More and more people around the world are joining in dangerous sports. Some people climbed the highest mountains; some traveled into unknown parts of the world; some sailed small boats across the largest sea. Now some people begin to look for new excitement.

Bungee jumping (蹦极) and motorcycle racing (摩托车赛) are quite dangerous sports. Bungee jumping only lasts for a few minutes or even seconds. You jump from a high place, about 200 meters above the ground, and there is a rubber band (橡胶带子) tied to your legs. When you jump down, the rubber band pulls you up. About 2,000,000 people around the world have tried bungee jumping.

Why do people join in these dangerous sports. Some scientists say that it is because modern life has become safe and it is not interesting. In the past, people lived in danger. They had to go out and look for food, and life was like a fight but was interesting.

Many people think that there is little excitement in life. They live and work in safe places, buy food in shops, and there are doctors and hospitals to look after them if they become ill.

Many people say that they are working too many hours. They don’t have enough time to relax or stay with their family.

Work hours are different from one country to another. In France, people spend about 1646 hours a year at work. In Japan, however, people work about 2159 hours a year. That means a Japanese worker works 513 more hours a year than a French worker.   

Why do people work so many hours? Some people work extra hours because they want to make more money. However, many companies don’t pay overtime. Their workers don’t get more pay for more work. These people think it’s their duty to work more hours. Some are afraid of losing their job if they don’t work more hours.
    Many people say that their vacations are too short. In France, people get five weeks of paid vacation a year. In Germany, they get from four to six weeks and in the United States, two weeks. One study shows fewer than half of workers used all their vacation days. In Great Britain, there is a saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull(迟钝的) boy.＂If that is true, there must be a lot of dull people in the world.

The United Nations said that the world’s population will increase from 7.2 billion today to 8.1 billion in 2025. By 2050, it will reach 9.6 billion.

According to the report on World Population Prospects(预测), India’s population will surpass(超过) China’s in around 2028 when each of the two countries will have a population of around 1.45 billion. India’s population is expected to grow to around 1.6 billion and then slowlydeclineto 1.5 billion in 2100, while China’s will start decline after 2030, possibly fall to 1.1 billion in 2100.

According to the report, Nigeria’s population will surpass the US’s population before the middle of this century and Nigeria will start to take China’s place as the second-most populous(人口稠密的)country in the world by the end of this century. By 2050, Nigeria’s population will reach more than 440 million, and it will be nearly 914 million by 2100.

The population of developing countries will increase from 5.9 billion in 2013 to 8.2 billion in 2050. However, the population of developed countries will remain generally unchanged during that period, at around 1.3 billion.

Africa’s population will increase from 1.1 billion today to 2.4 billion in 2050, and may reach 4.2 billion by 2100.

The populations of several countries are expected to decline by more than 15% by 2050, including Belarus, Bulgaria, Cuba, Latvia, Ukraine, etc.

Black Friday

    Thanksgiving Day is always on a Thursday. The day after it has been known as Black Friday. It is the start of the holiday shopping season, and it has been the busiest shopping day of the year in the US since 2005.

    Most stores offer big sales on Black Friday. They open their doors quite early in the morning. They try to attract shoppers with big discounts（打折）. Some items（商品）like TVs and cloths are much cheaper than usual. Stores may even lose money on these items. They hope that shoppers will buy gifts for other people while they are in the store.

    Black Friday is a great time to go shopping. However, there are problems. The biggest one is that there are not enough low-priced items. Each store may only have a few. These items are in great need, so people stand in long lines to get them. They may wait for three to four hours before a store opens. They may be hoping to get a low price on a TV or computer, but not everybody can get one. Some people leave, disappointed.

The situation makes people worried. Some Black Friday events have been crazy. There have been fights over toys among shoppers. Some workers have even been hurt by large crowds. But most Black Friday events are safe and fun. Still, if you plan to go, you will expect large crowds and a bit of pushing.

Now people all over the country take part in Black Friday events. It is even spreading to other parts of the world. Stores have held Black Friday events in the UK, Australia, and Brazil since 2012. In Mexico, stores offer a weekend of discounts every year. They call it ‘El Buen Fin’, which means ‘the good weekend’ in Spanish. I guess people everywhere like to buy things on sale.

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 The day was warm and the sun shone down like a new beginning in my life. I was waving goodbye to my son, the last one of my children to leave home and go to a new place — university. I felt so light-hearted after spending many years looking after my four children — cooking, washing, ironing, teaching them hew to look after themselves and manage many other things — that I actually thought "At last, I was free".

   But, as I watched my last one leave, although it was joyful, I realized I had not been really prepared for this day. I was too busybringing upthese adults of the future to realize that they would all leave the nest and live by themselves.

   At first I didn't know what I wanted to do. I tried a part-time job, the result of which was that I ran out in tears. I started another business, but that didn't work, either. I grew my own vegetables and fruit, which lasted 3 years. But one day my doctor advised it was not fit for me to do this because of the pain of my feet.

   I began wondering whether I had a future of my own. I cried for the life I was used to, and hadn't known or wanted anything different.

   Then one day I saw an advertisement for foster(代养的) parents. I discussed it with my husband who was always behind everything I tried and then I rang up the number. A week later, a girl named Tracy became a member of my family.

   I now laugh and sing with my 14-year-old foster daughter, even when my kitchen is dirty and in a mess and my bathroom is totally out of order. I now know, 8 years later, the meaning of my doing all these things with the spare hours, days, and weeks when my last child flew the nest. The sun shines once again in my home.

“I sometimes get up at three or four in the morning and I surf the net.”

“I often check my e-mail forty times a day.”

“I often spend more than three hours during one time on the net.”

“I spend more time in chat rooms than with my ‘real-life’ friends.”

Do you know any people like these? They are part of a new addiction(瘾) called Internet addiction. Internet addicts spend at least thirty to forty hours online every week. The use of the Internet can be an addiction like drug(毒品) use. People lose control of the time they spend on the Internet

For example, one college student was missing for several days. His friends were worried, and they called the police. The police found the student in the computer lab，he was surfing the net for several days straight.

Studies show that about 6 to 10% of Internet users become addicted. And people worry about the teens because the Internet is changing the playing field for some of them. They spend more time in cyberspace（网络空间）than in the real world of friends and family.

Is “surfing the net” a hobby or an addiction for you? You may have a problem if you have these symptoms:

●You do not go to important family activities or you do not do school work because you like to spend hours on the Internet.

●You can’t wait for your next online time.

●You plan to spend a short time online, but then you spend several hours.

●You go out with your friends less and less.

These days , more and more Chinese teenagers find   (1)   more difficult to live without their parents. They don’t know how to do   (2)   . Because their parents do almost everything for them at home. This is a big problem.

Alice is a 14-year-old girl. One day her parents went out for work , so she had to stay at home   (3)   . At first she thought she would be happy   (4)   her parents were not in. She could do   (5)  she liked to. But it was six o’clock in the afternoon , she felt   (6)   . “Oh, it’s time   (7)  dinner. Where can I get my food?” She said to   (8)   . Later she found some food in the fridge, but she   (9)   know how to cook. At that moment , she missed her   (10)   very much. At last she could only go to the supermarket and   (11)   some food to eat.

Many of teenagers are   (12)   as Alice . So I think they should learn some normal life   (13)   ,like cooking , cleaning up their rooms or taking   (14)   care of themselves. Do you   (15)   me?