Vegetarian UK

Vegetarians and vegans

    Vegetarians (people who don't eat meat) and vegans (people who don't eat or use any animal products) are becoming increasingly common in UK culture. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} A recent survey showed that three million people were vegetarian. Visit a British supermarket and you will see a wide range of vegetarian ingredients and prepared meals on the shelves, including vegetarian sausages and vegan cheese.

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    So why are Brits cutting out meat? Many are unhappy about the poor treatment of animals and the effects of meat and fish production on the environment. Worries about food safety (for example BES or “mad cow disease”) also play a part. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} According to the Vegetarian Society, a meat-free diet could help reduce the risk of certain cancers and heart disease, as well as obesity and high blood pressure.

    Organic farming

    Another rising trend is in how UK food is produced. Many people are rejecting GM (genetically modified) food and intensive farming practices. They want their food to be organically produced. Organic farmers use very few or no chemicals, pesticides or fertilizers and organic meat is produced without the use of drugs and antibiotics. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}  

    Organic food

    According to the Soil Association, three out of every four UK households now buy some type of organic food. Some get organic meat, fruit and vegetables from farmers' markets, where products are sold directly to the consumer. Others have a box of organic fruit and vegetables sent to their homes every week. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Although it\s often more expensive, fans of organic food say it tastes much better!

A. A healthy diet

B. A balanced diet

C. Many people buy organic products in their local supermarket.

D. More and more people are deciding not to eat meat or use animal products.

E. A healthy soil reduces disease and helps crops grow strong and healthy.

F. Others choose to change their eating habits to improve their general health.

G. Organically farmed animals also have more living space and more nutritious food.

A lot of benefits can be seen from getting enough rest, but for many of us, falling asleep can be challenging. There's plenty of advice about what to do to fall asleep.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Here're some pre-bedtime activities that could be hurting your chance of sleeping well.

    Exercise/Take a hot shower

    Exercise is a vital activity for your health. It can actually contribute to getting better - quality sleep. The problem, though, is that exercising within three hours of bedtime or taking a bath too close to the bedtime can raise your body temperature, and make it more difficult to fall asleep.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Watch TV/Surf the web

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The bright lights of these screens can hold back the development of what promotes sleep. So close that laptop and turn off the TV about an hour before bed.

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Whatever schoolwork it is, it can certainly wait until morning. Getting work clown stimulates(刺激)your brain and can cause you unneeded stress一pretty much the opposite of what you want to feel if you're trying to fall asleep !

    Read interesting stories

Many people have done this: you're reading a really interesting novel arid suddenly it's 2 a. m.! Reading an interesting book before bed will make it difficult to fall asleep.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A.Perhaps you need the most boring thing imaginable to read!

B.Screen time before bed can disturb your ability to fall asleep.

C.Exercising or bathing, then, is best left for earlier in the day.

D.Realize the power of a good night's sleep.

E.Solve conflicts before you go to bed.

F.But what about not to do?

G.Busying yourself with work.

Being a volunteer

    What can you do to help people? The answer is-to be a volunteer! {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Help yourself by helping others

    When you volunteer to help others, you can helping yourself. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Lots of people really enjoy volunteering. Doing volunteer work means one important thing: You make a difference in the world. So where do you start? {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Things to do with family members

    Volunteering is a great way to have fun with your family. Talk to your parents, brothers, or sisters and see what they might be interested in. Find something you all agree on. You can do the things as a family like cleaning up a park and planting trees or flowers in your local community（社区）

    Invent your own opportunity

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} You can make and sell products, and donate（捐赠）the money. Volunteering gives kids a taste of responsibility. Volunteering can also help kids learn important things about themselves-like what kind of things they're best at. A volunteer job can even help some kids decide what they want to do when they grow up. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Make a plan to start volunteering today!

A. Why not come?

B. School is a good place to start if you are looking for volunteer ideas.

C. Volunteering means to spend time helping others.

D. If you're upset, doing something can be a great way to calm yourself down.

E. Kids can come up with their own ways to raise money or provide needed services.

F. So what are you waiting for?

G. Clean up a school or other public buildings.

    When things go wrong, many people turn to their friends for comfort and support. Are you the kind of person your friends trust to be there for them when they're feeling down? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. You might feel awkward or nervous about comforting a sad friend at first, but with a little practice, you won't have to worry about saying the wrong thing or making the situation worse. When one of your friends is upset, help him/her by being there for him/her, finding the right things to say, and avoiding common mistakes.

    ①{#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Comfort your friend according to how upset he/she seems to be. If he/she seems to be very troubled, it may take more effort on your part to help him/her. If something is bothering him/her, but he/she isn't too upset, be there for him/her without overreacting.

    ②Find out what's wrong. Before you say anything try to figure out what the problem is. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. If you try to talk to your friend without knowing the situation first, you could end up with putting your foot in your mouth.

    ③Give your friend a hug. A kind touch will do wonders for your friend, even if you don't know what he/she is upset about. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.You can also pat him/her gently on the shoulder.

    ④Let your friend vent (发泄). If your friend needs to get his/her sadness or anger out, let him/her do. Pay attention and don't interrupt. Encourage him/her to express himself/herself fully.

    ⑤Just listen. Your friend needs someone to listen compassionately to him/her right now, so focus on doing that. Be patient and non-judgmental. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Don't act bored or try to change the subject.

    You may have heard that some plants and animals are endangered. What does that mean exactly?

    Endangered means there are very few of that kind still alive. Someday they might become extinct. You may wonder what people can do to help them.

    Plant trees

    As the date of Earth Day roughly coincides with U.S.Arbor Day, planting trees is a popular Earth Day activity. Trees helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, clean pollution, secure soil in place to prevent erosion, and provide homes for many birds, insects and other animals.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. And plant them in your garden or on nature strips where plants are usually grown. Restoring the local plant life will help attract native bird life, pollinators and local mammals.

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    Why not welcome these nonhuman neighbors into your yard？ Here is how to do it. Instead of mowing the entire yard, leave a few sections unmoved.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Provide a source of water, like a bird bath or a small pond. Don't try to get rid of snakes, lizards, frogs, moles, squirrels, and the other creatures, many of which are beneficial.

    Clean up litter in your community

    Many groups use the weekend of Earth Day to clear roadways, highways and neighborhood streets of litter that has accumulated since the last clean­up day.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Welcome animals into your yard

B. Choose flowers that are native to your area.

C. One way is to protect the animals' or plants' habitats

D. Bees, butterflies, and many other insects will find this inviting

E. It's a wonderful community project that you can do as an individual or with a group

F. So planting trees is a long ­lasting act you can do to celebrate Earth Day

G. Encourage people to respect wild spaces by not damaging animal habitats, littering, and dumpling in the water.

Every animal sleeps, but the reason for this has remained foggy. When lab rats are not allowed to sleep, they die within a month. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

One idea is that sleep helps us strengthen new memories. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} We know that, while awake, fresh memories are recorded by reinforcing (加强) connections between brain cells, but the memory processes that take place while we sleep have been unclear.

Support is growing for a theory that sleep evolved so that connections between neurons(神经元) in the brain can be weakened overnight, making room for fresh memories to form the next day. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

Now we have the most direct evidence yet that he is right. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}The synapses in the mice taken at the end of a period of sleep were 18 per cent smaller than those taken before sleep, showing that the connections between neurons weaken while sleeping.

If Tononi's theory is right, it would explain why, when we miss a night's, we find it harder the next day to concentrate and learn new information — our brains may have smaller room for new experiences.

Their research also suggests how we may build lasting memories over time even though the synapses become thinner. The team discovered that some synapses seem to be protected and stayed the same size. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}"You keep what matters," Tononi says.

A. We should also try to sleep well the night before.

B. It's as if the brain is preserving its most important memories.

C. Similarly, when people go for a few days without sleeping, they get sick.

D. The processes take place to stop our brains becoming loaded with memories.

E. That's why students do better in tests if they get a chance to sleep after learning.

F. "Sleep is the price we pay for learning," says Giulio Tononi, who developed the idea.

G. Tononi's team measured the size of these connections, or synapses, in the brains of 12 mice.