As we all know, sleep is very important and necessary. I would love everyone to develop the following four habits to have better sleep without needing the alarm（闹钟）wake-up call.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}If you eat much food an hour before you go to bed, your body will hate you, because your body needs time to digest while you are still awake.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}When I hear on TV that people just need 30-minute exercise a week, I think that's wrong. Every person should get 30-minute exercise every day. When you exercise, your body uses energy and feels tired. You have to recover from the tiredness. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The harder you exercise your body, the faster it falls to sleep and the better it sleeps.

    Turn the TV off. There are a few shows I still watch, but they will never get in my way of (妨碍) sleep. The bedroom is only for sleeping and rest. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}A question to ask yourself: If I didn't have an alarm, what time would I get up? If that time is the time you need to get up, you should probably throw away the alarm. If the time you actually get up is much later than the time you need to get up, make great changes to your way of life and the time you go to sleep. No one should need an alarm.

A. Exercise for at least 30 minutes every day.

B. Don't eat any food 4 hours before you sleep.

C. Throw away the alarm.

D. Sleep is one of the most important things in our lives.

E. Your body recovers when you are sleeping.

F. Try to get up as early as you can.

G. Take the TV out of your bedroom.

    Whether rich or poor, parents who have books in the home increase the level of education their children will attain, according to a 20-year study led by Mariah Evans.

    For years, educators have thought the strongest predictor of attaining high levels of education was having parents who were highly educated. But, the study showed that the difference between being raised in a bookless home compared to being raised in a home with a 500-book library has as great an effect on the level of education a child will attain as the difference between having parents who are barely literate (有文化的) and having parents who have a university education.

    Being a sociologist, Evans was particularly interested to find that children of lesser-educated parents benefit the most from having books in the home. What kinds of investments should we make to help these kids get ahead? The results of this study indicate that getting some books into their homes is an inexpensive way that we can help these children succeed. Evans said, "Even a little bit goes a long way. Having as few as 20 books in the home still has a significant impact on motivating a child to a higher level of education, and the more books you add, the greater benefit the children get.”

    The researchers were struck by the strong effect having books in the home had on children's educational attainment even above and beyond such factors as education level of the parents, the father's occupation or the economic level of the country.

    Having books in the home is twice as important as the father's education level, and more important than whether a child was brought up in a developing country or a developed country. Surprisingly, the difference in educational attainment for children born in developed country and children born in developing country was just 2 years, less than two-thirds of the effect that having 500 or more books in the home had on children.

Volunteer Opportunities Abroad

    For those looking to break into the competitive world of journalism (新闻工作), this is for you! You will be working at “The Village”, an English and Romanian language magazine. As a writer you will work on special tasks, reporting local events with guidance from the editor. You will be interviewing local people, writing reports, and taking photographs. You will also have the chance to live with a local host family to experience their culture.

    Volunteers joining our project (项目) in Cambodia will travel to the island of Koh Sdach. You will become part of this tiny island, learn to dive (潜水), and take part in valuable social projects.

    During your stay you will complete a course to learn to dive. After that you will take part in dives to clean up rubbish under the sea and collect information on rare fish. During the two weeks you may also have the chance to join in a village fun day where volunteers play games with the village children.

    On this project you will spend two weeks living with a host family and coaching soccer in friendly West Africa! You will spend your two weeks in Accra helping local children develop their soccer skills. You will develop their skills and confidence while having fun playing soccer at the same time.

    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.