Do you know kind words and light music can help plants grow better? Many people talk and play music to their plants. And many people try very hard to protect their plants from loud noise, strong light and bad smell. That's not all. Some people are very careful about what they say or do in front of plants. They don't talk about unhappy things and won't beat a fly near their plants.

    Do plants have feelings? Many pupils think so. Even a few scientists think that plants have feelings. But most scientists don't agree. They don't think that plants call be happy, worried, angry, loving or afraid. They don't believe that a plant's feeling can be hurt.

    Professor Cleve Backster in America did an experiment and said that plants have feelings like human beings. He published an article in a magazine in 1968. People began to pay more attention to this topic since then.

    Here is some information about some of the wonders of the world. I am sure you will be interested in them.

    ThePyramids of Egypt

    There are about eighty pyramids known today. The most well-known was for Pharaoh（法老）

    Khufu. It is known as the "Great Pyramid". It's also the largest one. Workers used about 2.3 million blocks of stone to build it. They spent about 20 years finishing it.

    The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

    The garden sat on a hill. It was a large and wonderful structure（建筑物）. Many parts of the garden were high up on large columns（支柱）. There were many big and green trees with lovely flowers. Although there are many different ideas about the garden, we are not sure whether this wonder ever existed（存在）!

    TheLighthouse of Alexandria

    The Lighthouse of Alexandria was designed about 2,000 years ago. It was in Egypt, too. It was one of the ancient wonders of the world, about 135 metres high. It was once the highest building in the world. Although it doesn't exist now, many people come to see its relic（遗址）every year.

    Not many years ago, some farmers were worried because hawks ( 鹰) were taking many of their chicken. The farmers didn't know what to do. Finally they went to the country officials and asked for help.

    "Kill the hawks," the officials said. "We will even pay for them." So the farmers began to think of ways to kill the hawks.

    The farmers killed many hawks. They no longer had to worry about their chickens. But they now had a new worry. Field mice were eating up a lot of the farmers' grain.

    How did this happen?

    Hawks cannot only chickens but also field mice. They eat more field mice than chickens. But the farmers didn't know this. When they killed a lot of hawks, they changed the balance.

    When people move into a new place, they often destroy many wild plants. Often these plants are food for the animals. If the animals can't find enough plants to eat, they will starve or have to leave the place.

    In one part of the USA, for example, the deer there like to eat a certain kind of wild roses. The mountain lions there eat the deer. The number of deer, mountain lions and wild roses doesn't change much if people leave things as they are. But people killed many mountain lions in order to protect the deer. Soon there were so many deer that they ate up all the wild roses. Then the deer began to eat the green leaves of young trees. These trees were important to the farmers. So the farmers thought of ways to protect their trees. Now the deer had nothing to eat, and many of them died. This was another lesson from nature.

    To keep the balance of nature is important for us to remember.

    Man is a land animal, but he is also closely tied to the sea. Throughout history the sea has served the needs of man. The sea has provided man with food and a convenient way to travel to many parts of the world. Today, nearly two—thirds of the world's population live within 80 kilometers of the sea coast.

    In the modern technological world, the sea offers many resources to help mankind survive (=continue to live). Resources on land are beginning to be used up. The sea, however, still can be hoped to supply many of man's needs.

    The list of riches of the sea yet to be developed by man's technology is impressive. Oil and gas explorations have been carried out for nearly 30 years. Valuable amounts of minerals exist on the ocean floor ready to be mined (开采).

    Fish farming promises to be a good way to produce large quantities of food. The culture of fish and shellfish (贝类动物) is an ancient skill practised in the past mainly by Oriental people.

    Besides oil and gas, the sea may offer new sources of energy. Experts believe that the warm temperature of the ocean can be used in a way similar to the steam in a steamship. Ocean currents (水流) and waves offer possible use as a source of energy.

    Technology is enabling man to explor ever more deeply under the sea. The development of strong, new materials has made this possible.

    The technology to harvest the sea continues to improve. Experts believe that by the year 2000 the problems that prevent us from exploiting fully the food, minerals, and energy sources of the sea will be largely solved.

    This week is Computer Science Education Week. During the week, students around the world will be taking part in an "Hour of Code" and learning a little about programming computers. This year, there will be more than 200.000 events in over 180 countries.

    The U.S. Congress first created Computer Science Education Week in 2009 to remember Grace Hopper, one of the women who played an important part in the early days of computers.

    Hadi Partovi came up with the idea of the Hour of Code. He thinks coding is an important skill and that it's important for schools to teach computer science. He started the Hour of Code in 2013 because he was worried that computer science was not a big part of what schools taught in most states.

    To spread his idea, he got the help from many famous people. Some were famous for working with computers, like Bill Gates. Others were famous in other areas. Mr. Partovi got a lot of money for his idea from big companies like Facebook. Google, and Microsoft.

    Students who take part in the Hour of Code complete a short coding challenge that is broken down into small, simple steps. The challenge is supposed to take about an hour in all.

    To raise the interest of students, the challenges are often tied in with popular movies or games. For example, challenges have been built around Angry Birds. Mine Craft. Frozen. and Star Wars—One test of the program's success is whether students keep going once the time is up. It turns out that many of them do. Last year, teachers reported that 92% of their students coded for more than an hour.