Nowadays people are making themselves beautiful in Korean ways.

     “Thank goodness you have double eyelids(双眼皮). Your parents will save a lot of money.” said a family friend when I was five years old. Double eyelids, which almost all the white people have, are rare among Northeast Asians. Only 25% of South Koreans are born with double eyelids.

      I never quite understood how having double eyelids saved my parents money until this summer. When I came back to Seoul, everywhere I noticed cosmetic surgery clinics(整形诊所) and advertisements with South Korean women—tall, thin, with milky skin, long legs, nice big eyes and perfect noses. I found that South Korean beauty meant looking as “white” as possible.

      Cosmetic surgery has a kind of magical attraction(吸引) to women — the promise of beauty. Women are often sure that suffering is necessary and worthy in order to be beautiful. This suffering is not for nothing. It is believed that beauty leads to attracting a better-looking partner, which then leads to a better-looking child and a better life.

      Appearance is starting to be more important in work places. People with good appearance can have more chances .For example, my 29-year-old brother, who is slim and very tall, gets more job chances than his best friend, who is short and heavy, though both of them came from the same college, had the same good marks in their studies. In fact, many South Koreans believe that physical beauty equals happiness

（C）

    ①More and more people like bicycling and it is no surprise. It is fun, healthy and good for the environment. Maybe that's why there are 1.4 billion bicycles and only 400 million cars on roads worldwide today. Bikes can take you almost anywhere, and there is no oil cost!

    Get on a bicycle and ride around your neighbourhood. You may discover something new all around you. Stopping and getting off a bike is easier than stopping and getting out of your car. You can bike to work and benefit(受益) from the enjoyable exercise without polluting the environment. You don't even have to ride all the way.

    ②Folding(折叠) bikes work well for people when they ride the train. Just fold the bike and take it with you. You can do the same on an airplane. A folding bike can be packed in a suitcase. You can also take a common bike with you when you fly. But be sure to look for information by getting on airline websites. ③Not all airlines（航空公司） are bicycle-friendly to travelers.

    Health benefits of bicycling:

    It helps to prevent heart disease.

    Bicycling helps to control your weight.

    A 15-minute bike ride to and from work three times a week burns off five kilos of fat in a year.

    ④________________________________________________ .

    Exercise like bicycling has been shown to make people feel better, more relaxed and self-confident.

    The population of Earth is still going up. There will be less and less good land for growing crops in the future. People worry that there will not be enough food for everyone in the middle of this century.

    Recently scientists have discovered one strange plant named fedtschenkoi（玉吊钟）may help. It can absorb（吸收）carbon dioxide(CO₂) at night. It only needs 10 times less water than food plants like beans. This means it can grow in the desert(沙漠).

    In which ways could this plant help us?

    Since deserts are increasing in size because of the changes in Earth's climate, growing plants there will be more and more important. Although it is dangerous to eat this plant, scientists can still study something about it: how it absorbs CO₂ at night while many other plants only do this during the day, and why it is suited to the desert.

    There is another direction to take the research in. Producing a desert plant to eat will be difficult, but there is still possibility to use the genes(基因)from this plant and put them into food plants.

    The other way is to grow this type of plant for fuel(燃料). At the moment we grow plants for fuel in good land. If we do it in deserts instead, more good land can be used to grow plants for food.

    Desert plants have special qualities, which could be an answer to our future food or energy needs. Scientists are working hard on it.

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    Friends are important in our life, because no one wants to be lonely. However, some people have difficulty in making friends and they often feel lonely. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} According to a new study from Chicago University, the reason is that this kind of people have brains（脑）different from common people. And they often feel unsafe when facing strangers.

Does that mean they have no way to become happy again?  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Scientists of this study have thought up ways to help these people deal with their loneliness. They provided four steps for getting out of loneliness.

    The first step is to accept social invitations even if you don't want to go." It's not enough for people just to get in touch with others online. That's because most people don't show their true selves there," said Dr. Cacioppo, one of this study's scientists. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} As" actions speak louder than words", people need to be active to communicate with others. They also need to meet people with the same interests. Also, they should try to expect the best from each activity.  {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Who knows what good things are waiting for us?

    It's easy to just get fast food when you're hungry, but it can also be unhealthy and expensive. So I made my own food at home using healthy recipes(菜谱).

Trying new things

    I tried some zucchini noodles.  Zucchini isn't my all-time favorite, but I was surprised by how good this tasted.

Shaking up(重组) breakfast

    Two more days until my healthy diet was over and I felt really good about myself. For breakfast, I had a banana sandwich. Don't let the term "sandwich" fool you. The banana actually works as the "bread".

At-home burrito

    I found an easy burrito recipe. I needed black beans, garlic, tomatoes, lettuce and some other vegetables. What a great recipe for vegetables!