Everyone can help to save the world

    We are all environmentalists now. We all know about acid rain and the ozone hole. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} As consumers we have the power to make decisions which will contribute to a better world and it is in our power to do what we can to protect the earth.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} In this way we have the power to influence retailers (零售商) to sell us these so-called “green” products. Therefore, the supermarkets have understood the message and are now trying to improve their environmental image. They are turning to less wasteful and recyclable packaging. The range of “green” products will continue to expand to meet the growing demand. This message has also reached the manufacturers. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} They have realized that protecting the environment may start as an advertising campaign but in the hands of intelligent people it can become a very profitable business. Besides, we can do more.

    Furthermore, we also know there are other areas where all of us can make a positive contribution to a cleaner, healthier and safer environment. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} There are a number of ways we can do this. For example, we now know how important it is to have our homes well insulated (隔热). We should choose the best energy efficient technology, such as modern light bulbs which can reduce electricity consumption by 80% over the older ones. We must also work hard to reduce the amount of rubbish we produce. We all produce tons of rubbish and waste disposal has become a big problem. As an environmentally-conscious consumer we should buy products which do not have so much packaging. Also, we should try to avoid non-returnable goods at all costs. In Scandinavia and Germany, for example, plastic bottles and cans are now returnable goods.

    In conclusion it is important to emphasize once again the rise of consumer power. We must realize that we are all part of the problem.   {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. We can all reduce energy consumption at home and so cut the emissions from power systems.

B. For example, when we walk into a supermarket we can choose to buy environmentally friendly products and reject products which damage our planet.

C. There are some other ways to protect the environment.

D. Companies are developing environmentally friendly products that maintain a high quality and a low price.

E. But what are we doing about these problems?

F. Nevertheless we must also realize that we have the responsibility to be part of the solution.

G. Everybody has the duty to contribute to a cleaner world.

    Will there be a time in our lives when cars don't crash? When we can just sit back and relax and our cars will drive themselves. Auto technology experts say “yes”. And they say that some of those advances may happen quicker than you might think.

    They will require the users to input the name of the destination or the complete address of the location that they want to go and the cars' artificial intelligence takes them there automatically without a driver. They will run on solar power in the daytime and ethanol fuel (乙醇燃料) at night. Toyota, BMW and Honda will completely control the trade of driverless car business together and will have the cheapest driverless cars. Fossil fuels will be completely incompatible (不相配的) with these cars.

    Driverless cars will not require a driver's license of any grade to operate. Anyone with basic literacy and computer skills who are at least 16 years of age will be legally allowed to operate the vehicle with absolutely no limits.This would give the young users permission to operate the driverless cars on major highways as well as secondary roads without needing a separate classification. In addition to all this, drunken people will be able to use their own automobiles to return home because they are not “driving”, the vehicle.

    What's more, car insurance will become obsolete(淘汰的) because there will be no more automobile accidents after the year 2025. This is because the driverless car will have all safety methods in place by the car's artificial intelligence to prevent automobile accidents. Global positioning systems will become mandatory (强制的) in all newly-produced cars after 2010, and will be the most important part in the driverless car.

    In an effort to discourage people from using plastics, scientists have been hard at work inventing alternative packaging products. From water bottles made from seaweed to cutlery(餐具) made from rice and wheat, a number of inventions are set to change the way we eat while we are on the go, or having a relaxing picnic in the park.

    The idea of using seaweed to make eco-friendly water bottles has been around for a few years. Recently, Ari Jonsson took his invention—a water bottle made from red seaweed—to show off at a festival. The bottles will only hold their shape as long as they are filled. As soon as these bottles are empty they will begin to break down, though they would be perfectly safe to eat. Ari Jonsson's bottles are a step closer to a widely used alternative to the current plastic ones.

    The eatable water container is not the only product to add to our image of the future. Narayana Pessapaty has also created eatable spoons. After the success of his spoons, Mr. Pessapaty is ready to expand and introduce forks and chopsticks to his menu. His aim is to largely reduce the amount of plastic waste, which is a huge problem for waste sites all over the world. It is a product that may take up to 500 years to break down, and recycling companies worldwide are struggling to deal with it.

    Aside from the obvious benefits to the environment, this new packaging is also cheap to produce and therefore cheap to buy. Even better is the fact that similar eatable cutlery can be made at home, possibly a science project for children or just fun with friends. Why not experiment and create your own recipes?

    After decades of playing catch-up with the U.S. and Russian space programs, China did something neither nation nor any other had done this December: land a spaceship on the dark side of the moon.

    Strictly speaking, of course, the moon has no dark side. But because of the way it orbits Earth, our natural satellite shows us only one side－the other is hidden from our view. No one even saw the far side until 1959, when the Soviet Luna 3 spaceship flew around for a look and sent back photos. No astronaut or spaceship went there until this December, when the China National Space Agency (CNSA) launched a 2,500-pound lander called Chang'e-4 to the southern end of the lunar far side.

    Chang'e-4 operated a small rover (探测车) to survey the geography there for the first time ever. By examining the geography of its landing area, Chang'e-4 could solve longstanding puzzles about the moon, including how it formed 4.5 billion years ago. Chang'e-4 also carried a very small lunar biosphere (生态圈) containing silkworm eggs and a tiny greenhouse designed to grow potatoes in order to study the growth of the seeds on the moon.

    Besides Chang'e-4, China plans to launch Chang'e-5 in 2019. Its mission will be to gather moon rocks using an orbiter, a lander or collector, an ascent stage (上升器) and a capsule that will separate from the orbiter and return the rocks to the earth. ―With these missions, the Chinese will have shown complete mastery of flight in the space between the earth and the moon, said Paul Spudis, an experienced lunar researcher based in Houston.

    CNSA has already outlined ideas for Chinese astronauts to follow the robots to the moon. Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of CNSA's Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center, told that China plans a permanent robotic lunar station in about 10 years and suggested a human presence on the moon another decade or so after that. Spudis said China's ambitious Chang'e-4 and Chang'e-5 missions should send human's plans for lunar return into rapid development.

    Visual language is a form of communication that uses visual elements (元素) as opposed to formal written language to convey meaning or an idea, Graphicacy, the ability to communicate visually, is considered as important as literacy and numeracy, the abilities to read and count. Some people are visual thinkers, using that part of the brain that is emotional and creative to process and give meaning to information. Visual communication can find expression in paintings, drawings, symbols, or simply lines and shapes arranged for a specific effect.

    Art is an example of visual language. A painting or sculpture can convey ideas or arouse specific kinds of emotional responses. It may also express ideas about historical events, abstract concepts, or simply be about the way certain shapes or forms "work" together or create a certain effect on the mind. Some researchers believe that different parts of the brain respond in unique ways to colors and shapes.

Pictograms (象形文字) and ideograms (表意文字) are types of visual language. Pictograms are pictures that are similar to what they represent. They are still used today to communicate information. Many people around the world are familiar with the pictograms indicating such things as airports, public facilities, and non-smoking areas indicated by a cigarette in a circle with a line across it. Ideograms are pictures that represent ideas and can often be understood without the aid of written language. Some scholars track modern alphabets to pictures Letters are actually ancient pictures, and words are a series of pictures. Modern alphabet letters are not only phonetic (语音的) symbols but are based on ancient religious images and symbols.

    Musivisual communication is also a part of visual language. The term refers to music created specifically to improve the visual experience of film. It corresponds to the images being seen on the screen, and the music may arouse a sense of terror, fear, or other emotions. Most movie goers understand the language of musical clues showing that something dramatic or important is about to happen.

Why do we talk the way we do? It might date back to when our ancestors left the jungle for the open plain. Between 5. 3 million and 16 million years ago, Africa's landscapes changed from thick, leafy forests to wide-open grasslands. This environmental change pushed our ancestors out of the trees and onto the ground. Along with all of the physical and behavioral changes this may have caused, researchers also believe it may have changed the way we speak. 

"Open landscapes provide us with fewer objects to affect signal communication, meaning our voices can travel further compared with that in thick forests, " Charlotte Gannon, a researcher who studies language development, told Newsweek. "The move to these open spaces may have increased the effectiveness of our communication. "

By comparing the vocal calls of the orangutan (大猩猩) , Gannon and her team were able to establish how different calls could travel across different landscapes. In their study, the team played 487 calls from orangutans and measured their audibility (可听度) at set length over an overall distance of over 1, 300 feet in the South African plain. 

"Our results were surprising, " Gannon said, "The rule of sound spread suggests that lower-frequency ( 低频率) sounds (the grumphs) would have traveled further than higher-frequency sounds (the kiss squeaks). Our results actually found the opposite to this. " In these environmental settings, consonant (辅音)-like calls traveled a lot further than vowel ( 元 音 ) -like calls. Actually, around 80 percent of consonant-based calls were audible at 1, 300 feet, compared to only 20 percent of vowel-based calls. 

Gannon said these results highlight the importance of studying living orangutan to learn about our species' history. "We can view them as time machines that allow us to recreate key moments of our history so we can learn more about the development of our language, " Gannon said. "Despite their popularity in modern languages, consonants have often been forgotten when discussing speech development. Our research highlights not only their presence in ancient times but their importance to the development of language. "