Nowadays more and more people care about the exploration (开采) of the natural resources , such as oil. Though there are many kinds of resources, with the fast increase of population and appearance of many more factories, the more we use, the fewer there will be left for the future. Oil is getting less and less year after year. It’s said that oil can last for only 50 years. Natural gas perhaps will last about 38 years.

      Oil can be used in many ways and it’s difficult to imagine what the modern world will be like without oil. But oil isn’t easy to find and get out of the earth. Men must study the rocks. When they think the rocks in a certain place may have oil, a metal tower is built. A machine in the tower cuts a hole down into the ground. At the same time, a steel pipe is pushed down to stop the sides from falling in and to keep out water. At last if the men are right, usually the oil rushes up the sides with great force(力量) by the pressure（压力）of the gas in the top of the rock, and it rushes high into the air. If the oil catches a light, there will be a terrible fire. So a kind of cover is fixed on the top of the pipe, and the oil can run out through taps（活塞）.

      If we make a well near the middle of the oil field, we can also get gas. Such gas is sent through pipes to towns far away and used in houses and factories like coal gas.

      Today oil is under pressure as never before. The price of the oil keeps rising all the time. In many countries, the governments encourage people to save oil as much as possible.

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Do you know a language everyone in the world knows? Yes, I do. That is laughter. Any two people who don’t speak a word of other’s language still know what he or she means when the other person laughs.

So laughter is a world-wide language. But how much do you really know about laughter?

People think that in the old days laughter had more to do with fear (恐惧) than happiness. People in those days might laugh when they were in danger. For example, when a tiger passed by, nothing was funny about nearly becoming the tiger’s meal. Though the tiger might be away for long, laughing was there before they felt relaxed.

Many people believe that laughter is the best medicine. Norman Cousins, an actor, look for a common treatment(治疗法) for a bad illness, but didn’t feel better after trying many ways. Finally he made himself healthy by watching many funny movies and TV show. He said laughter helped him a lot.

What picture do you have of the future? Will life in the future be better, worse or the same as now? What do you hope about the future?

People predict that life will probably be very different in 2050. First of all, it seems that there won’t be TV channels (频道). At that time, people will pick up a program from a “menu” and a computer will send the program to the TV set at once. By 2050, music, films, programs, newspapers and books will come to us by computers.

In that time, water will become one of our most serious problems. In many places, farmers are in great need of water to grow fruit and vegetables.

In transportation, cars will run on new, clean fuels and they will go very fast. There won’t be any accidents because of robots. We will see robots everywhere. And space planes will take people around the world in two hours.

By 2050, we will be able to help blind and deaf people see again and hear again. At that time, people’s life will become better and better.

Although environmental problems have existed for centuries, some people still care little about our environment. Problems like ice melting, electronic waste are lighting up news programs and becoming part of an ongoing dialogue about the environment.

As a teenager, what do you think all the problems mean for your future and for the future of the planet? For our October 2016 writing contest, we want you to really consider what you think about environmental problems.

Use these questions to help focus your essay

  What environmental problem do you think should cause the greatest alarm and action?

  Do you think that you have a personal responsibility to help solve environmental              problems or do you feel helpless against the struggle?

  What do you think could help a specific environmental problem?

Don’t try to answer all these questions. Use one of them to make a personal essay.

The title of the essay

When you hand in your essay, title it as: Environmental Problems: _______.

Include the phrase “Environmental Problems” as the beginning of your essay title, but then make the rest of your story title unique. Examples:

  Environmental Problems: Trashy Behavior and the Plastic Bottle

 Environmental Problems: We Can’t Exist If We Refuse to Change

Rules:

(1) This is a non-fiction essay contest.

(2) Essays are 500 words or less.

(3) Essays must be your original work.

The deadline:

Midnight Oct. 30, 2016

Results:

The winner will be posted on our writing contest website or on Teen Trend Report after Nov. 26, 2016.

Pigs do it. Mice do it. Dogs also do it. Kangaroos? Not so much. Why do some animals shake? The short answer is because they are wet. But there’s actually more to it than that—a lot more.

In an article, Andrew Dickerson and others took a look at this strange problem. The scientists wrote down the shaking of 33 animals, of them are five kinds of dogs.

It shows that mammals（哺乳动物）can keep stronger by doing their cute little shakes. If they do not shake, animals would have to use up to 20 percent of their daily energy simply staying dry. And nearly all furry（有皮毛的）mammals shake to help themselves keep dry.

Those animals that are similar to kangaroos shake only part of their body. They usually live in dry places where keeping dry isn’t very hard. But not all animal shake in the same way. Also some shake less often than others.

Smaller animals seem to shake more quickly,30 shakes per second for a mouse, while bears, tigers and big dogs only about four.

In an interesting finding, Dickerson and his team have shown that these animals do the job as well as possible. In each example, the animals shake off about 70 percent of water in a few seconds. This should all be great to people. It takes us not seconds but minutes to dry our hair.

Many people like to search the Interact. Searching the Interact is one of the most important activities of a day. The Internet makes the outside world closer to people's homes. Some people say the world is smaller than before because of the Interact.

   What's going on in other countries? How do people live in places far away? Is there a good sports game somewhere? What's the life like in the deepest part of the sea? If you want to answer all these questions, just come to the Interact. Of course, people can also learn through reading or listening to the radio. But with the Interact they can learn better and more easily. A lot of information can be collected at a great speed.

   Can we go shopping without leaving home? Can we see a doctor without going to a hospital? Can we study without going to school? Can we draw money without going to the bank? All these things seemed to be impossible, but now they have become quite possible.

   The Interact helps us open our eyes and our minds. The internet often gives us new ideas. In a word, it helps us in many ways. Great changes have taken place in our life since the appearance of the Interact.

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Life in the year 3044 is very different from life in the 21^sh century. We still do many of the things you did, but we do them differently. For example, we have e-friends to help us. An e-friend is like a machine (机器) that looks just like a human being (人). It can walk and talk and can do almost everything we human beings do. My e-friend is a lot like me and we have fun together. She helps me do my homework and we often go swimming. She can take care of me if anything happens, so I always feel safe when we are together. She can also send me messages and I can download (下载) information from her memory. It's great to have an e-friend. I am never lonely and I always have someone to talk with.

   I would like to tell you more about life in the year 3044, but I have to send my e-friend to clean up my room. Maybe one day I will be able to travel back in time and visit you.

Waste can be seen everywhere in the school. Some students ask for more food than they can eat and others often forget to turn off the lights when they leave the classroom. They say they can afford these things. But I don’t agree with them.

Waste can bring a lot of problems. Although China is rich in some resources(资源), we are short of(缺乏) others, for example, fresh water(淡水). It is reported that we will have no coal(煤) or oil to use in 100 years. So if we go on wasting our resources, what can we use in the future and where can we move? Think about it. I think we should say no to the

students who waste things every day. Everybody should stop wasting as soon as possible.

In our everyday life, we can do many things to prevent waste from happening, for example, turn off the water taps(水龙头) when we finish washing, turn off the lights when we leave the classroom, try not to order more food than we need, and so on. Little by little, everything will be changed. Waste can be stopped one day, if we do our best.

Different weather makes people feel different. It influences health, intelligence(智力) and feelings.

In August, it is very hot and wet in the southern part of the United States. People there have heart trouble and other kinds of health problems during this month. In the Northeast and the Middle West, it is very hot some times and very cold at other times. People in these states have more heart trouble after the weather changes in February or March.

The weather can also influence intelligence. For example, in a 1983 report by scientists, IQ of a group of students was very high when a very strong wind came, but after the strong wind, their IQ was 10% below. The wind can help people have more intelligence. Very hot weather, on the other hand, can make it lower. Students in many schools of the United States often don’t do very well in exams in the hot months of the year (July and August).

Weather also has a strong influence on people’s feelings. Winter may be a bad time for thin people. They usually feel cold during these months. They might feel unhappy during cold weather. But fat people may have a hard time in hot summer. At about 18℃, people become stronger.

Low air pressure(气压) may make people forgetful. People more possibly leave bags on buses or in shops on low-pressure days. People feel best at a temperature of about 18℃.

Are you feeling sad, tired, forgetful, or unhappy today? It may be the weather’s problem.

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Sports are very important to us. Sports are popular with young and old people. Many people do morning exercises, go to different sports clubs and take part in sports games. Other people like sports too but they only like to watch sports games and listen to sports news. They don’t do sports.

P.E. is an important subject in our school. Students have P.E. classes five times a week. Boys and girls often play volleyball in P.E. classes. There is a big playground in our school and students like to do sports there. Our school has a lot of sports games and many students take part in them.

Sports can help people to keep healthy. People of all ages must take care of their health and do exercise regularly (有规律的). My favorite sport is swimming. I go to the swimming pool once a week. But I like relaxing by the lake or the river and swimming there.