When you hear the word “recycling”, what comes to your mind? The color green or global warming?

    What if I were to tell you there is a dark side of recycling? A type of recycling that does more than good. The dark side of recycling has nothing to do with the environment but rather has a lot to do with the recycling of ideas.

Environmental unrest is not the only trouble we must face. Idea pollution is quickly becoming widespread across the online world.

    Think about it. When was the last time you read an original blog post? I'm guessing it has been quite a while. Why do you think top bloggers of today win so much respect? Do you think they recycle their ideas? With each recycled idea the online world becomes much more polluted. Used content contributes to the ever increasing mass of digital smog.

    The first step to reduce pollution is simple: stop recycling. When you stop recycling, you will then be forced to take up the task of creating from your own ideas. When you recycle an excellent idea, it soon becomes good. When you recycle a good idea, it soon becomes just OK. The chain continues until the key part of what used to make the idea good is saturated, leaving you nothing but a pile of mess.

    In order not to pollute, your ideas must go beyond “just recycled”. Your ideas must stand out from the pollution of the web. For your voice and talent to be heard and seen, you must go far beyond the standard copy of your neighbours' ideas.

    For the next week, make a promise not to recycle. Let your ideas flourish and flow. Believe in your ability to create, because the death of recycling starts with YOU.

    My parents grew up during the Depression(大萧条) attending small country churches. At the close of Christmas Eve services, each child was given a brown paper bag containing an apple, an orange, nuts and several chocolates.

Years later, whenever Dad recalled that tradition, his eyes shone reliving the memory. My mother didn't share his enthusiasm. She always said the chocolates tasted cheap and old.

    Cheap chocolates or not, the paper bags with goodies were an event. Gifts of any sort during the Depression were rare, especially in large farm families with seven children.

    When our children were young and we were home for Christmas one year, Mom and Dad gave each of the grandkids a brown paper bag holding an apple, an orange, nuts and several chocolates. When we finished the 8-hour drive home after the holiday, there was a message waiting on the phone when we walked in the door. “Your ungrateful kids left their apples and oranges in the back of our refrigerator. No more fruit for them!” Grandpa and Grandma were joking, of course, but still there was a degree of disrespect in the kids leaving behind thoughtfully chosen gifts.

    But the paper bag didn't have a context for our children. They had never known fruit to be a scarcity(缺乏). They didn't appreciate the gift because they had never experienced the need the gift was meant to fill.

    The same is true of Christmas today. We don't appreciate the true gift of the season because we don't understand the need the gift was given to fill.

It's not like we don't know we have needs. We know them, all right—patience, love, self-control, strength, courage, faithfulness, forgiveness—it's just that we have become experts at numbing(使麻木) ourselves to our needs.

    The true gift of the season is a perfect fit for our every need. When a gift like apples and oranges fits a need, there is a cheerful satisfaction. When the gift of a Christmas tree fits a need, there is the joy of Christmas.

    All Poetry, the largest poetry writing group, would improve poets' works, create a fan base, and read the best poetry of our generation. It is the home base for poets. Many poets are willing to show their works and over 500,000 poets get feedback（反馈）and improve their poetry. Both beginners and experts are welcomed. All Poetry helps poets learn what they need to improve.

    Writing groups

    All Poetry is designed as a big writing group. Every poem gets several .encouraging comments. We also have private comments for friends.

    Award-winning poets

    The best poems are featured, and many poets have won national contests. Experts encourage amateurs（业余爱好者）to improve their poems.

    Various contests

    All contests are totally free and some are with cash prizes. Dozens of free contests are started every day. Let fair judging inspire you.

    Poets are Saying

     “All Poetry has helped me improve my work so much! I'm now so much more confident about my use of concrete images, and other poetic devices. My own poetry is well received and appreciated and that makes me very happy.”

    Sarah Versa

    “As a member, I've made some good friends at All Poetry. I really appreciate the exchange of constructive comments and general contact with some excellent writers of poetry.”

    Anthony Christopher

    Want to choose an English novel to enjoy? Here are four popular books sold on the website of Amazon, with formats and editions of kindle, hardcover, or paperback.

    Laughter is a kind of universal body language that is shared by people of all nationalities, skin colors, cultures and traditions. But did you know that the ability to tell real laughter apart from fake (假的) laughter also varies among cultures?

    Greg Bryant, a professor of communication at the University of California, published a study in late July. In the study, 884 people from 21 countries were asked to listen to random recordings of laughter. Some of the recordings were made up of laughs from the bottom of the heart, while others were made by people who were asked to laugh on command.

    The study showed that people around the world have the ability to pick out real laughter, although their abilities vary from country to country. Residents of the Samoan Islands, were particularly good at it, correctly identifying real laughter 56 percent of the time. According to Bryant, people from smaller, less industrialized nations “are more accurate in identifying a natural smile” because they rely heavily on emotional engagement in order to predict others' behavior and create stronger social relationships.

    But how do people from different cultures detect natural laughter so easily? And what characters does real laughter have? As Professor Jessica Wolf of the University of California told the Association for Psychological Science, in real laughter, we produce qualities, such as higher pitch (音调) and volume, as well as faster bursts of no clear sounds.

    By contrast, fake laughter will "sound like speech". According to Science Daily, fake laughter is controlled by the same brain system that controls the lips and tongue. Bryant further explained that this system has active ability, saying "with this speech system, you can make a lot of different noises, including crying, laughter or scream. That's where fake laughter comes from".

    So that? s something to think about: next time one of your friends laughs at something you say, will you be able to tell if it's real or fake?

A teenager needs to have a sense of independence in their life to feel secure(安全的). To some teenagers independence means a lot to them, and I think that some parents don't allow their teenagers enough independence.

Independence has something to do with freedom. Some kids are not allowed to go anywhere alone, and the only thing their schedule includes is going to school, coming home, going to sleep, and repeating the process the next day. Parents tend to be afraid that their kids can get hunt if they go outside into the world. But if parents control their kids too much, they may never learn to live on their own. The best way for a teenager to learn lesson is through experience. I think it is beneficial for teenagers to have freedom.

Teenagers' lack of freedom can also stop them from having good friendship at school. Some might say this is a good thing, because it helps them focus more on their school work. I argue that this can only discourage them not to do their school work. Some parents do not allow their children to be around their friends outside the school, thinking that this will get them into trouble. But I don't think so. Instead, isn't this a good reason for parents to get their children a cellphone? Cellphones allow teenagers to stay in touch with their parents, and communicate with friends.

Privacy is another issue between parents and their teenagers.Teenagers tend to enjoy relaxation by themselves in their own room. This also gives them a sense of independence. It often annoys teenagers when their parents enter their room when they are not home. I know that my mom always goes in my room when I'm not home, and this has brought me to the point where I have asked many times to get a lock on my door.