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.

—Yan Jiashuo, a _________ girl, has won the prize of International Master of Memory.

—Wow, she’s great, isn’t she?

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.