阅读理解。

    Welcome to Shawnee Mountain, a great place for skiing! All people can have a wonderful time here. For more information, you can visit www.shawneemt.com or call 570-421-7231.

    Do you want to be productive（富有成效的）at work or at home? Here's what you should do.

Turn off television

    I used to tell myself that I needed a break. So, when the kids slept I turned on the cable and watched whatever program that caught my fancy. Often, I found myself not watching, just channel-surfing. And I didn't end up watching a full program. I decided one day to just give up on TV as it made me sleep late and woke up exhausted（疲惫的）.

    If you want to be productive, cut off TV. You are better off reading a book. Without TV, I have managed to finish many books which I have bought but never read.

Limit Internet Use

    The other big distraction that can make you sleep late is the Internet. Probably because you will be checking your emails, updating your blog, watching YouTube, etc. Try limiting the use of it at home, or switch it to the morning session.

    Nowadays, I check all my personal emails early in the morning. When I get into work, I find myself less tempted to check personal emails.

Know Your Priorities(优先考虑的事)

    Really, it is all about the choices you make and the priorities you have. If you know it is competitive out there in the world, how can you be a better worker than the person who is also aiming for the position above you?

Rest Early, Rise Early

    You want to be productive? Rise early, read more books, have more energy, be more focused and set standards for others to catch up. It's as simple as that.

    More companies and recyclers are taking steps to ensure that old electronic devices such as TVs and computers aren't sent to poor countries.

    The Basel Action Network, a Seattle-based non-profit that largely exposed the overseas discarding (丢弃) of US electronic waste, on Thursday launched a programme to use third-party employees to certify (证实) recyclers who don't export dangerous electronic waste.

    The so-called e-Steward recyclers will also agree not to discard the waste in US landfills and agree to meet other criteria. The certification is intended to provide companies and consumers with some assurance that the waste, which can include toxins (毒素) such as lead and mercury, is disposed of safely.

    The Government Accountability Office, in a 2008 report, declared that US electronic waste was often disposed of unsafely in such countries as India. There, workers recycle gold, silver and copper from the waste, often in open-air acid baths.

    The Basel Network also says it won assurances from 13 organizations, including Samsung, Bank of America, Wells Far-go, that they'll use e-Steward recyclers whenever possible. Wells Fargo had already been using recyclers who declared not to export. So far, Basel has certified three recyclers and seven sites.

    Before e-stewards, even, companies that wanted to avoid export of electronic waste had to “hope for the best”, when, they handed their waste to recyclers, says Robert Houghton, president of Ohio-based recycler Redemtech. It is an e-Steward that counts major companies among its customers. “Now, they can get some proof,” Houghton says.

    Basel's standards compete with another set launched in January. It was made by industry and backed by the Environmental Protection Agency.

    That standard, called R-2, doesn't ban the export of dangerous electronic waste but requires that it be handled safely. Instead of a ban, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries says, efforts should be made to help poor countries develop safe recycling.

    The Silk Road is a name given to the many trade routes that connected Europe and the Mediterranean（地中海）with the Asian world. The route is over 6,500 km long and got its name because the early Chinese traded silk along it. Although silk was the main trading item, there were many other goods that travelled along the Silk Road between Eastern Asia and Europe. In the course of time, medicine, perfumes, spices and livestock（家畜）found their way between continents.

    The Chinese learned to make silk thousands of years ago. For a long time they were the only ones who knew how to make this precious material. Only the emperor, his family and his highest advisers were allowed to wear clothes made of silk. For a long time the Chinese guarded this secret very carefully. The ancient Romans were the first Europeans who became aware of this wonderful material. Trading started, often with Indians as middlemen（中间人）who traded silk with the Chinese in exchange for gold and silver which they got from the Romans.

    Travelling along the route was dangerous. The hot desert, high mountains and sandstorms made traveling a rough business. Most of the goods along the Silk Road were carried by caravans（商队）. Traders sometimes brought goods from one destination on the silk Road to another, from where the goods would be transported by someone else. Over the centuries people settled along the ancient route and many cities emerged. Later on there were fewer hardships to overcome, but by no means was it easy.

    Religion, languages and diseases also spread along the Silk Road. Buddhism, which originated in India, spread to China along this route. European traders probably brought the plague from Asia to Europe along the ancient road.

    In the early Middle Ages, traffic along the route decreased because of the decline of the Roman Empire. Trading along the Silk Road became stronger again between the 13th and 14th centuries, when the Mongols controlled central Asia. During the Age of Exploration the Silk Road lost its importance because new sea routes to Asia were discovered.

    As my dad unwrapped（打开）the new bicycle helmet（头盔）that I got him for his birthday, I realized that a number of people ride their bicycles every day without the protection of a helmet.

      Due to cold winters across the country, riding has become increasingly dangerous as many roads have holes and are torn-up（磨损的）. Not everyone realizes that there are laws requiring the wearing of helmets in many places.

    Where I live, there has been a law in place since October 1, 1992 stating that cyclists of all ages are required to wear helmets. Unfortunately, accidents can happen to the best of riders. My dad has been a cyclist for many years, and he often rides around my county and to Rockland Lake State Park.

    One afternoon, as he was just entering the park, he lost control of his bicycle and flew off and landed on a nearby patch of grass, breaking his helmet into pieces and losing consciousness（知觉）. When he was just awakening, a lovely couple found him and brought him back to our house, where he attempted to recall the events leading up to his fall. Later that day, a CAT scan showed that he had a concussion (脑震荡). That evening, while my dad was showing me the pieces of his broken helmet, we both came to a shocking realization.

    If he had not worn his helmet, he probably would have cracked his skull and perhaps died. Today, when my dad and I go out cycling, the wearing of our helmets is not even a question. Regardless of age, everyone should wear a helmet whenever they get on a bicycle.

Artificial intelligence（Al）has the potential to develop more efficient methods of farming in order to fight global warming. 

 Global warming threatens every aspect of our everyday lives, including crop production. It will reduce the soil moisture（水分）in areas close to the equator according to a study. We are already seeing the negative impact of these changed growing conditions on our crop production. Climate change harms poorer countries that do not have the money to import food. The result is growing food insecurity. However, agriculture is not just affected by global warming—agriculture is part of a vicious（恶性的）cycle in which farming leads to global warming, which in turn destroys agricultural production. The process of clearing land for agriculture results in widespread deforestation（毁林）and contributes to 40 percent of global methane production. Therefore, to deal with climate change, it is necessary to ensure reforestation—but how? What is the path to efficient, environmentally-conscious farming?

This is where AI enters the scene. Farmers use AI for methods such as precision agriculture; they can monitor crop moisture, soil composition, and temperature in growing areas, enabling farmers to increase production by learning how to take care of their crops and determine the ideal amount of water to use. Furthermore, this technology may help reduce deforestation by allowing humans to grow food in urban areas. It could be especially beneficial for countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, where much of the population lives in cities. 

However, AI is far from a silver bullet—it could actually contribute to global warming as well. Due to the large amount of data that AI needs to process, training a single AI releases five times the emissions that an average car would give off during its lifetime. Further, securing access to AI on a global scale may pose some challenges. Countries will need experts in the field who can successfully use the technology and Internet connection, neither of which are always readily available. Therefore, there is still a long way for developing countries to take advantage of the benefits of AI. 

Given these concerns, global leaders must consider the potential costs, and the environmental consequences of data processing before developing AI for use in agriculture.