Bottled water has become the choice for people who are healthy and thirsty. Bottled water is all over the world. But some say the planet's health, and people's health may be suffering from it.

    The idea that bottled water is safer for humans may not be true. The Natural Resources Defense Council of America said, “There is no promise that because water comes out of a bottle, it is cleaner or safer than water from the tap.” Another New York City-based action group added that some bottled water is “really just tap water in a bottle—sometimes more clean, sometimes not.”

    It is not proven that bottled water is better than tap water. Nick Reeves from the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management said, “The high mineral content(含量) of some bottled water makes them not good for feeding babies and young children.” Also, most bottled water doesn't have fluoride(氟化物), which can make teeth stronger. Kids are drinking more bottled water and less fluoridated tap water, and some say that's behind the recent rise in bad teeth.

    Storing is another problem. Placed near heat, the plastic bottles can produce bad chemicals(化学物质) into the water.

    According to the Environmental Protection Agency, some 2.7 million tons of plastic are used worldwide to bottle water each year. The plastic can take between 400 and 1,000 years to break down.

    In terms of energy use, plastic bottles are also not cheap. One report said that if water and soft drink bottlers had used 10 percent recycled materials in their plastic bottles, they would have saved about 72 million gallons of gas.

    So, if you are worried about the effect of bottled water on the Earth, you can take the following steps.

●Drink from your tap. Unless your government warns against this, it should be fine.

●Get a container(容器). Carry your tap water in a steel or a lined drinking container, and clean it between uses.

●Keep it cool. Don't drink from a bottle that has been sitting in the sun, don't store it near chemicals, and don't reuse plastic bottles.

●Choose glass containers over plastic if possible. When finished, recycle!

    Getting less sleep has become a bad habit for most American kids. According to a new survey(调查) by the National Sleep Foundation, 51% of kids aged 10 to 18 go to bed at 10 pm or later on school nights, even though they have to get up early. Last year the Foundation reported that nearly 60% of 7- to 12-year-olds said they felt tired during the day, and 15% said they had fallen asleep at school.

    How much sleep you need depends a lot on your age. Babies need a lot of rest: most of them sleep about 18 hours a day! Adults need about eight hours. For most school-age children, ten hours is ideal(理想的). But the new National Sleep Foundation survey found that 35% of 10- to 12-year-olds get only seven or eight hours. And guess what almost half of the surveyed kids said they do before bedtime? Watch TV.

“More children are going to bed with TVs on, and there are more opportunities(机会) to stay awake, with more homework, the Internet and the phone,” says Dr. Mary Carskadon, a sleep researcher at Brown University Medical School. She says these activities at bedtime can get kids all excited and make it hard for them to calm down and sleep. Other experts say part of the problem is chemical. Changing levels of body chemicals called hormones not only make teenagers' bodies develop adult characteristics, but also make it hard for teenagers to fall asleep before 11 pm.

Because sleepiness is such a problem for teenagers, some school districts have decided to start high school classes later than they used to. Three years ago, schools in Edina, Minnesota, changed the start time from 7:25 am to 8:30 am. Students, parents and teachers are pleased with the results.

    Honey from the African forest is not only a kind of natural sugar, it is also delicious. Most people, and many animals, like eating it. However, the only way for them to get that honey is to find a wild bees' nest and take the honey from it. Often, these nests are high up in trees, and it is difficult to find them. In parts of Africa, though, people and animals looking for honey have a strange and unexpected helper—a little bird called a honey guide.

    The honey guide does not actually like honey, but it does like the wax(蜂蜡) in the beehives(蜂房). The little bird cannot reach this wax, which is deep inside the bees' nest. So, when it finds a suitable nest, it looks for someone to help it. The honey guide gives a loud cry that attracts the attention of both passing animals and people. Once it has their attention, it flies through the forest, waiting from time to time for the curious animal or person as it leads them to the nest. When they finally arrive at the nest, the follower reaches in to get at the delicious honey as the bird patiently waits and watches. Some of the honey, and the wax, always falls to the ground, and this is when the honey guide takes its share.

    Scientists do not know why the honey guide likes eating the wax, but it is very determined in its efforts to get it. The birds seem to be able to smell wax from a long distance away. They will quickly arrive whenever a beekeeper is taking honey from his beehives, and will even enter churches when beeswax candles are being lit.

    People who like travelling have their reasons. They believe that travelling can help them expand their field of view, especially in the geographical and historical sense. They also think that touring will give them more chances to enjoy different kinds of food and experience new things that would never be brought by other activities. But those who dislike travelling also have some reasons.

    Travelling, in my opinion, does more good than harm. Most importantly, it broadens  (使扩大) our mind. We can get in touch with other civilizations (文明), cultures, customs and ideas.

    Through history, most people travelled because of necessity (必要性)—not for pleasure. People travelled just in order to remain alive. They searched for food to eat or places to live in. They sometimes ran away from enemies. This is not to say that no one ever travelled just for the fun of it. In ancient times, for example, rich Romans travelled all the way to Greece to take part in the Olympic Games, and festivals. Of course, some people decided to travel just out of curiosity (好奇心). They wanted to find out what it looked like beyond the horizon (地平线). Also business travel has been going on for centuries. Traders could not only make money but also learn to speak several languages and be introduced to different cultures.

    So, travelling does enrich our mind and draw new ideas to us. There is no doubt that we can get much from it.

    In Scotland, 600,000 tonnes of food are thrown away every year. This amount of food, which could as feed about 1.2 billion poor people, is almost a third of household (家庭) waste. And food waste isn't just a big problem in Scotland.

    Money time, and resources (资源) are often wasted by throwing away good food. It also causes very harmful greenhouse gas, which is perilous to the planet.

    In the production stage, some foods do not enter the food chain for many reasons. Supermarkets usually care about the quality of food from farms. They often refuse strange-looking and unusually sized produce. However, they seem to forget that it is almost impossible to grow the perfect produce. Food waste at the consumption (消费) stage includes food going out of date and leftovers (剩饭) because of too much food. In households, even mostly fresh fruit and vegetables are thrown away.

    In order to reduce food waste, here is what we can do:

    Understanding the terms “use by” and “best before” dates. “Use by” dates are there for your safety. It is dangerous to eat food after the use-by date and doing so risks your health. “Best before” dates tell you how long the food will be at its best quality. Once the food passes the date, it isn't necessarily bad, but you should still check, just to be sure.

    Every time you go shopping and you bring back new food, put them at the back of your fridge and bring the food that will expire (到期) soon closer to the front. That way, you know what needs to be eaten first.

    If you have any food that will expire soon, give it to charity if you aren't going to eat it. They will really appreciate the food you have given.