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    The Earth is our home; we must take care of it. This means keeping the land, air and water clean. Pollution is a dirty word. To pollute means to make things unfit or unclean to use. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, taste it and drink 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 were 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 population and the development of industry(工业)have changed that. Man is slowly poisoning (毒害) his environment. 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 best time to collect green leaves is early in the leafing season but not so early．The months of June and July provide the best leaf samples（样品），but you can find great leaf samples throughout the summer．To make a fall color collection，you have to collect the leaves in autumn．

    I have seen many beautiful fall color collections．

    When you choose leaves for your samples，try to choose leaves of about the same size and shape on the tree．Make sure you collect the entire（完整的） leaves．

    Remember，some leaves have only one blade（叶片） or leaflet（小叶）．Some leaves have a few or many leaflets．You must know these two kinds of leaves．Good leaf collections contain the entire leaves．

    You should dry the collected leaves carefully before putting them in a leaf press（压）．When you collect leaves in the field，you can put them between the pages of book to protect them．And then，press them as soon as possible before you take them from this book．Finally，you should write down each leaf's name and put them in a leaf press．

    Don't be surprised if you see a car going down the road without a driver in Beijing these days.In march, 2018, baidu was given a license to test its self-driving cars in Beijing, China Daily reported.

    Self-driving cars have been in development since 2010, when google announced that it was making such cars. Since then, companies like Tesla, Uber and Baidu have been working to produce and test their own self-driving cars.

    Self-driving cars are expected to change the way we get around. They are safer and more environmentally friendly than regular cars. They can remove the stress(压力) of driving and allow disabled or blind people to get around more easily.

    But self-driving cars have their own disadvantages as well. In one test, researchers pointed a laser pointer（激光棒） at the car's sensors（感应器） while it was moving. The car mistakenly thought that the laser beam（波束） was in its way and slowed down or changed directions.

    The software(软件) that is used to direct the cars may not be safe enough. Reported Live science. Sometimes, without any reasons,it may break down when we use our computers or smartphones. If the software in a self-driving car happened to crash. The results could be deadly.Maybe improvements to the software could solve this problem.

    To protect the environment, we are on the way. Here are a few things we can do.

    Unwanted gifts? Give them away!

    Have you ever received a gift that you didn't like? Did you throw it away? If so, you can have another choice now. Two British companies hopes people will give away their unwanted gifts to them. And they will resell the gifts to raise money for the poor. In this way, the gifts can be refused and have a future life. And people can make a difference to the world.

    Wear the trousers that reduce(减少) pollution!

    A chemistry scientist and a fashion designer(时装设计师) have created a new kind of trousers. The trousers are made of a new material which can help reduce air pollution around us. Scientists have tested the material. The result shows that it isn't harmful to human. This new kind of trousers may appear at the market in two years. Professor Ryan said, "If thousands of people wear the trousers, the air quality will be improved."

    Plant trees with Felix

    Felix Finkbeiner, a 14-year-old German boy, is not famous as a child actor but an environment hero. At the age of 9, Felix got the idea that children could do something to protect the environment. So he started a club. Felix soon got support from children all over the world. Some of them have become his good friends. The club has an aim of planting 212 million trees. They have planted over 3.5 million trees all around the world. Felix said, "The answer to controlling global (全球的 ) warming is trees-lots of trees!”

    The coffee shop Starbucks will give people a discount if they bring their own cups. It wants to cut down on the number of paper cups that are put in the rubbish bins. It is part of a two-month experiment in cafes in England. Starbucks wants to reduce waste and recycle more, The president of Starbucks in the UK said, "We are very happy to increase recycling rates(比率)，and reusable cups are a key part of our waste reduction plan." Bosses will decide later if they will continue the discounts. People who bring their own cups will not get a discount on the cafe's cheaper filter coffee.

    The problem of paper cups has been in the news a lot. Around seven million cups are thrown away every day. Reporters say that some cafes lie about how many paper cups they recycle. The reporters say the cafes do not recycle as many cups as they say. Customers wrongly believe that a coffee shop is environmentally friendly. Less than one in 400 paper cups at coffee shops are recycled. A coffee drinker said she would bring her own cup. She said, "I am so sad that cafes recycle so little. I thought they were more responsible."