The world itself is becoming much smaller by using modern traffic and modern communication. Life today is much easier than it was hundreds of years ago, but it has brought new problems. One of the biggest problems is pollution.
    To pollute means to make things unfit or unclean to use. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, drink it and even eat it. Pollution is beginning to threaten (威胁) our health, our happiness and our life.
    Man has been polluting the earth from the time he first made fire, washed his clothes in the river and threw his waste on the ground. When land was used up or water became dirty, men moved on to another place. At first, the problem was not so serious because there was plenty of clean air, land and water. There weren't so many people then and their wants fewer. All the dirty things could be absorbed(吸收) by nature and soon covered over. But this is no longer true. The increase of pollution and the development of industry(工业) have changed that. Man is slowly poisoning(毒害)not only his environment but also himself.
    Through the use of poison, man has polluted the land, killing the animals. By putting dirty water and chemicals into rivers and lakes we have polluted our drinking water, killing the fish.
Our increasing population is part of the problem. More people, more waste.
     Where is this all to end? Are we turning the world into a big rubbish dump(堆存处)，or is there any hope that we can get rid of (摆脱，除去) the pollution? Luckily, millions of people have been warned of the danger of pollution. Large numbers of people are now working hard to bring pollution under control.
    The earth is our home. We must take care of it. This means keeping the land, air and water clean. And we must take care of the rise in pollution at the same time.

What is your favorite color? Ask famous persons like Cate Blanchett, Scarlett Johnson, and Bono (singer for the band U2), and maybe they will say “green.” That's not because these artists like the color green best. Instead, they are interested in green fashion.

       Green fashion is about making (and wearing) clothes that are good for humans, animals, and the Earth. In the past, green fashion made people think of ugly clothes. But today, green fashion is different. It is about looking good and caring about the Earth and other people. You can have interesting clothes and be green.

Around the world, green fashion is becoming popular. For example, the U.K. company People Tree sells men's and women's clothing and accessories(配搭物). They are made from natural fabrics(织物) like cotton and wool. Workers who make the clothes are from countries like Kenya(肯尼亚), and Bangladesh(孟加拉国). People Tree pays the men and women good money for the clothes they make.

Singer Bono and his wife also started a clothing company called EDUN. When the clothes are sold, EDUN uses most of the money to help people around the world.

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What are fossils?

    Fossils are the remains of plants or animals. For such remains to be considered fossils, scientists have decided they have to be over 10,000 years old. The word fossil comes from the Latin word “fossilis”, which means, “dig up”.  Fossils can be divided into “body fossils” and “trace(痕迹) fossils”. Body fossils are the remains of a plant or animal's body. Trace fossils are the remains of the activity of an animal, such as footprints, egg shells, and nests.

How are fossils formed?

    Some animals were quickly covered after their death by sediment(沉淀物) like earth, mud or sand. Over time, the parts of the animals that didn't rot (usually the harder parts like bones and teeth) were covered in the newly formed sediment. Then, a lot of chemical changes happened to the animals bodies. Water with minerals(矿物质) went into the bone and took the place of the chemicals in the bone with rock-like minerals. In the end we get a heavy, rock-like copy of the original object - a fossil. There weren't any changes in size and shape when an object changed into a fossil, but the fossil of a bone doesn't have any bone in it! It is chemically more like a rock! According to scientists, fossils have been found on every continent(大陆) on Earth.

    Since the beginning of history, man has been fascinated by the idea of living forever, of winning the fight against death and disease. So far, this has only remained a dream, though a very powerful one. Many people have wondered whether it would be possible to find a way to preserve human bodies, and what would be the best way to preserve human bodies.

    It has long been known that meat or fruit can be kept fresh for long periods by freezing; in ancient China, for example, food was stored with ice to keep it fresh. This method could also be useful for preserving humans, and in fact many people have explored this possibility.

    However, most living beings that exist under warm conditions die when frozen. This is because of the harmful effects of freezing ice crystals, which are not only larger than the volume of the water originally in the cells, but also form sharp cutting shapes that harm the cells.

    In the 1940s Dr B. J. Luyet and a group of scientists in England were working on the problem of freezing cells without damaging them. Since the harm caused by ice crystals was the main cause of the damage, Luyet suggested removing some or all of the water from the cells before freezing them.

    Using living cells from chicken, Luyet and his assistants discovered that they could partly dry the chicken cells, using a mixture of the white part of an egg and glycerin, a clear thick liquid made chiefly from fats and oils. Some success was obtained. The chicken cells were dried, frozen for a period of time, and then carefully unfrozen.

    Almost all the cells recovered when they reached normal temperature. Since then, the cooling of whole animals to a temperature very much below freezing point for later unfreezing has become more of a possibility, and the glycerin method would probably be used to accomplish this. When this can be done completely and successfully, science will have moved much closer to its aim of freezing and storing incurable patients until the day they can be cured.

    Recently, many people have begun to try a new way of shopping through the Internet. They are very interested in it. Why is it becoming more and more popular now? There are some reasons. First, more and more people have their own computers and their computers can be joined with the Internet. So it is possible for many of them to do some shopping through the Internet. Second, shopping through the Internet can save some money and a lot of time. Third, they don't need to go to the shop themselves, Because of these good facts, few people refuse it.

However, some people don't like this new way of shopping. They are worried about the safety of shopping online, Customers can only see the pictures of a product on the Internet. And they can't enjoy the pleasure of buying things in a large supermarket or a wonderful shopping centre. These are the reasons why they do not like it.

    But I think more and more people will like this new kind of shopping in the future.