Last week, we talked about the conflict(冲突) between sleepy teenagers and early morning classes. Many people commented(评论) on our website.

For example, Damla Ece in Turkey wrote: I agree with the idea of starting lessons later so teenagers can feel better in the morning. But sleeping more than seven hours can be wasting time for students.

    Tran in Vietnam disagreed: I think teenagers, on average, need eight to ten hours of sleep every day. It's useless to try to force them to concentrate while they can't concentrate.

    Afshin Heydari from Iran wrote: schools should start early to avoid heavy traffic later in the morning.

    And Suze from Jordan wrote: When I was a teenager, I enjoyed taking my courses as early as possible. That way I could find a long time in the day to do my own activities.

    But Azra from Kyrgyzstan said: the reason why schools start early here is a lack of classrooms.

    And Joruji in Japan wrote: When I was a teenager, I used to get up before six to go to school, which was far from home, and I don't remember having problems. I think nowadays the Internet, TV games and cell phones make teens go to sleep later.

    Thirty-year-old Kika in Spain said: In my opinion, young people are very lazy.

    But Dennis Jin disagreed: For high school students in China, we must reach the classroom at 6:20 in the morning and be back home usually at 10:00 in the evening. Then we'll have some extra schoolwork to do. Can you imagine how long we could sleep every day?

    Teenagers are not the only ones who suffer. Kathy in Canada wrote: My daughter likes complaining about everything in the morning, and I know that this is from lack of sleep. I wish schools should change their start time to 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning.

    And Naima Star in Libya wrote: Getting up so early in the morning and leaving the warm bed is so difficult, especially in the cold weather. It reminds me of that old song: "It's nice to get up in the morning, but it's nicer to stay in bed."

                                                                                      The Lifecycle of a T-shirt

    We all probably have a lot of T-shirts, but do you ever stop and think about the influence of a T-shirt on the planet? You'd probably be surprised to learn what's involved in the lifecycle of just one T-shirt.

    There are 5 major stages: material, production, shipping, use and disposal. The material stage involves farming, irrigating, fertilizing, harvesting and ginning. While cotton is a natural fiber (纤维) and not as harmful to the environment as manmade fibers, it still takes a toll in the material and production stages. Commercial cotton farming uses a large amount of water, and the use of pesticides (杀虫剂) is widespread across the globe, especially in cotton farming. Studies have shown that farmers spend around $4.1 billion on pesticides annually, of which 25% was spent on cotton crops in the US.

    Once the cotton is grown and harvested, so begins the production stage: spinning, knitting, bleaching, dyeing, cutting, sewing, etc.——these processes also use a great deal of water and energy. Commercial dyes and bleaches are harmful pollutants and can eventually pollute groundwater.

    After the T-shirt is produced, it enters the transportation stage. This often involves overseas shipping. Take a look in your closet. Chances are that most of your cotton garments (衣服) are made in China or India. Garments can be shipped via plane, ship or truck…, all of which spill CO₂ into the atmosphere. Calculations show that CO₂ emissions from light trucks alone amount to 1.15 pounds per mile.

    Once the T-shirt reaches the retail market, it is purchased. This stage may seem like the leastenvironmentally damaging part. But consider the number of times you've washed and dried your favorite T-shirt. Washing machines are certainly becoming more efficient. However, the average American household does 400 loads of laundry per year, using about 40 gallons of water per load. Such excessive water use is combined with the large amount of energy used by dryers.

    The final stage of life is disposal. This releases harmful emissions, or involves a landfill where cotton takes years to break down. Current US records show that an estimated 15% of clothes and shoes are recycled, which means that consumers send a shocking 85% of these materials to landfills.

    We all need new clothes every once in a while, but let's all try to keep in mind what goes into the production of clothing... It has a real impact on the planet.

    There are a lot of things you can do to help reduce your impact. Reuse and recycle clothes. If they're too worn out to wear, cut them up and use them as cleaning rags. Donate them to charity or another organization that recycles textiles. When possible, make an effort to buy organic cotton. Turn down the thermostat on your washer, and line dry your clothes when the weather will allow it.

    Chicago is becoming one of the country's most wonderful cities to film television. When this wonderful place is properly represented in a film, I cannot help but love it! Here are some movies that feature this great city.

    Southside With You

    Neighborhood: The whole South Side

    Director: Richard Tanne

    Starring: Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers

    Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

    Released: 2016

    Genre（类型）: Biography, Drama, History and Romance

    High Fidelity

    Neighborhood: Wicker Park

    Director: Stephen Frears

    Starring: John Cusack, Jack Black and Todd Louiso

    Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%

    Released: 2000

    Genre（类型）: Comedy, Drama, Music and Romance

    Mean Girls

    Neighborhood: This one is famous since it takes place in Evanston and some other parts of the North Shore.

    Director: Mark Waters

    Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams and Amanda Seyfried

    Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%

    Released: 2004

    Genre: Comedy

    Hoop Dreams

    Neighborhood: Cabrini-Green, West Garfield Park and Westchester, IL

    Director: Steve James

    Starring: William Gates and Arthur Agee

    Rotten Tomatoes Score: 98%

    Released: 1994

    Genre: Documentary, Drama and Sports

    Many of us think, wrongly, that the moon doesn't change. For example, the Tang Dynasty poet Zhang Ruoxu once wrote that "Generations have come and passed away; From year to year the moons took alike, old and new."

    However, a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience shows that the moon is in fact slowly shrinking over time. For the study, a group of US scientists examined and analyzed thousands of photographs taken by the NASA orbiter Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (月球勘测轨道飞行器照相机) . They found that there were lots of faults (断层) on the surface of the moon. These faults were formed by recent movement on the moon.

    According to NASA, the moon is made up of pieces of rocks with a hot core (核) .The moon continued to expand as it was born. But in this process, it released energy and cooled down. Then it began to shrink, in a way comparable to the shrinking of a grape into a raisin (葡萄干) . Over the past several hundred million years, it has become 46 meters "skinnier". But due to its hard and rocky crust (外壳) . the moon's surface continues to push up, "Some of these quakes can be fairly strong around five on the Richter scale (里氏震级) ," said Thomas Watters, a senior scientist at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in the US.

    But does that mean the moon is a dangerous place that human shouldn't try to explore and live on in the future? Maybe not, reported the Telegraph, "This isn't anything to worry about. The moon may be shrinking, but not by much. It's not going anywhere," Watters comforted us.

    The new discovery proves that the idea that the moon is a dead, boring place is wrong. "We have been to the moon and we've done some great science, but there is still a lot we don't know. The moon is shrinking ­ we didn't really realize that until recently. It's a much more active and interesting place than we thought and we should explore that," NASA scientist Nathan Williams said.

    Big Ben is not the name of a man. It is the name of a huge(庞大的)clock in London. London is the capital of England. This clock has four faces. So，no matter where you stand, you can read the time on the face of Big Ben. Each face is the size of a double decker(层)bus. The hands are about four metres long. It is about the size of two people standing on top of each other. If you go to London, you may want to visit the Houses of Parliament(国会大厦). There you will find Big Ben sits at the top of the clock tower(塔)in the Houses of Parliament. Maybe you will hear it as well as see it. The huge clock makes such a loud noise. "Ding dong, ding dong, "it goes every quarter of an hour.

    The clock was named after a big man. He was Sir Benjamin Hall. This man did much building work in London many years ago.

Urban Transportation in Canada

Public transportation & Transit passes

All cities and most major towns in Canada have a public transportation system with one or more modes of transportation（bus, subway, train, etc.）. The bus is the most common form of urban transportation in Canada. To use public transportation, you must purchase a ticket or a transit pass. Transit passes allow you unlimited use of public transportation for a specific period（one month or more）. They are usually cheaper than buying many tickets if you plan to use public transportation often.

Transportation for people with disabilities

Public transportation often has features to assist people with disabilities. In many cities and towns, there are also transportation services available specifically for people with limited mobility, such as specially equipped buses. You can find out about these services in the same way you would learn more about other public transportation options.

Etiquette（礼节）on public transportation

When taking public transportation such as a bus or train, it is important to understand the unspoken rules of conduct in the shared space. Here are a few things to note:

Be polite and respectful to others around you. For example, maintain an appropriate noise level when talking or making a phone call.

If you are carrying a back pack or a large shoulder bag in a crowded public transit vehicle, keep it close to you, preferably at your feet to avoid hitting people with it as you walk by.

Avoid pushing or touching others in order to make more room for yourself. Sometimes public transit can become very crowded, but it is important to keep calm and give others appropriate personal space.

Have your proof（证明）of payment accessible in case you are asked to show it.