Lately, people have entered the forests where chimpanzees (黑猩猩) live. The chimpanzees have been getting sick because of people's diseases. In addition, people are hunting chimpanzees. Their number is becoming smaller and smaller.

Chimpanzees live in the plains and forests of Africa. They eat many kinds of food, from plant leaves and seeds to insects and even other small animals. Chimpanzees' favourite food is fruit.

    Chimpanzees are very clever and they can use tools well. They can catch bugs using sticks, and break nuts using rocks.

    The world's forests are much smaller than they were before. Roads were built in deep forests, so people start to enter forests where chimpanzees live. That may lead to many problems. One problem for chimpanzees is that they can easily catch people's diseases and die. Chimpanzees are much closer to people than monkeys.

As it's easier for people to enter forests, they hunt more often. Young chimpanzees are caught to be pets or for scientific researches. The young ones are taken away from the forests, and the adults are killed. Chimpanzees are likely to disappear in the future.

    Have you ever had trouble sleeping in a new place?

    Lots of people do. And now researchers from Brown University in Rhode Island think they know why. They found that one-half of the brain "remains more awake" than the other half when people are trying to sleep in a new place.

The sleep findings were reported in Current Biology by Brown University. In their report, the researchers said many people report they have a harder time sleeping the first night at a hotel or other places outside their home. They call it "first-night influence". "In Japan they say, 'If you change your bed, you can't sleep,'" said Yuka Sasaki, one of the report's writers. "You don't sleep very well in a new place. We all know about it."

    The researchers measured brain waves (测量脑波) for 35 volunteers over two nights in a laboratory. The two nights were a week apart (间隔). They found during the first night the left half of the brain was more active than the right half. This was during the first deep-sleep period, the researchers said.

    Sasaki said a lot of questions remain.

    Researchers did not keep measuring brain waves all night long. So, they don't know if the left half keeps "watch" all night, or whether it "works in shifts (轮换) with the right half later in the night". They also do not know why the brain activity, at least during the first period of deep sleep, is always on the left half.

    For some, this research may be calming. It is good to know that our brain is "looking out for us" in a new place. But it may not help with sleep. That brain activity, at least according to this new research, makes it harder to get the sleep people need to wake up well rested in the morning.

    Wouldn't it be funny if your mum said to you, "It's time for bed, honey. It's almost November!" Well, if you were a baby bear, your mother might let you know it's time to go into a deep sleep around October.

    That "deep sleep" is called "hibernation (冬眠)". When it gets cold, bears have to go into hibernation. By taking this long sleep, they can get through the cold months when the food, like berries (浆果) and nuts, cannot be found easily.

    Have you ever heard someone say that they are as hungry as a bear? Bears need to eat a lot of food before hibernating. They eat so much that they may put on forty pounds of fat in a week. During the winter "bears will live off the fat stored in their bodies. Bears are able to do that because their bodies use a lot less energy during hibernation. Their heartbeats slow down, their breathing slows down, and their body temperature drops.

    If you were going to sleep all winter, wouldn't you want to be in a safe and protected place? That is what a bear wants, so it looks for a cave to sleep in. It makes a bed using grass, leaves and twigs (嫩枝). The bear usually starts to hibernate as early as October and doesn't wake up until April or May. By the time the bear wakes up, it will have lost much of the fat. But spring time will bring much food to enjoy until it is time to hibernate again in the autumn.

    It is park at the bottom of the ocean. It's cold down there too. There's no air to breathe. The water pressure is high. There may be fishes that could hurt you. The deep sea can be an unpleasant place. But people are still fascinated by it, not just because of the amazing scenery. The seafloor might hold the secret to the beginning of life on Earth.

    Oceans cover more than two-thirds of our planet. Yet, we have explored just a small part of the underwater world. A new project is there to explore the ocean deeper. A new US machine can carry people down to as deep as 6,500 metres. It will take the place of an older machine called Alvin. The old one has been in use for 40 years, but it can only go down to 4,500 metres. Alvin played a key role in many important tasks. Alvin helped biologists collect worms, chemists gather rocks, and oceanographers (海洋学家) map the seafloor and take water sample (样本).

    But now it's about time for a new one. The new machine will be like Alvin. It'll also be about 27 feet long, about the size of a small school bus. The seating area inside will be small, about two metres wide. Like Alvin, it'll carry a pilot and two passengers. It will be able to move like Alvin does. It'll give passengers more chances to enjoy the view. Alvin has only three windows. The new one will have five. It will travel more than a mile an hour faster than Alvin. Getting to the bottom faster and moving around more quickly will allow researchers to make the most of their time underwater.

Confidence is very important in daily life. It can help you form a healthy attitude. But how can we be more confident? Here are some suggestions:

Speak louder. When you are not confident, it's hard to do what you want to do well. You speak in a voice so low that other people can hardly hear you.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Your voice can help you become more confident.

Play sports. Physical exercise makes you tired but completely relaxed.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}. 

Encourage yourself. Write down a list of things that you did during the day to see how many things you did well. Did you finish your homework? Did you tell a joke that made everybody laugh? {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. 

Get rid of(消除) fear. Fear goes along with failure.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. Try to start again and believe you can do better.

Pick up a hobby.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}. In some ways, a hobby can make you outstanding. And it will make you happy and confident.

A．Give yourself praise (夸奖) for the good things you have done

B．If you like singing, sing as much as you can

C．Try to speak loud enough so people can hear you clearly

D．But it is easy to overcome if you understand that failure is part of life

E．A strong body helps you be full of confidence.