With global warming and melting ice, it isn't easy being a polar bear anymore. Some studies have predicted that polar bears could die out by the end of the century. The good news is not all researchers think the bears are absolutely disappearing. Scientists at the American Museum of Natural History(AMNH) have published a new paper indicating that things might not be as bad for polar bears as some scientists expect.

To understand the reason for the researchers' cautious optimism, we must first understand the factors that are threatening the polar bear's existence. Polar bears consume a diet of mainly young seals. In order to hunt these seals, polar bears need to rest at the top of sea ice—the same ice that is increasingly melting for most of the year thanks to climate change. In another 50 years, experts expect that the Arctic will be too warm for sea ice to form for half of the year, leaving polar bears without a reliable food source and in serious danger of starvation.

As it turns out, alternative food sources for the polar bears aren't completely out of the question. For as long as biologists have tailed after the animals, they've seen polar bears eating animals found on land like caribou(驯鹿) and snow geese—as well as the snow geese's eggs.

    Can polar bears actually survive off these alternative food sources for long periods of time? To figure this out, researchers calculated the nutrients that a caribou and snow geese diet would provide. They found that even adult male polar bears would be able to obtain more calories than would burn in hunting these meals. Moreover, the food would provide the food lecessary to avoid starvation during the summer months.

    Unfortunately, not all polar bears have tended to seek food on land. That said, the researchers expect that necessity would push more polar bears to hunt on land to avoid starvation. They also expect that the bears could learn from their fellow bears how to hunt on land until the practice becomes second nature.

    Middle and high school days are both fun and busy. Students spend their days in class, listening to the interesting and sometimes boring words of the teacher. They spend the short breaks running, playing, and shouting happily before going back to the classroom again. But how should students spend their free time outside school?

In Western countries, it is common for students to have a part-time job after school and at weekends. Students can earn their own money and learn more about the "real world". They enjoy the extra independence and money, and parents enjoy the quiet house. However, it seems that, in China, parents worry so much about their children' studies that they would prefer to see their children spending most of their free time studying and preparing for all those exams.

    It is natural for parents to feel that way, but I believe the answer lies in balance. Sometimes, Western school children work long hours after school to make money, and so they become too tired to listen in class or have no time for homework. But Chinese students spend so much time on their studies that all else becomes less important until they want that new MP4 player.

    So, find a good and healthy balance! If you have a part-time job, you'll be happy, and your parents will also be happy because you're spending your hard-earned money and not theirs!

【写作内容】1） 概括短文的内容要点，该部分的字数大约30词左右；2） 就"如何利用课余时间"这个主题发表你的看法，至少包含以下的内容要点，该部分的字数大约120词左右:

a. 以自身为例，简述你平时是怎样打发课余时间的；

b. 你如何看待自己利用课余时间的方式；

c. 你的父母对你利用课余时间的态度及你的看法。

【写作要求】你可以使用实例或其它论述方法支持你的论点，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不要抄袭阅读材料中的句子。

    A study of more than five million books, both fiction and non-fiction, has found a marked decline in the use of emotional words over time. The researchers form the University of Bristol used Google Ngram Viewer, a facility for finding the frequency of terms in scanned books, to search for more than 600 particular words identified as representing anger, dislike, fear, joy, sadness and surprise.

    They found that almost all of the categories (类别) showed a drop in these “mood words” over time. Only in the category of fear was there an increase in usage.

    “It is a steady and continuous decrease,” said Dr Alberto Acerbi. He assumed that the result might be explained by a change in the position occupied by literature, in a crowded media landscape. “One thing could be that in parallel to books the 20th century saw the start of other media. Maybe these media—movies, radio, drama—had more emotional content than books.”

    Although both joy and sadness followed the general downwards trend, the research, published in the journal PLOS One, found that they also exhibited another interesting behaviour：the ratio (比率) between the two varied greatly, apparently mirroring historical events.

    During the Roaring Twenties the joy-to-sadness ratio reached a peak that would not occur again until before the recent financial crash. But the ratio plunged at the height of the Second World War. Nevertheless, the researchers held a reserved opinion about their claim that their result reflected wider social trends. In the paper, they even argue that the reverse could be true.

“It has been suggested, for example, that it was the suppression (压抑) of desire in ordinary Elizabethan English life that increased demand for writing ‘filled with romance and sex' perhaps,” they conclude, “songs and books may not reflect the real population any more than catwalk models reflect the average body.”

     (Note：Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS.)

    About 7 million people over the age of 65 have been diagnosed with depression, and many more could be suffering. It is high time that you learned how to know the signs and help them. Depression is a big problem for seniors, especially those who are lack of care and attention. Older people are much more likely to be alone, socially isolated(孤立的) or feel a lack of purpose. Sometimes older people have a much more difficulty time admitting mental health problems. Many times, the link between depression and physical illness is much stronger.

    The elderly don't like to express sadness the way that young people do. Older people who are depressed may have more physical troubles and may pay more attention to them. Depression may result from early memory loss and meanwhile, depression will make a person forget more and faster. A patient with early memory loss and depression really needs to be treated for the depression to slow the memory loss. A mood change is also a sign of depression. If a previously calm person becomes increasingly annoyed, or a previously clean person no longer bothers to shower or clean up, that person should be considered.

Don't tell older adults that you think they may be depressed, as older adults — particularly men–see depression as a weakness. What you should do is tell them you're worried about their health. Tell them they seem to be out of sorts.

    Say you just want to check with the doctor to see what's going on. Once you've used physical symptoms to get that person to agree to a check-up, mention your fear to the doctor and allow the doctor to approach the subject of depression with the patient.

    The 82-year-old Frances Wood entered the Nazarene University two years ago. At that time, her husband of 59 years died, which left her a little lonely and sad. As a result, she started to study at university.

    Ms Wood said that she was the oldest student on campus, and was known as “Granny Franny”. The lady is just like a grandma away from home. The students wanted to vote Ms Wood as the homecoming queen, but the granny refused to accept the honor. So instead, the school honored her during half time at a football game by making her become the homecoming granny queen, the first award of its kindness ever given by the school. Ms Wood got a standing ovation(鼓掌) and was presented with flowers. To prove her popularity further, she had three male youths holding on her arm for the evening ceremony.

    Ms Wood took classes in finance, history and literature at university. She said after being widowed two years before, she needed something different to do. When she got to college, she said it was a little surreal being surrounded by the young ones. “I think this is unbelievable and dreamlike to do this,” she said.

    Eager to get into her little classmate circle, she handed out homemade business cards with her phone number and e-mail address, so that the students could reach out to her. The cards also featured a photo of her, saying “about 10 years ago”.

    On my first job as a sports editor for the Montpelier Leader Enterprise(MLE), I didn't get a lot of fan mail, so many attention was caught by letter on my desk one morning.

    When I opened it, I read: "Sweet piece of writing on the Tigers. Keep up the good work." It was signed by Don Wolfe, the sports editor. Because I was a teenager, his words couldn't have been more inspiring. I kept it in my drawer until it got old. Whenever I doubted I had the right stuff to be a writer, I would reread Don's note and walk on air again.

    Later, when I got to know him, I learned that Don made a habit of writing a quick, encouraging note to people in all walks of life. "when I made others feel good about themselves," he told me, "I feel good, too."

    Over the years, I've tried to copy Don and write uplifting words, in a world too often cold and unresponsive, such notes bring warmth.

    Why are positive note writers in such short supply? My guess is that people who shy away from the practice are too self-conscious. They are afraid they will be misunderstood. Thus, it may cause troubles and problems. And it sounds insincere on the phone. Also, writing takes time; it is far easier to pick up the phone.

    The drawback of phone calls, of course, is that they do not last. A note attaches more importance to our well-wishing. It is a matter of record, and our words can be read more than once, savored and treasured, and they bring strength and love to us.

    Today I sent a warm letter to my old boss. I don't know if it will make his day, but it made mine. As my friend Don Wolfe said, "Making others feel good about themselves makes me feel good too."