Smog is a big problem in many Chinese cities. But it seems that besides wearing a mask, few of us know what has caused the smog and what to do to beat it. In fact, burning too much coal and oil are the main causes of PM2.5 and smog (雾霾).

    To solve the problem, we should clean our coal and oil or replace them with cleaner energy such as natural gas. We ordinary people can do something to help control smog, too.

    What can we do to help beat the smog?

    Choose to take public transportation. Though many people have their own cars, they had better take public transportation, such as the subway or buses. If the destination (目的地) is not far away, you can also walk ________ ride a bike.

    Call the hotline 12369. You can call the number for complaints and questions about environmental issues. It is run by China's Ministry of Environmental Protection. If you call the number, some officers can come and try to solve the issues, so please remember it.

Report and resist pollutant source. If you find any pollutant source, take a picture of it and post it on your social media accounts. Remember to add “@local environmental departments” on weibo. Payattention to factories that pollute the environment and don't buy products from them.

    Our environment will become better if everyone is concerned (关注) with the environment. This is what we need in the future. So everyone can do something to beat smog.

Scientists say life will be very different in 2050.First,there will be no TV channels (频道) . People will choose a programme (节目) from a computer and watch it on the television. We will get information on the computers only.

   Second, water will be a big problem. In many places, people won't have water to drink.

Third, cars will use new and clean fuels and they will go very fast. There will be a computer in every car. And computers will control the cars and there won't be any accidents (事故) .

D

    Almost every Chinese person can recite(背诵) the two lines of the famous poem, "Every grain on the plate comes from hard work". But sadly, many of us don't actually get the real meaning of these lines: Don't waste food.

    A CCTV program reported that the food Chinese people throw away every year is enough to feed 200 million people for a year. Do we have too much food? Absolutely not. According to the UN World Food Program, there were 925 million hungry people around the world in 2013, especially in developing countries. Six million children die of hunger every year.

    Chinese people are well-known for being friendly and generous. Many even feel that they lose face if their guests have eaten all the food on the table. Luckily, a number of people have realized the importance of saving food. What should we do in our daily lives to waste less food?

    ⒈ Don't order too much in a restaurant. Only order as much as you want to eat. If you cannot eat all the food you ordered, take the rest of it home.

    ⒉ Don't leave any food in your bowls while having meals.

    ⒊ Keep an eye on what food you have at home. Don't buy too much, especially for vegetables and fruit.

    You don't have to be a scientist to solve big environmental problems. One Dutch designer is finding creative ways to make a change—and he's inviting bikers to join him.

    Daan Roosgaarde, 38, is a designer from Holland. He uses creative ideas to improve city life. For his Smog (雾霾) Free Project, he designed a special tower that cleans air in Chinese parks. In Holland, he designed a shining bicycle path.

    Now Daan and his team are working with engineers at Chinese bike-sharing company Ofo to create a new product for public use. It's an air-cleaning machine connected to a bicycle and is part of the Smog Free Project. In smoggy weather, the machine would breathe in the air in front of the bike and blow out a stream of clean air toward the biker's face.

    It's no secret that air pollution is a big problem for China. In winter, it's common for thick clouds of haze (霾), caused largely by factory production, burning of coal and car emissions (排放物), to cover areas of China.

    In 2016, only one-fourth of Chinese cities met the country's air quality standards, according to a survey of 338 cities nationwide from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

    "Of course one tower and a few bikes won't solve China's air pollution problem," Daan said, "But smog-free bikes are an exciting idea that will hopefully inspire communities to create greener cities."

    It's every parent's worst nightmare: there's a fire in the house the alarms are beeping, but the children are sleeping on. Now scientists have found a better way to rouse slumbering youngsters. Researchers in the US have discovered that playing a child a recording of his mother's voice is about three times more likely to wake him up than a traditional alarm.

    Writing in the Journal of Pediatrics, Smith and colleagues report how they compared the effects of four different smoke alarms on 176 children aged between 5 and 12 years old, none of whom had hearing difficulties or were taking any medication that affected their sleep. While one alarm featured a high pitched beeps he sort of commonly found in households the other three featured the voice of the child's mother calling either the child's name, giving instructions such as: "Wake up! Leave the room or both. Each child slept in a lab-based room that resembled a real bedroom.

    The results show that vocal alarms appear to be more effective than high-pitched beeps. About 90% of children woke for a voice alarm compared with just over 53% for the traditional alarm

    "High pitched beeping alarms don't wake up children well at all under about 12 years of age." Said Dr Gary Smith, a co-author of the research from the Nationwide Children's hospital in Ohio, although he said at present it is not known why He said it was important to look at developing better alarms

    Prof Niamh Nic Daeid, director of the Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Dundee, said the research found a human voice combined with a low frequency pulsing tone was far more effective in waking up children than a traditional high-pitched alarm. She also noted that more work was needed to explore whether other familiar sounds, such as a dog barking, might also prove effective in rousing children.