The Bermuda Triangle(百慕大三角)is in the Atlantic Ocean, near Florida in the USA. During the past 60 years, more than 1,000 seamen in ships and pilots in planes have lost their lives. It is known as "The Triangle of Death”for its strange seawater and sudden storms. What's the strangest is the light of the seawater, which looks so bright that it can be seen even from an outer spaceship.
　　At 2:00 p.m. on December. 5, 1945, five planes took off in fine weather from the airport of Florida, on a training task. Two hours later, the leader in the sky radioed that he was "completely lost". Then there was silence. Another plane was sent to look for them and also disappeared.
　　One of the largest ship that had disappeared in the triangle was an American coal ship, 500 meters long. The weather was good, and there were no messages for help before it was "gone". No broken ships or dead bodies have been found so far.
　　No one is able to tell how all these accidents have happened. A group of Japanese scientists were there to see what it was really like in 1995, but nothing has been heard of them ever since.

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    Astronauts (宇航员) face many problems when living in space stations. One of them is food. People on Earth put together all the meals first and then send these meals to space stations by space shuttle. Because the food has to last a long time (sometimes up to three months), people have to store a lot of it in cans. The space station does not have a fridge, but it has a cool room to keep fruit and vegetables fresh. Astronauts also eat many other foods such as dried meat that do not need special care.

    Without the help of gravity sitting down to eat can be difficult. Astronauts sometimes have to fix themselves to the wall while eating. They also have to be very careful so that food does not float away.

    With the development of the technology, 3D printing is becoming more and more popular. We are now able to print things such as clothing, musical instruments and even cars. People and businesses are able to create the things they need very quickly and easily by using 3D printers.

    But can you imagine printing food? Some scientists are trying a new way to get the dining experience by doing this. They hope that having a 3D printer in the kitchen will become as common as the oven or blender. Scientists say that they are easy to use: you simply have to choose a recipe (食谱) and put the uncooked "food ink" into a printer. You can also change the instructions to make the food you want. This means that it would be very quick and easy to create tasty and rich meals.

    Using 3D printers to create your meals would also be saving the environment. There would be less need for traditional growing, shipping and packaging processes as food products would be a lot quicker and better. For example, tree leaves and insects could be turned into tasty products! Printing food could also help people who have a swallowing (吞咽) trouble. They could program the printer to print softer kinds of foods so that they would not have difficulty swallowing them.

            It could take away many jobs, including those for growing, shipping and packaging food. Imagine a world where there was no need for growing or producing and the same tastes could be printed from an uncooked "food ink". Besides, traditional restaurants might lose business. Also, we have to consider: is it really possible to get everything we need from them?

    As we know, cooking and eating together with family and friends has long been a traditional and enjoyable activity. It is hard to imagine a world where the pastime of cooking is dead and meals can be created at the touch of a machine.

    The World Health Organization(世界卫生组织) says air pollution kills seven million people around the world each year. Even if polluted air does not kill us, it can make us very sick.

    However, breathing dirty air may do more than hurt your body. It can also affect(影响) your brain and your ability to think.

A new study shows that air pollution can cause a "huge" reduction(减少)in our intelligence(智商).The researchers reported that long-term exposure(暴露) to air pollution can affect a person's mental(智力的) abilities in two areas: language and math.

Xi Chen, the researcher of the Yale School of Public Health led the study. He and his team found that breathing polluted air can reduce a person's education level by about one year.

    Chen said that the effect(结果) generally is worse for those over 64 years of age, for men and for those with little or no education.

    "The older persons-they are more affected. And we find, quite interestingly, men are more affected than women. And people working outdoors are more affected than people working indoors.

The researchers noted that the effect of pollution on language ability is even more serious as people age, especially among men and the less educated.

    Why were language skills more affected than math? There are two main kinds of tissue(组织)in the brain: white matter and grey matter. White matter is more connected with a person's language skills, while grey matter is connected to our ability to solve math problems. Studies have shown that air pollution has a great effect on the white matter in the brain, but not the grey matter.

    Chen said that air pollution did affect the math skills, just not as much as their language skills.

    Animals, including insects, do not have a language like ours. They do not talk to each other in words and sentences. But if we watch them, we can see that they do have ways of communicating with each other.

    Can you see the rabbit's tail which is moving up and down? When rabbits see this white tail moving up and down, they run too. They know that there is danger. The rabbit has told them something without making a sound. It has done this by using its body language.

    Many other animals use this kind of language. When a cobra is angry, it raises its hood and makes itself look fierce. This warns other animals. When a bee has found some food, it goes back to its home. It cannot tell the other bees where the food is by speaking to them, but it does a little dance in the air. This tells the bees where the food is.

    Some animals say things by making sounds. A dog barks, for example, when a stranger comes near. A cat purrs when pleased. Some birds make several different sounds, each with its own meaning. Sometimes we human beings speak in the same way. We make sounds like "Oh" or "Ah!" when we are frightened or pleased or when we drop something on our toes.

    But we have something that no animals have—a large number of words that have the meanings of things, actions, feelings or ideas. We are able to give each other all kinds of different information in words and sentences, which no other animals can do. No other animals have so wonderful a language as we have.

    Are you shy? If you are, you are not alone. In fact, close to 50 percent of people are shy. Almost 80 percent of people feel shy at some point in their lives. These days, shyness is becoming more and more common. Now, scientists are trying to understand shyness. They have some interesting ideas about why people are shy.

    Is it possible to be born shy? Many scientists say yes. They say 15 to 20 percent of babies behave shyly. These babies are a little quieter and more watchful than other babies. Interestingly, these shy babies usually have shy parents. As a result, scientists think that some shyness is genetic.

    Family size might cause people to be shy as well. Scientists at Harvard University studied shy children. They found that 66 percent of them had older brothers and sisters. The scientists said that these children were often bullied(欺侮) by their older brothers and sisters. As a result, they became shy. At the same time, children with no brothers and sisters may be shy as well. Growing up alone, they often play by themselves. They are not able to learn the same social skills as children from big families.

    You may also be shy because of where you were born. When scientists studied shyness in different countries, they found surprising differences. In Japan, most people said they were shy. But in Israel, only one of three people said so. What explains the difference? One scientist says the Japanese and Israelis have different opinions of failure. In Japan, when people do not succeed, they feel bad about themselves. They blame (责备) themselves for their failure. In Israel, the opposite is true. Israelis often blame failure on outside reasons, such as family, teachers, friends, or bad luck. In Israel, freedom of opinion and risk-taking are strongly supported. This may be why Israelis worry less about failure and are less shy.

    For shy people, it can be difficult to make friends, speak in class, and even get a good job. But scientists say you can get over your shyness. They suggest trying new things and practicing conversation. And don't forget—if you are shy, you are not the only one.