It is park at the bottom of the ocean. It's cold down there too. There's no air to breathe. The water pressure is high. There may be fishes that could hurt you. The deep sea can be an unpleasant place. But people are still fascinated by it, not just because of the amazing scenery. The seafloor might hold the secret to the beginning of life on Earth.

    Oceans cover more than two-thirds of our planet. Yet, we have explored just a small part of the underwater world. A new project is there to explore the ocean deeper. A new US machine can carry people down to as deep as 6,500 metres. It will take the place of an older machine called Alvin. The old one has been in use for 40 years, but it can only go down to 4,500 metres. Alvin played a key role in many important tasks. Alvin helped biologists collect worms, chemists gather rocks, and oceanographers (海洋学家) map the seafloor and take water sample (样本).

    But now it's about time for a new one. The new machine will be like Alvin. It'll also be about 27 feet long, about the size of a small school bus. The seating area inside will be small, about two metres wide. Like Alvin, it'll carry a pilot and two passengers. It will be able to move like Alvin does. It'll give passengers more chances to enjoy the view. Alvin has only three windows. The new one will have five. It will travel more than a mile an hour faster than Alvin. Getting to the bottom faster and moving around more quickly will allow researchers to make the most of their time underwater.

    As everyone knows, animals are our friends. Of all the animals, dogs are friendly to 1.

    Dogs are always staying 2 human beings. They are in different colours. There are many different 3 of dogs. Hunting dogs can 4people get more prey(猎物). The seeing-eye dogs can help 5people a lot. The police dogs can help the police.

    Today it is 6 to imagine the life without dogs. Maybe everyone is happy to see dog. Dogs are good at7 and smelling. Some dogs can find the people who are trapped(困) 8 the broken house. Some dogs can help take care of the houses. 9someone strange comes close to the house, they will bark to frighten him. Even some dogs can help look after kids when their 10 are not at home.

    In a word, dogs are our best friends among all animals.

    The word, "photography", was first used in 1839. It comes from the Greek words that mean "to write with light". But photography could only give people static pictures. So scientists were trying hard to find ways to make pictures that can move. They made lots of experiments, but failed again and again. It was Eadweard Muybridge who finally succeeded. He was the first photographer to try this successfully. But how did he make it? It was an interesting story.

    Back in 1872, people didn't know exactly(确切地) whether all four of a horse's hooves(蹄) left the ground at the same time when it was running. A gentleman called Leland Stanford made a bet with his friend about it. Most people believed that a horse always had one hoof on the ground, or it would fall over. But Stanford didn't think so.

    At that time, it was hard to know who could win the bet, because a horse's legs move so fast that it is impossible to tell just by looking. So they needed a way to record the movement of a running horse. Then Stanford offered $ 25,000 to the famous photographer, Muybridge, to help find the answer. In the beginning, Muybridge failed to get clear images, but he didn't give up. He continued to improve his cameras. In 1878, after many experiments, he managed to get a sequence(连续) of 12 photos. One of them clearly showed that all four of the horse's hooves were off the ground at the same time. And when the photos moved fast, people could see a horse running.

    Though Edison is usually considered as the person who created the first movie in 1889, it was the work of Eadweard Muybridge and the bet that led to Edison's invention.

    One morning while Officer Vogel was on his coffee break in a restaurant, a man ran in a yelled. "Officer! A little kid is driving a car down the street!"

    He ran out at once and saw a car going slowly--about 25 miles an hour--but it was going very straight. He jumped into his police car and followed it. When the car was stopped, Officer Vogel looked inside. The driver was a little boy. His name was Rocco Morabiro and was 5. In the back seat was his two-year-old sister. Both children wen crying.

    "I want my mummy!" the boy cried." But she can't get here. I have the car." Then he had an idea." Just a minute." He told Officer Vogel." I can drive. I'll go to get her."

    "No!" Officer Vogel said. "You stay with me!" Then he drove them to the police station and he called their mother. They had many questions for Rocco. The first question was: "Where did you get the car keys?"

    Rocco said. "From the top of the refrigerator." At seven that morning Rocoo's father was work and his mother was sleeping, Rocco saw the keys on top of the refrigerator. He climbed on a chair, and took the keys.

Rocco got into the car and started the engine (引擎). When Rocco's sister heard the engine she ran to the car and cried. She wanted to go with him.

It was 7 a. m.—rush hour—so there was much traffic. Rocco drove one mile in heavy traffic. Then Officer Vogel stopped him.

    Newspapers and TV stations heard about Rocco, and a lot of reporters went to his house. Areporter asked Rocco, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

    "A truck driver," he said, smiling.

    Cycads(苏铁)grow in warm places. They are tall and green all year round. Their leaves grow on the top and flowers seldom come out. Some have bright orange fruits. They usually need hundreds of years to grow into adult plants.

    Cycads are facing problems now. In South Africa, the situation of cycads is getting terrible, but this has drawn little attention from the public. "In fact, there are 38 kinds of cycads in South Africa. Among them, 2 kinds have disappeared since 2003 and 25 kinds are in great danger," said a gardener. "Do you know what the loneliest plant is in the world? It is Wood's Cyead. Someone found it in a forest in 1895. It is the only one of its kind."

    So what causes cycads to be in danger? Surprisingly, the danger is from the people who love them most. These slow-growing adult cycads even sell for tens of thousands of dollars each. As time goes by, they have become a symbol(象征)of wealth and position(地位)in society. This makes cyead lovers want to own more. Cyead lovers buy and plant them in their private gardens. As a result, nearly all these cyeads die because the living conditions have changed.

    Recently, South African government has taken some actions to protect cycads from being stolen traded. At the same time, people around the world should also work together to protect the plants.

    Like you, plants need good things like food, water, and minerals in order to grow. Usually they get these important nutrients(营养) from the rich soil(土壤) in which they're planted. But there's another way to grow plants that doesn't use soil. It's called hydrogenic gardening.

    "Hydrogenic" means "working with water." In a hydrogenic garden, plants grow with their roots in water, not in dirt. The water is filled with special food for the plants that gardeners have carefully measured and prepared.

    Hydrogenic plants grow quickly. In ordinary gardens, plants need time and energy to grow long roots that search the soil for food and water. In a hydrogenic garden, plants can use their energy to grow tall instead. And because there is no soil, there are no weeds and few insect pests(害虫). Gardeners don't need to spray(喷洒) plants with dangerous chemicals. Both the plants and the environment stay healthy. 

    Scientists hope that, one day, hydrogenic gardens may be able to help hungry people all over the world grow enough food-even in countries that have bad soil, or weather that is too hot, too cold, or too dry. And astronauts hope to take hydrogenic gardens with them to the spaceship they fly to Mars, so that they will always have fresh vegetables, and the fun of growing a garden without dirt.