If the food in a supermarket is not fresh anymore or is near the “sell-by date”, it goes into trash bins too. Every day, a large amount of food is wasted.

To cut down on food waste, France passed a new law last month. If forbids(禁止) supermarkets to throw away unsold food. Instead, they must donate it to charities. For food that isn’t safe for humans to eat, it can be used as animal feed(饲料). If not, the supermarkets will face fines of up to 75,000 euros(around 542,200 yuan)or two years in prison. The law also encourages educational programs for schools and businesses about food waste.

France is the first country to make a law that forbids wasting food, but it is actually a worldwide problem. According to the United Nations, each year 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted all over the world, and just 25 percent of that food could feed all the hungry people in the world.

The good thing is that people around the world are trying different things to deal with the food waste problem. Galdakao, Spain, puts a public fridge in the center of town. Anyone can drop off food and anyone can come and take them. A supermarket in Canada, Loblaws, encourages people to buy “ugly food” by selling them at lower prices, so they won’t end up being wasted. In China, we also have the “clear your plate” campaign(光盘行动). This means you should eat everything on your plate or take away the food you haven’t eaten up.

To encourage reading, a Chinese company placed over 10,000 books around the underground, in taxis and on planes in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. The activity earned the support of many Chinese stars. The “book-dropping battle,” however, won little praise. Instead, the movement drew much criticism(批评).

Some books were left untouched. Around the underground, passengers thought the books were left there to save the seats. Some books were taken away by cleaners. People also complained that they couldn’t get to the books—the carriages were too crowded.

The movement led to a hot debate.

Most people thought it could do little to encourage reading. “I think the best result is that people take selfies(自拍)when they pick up the books and write a post in WeChat. After that, they will just bring the books back home and place them on their bookshelves,” wrote one Weibo user.

Some pointed out that while Watson was a great reader, the Chinese stars who supported the movement didn’t seem to be reading much. Isn’t it embarrassing that the movement is supported by stars who don’t read a lot?

Murong Xuecun is a famous Chinese writer. He thought the book-sharing campaign was not at all a bad thing. “In the past years, the Chinese economy(经济) has been developing rapidly. Everybody is busy with work. They don’t have time for reading,” said Murong.“However, just because Chinese people don’t read regularly, it doesn’t mean we should do nothing to encourage reading, ” Murong added.

 We can express thoughts and feelings and send sounds and pictures on our smartphones today. We canˈt send tastes, smells or touches.But some scientists in Britain are trying to develop a way for smartphones to do that.

 To give users a sense of taste, Adrian David Cheok and some other scientists designed two electrodes (电极 ）. "You put these two silver electrodes in your mouth, and you put your tongue in between and then your tongue will get a virtual taste perception(虚拟的味觉） in your brain，"said ProfessorCheok .They have already created sour, salty, sweet and bitter tastes.

A device(设备）called "Scentee" allows users to have the sense of smell. Scientists put"Scentee "into a smart phone and can spray (喷射）small clouds of fragrance， including flowers, fruits and coffee. Professor Cheok says the person speaking can activate（激活） the device.ˈˈScentee ˈˈholds a container（容器）with about 100 different smells. The container must be replaced when all the smells run out.

 The sense of touch comes from a ring-like device. It is connected wirelessly （无线地） to the smartphone. “I can be in London and my friend can be in Tokyo, and I can squeeze （挤压）my finger and then theyˈll get a squeeze on their finger through the Internet. It’s a way of touch communication with small mobile devices,”Professor Cheok said.

  Professor Cheok hopes devices like these will someday be added to houses. He says they may change the future of long-distance communication.

    Would you like to experience what going to school was like in the late 1800s? To start with，imagine everyone in school only one classroom．

    In the 19th and early 20th centuries，most American students went to a one—room schoolhouse．A single teacher would typically(典型地)have students in the first through eighth grades，and she taught them all．The number of students varied from six to 40 or more．The youngest children sat in the front，while the oldest students sat in the back．The teacher usually taught reading，writing，arithmetic，history，and geography．Students memorized and retold their lessons．

    The classroom of a one—room schoolhouse probably looked much like your own．The teacher’s desk stood on a raised platform(讲台)at the front of the room，however，and there was a wood-burning stove(火炉)since there was no other way of heating．The bathroom was outside in an outhouse．

    In Honeoye Falls，New York，there is a one—room schoolhouse where kids today can experience what it was like to the students in the late 19th century．For a week during the summer，they wear 19th century clothes and learn the way children learned more than a hundred years ago．

    What else has changed about school since the 19th century? For more information，please visit our website：www .LoeaHygacy. con．

My father woke me up early one summer morning when I was fourteen and said, “Get up, youˈre going with me to cut the grass in the garden.”

　　The idea that my father thought I was old enough to help him in his business made me feel proud and excited. From sunrise to sunset, my father, my younger brother and I worked in the large garden, in a rich part of Atlanta, Georgia. At the end of the day, I was too tired to say a word, but I felt good. This was my first time to help my father in his business. I got $ 6 for my work that day.

　　One day my father found some leaves I missed and pulled me aside. “Take away these leaves!” he said seriously, “and donˈt make me have to tell you to do it again.” The message was clear. Today I value(珍视)the importance of doing a job well the first time. It will never fail to impress(给……留下印象）the person who you are working for.

After two years, my father told me and my brother that he felt we were old enough to cut the grass by ourselves. Every Saturday during our last two years of high school, we set off early in the morning with the same strong wish we got while working under our father.

　　Looking after the garden was not exciting, but that didnˈt matter. It taught me that any job was a good job and that what I was paid was more than I had before.

　　A newspaper reporter once asked me how someone could possibly live with hard work and low pay. “If youˈre only thinking about hard work and money, you probably donˈt want to do any better than you are doing.” I answered. In every job, from cutting the grass to washing dishes, Iˈve learned much. Iˈve learned something that helps me in my next job.

　　If you work hard enough, you can learn from any job you do.

A man had a little daughter, Anny. He lived for hershe was his life. So when she be came ill, he became very worried and tried his best to save her, but the child died at last.

    The father became a little quiet, shut himself away from his many friends and refused every activity. But one night he had a dream and it changed him.

    In the dream, he was in heaven(天堂),and he saw many little child angels(天使).Every white-robed(穿白色长袍的)angelic child carried a candle. He found that only one child's candle was not lighted(燃着的).Then he saw that the child with the dark candle was his own little girl. Rushing to her, he carried her in his arms, kissed her tenderly, and then said, "Anny, why is your candle alone unlighted? Daddy, I want to light it, but your tears always put it out. "

    Just then he woke up from his dream. It gave him a meaningful lesson. From that night on, he was back to his friends. And his daughter's candle wouldn't be put out any more.

Four years ago when I was a boy of 11, I got into the biggest trouble as a kid. It was a Saturday morning. Both my parents were out, leaving me and my 10—month—old sister home alone. Anyway, my sister was still asleep in her room. In fact I had the house to myself. I decided to do some drawing. Soon I gave up. Nothing was on TV, so I felt bored and touched the candles on the shelf…I had an idea! What would happen if I set fire to some kitchen paper? Well, of course it went on fire, but it wasn’t the tiny flame(火苗)I’d expected, and I couldn’t blow it out. I threw it on the floor, and then luckily got my dad’s boots(靴子)and stamped it out.

I thought I was safe until there was a HUGE hole in my room. When my mum came home later, she smelt the smoke immediately. She dropped the shopping bag, luckily for me, over the hole. I thought this meant she would never see it. However, after running round the house checking for a fire, she of course picked up the bag and saw the hole. Next I was grounded(关禁闭)and in trouble for months. Even worse though, the hole was still there, reminding me of what I did.

①The boy set fire to some kitchen paper.

②The boy did some drawing.

③The boy was grounded.

④The boy stamped the fire out.

⑤His mother checked for a fire.

Last year, a special kind of glove came out. It was invented to help blind people to learn Braille, which is a special system for the blind to read by touching. Shaking motors (震动马达) are put on each finger of the glove. They can make different sounds to tell a user which letter he is touching. Recently, two British college students have invented another special glove for the blind. It can make the user feel small and quick movements. An ultrasonic sensor (超声波传感器) with a battery is put on the back of the glove. When the user wearing the glove is close to an object (物体), ultrasonic waves (超声波) from the glove are sent out (发出). As soon as they hit the object in front, the waves will return to the glove. Then the waves cause the glove to shake. And the ultrasonic sensor makes different kinds of sounds. The sounds make the user know how far he is from the object.

   In the college invention competition, the two students got first prize and won 1,540 pounds. One of the designers said, “Now the ultrasonic sensor on the glove is quite large. We're going to use the money to develop a smaller and lighter ultrasonic sensor.”

Here are a few suggestions for what you can do to make sure that you and your group have a successful and educational visit to CU Museum.

   Before the Visit

   Discuss the coming trip with your students.

   Use the pre-visit (参观之前的) activity ideas with your class.

   Use one of the CU Museum Classroom Resources (资源) as a pre-visit activity.

   After the Visit

   Discuss the trip with your class. Talk about what was learned and answer their questions.

   Ask them to write about their museum experiences.

   Use the post-visit activity ideas with your class.

   Use one of the CU Museum Classroom Resources as a post-visit activity.

   For more information on how you can make your visit a success, please call us at (303) 492-1666 or (303) 492-4843.

   For other questions, please send an email to cumuseum @ colorado. edu.

I went home one Saturday afternoon in the autumn of 1993 to get some work done in the garden. While sweeping leaves on the ground, my five-year-old son Nick came over and asked me to write something on a piece of paper to make a sign for him.

    “What for?” I asked.

    “I’m going to sell some of my stones.” he answered.

    Nick was fascinated with stones and had collected many stones (石头) from all over. “I’m too busy to do that for you. Go and ask your mum for help.” I said.

    A short time later, Nick returned with a sign, reading. “Stones. One Dollar Each”. He took the sign, a small chair and 4 0f his best stones and walked to the road in front of our garden. There he put the stones in a line and sat down on the chair.

    After half an hour, nobody passed by. I walked to him and asked him to go back, but he didn’t.

    Another half hour later, a small car came down the road. I watched as Nick stood up, holding his sign up. A woman rolled down（摇下）a window and read the sign. I couldn’t hear their talk, but I saw the woman turn to the driver and the man reach for his pocket.

    I sat in the yard, as Nick ran to me. Waving the dollar, he shouted. “I told you I could sell one stone for a dollar – if you believe in yourself, you can do anything.”