Do you know what couch-potato means? Well, in America, the word is now often used. The American couch-potato becomes maybe even a part of American tradition. You see, in America, many people often spend their free time sitting on a couch（沙发）watching TV. As there are many programs to choose, the TV can be quite interesting and very addictive（上瘾的）. One may sit and watch TV for hour and hour without stop. They do nothing else but watch TV. These people are called couch-potatoes.

    In America, when one watches TV, he is most often sitting on a couch. While watching TV, most of these people look so frozen that they almost look dead. Everyone is sitting still（安静地） with eyes looking right into the same black box. Also because these people are addictive to TV, they don't exercise and usually get very fat. So in many ways, they look like real potatoes. Well, because they look so still and fat, and watch TV on a couch, they are all called couch-potatoes.

    Now you know what couch-potatoes means. The next time if you see someone watching TV too long, just say, "What a couch-potato!"

Eating out is more popular in Britain today than it has ever been. It is reported that British people spend more eating out than cooking for themselves and eating at home. It seems that many British people are becoming more and more interested in how good their food tastes, and also how healthy it is.

However, eating out can also be expensive, so British people do not eat out every night. When having a date with friends, or having a birthday, many people like to go to a restaurant, and people often also eat in a restaurant before going to the cinema or the theater.

As in all cultures, there are many rules of manners about eating. The knife and fork should be used in the correct way. It is also impolite to speak with your mouth full then you are eating.
   Most British cities have a large collection of food as well as British food, from the very cheap to the very expensive—French, Italian, Indian, Chinese, Thai, Japanese and many, many more.

When people are too tired to cook after work, they often get a "takeaway". This means that they order from a take－out restaurant by telephone, and then go to get it. Many take-out restaurants also send it to your house. All you have to do is to open the door, pay and eat!

Do you know Machu Picchu in Peru? Maybe you never hear about it and think there is nothing great with it. But it is famous all over the world, just like the Great Wall in our country.

Machu Picchu is over 600 years old, but people found it very late, in 

1911. That's why people also call it"The Lost City of the Incas". Machu Piechu lies on the highland of a mountain, at over 2,400 metres above sea level. It is about 5 km² and has about 200 different old but great buildings. There are three areas(地区) in Machu Picchu and every one of them has different uses. The slopes(斜坡)of the mountain work as the farming areas. The lower (更低的) areas are the buildings for people to live in. The top of the mountain is for religious activities(宗教活动). From there, you can enjoy all of Machu Picchu.

▲Why did people build the city on the mountain? How did they build these fantastic buildings? Who lived there before? It may take a long time to find them out.

Do you often visit bakeries (烘焙店) for a sweet treat? And have you ever wondered what happens to the unsold bread? Lately, this topic has brought a wide discussion on the Internet.

Unlike ice cream, bread is kept at room temperature, leading to a short shelf life (保质期).

"Freshly baked bread can only be kept for 24 hours, while packaged (包装好的) bread lasts 3 days." said a bakery manager in Jiangxi Province. At the end of a day, some bakeries sell the near-expired (临期的) bread at a lower price. But others would rather throw it away because they are afraid that many customers will just wait until the end to buy cheaper bread.

If so can bakeries make less bread in the first place to reduce waste? The answer is "No." In fact, a shelf full of bread will increase people's desire to buy more. Also, bakeries need to make many kinds of bread every day to meet different customers' needs.

Throwing away the unsold bread will lead to a huge waste for sure, so some bakeries are looking for better ways to deal with it. For example, some bakeries sell near-expired products through "blind boxes". At a bakery in Shanghai, there is a blind box sale from 8 to 9 p.m. every day. People can get a random (随机的) type of near-expired bread at a low price. "It's great because it reduces food waste," said one customer. "And the blind box always gives me a little surprise!" What's more, some bakeries give away the near-expired products to people in need. Even the expired bread can be sent to recycling companies and turned into food for animals.

With more and more rain falling, it's time for snakes to be active. Living in the city, it never crosses your mind that we might meet them face to face.

Most people are afraid of snakes. They may think snakes are dangerous and ugly. There are more than 2,000 kinds of snakes. Most of them live in mountains or forests, and in cities sometimes we can find them in grass or other dark places. Snakes can't walk or run because they have no legs or feet, but these long and thin animals can move very fast on their stomachs. Snakes usually have green, yellow or black skins, which make it difficult for their enemies to find them. In winter they hibernate in holes. They look for a hole to stay inside, in the ground, or in a rock or a tree. They do not wake up again until spring comes. Snakes feed on mice, frogs, bird eggs and so on.

Snakes play an important part in nature. We can make useful medicine with them. Without their help, the rodents (啮齿动物) will be out of control. But many of them are in danger of disappearing. Houses and buildings take up the land where snakes live. Many snakes lose their lives in traffic, and people often kill snakes for their skins or meat.

Technology (技术)for space travel made our life on Earth better in many ways.Let's look at things we wouldn't have without space travel.

·Camera phones

In the 1990s NASA (美国国家航空航天局)made cameras small enough to fit on spacecraft.The technology is now used in cell phone cameras so that we can take selfies.

Sports shoes

There wouldn't be Nike Air trainers if we didn't go to space.The shock-absorbing(减震的) materials of the shoes come from space suits.

·Water cleaning system

In the 1960s,NASA created a technology to clean astronauts' drinking water.It is now widely used to clean water in swimming pools.

·Wireless (无线的)headset

Astronauts could easily get tangled up in wires,so NASA made wireless,hands-free headsets.

Astronauts can then move while talking and listening.

·Dust busters (手持吸尘器)

Astronauts hoped to collect samples on the moon.A company created a tool to help them do that.

The company then used this technology to make the dust buster in 1979.

·Computer mouse

In the past,you needed to type in codes(代码)in your computer to make it work for you.In 1968, a NASA researcher tried to make computers on spaceships easier to use,and this led to the creation of the mouse.