Do you know why different animals or pests have their special colours? Colours in them seem to be used mainly to protect themselves. Some birds love eating locusts (蝗虫), but birds cannot easily catch them, why? It is because locusts change their colours with the change of the colours of crops. When crops are green, locusts look green. But as the harvest (收获) time comes, locusts change to the same brown colour as crops have. Some other pests with different colours from plants are easily found and eaten by others. So they have to hide themselves for living and appear only at night.

    If you study animals' life, you'll find the main use of colour is to protect themselves. Bears, lions and other animals move quietly through the forests and they cannot be easily seen by hunters. This is because they have the colours much like the trees.

    Have you ever noticed an even stranger act? A kind of fish in the sea can send out a kind of very black liquid (液体) when it faces danger. While the liquid spreads, its enemies cannot find it. And it immediately swims away. So it has lived up to now though it is not strong at all.

Where would you like to stay when you go on a vacation? What kind of hotel would you like to choose? Different people have different ideas. In fact, there are all kinds of special places to stay when you go on a vacation. There are hotels, motels, youth hostels, B&Bs (bed-and-breakfast), home stays, and more. Each is for a different kind of people. If you travel by car, a motel is good for you. You can park your car outside your room. A youth hostel is good for young backpackers (背包客). A B&Bs might be best for couples (夫妻) or anybody who doesn't like being noisy.

    For people who like reading, the library hotel in New York is a must-see. Each of the hotel's 60 rooms is full of books. In fact the hotel has over 6, 000 books in all. If history is your thing, the 9th floor is for you. If you are interested in math and science, you can stay on the 5th floor. Artists will feel at home on the 7th floor. The Poetry Garden is on the 14th floor, and there is a cozy sofa in it. You can sit on the sofa and enjoy reading a good book or relax outside in the Poetry Garden.

    You either have it, or you don't—a sense of1that is. But2is it that some people could find their way across the Sahara without a map, while others can3themselves in the next street?

    Scientists say were all4with a sense of direction, but it is not properly understood how it works. One theory is that people with a good sense of direction have worked hard at5it. Research being carried out at Liverpool University supports this idea and suggests that if we don't use it, we lose it.

    Children as young as seven have the ability to find their way6,"says Jim Martland, Research Director of the project. "However,7they are not allowed out alone or are taken everywhere by car, they will8develop the skills. ”

    Jim Martland also emphasizes that young people should be taught certain9to improve their sense of direction. He makes the following suggestions:

    If you are using a map, turn it so that it10to the way you are facing

    If you leave your bike in a strange place, put it near11like a big stone or a tree. Note landmarks on the route as you go away from your bike. When you return, go back along the12route.

    Simplify the way of finding your direction by using lines such as streets in a town, streams, or walls in the countryside to guide you. 13your steps 14you know how far you have gone and note any landmarks such as tower blocks or hills which can help to find out were you are.

    Now you will never get lost15!

When I was about ten, I was woken up by the shouts（喊声）of my sister one morning. She was hungry, but my mother wasn't at home, so I made a banana cake for her. Let me share the recipe with you.

What you need:

2 eggs  3 bananas  2 cups of flour(面粉)

2 spoons of baking powder(发酵粉)

1/4 spoon of baking soda (小苏打)

1/2 spoon of salt

2/3 cup of sugar

1/3 cup of vegetable oil(油)

What to do:

l  Mix(混合) together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

l  Add the vegetable oil. Then add a little sugar, and stir (搅拌) it.

l  Pour the eggs into the bowl and stir them well.

l  Add the bananas and stir them.

l  Turn the oven to 180℃.

l  Pour them into the oven（烤箱）. Bake（烘焙） the cake for 20 minutes.

l  Get the cake out of the oven, and cut it into pieces to eat.

What will our life be like in the future? Each family will have a  1  I in the future. You can ask it to do everything  2  you. It will serve you  3  hours a day. The robot will look like a (n)  4 . It can talk with you when you are  5  You won't know whether （是否）it is a human （人类）  6  a robot when you meet it on the street.

People will have  7  time to work and more time to travel. The vehicles （交通工具） in the future will fly freely in the sky because every vehicle will have wings with it. They will 8  you toa lot of places. You can go to  9  during your travels when you feel tired. All vehicles will not be  10  because the robots drive them.

Life in the future will be different from life today. Many changes will happen. But what will the changes be?

The population (人口) is growing fast. There will be more people in the world and most of them will live longer than people live now. 

Computers will be much smaller and more useful, and there will be at least one in every home. And computer studies will be one of the important subjects in school then. People will work fewer hours than they do now and they will have more free time for sports, watching TV and travelling. Travelling will be much cheaper and easier. 

There will be changes in our food, too. More land will be used for building new towns and houses for all the people. Then there will be less room for cows and sheep, so meat will be more expensive. Maybe no one will eat it every day. Instead (相反), they will eat more fruit and vegetables. Maybe people will be healthier. Work in the future will be different, too. Robots will do dangerous and hard work. Because of this, many people will not have enough (足够的) work to do. This will be a problem.