Green is an important color in nature. It is the color of grass and the leaves on trees. It is the color of most growing plants, too.

Sometimes, the word green means young, fresh and growing. Sometimes, it describes something that is not yet finished or plants that are not ripe.

For example, a greenhorn is someone who has no experience, who is new to a situation. In the fifteenth century, a greenhorn was a young cow or ox whose horns had not yet developed. A century or so later, a greenhorn was a soldier who had not yet had any experience in war (战争) .By the eighteenth century, a greenhorn had the meaning it has today——a person who is new in a job.

About one hundred years ago, greenhorn was a popular expression in the American west Old—timers used it to describe a man who had just arrived from one of the big cities in the east. The greenhorn didn't have the skills that he would need to live in the hard, rough country.

Someone who has the ability to grow plants well is said to have a green thumb. The expression comes from the early nineteen hundred.

A person with a green thumb seems to have a magic touch that makes plants grow quickly and well. You might say that the woman next door has a green thumb if her garden continues to grow long after your plants have died.

The Green Revolution (革命) is the name which was given some years ago to the development of new kinds of rice and other grains. The new plants produced much larger crops. The Green Revolution was the result of hard work by agricultural (农业的) scientists who had green thumbs.

    Imagine you are taking a walk on thebeautiful beach. Just then, your feet step over something and you hear a crack(噼啪声) —an emptyplastic bottle. Things like this are happening more often because of searubbish.

    Studies show that 80% of all the waste isfrom the land. The waste is mainly plastics (塑料制品)which are really hard to degrade (降解). So the rubbishwill remain there for a long time. Some of the pollution is causedaccidentally. For example, about 10,000 product-filled boxes are lost at seaevery year from business ships. Sometimes people just throw things into thewater from boats or land. Many large rubbish areas are formed in the NorthPacific Ocean.

    Thankfully, the situation isn't ignored (忽视). Groups like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)are taking action to help clean the sea. Since 2006,76 projects have clearedout 3,814 metric tons (公吨) of rubbish from the sea.Methods of rubbish cleaning include using machines to remove (移除) the waste away from the surface of sea water. Besides, specialnets are set by the mouths of rivers to stop the rubbish before it reaches thesea. If everyone does his part, sea rubbish seems like a problem that can besolved.

    We live on the earth. We use the sea around us. What do we take from the ocean? And what do we give to it?

    We take fishes from the ocean—millions of kilograms of fish, every year, to feed millions of people. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}We take minerals (矿物) from the ocean. We can get salt by evaporating (蒸发) seawater. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}such as gold. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Seaweed (海草) becomes food of many kinds—even candy and ice cream—as well as medicine. Believe it or not, fresh water is another gift from the sea. We can't drink ocean water. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}But ocean water becomes fresh water when the salts are removed. In the future, we will find ourselves depending more and more on fresh water from the sea.

    The sea gives us food, fertilizer, minerals, water and other gifts. What do we give the sea? We pollute the ocean all the time. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Throwing waste into the ocean is killing off sea life. Yet as the world population grows, we may need the sea and its gifts more than ever.

    We are finally learning that if we destroy our sea, we might also destroy ourselves. Hopefully, it is not too late.

Do you know"cosplay"? It is the activity of dressing up as a fictitious (虚构的) character from cartoons, books, films, video games or TV shows. Some people spend a lot of money buying clothes, but many more enjoy making clothes by themselves in order to show their love for those fictitious characters.

Cosplay needs a lot of work. Here are some steps(步骤) in how to prepare for a cosplay:

●Plan your cosplay. You should choose a character you like. It's also important to find pictures with almost every detail(细节) of the character.

•Make or buy your cosplay clothing. You'd better make a list of everything you need. Sometimes, you may need to change the size of the things like the shoes or the dresses you get.

●Pay attention to making up and haircut. You should find someone to make you up. You should also have the same haircut as the character you want to cosplay.

Have fun doing your cosplay. You needn't compare yourself with anyone else. You should feel proud of the work you do. Maybe you can also make some new friends there.

These days, many people use the shared bikes from ofo or Mobike. These users are {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (woman) and men, old and young. In the first week of this year, Mobike has 5, 850, 000 users. That's a big number. Why do so many people want to use them? Because it's easy for people to use the bikes with {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (they) phones and they can put the bikes with GPS anywhere. 

Hu Hong, a teacher, often {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (go) to work by bike. He says, "It's far (远的) from my home to my school. If I don't ride a bike, f{#blank#}4{#/blank#} I need to take a bus, then I need to walk {#blank#}5{#/blank#} 10 minutes. So it's difficult for me not to be l{#blank#}6{#/blank#} for work. Now I can go with Mobike to my school on time. 

But at the same time, using ofo and Mobike b{#blank#}7{#/blank#} a lot of problems (问题). In Wuhan, people often park too many bikes in the busy roads after {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (use ) (83) them, and that's bad for the traffic (交通). 

"Some people are r{#blank#}9{#/blank#} selfish (自私的) . When they f{#blank#}10{#/blank#} riding the bikes, they just park them anywhere. They only think about themselves. They never think for others." He Jia, living near a busy road, says angrily. 

Different people have different eating habits.

There is a Chinese saying， "Good things for breakfast. Eat a big meal for lunch but eat a little for dinner".

Many Americans also have a good breakfast every day，but their ideas about lunch and dinner are different from Chinese. Most（大多数）Americans only have a short time for lunch. So their lunch is usually small. After work they will have more（更多的） time to eat a big dinner.

Eating in a restaurant is also different. In China，many people like to talk and laugh while（当……时）eating. But Americans want a quiet place because they can eat a good meal. If someone talks too loudly（大声地），the manager（经理）of the restaurant will come and ask him or her to be quiet.