Oct. 16 is World Food Day. The UN started the day in 1979. It's used to remind people not to waste food and fight hunger.

    A big number of people in the world still don't have enough food to eat. Food shortage(匮乏) is a big problem worldwide. Right now, there are more than 1000 million hungry people in the world according to the UN. Many children go to sleep hungry, and 15 million of them die of hunger each year.

    There are several reasons why there are food shortages. First,there have been more droughts(干旱) and floods recently. Also,a growing population makes feeding everyone more difficult.

    Another big reason is food waste. Most people don't realize how much food they throw away every day. Sometimes we cook too much, or we don't use it goes bad. The average(平均的) person throws away 50kg of food every year. According to the UN, more than third of all food produced worldwide goes to waste each year.

    That is over 1,300,000 million kilograms of food being wasted. The amount of food wasted in Europe can feed 200 million people, and the food wasted in Latin America can feed 300 million a year.

    So think twice next time you want to throw away food.By cutting down on food waste, we could help put food on the empty plates of some hungry children. Only order as much food as you can eat at a restaurant. If you can't eat all you order, take the rest home. Don't be too picky about food so that you don't leave any on your plate. Some food may not taste great, but your body needs it. Keep an eye on what food you have at home. Don't buy too much. Don't cook too much.

    When you throw away food, you are not just wasting the food itself. Resources(资源) are also wasted while growing, transporting and cooking the food. These things all take energy, time and water.

title:{#blank#}1{#/blank#} on World Food Day

    Liu Mingxiao, 13, is a pretty and smart girl. She comes top in her class. But many students try to stay away from her because her mother has AIDS(艾滋病). Liu's father has died of AIDS. But Liu didn't get it.

    AIDS means fear(惧怕)for most people. “Nobody wants to play games with me. They call me bad names behind my back. Even a teacher who used to like me turns her back on me now. It makes me feel sad.” said Liu.

    Liu's mother didn't know what happened to her daughter until one day Liu came back home with her nose bleeding(流血的)，“ She fought with a boy who said something bad about her father.” said Liu's mother. “My heart really hurts. My daughter did nothing wrong!”

    For many of these children, the biggest problem they now face is how other people look at them. Many of them have to drop out of school(辍学)because they can no longer stand others' indifference(冷漠).

    “People are afraid of AIDS because they know little about it,” said Wang Chongrun, head of a group to help children living with AIDS. Wang went to the villages and gave lessons about AIDS to the people there.

    “Many of these children are just as healthy as others,” Wang said.

    “Even if they have AIDS, it's still safe to eat and play with them. They need our love and understanding. A friendly smile means a lot to them!”

Teenage life—better now, or in the past?

    Does this situation sound familiar（熟悉）?

    You are complaining（抱怨）to your parents about something. Maybe your computer isn't powerful enough to play the latest games.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}.Then you hear…

    “When I was your age, there weren't any computers or video games. And I didn't get a bike until I was sixteen. And it was second-hand.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}”

    So, is it really true that life is better for teenagers now? It is certainly true that many teenagers have got more things nowadays.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}So parents have got more money to spend on each child. And many things are cheaper than they were when our parents were children.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Forty years ago, no one could imagine a world with tiny computers and amazing smartphones. And now these things are necessary—we can't imagine living without them!

    However, technology often means we spend more time at home. And often it's just us, with our computer or television. Teenagers don't do enough exercise.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} And, although young people still get on well with their friends, some people think teenagers today don't have so many social activities as they did in the past.

    What do you think? How is teenage life better these days?

A. And it was too big for me.

B. A typical family is smaller now.

C. Or your friends' bikes are better than yours.

D. So they aren't as healthy as they were in the past.

E. Technology is probably the greatest change in our life.

   In thetime it takes you to read this sentence, the population of the Earth will have grownby 10 people. That may not sound much, but it is about 14,000 people an hour. Thatis the same as adding most of the population of Germany to the world every year!

   Most of these new people are born in developing countries. These countriesare found in much of Africa, South America, and parts of Asia. In the developedcountries of Europe and North America, the population is growing very slowly. Thisis because women in these countries have, on average, only one or two children.In the developing countries, many women have five or more children. In 1950, aroundone quarter of the world's population lived in the developed countries. By 2050,these countries will be the home to only around one tenth of the world's people.

   In the developing countries, more than one billion people already live belowthe poverty line (贫困线).These people don't have enough food to eat and they live in poor housing;children get little or no time at school and suffer from many kinds of diseases.

   The United Nations (UN) tries to guess population growth. At the beginningof the 21st century, the world's population was around six billion people. The UNhas said that the world's population will level off at 12. 5 billion people by theyear 2100. Other people think the world's population will continue to grow, reaching14 billion people before it becomes stable or even falls.

    For most people, summer holidays mean sun, sea and sand, {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. She had a holiday full of ice and snow. She and her family travelled across Greenland! Starting just above the Arctic Circle (北极圈), Sarah's family used dogsleds with kites to cross the world's biggest island.

    Sarah says {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. "There is only snow, ice, and more snow. " The family travelled 15 miles a day for 22 days, moving faster when strong winds pushed along their kites.

    Then the weather became a bit hot for the dogs to pull sleds during the day, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. The Landrys lived in tents, ate dried food, and took baths with heated water. When they weren't travelling, they played with kites and made snowmen. Using their mobile phones, the family could send and get emails even from Greenland's ice cap! The road to the top was icy and dangerous.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. "Icebergs (冰山) were so bright, just like the rising sun." said Sarah. Now she and her family have returned home, {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Next holiday, they are going to the South Pole.