Water covers 70% of the Earth, but only 3% of it is clean and suitable for human consumption. Even if you live in an area with enough rainfall, using water requires energy to process, pump, heat, re-pump, and reprocess it.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Save water from your taps.

    Turn the tap off while you are brushing your teeth, shaving, washing your hands, doing dishes, and so on.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Get wet, and then turn off the water while you soap up. Turn it back on for long enough to wash away the soap.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Take a timer, clock, or stopwatch into the bathroom with you and challenge yourself to cut down your showering time. You could even play music while in the shower and challenge yourself to cut down the number of songs it takes you.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Use wastewater from the bath, washing machines or dish washing on the garden.

    If possible, connect a pipe to the outlet on your machine to send the water outside onto your garden. When hand-washing dishes, rinse (冲洗) the dishes into a container, and empty the container into your garden.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Either pour it directly into the bowl, or use it to refill the toilet tank when you flush.

A. If you're not sure whether wastewater is suitable for plants, you can use it to flush (冲) your toilet.

B. Not all toilets will be able to flush effectively with a reduced amount of water.

C. Turn the tap off when you shower, too.

D. Replace your clothes washing machine with a high-efficiency washer.

E. Shave outside the shower, or turn off the shower while you shave.

F. Take shorter showers.

G. Fortunately, there are ways to save water for everyone.

    Based on new analysis, we are rapidly approaching major climate change and the effects on society and the environment could be quite severe. Geographers predict that within the next eighty years, current world climate zones could shift and some could completely disappear. Polar regions will get colder while tropical regions will get even hotter, forcing animals to migrate  (迁徙) north.

    Climate changes like these could lead to the spread of diseases. Tropical storms and hurricanes will not only increase but may also become more intense. If the changes come too quickly, animal and plant species may not be able to adapt fast enough and could disappear.

    According to Science Daily, a new study predicts that by the year 2100, many of today's familiar climates will be replaced by climates unknown in today's world. It is urgent that we reduce the risks of these far-reaching consequences for the whole world. The planet itself has been showing signs of change. In 2004, a serious tsunami created by a major earthquake killed thousands in Sumatra and in 2008, thousands died in China because of another severe earthquake. Egypt was hit in 2009 with a major earthquake and Haiti was devastated in 2010 by yet another massive earthquake.

    Within just the last few months, new reports from around the world have been coming in and most agree that our climate situation is much worse than previously thought. At this point, it doesn't matter what is causing it, but rather, what can be done about it. What's more, our world is getting more and more unstable every year. There is war and threat of war everywhere. Natural disasters are becoming more frequent and serious.

    However, other planets are experiencing global warming as well as our own and some scientists believe there may be some connection between this. No one knows anything for sure at this point because there is simply not enough data.

    Podcasts (播客)

    The B S. Report

    Designed for the sports fan with a sense of humor, the B.S. Report is hosted by the sportswriter Bill Simmons. Simmons show is in very loose and free form and it's not uncommon for him to go almost a whole show without even mentioning sports.

    Wait, Wait…… Don't Tell Me

    One of the most popular Programs on National Public Radio, Wait. Wait... Don't Tell Me is now available as a podcast. The show is a news program in the form of a game show. Each week a group of humorists and writers join host Peter Sagal in Chicago, where they are quizzed on the weeks most important and funny news stories. Listeners also get to call in to play different news-related games for a prize

    The Moth

    The Moth is a weekly podcast run by a nonprofit art organization. The show is made up of recordings of “true stories told before a live audience without notes”. Each week, the group releases short 10-20 minute tales told by people from all walks of life. Past Presenters have included writers, comedians, scientists, and even New York City police officers.

    Film spotting

    Film spotting is a weekly podcast and is a must-listen for any movie fan. The show is focused on movie reviews, but hosts Adam Kempenaar and Matty Robinson do more than just tell their listeners which new movie is worth seeing. They also discuss and examine the film as an art form. The how doesn't just focus on current movies, either, as the hosts frequently discuss old films as part of theme marathons.

    Can you remember the day when you spoke your first word? If you can, you are unusual. Try to imagine what first few months of your life were like. I am sure you just spent most of your time eating, sleeping and crying. As you grew older, you were awake more of the time. It took your parents more time to play with you and talk to you. You watched and listened curiously (好奇). You began to know that people made certain sounds to go with certain things.

    Then you began to try making the sounds you heard. And step by step you were able to make the right sound for one thing. On that day you came to understand the secret of language. The secret is that a certain sound means a certain thing. One sound might be as good as another. But it is no good as a word unless everybody agrees on its meaning. Only when a group of people use the same set of sounds of things, can they understand each other. Then, and only then do these people have a LANGUAGE.

    After you found the secret of language, you learned words. Some of the words meant things, such as BOOKS, CHAIRS and SHOES. Some words meant doing things, such as GO and SWIM, and other words describe things, such as GOOD and DIRTY. Soon you learned to put words together to express your idea, such as “I want to go out and play with my friends.” This is language. By means of language people can communicate. So we say languages are means of communication.

    A painter has just completed his course. He took 3 days and painted beautiful scenery. He wanted to know people's opinion about his talent and painting skills.

    He put his creation at a busy street and just down below a board which read—"I have painted this piece. Since I'm new to this profession I might have committed some mistakes. Please put a cross wherever you see a mistake."

    While he came back in the evening to collect his painting he was completely shattered to see that whole canvass(画板)was filled with crosses, they criticized the painter ruthlessly.

    Disheartened and broken completely he ran to his master's and burst into tears.

    This young artist complained, "I'm useless and if this is what I have learnt to paint I'm not worth becoming a painter. People have rejected me completely."

    Master smiled and suggested, "My son, I will prove that you are a great artist and have learnt flawless painting. Do as I say without questioning it. It will work."

    Young artist agreed and two days later early morning he presented a replica(复制品) of his earlier painting to his master. Master took that gracefully and smiled.

    "Come with me." master said.

    They reached the same street early morning and displayed the same painting exactly at the same place. Now master took out another board which read—"Gentlemen, I have painted this piece. Since I 'm new to this profession I might have committed some mistakes in my strokes etc. I have put a box with colors and brushes just below. Please do a favor. If you see a mistake, kindly pick up the brush and correct it."

    Then they walked back home.

    They both visited the place the same evening. The young painter was surprised to see that actually there was not a single correction done so far. Next day again they visited and found painting remained untouched. They say the painting was kept there for a month for no correction came in!

Why do we talk the way we do? It might date back to when our ancestors left the jungle for the open plain. Between 5. 3 million and 16 million years ago, Africa's landscapes changed from thick, leafy forests to wide-open grasslands. This environmental change pushed our ancestors out of the trees and onto the ground. Along with all of the physical and behavioral changes this may have caused, researchers also believe it may have changed the way we speak. 

"Open landscapes provide us with fewer objects to affect signal communication, meaning our voices can travel further compared with that in thick forests, " Charlotte Gannon, a researcher who studies language development, told Newsweek. "The move to these open spaces may have increased the effectiveness of our communication. "

By comparing the vocal calls of the orangutan (大猩猩) , Gannon and her team were able to establish how different calls could travel across different landscapes. In their study, the team played 487 calls from orangutans and measured their audibility (可听度) at set length over an overall distance of over 1, 300 feet in the South African plain. 

"Our results were surprising, " Gannon said, "The rule of sound spread suggests that lower-frequency ( 低频率) sounds (the grumphs) would have traveled further than higher-frequency sounds (the kiss squeaks). Our results actually found the opposite to this. " In these environmental settings, consonant (辅音)-like calls traveled a lot further than vowel ( 元 音 ) -like calls. Actually, around 80 percent of consonant-based calls were audible at 1, 300 feet, compared to only 20 percent of vowel-based calls. 

Gannon said these results highlight the importance of studying living orangutan to learn about our species' history. "We can view them as time machines that allow us to recreate key moments of our history so we can learn more about the development of our language, " Gannon said. "Despite their popularity in modern languages, consonants have often been forgotten when discussing speech development. Our research highlights not only their presence in ancient times but their importance to the development of language. "