Can plants learn and remember? Monica from Australia thinks so.

    Monica and her team members did some tests on mimosas(含羞草). The plants close their leaves quickly when people touch them. They put some mimosas in 56 pots. Every time they dropped the pots from 30cm high, the plants closed their leaves. Monica and her team members did this for a whole day. To their surprise，at the end of the day, the plants didn't close their leaves at all. It seemed that the plants learned that this action wouldn't hurt them.

    Another amazing thing was that the plants might remember things for a long time. Monica dropped the same pots of mimosas four weeks later. The plants still didn't close their leaves.

    Monica wasn't sure how plants learned and remembered. "The plants don't have brains, after all. Maybe they learn and remember with the help of their cells(细胞)," she said.

    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.

Almost everyone has a question or two about living in space. What is life really like in space? And what do astronauts do there?

Astronauts living in space have the same hygiene(卫生) needs as people do on the earth. When they wake up, they wash their hair, brush their teeth and go to the bathroom as well. However, because of microgravity(微重力), astronauts have to use a kind of special matter to wash their hair and use leg restraints(安全装置) to place themselves when they use the toilet.

Astronauts eat three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some food can be eaten in the natural form such as fruit. Other food needs water such as noodles. There are no fridges in space, so space food must be stored and prepared correctly and they won't go bad.

Besides morning routine (常规) and eating in space, astronauts perform many tasks, such as checking the machines and updating(更新)computer equipment. At the same time, the control centre on the earth sends messages to the astronauts through voice or email with new instructions to help them with their daily work.

What's more, living in space is not just all work and no play. They can enjoy themselves by looking out of the window, watching movies, reading books, playing cards and talking to their families during their free time.

When Helen Keller was nineteen months old, a brief illness made her both deaf and blind. With such limitations, how could Keller ever be expected to find happiness?

Because happiness has been considered a personal concept, it is difficult to define（定义）. Many people throughout history have tried. Greek scientist and philosopher Aristotle wrote, "Happiness depends upon ourselves," which is not a definition but an observation that individuals are responsible for their own happiness. Roman statesman and philosopher Lucius Seneca wrote of a particular quality of happiness, saying, "True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future."

Is there a scientific basis（基础）for happiness? Researcher suggests happiness is a matter of perspective: "Truly happy individuals construe life events and daily situations in ways that seem to maintain their happiness, while unhappy individuals construe（理解）experiences in ways that seem to reinforce unhappiness". Basically, this means the way you choose to remember events and situations affects your happiness.

Some research concludes happiness is made up of three parts: pleasure, engagement and meaning. Pleasure involves things that give physical and emotional joy, such as playing a sport or seeing beautiful art. Engagement involves positive interactions（互动）with other people, such as studying or working with people whose company you enjoy. Meaning relates to feeling that your work is useful and important to others.

Even with scientific rationalization（合理化）, questions remain. For example, are younger people happier than older people? In fact, the opposite seems to be true. This may be because younger people tend to experience higher levels of negative emotions, such as anxiety and anger. The young also have less control over their lives because they lack both independence and the ability to make many of their own decisions.

Perhaps the most important question is whether you can change how happy you are. Studies of identical twins suggest that genetics forms about half of your happiness level. Your quality of life influences about 10 percent of your happiness. That means about 40 percent of your happiness is determined by your choices and actions.

From this explanation we can see that one way you can make yourself happier is to set goals. Keller had a definition of happiness in keeping with this idea. She felt happiness did not come from simply trying to satisfy your own desires but rather by contributing your time and skills to improve the world in some way.

Even if you are unable to achieve a goal that makes the world better in some small way, simply trying will likely give your life meaning and, at the same time, happiness.

When you feel unhappy or forget how great you are, these are five ways to make you feel good about yourself.

* Look in the mirror(镜子) and say to yourself" {#blank#}1{#/blank#}I can do anything."It may not sound so good, but it really works(起作用)!

*{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Helping others always makes you feel good.

* Smile! {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Look for the good things in your friends and family.

* Read and start a diary. Turn off the TV and let your imagination (想象) fly! Write down your thoughts,dreams or anything you want! {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

* {#blank#}5{#/blank#} We all need our family time. Talk with your Mum or Dad or maybe even your cousin.

A. Stay with your family.

B. I'm a special person and there's no one in the world like me.

C. You should be friendly to people.

D. Help someone.

E. Writing always helps to express(表达) your feelings.

Confidence is very important in daily life. It is helpful to develop a healthy attitude (态度）. A study shows that the people who are more confident are much happier. And they can have more chances to be successful. Here are some suggestions to be more confident.