How green are you ? Do you know how to be green?

    We all need a healthy environment, but we produce waste every day and it does harm to our environment. Though we are young, we can still do something to help. In fact, even the simplest everyday activities can make a real difference to the environment. Here are some ideas for you.

    Reduce

    Reduce means “use less”. Don't waste things. This saves money and reduces pollution and waste going into the environment. Before we buy something new, think whether it is really necessary—or maybe the old one will be just as good! When we do buy things, choose local products if possible, and try not to buy too many things from abroad.

    Reuse

    Reuse means “use again”. Use things for as long as possible. When we buy things, make sure that they last a long time. We should look after them so that they will last, and we should repair them if we can instead of throwing them away and buying new ones. Don't use a paper cup or a paper bag. It's better to use a china cup and a lunch box because you can use them again.

    Recycle

    Recycle means “change things into something else”. Though it takes energy(精力) to change something into something else, it's better than throwing things away or burning them. Find out what can be recycled in your neighborhood and take part in recycling programmes. We should also buy products made from recycled materials, such as recycled paper, to help save trees.

So please remember these three words： reduce, reuse and recycle.

    Many scientists find that colors can change people's feelings. It's very interesting. Some colors can make people feel relaxed, and some colors can make people feel nervous. Now, this kind of knowledge is being used in many places. For example, school walls are always painted green because green makes students feel relaxed. It is also good for the students' eyes. Some books are also green or light blue for the same reason. Restaurant owners not only have to know how to make food, but also have to know how to make money. Here are some things they've learned from scientific studies. The color red makes people hungry. Many fast food restaurants have red furniture or walls. Soft colors like pink and light blue make people feel relaxed, so they spend more time eating. Loud music may be nice at first, but it soon makes people want to leave. Hard seats also make customers want to eat quickly and leave. Many restaurants, especially fast food restaurants, use this knowledge to make customers eat faster.

    Amy is a biologist working at a marine （海洋的） park. These kinds of parks provide fun and education for tens of thousands of people each year.

    Amy takes care of many animals in the park, but she also does important research. As she observes the animals that she looks after, she learns more about their needs and behavior. This information helps the animals in the park, but it can also be used to protect other members of the species（物种） in the wild.

    It's hard work to look after these animals. Their needs often change according to different hours of the day. So Amy must depend on her science knowledge and good number sense to help her make the right decisions all day long.

    Even though dolphins spend much of their time underwater, they are mammals. This means that they must come to the surface to take in air. Dolphins give birth to their young. They're not hatched from eggs. Just like all other mammals, mother dolphins must nurse, or feed milk to their babies.

    Amy and her team know this first﹣hand. One of their dolphins recently gave birth. A baby dolphin is not small, either. It was almost 1 meter long the day it was born. A big dolphin usually eats about 4% of its body weight in food every day. Amy knows that a mother dolphin that is nursing needs twice the food. So when the baby dolphin was born, Amy immediately doubled the mother's food every day.

    We know people can be nice, but what about animals?

    Scientists say that some animals are capable(有能力的)of being nice. Animals that live in groups-like foxes, chimpanzees(大猩猩), and elephants-follow rules. They have to follow rules to get along and to survive(生存). However, animals can act nicely, even when they don't have to. Here are some surprising stories about animal behavior.

    Most people usually walk away when someone is unkind to them. Marc Bekoff, a researcher at the University of Colorado, saw a female(母的)red fox do just that. The female fox was unhappy because a male(公的)fox played roughly(粗鲁地)with her. When she walked away, the male fox showed her that he wanted to play nicely. He lowered his head and rolled on his back. The female fox gave him another chance, and this time, he played more gently.

    Geza Teleki is a scientist who studies chimpanzees in Tanzania. One day, Teleki hiked far away from his campsite. He didn't have any food. Teleki wanted some fruit from a tree, but the tree was too tall. A young chimpanzee watched him curiously as he tried to get something to eat. The chimpanzee climbed the tree, picked the fruit, and gave it to him!

    An elephant in Kenya hurt his trunk(象鼻子). He needed help because he couldn't put food into his mouth. Researcher Kayhan Ostovar watched silently. He saw the hurt elephant show his sore trunk to a healthy elephant. The healthy elephant didn't need any more information. He took a bush and put it carefully into his new friend's mouth.

    Hippos(河马)and crocodiles are usually good friends. They hang out together in rivers. But Karen Paolillo, a wildlife expert in Zimbabwe, saw something surprising. One day, a crocodile tried to eat a monkey that was next to a river. A hippo ran quickly to the crocodile and chased it away. Why did the hippo attack(攻击)the crocodile? Paolillo says hippos sometimes protect other animals from crocodiles.

    People don't like trash. Trash is smelly, dirty, ugly, broken and useless. That's why we throw it out. But everyone knows that trash influences our environment. It can pollute our land, water and air. So it's important to recycle our trash as much as possible.

    Some Americans were very interested in recycling and they were curious about what really happened to their trash. So, what did they do? They became detectives and decided to "Follow that trash!"

    They took some items out of their recycling bin and put electronic tags (标签) on them. The tags sent signals to a computer so people could follow their trash on its journey. They found that some trash only travelled a few kilometers but much of it went into landfills.

    Waste management companies in America think this detective work will be helpful to them. Dealing with waste is very expensive and this u trash tracking" will help them to become more useful. It will save their time and money.

    However, the trash detectives say it's also important to reduce the amount of trash we produce. After all, if we produce less waste, we won't have to worry about where it goes.

    Nowadays, computers and Internets are playing an important part in our life. Some people even say they can't live without them. We usually need to set passwords (密码) when we use computers and Internet. But not all the passwords are safe. In order to keep our accounts (账户)and personal information safe, we must learn how to make safe passwords.

    How can you make your computer and Internet passwords safe? Experts have some advice for you. You'd better remember the advice and they are useful for you. Here are the suggestions.

    Firstly, make your password out of capital(大写) letters. If your password is made of capital letters, it will be difficult for others to get into your account. It only takes a hacker(黑客) 10 minutes to work out a six- letter password made of small letters. But the same password in capital letters takes 10 hours to work out.

    Secondly, add numbers or symbols to your passwords. It may be much safer. Sometimes such password is not easy to remember, but it is really safe.

    Thirdly, never use personal information for passwords and use different passwords for different accounts. Experts say that a user should change his or her passwords every 90 days. In this way, hacker won't guess your passwords.