Peter and Paul had a permission from their parents to camp in a field close to their farm. But, being adventurous boys, they know it would be more   (1)   to camp in the woods that lay beyond the river. Excitedly, the boys went away with their tent and food.

Carrying their heavy load, the two brothers walked along the riverbank, hardly noticing the distance. They were eager(渴望) to reach their destination(目的地) before lunchtime. As they entered the cool, shadowy woods, they began to search for a suitable camping spot(地点). Peter wanted to   (2)   close to the river at the edge(边缘) of the woods,   (3)   Paul, who was older, insisted that they camp further away. Unwillingly(不情愿), Peter followed his brother deeper into the  (4)  . “This is really a wonderful setting!” said Paul in excitement. They   (5)  the tent, and settled down to eat the sandwiches they had made, then decided to find their way   (6)   to the river to catch some fish.

 “Are you sure that this is the right way?” whispered Peter shakily(颤抖). “I’m sure we passed that hollow tree just a while ago.” Paul walked   (7)   silently. “Look, there it is again. We’re lost, aren’t we?” complained Peter. Paul had to admit that he didn’t know where they were.   (8)   , they were a long distance from where they were   (9)   to be. They were not even   (10)   of where they had set up their camp. They stood in   (11)   for a few minutes until Peter had a bright idea. “Why don’t we look for clues the way trackers(追踪者)   (12)   in the movies? We weren’t careful about how we walked, so I’m sure we would have left   (13)   some broken tree branches and leaves. ”

Carefully, the boys   (14)   the marks that they had left, until finally they found their campsite. Hurriedly, they packed their belongings and set off   (15)   the direction of the river.

What would their parents think of their adventure?

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.

Have you ever heard of the expression “birdbrain”? People use it to talk about someone who is stupid, but crows(渡鸦) prove that this is unfair. Now it has been discovered that crows may understand analogies(类推法).

It was once thought that only humans could understand analogies, which help us to solve problems creatively and make scientific discoveries.

To testthis ability in animals, scientists do RMTS tests. If a pair was AA, for example, then picking BB to match it would be correct.

Monkeys have learnedRMTS, but scientists wanted to know if crows could do it, too. An international team led by Edward Wasserman in the US first trained two crows to match things by color, shape, and number in what is called IMTS, then moved onto RMTS.

For theIMTS test, the birds were put in a cage with a plate that had three cards and two cups in it. The card in the middle was the sample card. The cups on either side were covered with the other two cards: One was the same as the sample（in the color, shape, or number of shapes pictured）, while the other wasn’t. The cup with the card that matched the sample card had some food to eat.

In the second partof the experiment, the birds were tested with RMTS tests. A card with two same-sized circles, for example, meant they should pick the test card with two same-sized squares and not two different-sized circles. The birds did well in the more difficult test and picked the correct card more than three quarters of the time, Science New reports.

Wasserman was surprised that crows were able to solve the problem without any training in RMTS. “What the crows have done is surprising,” he said.