.4 million babies from miscarriages (流产), retired as a blood donor on May 11. Harrison's blood is valuable because he naturally produces Rh-negative blood, which contains Rh-positive antibodies. His blood has been used to create anti-D in Australia since 1967.

    "Every bottle of Anti-D ever made in Australia has James in it," Robyn Barlow, the Rh program director told the Sydney Morning Herald. "It's an amazing thing. He has saved millions of babies. I cry just thinking about it." Since then, Harrison has donated between 500 and 800 milliliters of blood almost every week. He's made 1,162 donations from his right arm and 10 from his left.

    "I'd keep going if they let me," Harrison told the Herald. His doctors said it was time to stop the donations — and they certainly don't take them lightly. They had already extended the age limit for blood donations for him, and they're cutting him off now to protect his health. He made his final donation surrounded by some of the mothers and babies who his blood helped save.

    Harrison's retirement is a blow to the Rh treatment program in Australia. Only 160 donors support the program, and finding new donors has proven to be difficult. But Harrison's retirement from giving blood doesn't mean he's completely out of the game. Scientists are collecting and cataloging his DNA to create a library of antibodies and white blood cells that could be the future of the anti-D program in Australia.