Our factories and homes burn coal and oil. Every year we have forest fires somewhere. Many scientists believe that the weather is changing.

      The earth will perhaps be warmed by about 7℃ at the South Pole(极) and the North Pole. The ice will be melt(融化). The sea level(平面) will rise by about 7 meters. As a result, water will cover cities like London, Tokyo and New York. Some ports(港口) and towns along the coasts will disappear under water.

      Some other scientists think that the dust, smoke and pollution from coal, wood and oil fires will block out(封闭) the ultraviolet rays(紫外线). Then the earth will become colder and great sheets of ice will cover Europe and North America.

      When chemicals in the air mix with rain, we have acid(酸) rain. Acid rain can bring us great harm. It destroys(破坏) forests and kills life in lakes and rivers.

      People are beginning to see how serious the problem is. They find it important to work with nature instead of against it. They are trying to save the earth in many different ways. But one of the most important things to do is to make people understand that saving the earth is saving ourselves.

B

    In 2017, when the high speed train. Furing, left Beijing for shanghai at a speed of 350 km/h, it amazed the world. It is China's newest high-speed train and also the fastest train in the world.

    There were 2, 959 high-speed trains running across China by 2016. They make up60 percent of the world's total high- speed trains. Chinese companies have also built more than 10 high-speed railways in Europe, Southeast Asia and South America. And the high speed trains has become a new name card for China.

    Besides the high-speed trains, many other innovations(创新)have also changed people's lives in China.

    For example, though bike sharing is not new itself China has made it much more convenient. And popular. When the Chinese bike sharing companies reached Singapore and Britain months ago, users there excited and couldn't wait to post photos of themselves riding the bikes on social media(媒体).

    Cashless payment has become a lifestyle choice in China it is common that people in China go shopping with no cash(现金)in pockets. Many people just pay with their bile phones by scanning a quick respond code(QR，二维码)from the seller. Even a person selling vegetables has a QR code.

    Many foreigners have experienced lives without carrying any cash in China. They say they can't do it when they are back home in Europe.

    China is now in a great time. It has made great achievements in innovation. They are true pictures of national strength. It seems that China is really leading in some ways. And Chinese people have every reason to believe in an even brighter future.

    The Legendary Berlnuda Triangle (百慕大三角): A Mystery No More

    For years, people have believed that an area of the Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda, Puerto Rico and Florida, USA was a dangerous place. They thought planes and boats passing through here were likely to disappear. By 1964, a writer had called the area the "'Bermuda Triangle". The name stuck, and so did the mystery.

    In 1945, five US Navy planes, called Flight 19 took off from Florida and never came back. After they disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle, different ideas had begun to spread that the area was a dangerous place. Even before this famous flight, several ships had disappeared in these waters. People had many different ideas about why this appended. Some people even believed that a huge octopus (章鱼) was responsible!

    However, scientists believe that weather is part of the problem. Unusually shaped clouds above the area create strong winds that go down into the water, creating huge tsunami (海啸) waves that can take down boats or low-flying planes. And many researchers believe that there's no mystery, at all Ship goes down and plane accidents happen all over the world. It just seems to happen more in the Bermuda Triangle because there's more traffic.

    The Bermuda Triangle is also one of the deepest areas of the Atlantic, with some areas being 8 km (5 mi.) deep. So, remains are hard to find which makes the disappearances seem even more mysterious. In 2011, the Flight 19 planes were found, showing that they didn't completely disappear. But no matter how much evidence（证据） there is that the Bermuda Triangle is no more dangerous than any other part of the ocean, many still believe that you mustn't go there.

Do you like writing by hand or with a keyboard?

A new brain research, led by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, shows that choosing handwriting over using a keyboard results in better learning and memory.

"When you write your shopping lists or notes by hand, you simply remember things better after some time."said Audrey van der Meer, author of the study.

The study was done using equipment(设备) to track(跟踪) and record brain wave activity. 12 young adults and 12 children took part in the study. Each person was asked to write by hand and type on a keyboard while wearing a special ca p with over 250 electrodes(电极). The sensors (传感器) in the electrodes picked up the electrical activity that took place in the brain. Each examination took 45 minutes per person.

The results show that the brain in both young adults and children is much more active when writing by hand than when typing on a keyboard. According to Van der Meer, plenty of senses become active by pressing a pen on paper, seeing the letters written and hearing the sound made while writing. These build connect ion between different parts of the brain, opening the brain up for learning.

Van der Meer believes that the results show the importance of children's learning to draw and write at an early age, especially at school."Learning to write by hand is a bit slower course, but it's important for children to experience the tiring step of learning to write by hand"she said,

The hand movements are good for us in many ways. "If you use a keyboard, you use the same movement for each letter. Writing by hand requires control of your fine motor(精细动作) skills and senses.It's important to put the brain in a learning state as often as possible."Van der Meer added."You might use a keyboard to write an article, but you should learn by hand during a class."