阅读理解

    Sixty years ago，human beings first reached the top of Mount Qomolangma， known as Mount Everest in the West. But the increase in climbers is turning the world's highest mountain into the “world's highest junkyard(垃圾场)”.

    Every year， more than 700 climbers spend nearly two months on Mount Qomolangma. They have left human waste and all kinds of rubbish， including oxygen bottles， broken tents， and plastic bags， according to Ang Tshering Sherpa， chief of the Nepal Mountaineering Association.

    “The waste has become a health danger to people in the area since they depend on water from rivers fed by the melting glaciers(融化的冰川)，” Sherpa said.

    More and more people have realized the danger that Mount Qomolangma is facing and they are now taking active actions. To deal with the problem， Nepal has supported a special team of explorers and volunteers to clean the mountain since 2008. So far they have brought down 15，000kg of rubbish. Nepal also started to ask each climber to bring down 8 kg of rubbish in 2014.

    On the Chinese side of the mountain， Tibet(西藏) will collect a cleaning fee of $100-200 (620-1240 yuan) per climber starting from this year. A program named “Mount Qomolangma Action at the Third Pole of the Earth” also started in 2004 to clear up the mountain.

    Hopefully， human beings will finally solve the problem， just as they found the way up the mountain successfully.

    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.

    Today many people like growing plants at home because the plants help make the indoor environment beautiful and healthy. However, sometimes people may be too busy to remember to water their plants. If you have the same problem, don't worry. Designer Alastair Crompton can help you solve the problem with his amazing product-Plant Pod. It can water itself without any help.

    The Plant Pod is a self-watering container (容器) for small to medium-sized plants inside the house. Alastair Crompton makes it use a very simple process to provide the plant with the water it needs every day. With a Plant Pod, people no longer need to worry about how much water is perfect for their plants to grow. The water in the Plant Pod is enough to last for at least two weeks. So if people are away from home on a short holiday, they don't need to ask their relatives or neighbours to look after their plants. Won't it be great to see your plants welcome you when you are back home after one or two weeks?

    Napoga is a girl in Ghana, Africa. It is hard for her family to get clean water. Every morning, she leaves home at half past five to get clean water for her family in a village far away. It takes her six hours to get enough clean water for daily cooking and drinking. She has no time to go to school or to play with her friends. Millions of people in the world are like Napoga. They can't get enough clean water to keep healthy.

    Earth Day is on April 22. But on all the other days, we must also remember it. The water we use is the most important natural resource on the Earth. Water covers about 75% of the Earth's surface. But most of that is sea water. We can't use it for many things. Fresh water covers only less than 1% of the Earth's surface.

    You probably feel lucky that your life isn't as hard as Napoga's. But that doesn't mean you don't have to worry about water. We all face serious water problems. One of them is water pollution Lots of kinds of things from cars, factories, farms and homes make our rivers, lakes and seas dirty. Polluted water is very bad for people to drink. And dirty water is bad for fish too. Now, 34% of all kinds of fishes are dying out. Scientists say that in 30 years, more than half of the people in the world won't have enough clean water. We have to learn how to save more water for ourselves and our children.

    There are many wetlands in China and some of them have become the world's important wetlands. The Chinese Yellow Sea Wetlands are among them. They are in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. They are home to many different kinds of animals. The world's largest Milu Deer Nature Reserve is in them. More than 700 Milu deer live freely there. There are not many red- crowned cranes in the world, but every winter you can see some in the Red-crowned Crane Nature Reserve in the Yellow Sea Wetlands.

    The temperature in the wetlands is usually neither too high nor too low. There is a lot of rain and sunshine too. They are really good places for wildlife. Offering(提供) food and home to some special kinds of animals is not the only reason why we need to protect wetlands. Wetlands are important because they also prevent flood. But some people want to change the wetlands to make more space for farms and less space for wildlife.

    Luckily, more and more people are beginning to realize the importance of wetlands and wildlife. Every year, on February 2nd, many activities are held to tell people more about wetlands.

    We all know that many inventions have changed our life a lot. They play important roles in our daily life. Here are some interesting inventions.