Compared with other European countries, lifestyle in Italy is slower and more relaxing in its own way. Italians love to chat over a cup of coffee, go out for a walk in the middle of the day, and enjoy long lunches and dinners.

    The family is important to Italians. They can't think of spending a day without talking about their parents and children, or a weekend without a family lunch or dinner. Italians living outside their country miss their family a lot.

    Italians like simple life. Their days start and end with a cup of coffee. A cup of coffee after every meal is a must. Italians love to spend time over a hot cup of coffee and even hotter conversation with friends. Topics are usually about family, football and politics(政治).

    Sport is a very important part in lives of many Italians. Football is their favorite sport. There are hundreds of football clubs with top football teams in Italy. Also, many top players from all over the world play in Italy. Volleyball is also popular and so is rugby, with the top rugby team playing for the European Challenge Cup.

Every Italian province, city, town and street has a historical event that took place there and the Italian calendar is filled with national holidays that they love to celebrate.

    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.

    Try to imagine a life without a memory. It would be impossible. You couldn't use a language, because you wouldn't remember the words. You couldn't understand a film, because you need to hold the first part of the story in your mind in order to understand the later parts. You wouldn't be able to recognize anyone - even members of your own family. You would live in a present forever. You would have no past and you wouldn't be able to imagine a future.

    Human beings have amazing memories. Besides all our memories about our own lives, we can recall (回忆) between 20,000 and 100,000 words in our own language as well as possibly thousands more in a foreign language. We have all kinds of information about different subjects such as history, science, and geography, and we have many skills such as driving a car or playing a musical instrument. All these things depend on our memory.

    How well you remember things depends on many different factors. Firstly, some people have better memories than others, in just the same way as some people are taller than others. Secondly, research shows that, you can store different things in different parts of the brain. Ideas, words, and numbers are stored in the left—hand side, while the right-hand side remembers pictures, sounds, and smells. In most people, one side of the brain is more developed than the other, and this may explain why some people can remember people's faces easily, but can't remember their names.

    The coffee shop Starbucks will give people a discount if they bring their own cups. It wants to cut down on the number of paper cups that are put in the rubbish bins. It is part of a two-month experiment in cafes in England. Starbucks wants to reduce waste and recycle more, The president of Starbucks in the UK said, "We are very happy to increase recycling rates(比率)，and reusable cups are a key part of our waste reduction plan." Bosses will decide later if they will continue the discounts. People who bring their own cups will not get a discount on the cafe's cheaper filter coffee.

    The problem of paper cups has been in the news a lot. Around seven million cups are thrown away every day. Reporters say that some cafes lie about how many paper cups they recycle. The reporters say the cafes do not recycle as many cups as they say. Customers wrongly believe that a coffee shop is environmentally friendly. Less than one in 400 paper cups at coffee shops are recycled. A coffee drinker said she would bring her own cup. She said, "I am so sad that cafes recycle so little. I thought they were more responsible."

    Nowadays we can see more and more electric bikes in the street. Electric bikes 61. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (be) easy to ride. They run fast and make no {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (pollute). They become very popular, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}the electric bikes also cause more traffic accidents. So China plans {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (make) a new rule for the electric bike riders. If an electric bike is {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (heavy) than 40 kilos and can go faster than 20 kilometers an hour, its rider must get a license. It means some riders have to pass driving tests before they ride {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (them) electric bikes on the road.

    People have different ideas after {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (hear) the plan. Some welcome the plan. A bus driver said happily, " {#blank#}8{#/blank#}a good plan! I think it will make the street much safer." Some are not happy with the new rules at all. One rider said {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (sad), "I don't want to get a license. It's not convenient {#blank#}10{#/blank#}me to get one." Some don't care about it. A young rider said calmly, "I prefer to use shared bikes which are popular in many big cities of China now. I hope they can come to Loudi earlier!"

{#blank#}1{#/blank#} ⑴The first thing to remember is that when a friend invites you over, you need to arrive on time. If your friend tells you to come "around 3:00", that means you can turn up a little bit after 3:00. But usually it is a good idea to arrive at the right time.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#} ⑵Often it is also nice to bring something to your friend's house. This could be a box of chocolate for you two to share, or maybe a movie that you can watch together. You can also bring some flowers. A little gift is a nice way to show your friend that you are excited to be at his house.

{#blank#}3{#/blank#} ⑶When you visit your friend's house, you may also meet his parents. You should tell them who you are and they may tell you their names, and then they may tell you to call them by their first names. Another way to show respect is to call them Madam or Sir.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} ⑷As we all know, students should learn how to get on well with others. But in what ways? First of all, we should respect others. Everyone has their own way to do things, so we should understand each other. Besides, it is important for us to communicate with each other. What's more, we should be kind to others and offer necessary help to those who are in trouble.

{#blank#}5{#/blank#} ⑸Everybody has his parents. But not everybody gets on well with his parents. Well, first, we should respect our parents because they bring us up and care for us all the time. Second, we are supposed to do some housework at home. We should help clean the room, cook meals and so on. Third, we should care for them, have a talk with them about their work.