If you take a look at the best-selling books in the UK these days, it is almost certain that there will be a lot of autobiographies (自传) in that list. Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela and actor Michael J Fox have all written them. An autobiography is the story of a person's life, written by that person. It is usually a very famous person who might tell us all about their childhood, how they became famous and any other interesting things that have happened in their lives.

    Traditionally, someone would write an autobiography when they were older because they had had a long, successful life. However, these days there are many magazines with stories and photos of the stars which sell very well. Reality TV shows are extremely popular and lots of people become famous very easily just from being on the TV rather than being able to sing or act well. As a result, people become famous very quickly and as soon as they are famous, a lot of money can be made from writing an autobiography, even if they are very young.

    So now you can find an autobiography from almost everyone who is in the public eye. Even though we can follow the lives of the stars very closely on TV or in magazines nowadays, we maybe don't know how they live their lives from day to day. Autobiographies often give the information we never knew about the stars. The British public are very curious to find out more so they are very eager to read autobiographies.

    Not every star wants to write though. Sometimes stars employ writers to write their life stories for them. The writer will interview the stars, listen to everything they want to say, record interviews and then write books based on their words. David Beckham did this with his book My Side.

    Not everyone likes to read books regularly but they might like to read about the lives of stars. Autobiographies are helping to get more British people reading books. About 100 million autobiographies are sold in Britain every year. More stars depend on them for extra income and as more of these books appear in the shops, more people are sure to keep buying them.

    With limited space for parks and gardens, architects and city planners often find it challenging to include greenery in neighborhoods in cities. One creative solution is to grow plants on unused areas like walls and rooftops. It's a popular idea, and now rooftop gardens and green walls have been sprouting up（大量冒出） in cities around the world.

    There are many benefits of having green spaces to the urban landscape. Adding gardens to rooftops or walls can create a pleasant environment — what was once a gray cement（水泥） wall can become a colorful, blooming garden. The CaxiaForum art gallery in Madrid, Spain, is a famous example — one of its walls is covered with 15,000 plants from over 250 different species. In other cities, green walls are being used more functionally, to cover up construction sites and empty buildings and to decorate the lobbies of office buildings.

    Using plants to cover walls and rooftops can also keep cities cooler in the summer. Buildings and roads absorb the sun's heat and hold it, causing a building or neighborhood to stay warmer longer. Plants, on the other hand, provide an enormous amount of shade. There is evidence that growing a roof or wall garden can lower a building's energy costs.

    In New York City, public schools plant rooftop gardens that can reduce heating and cooling costs. In addition to saving the school money, teachers and parents love the gardens because of their educational value — it's a fun and healthy way for their kids to investigate the world around them. “For the children, it's exciting when you grow something edible（可食用的）,” said Lauren Fontana, principal of a New York public school.

    Rooftop gardens and green walls may require a bit more effort to grow and maintain. However, hard work always brings rewards, and with green spaces, the rewards are plentiful.

    As is known to all, many things can be measured in terms of data. Sometimes data can indeed tell the truth. With the help of data we can easily know the price of a can of Coke in the supermarket or the result of a football match or the temperature of a certain day. Obviously, data can make our life easier and more comfortable. What is more important, data seem to be fairer than words or statements. If the data are true, we don't have to worry about being cheated. Nowadays, as lies exist in the world, data are expected to tell the truth. Therefore, many of us would rather believe data.

    On the other hand, if we judge things only by data from the so-called specific research, aren't we a little too narrow-minded? Many people often treat the so-called specific data unwisely just to make sure that they are making the right decisions. But sometimes we may find that data aren't everything. For example, how can you tell that somebody isn't a good student just because he or she doesn't get high marks in the final examination?

    There are many things in our life which cannot be measured by data. For example, the degree of your feeling happy in your life, the depth of love between you and your friends, and the faith you have in your country. We can only feel them in our hearts but can never express them in data.

    There is no doubt that analyzing the exact data is important to assessment of an actual event. But data should be dealt with wisely. We often get wrong data which mislead us. We should try our best to be wise thinkers. Remember, data have no feeling but we humans have. Data do not mean much to people if we do not have the abilities to analyze the data with the knowledge and confidence to judge whether they are true or false.

    Data are data after all. Life is much more colorful than the pale data. So give the cold data a warm heart and we'll find that the world is far more wonderful than the pale data can describe.

How to Deal with Pressures at School

    As a high school student, if you are feeling stressed out or frustrated (沮丧的) by teachers, classmates, or schoolwork, it is important to know that you aren't the only one. Believe it or not, everyone has these feelings at some point and everyone should learn how to deal with them properly.

    First of all, you need to keep a positive attitude and not take things to heart. That someone got a better grade than you doesn't mean that they are smarter-perhaps they studied longer or knew the material more. It's easy to become frustrated if you are not doing as well as your friends, but being optimistic will help you deal with future similar situations.

    Secondly, if students at school are bullying (欺侮) you, don't let them make you feel that you are not good enough. They are simply insecure and do not know how to deal with the pressures of school. They are just trying to make others feel bad, so they can feel better about themselves. So it's of importance to know when to stand up for yourself.

    Lastly, it is necessary to keep things in perspective. For any situation that is stressful, take a second look from a different point of view. When I look back to the frustrations of my high school days, I notice that many of them seem very unimportant to me now.

    It's not easy to be confident when there are so many students who seem like they "have it all", but try to realize that you, too, are good enough. It's not a competition about who is smarter, more popular. or more beautiful- everyone is different- so embrace your individuality (个性).

What do you think could be done to help the local people rebuild their homes?