Look around your house and you’ll discover all kinds of ways to wrap presents beautifully. But how can you make less waste at the same time? Here are some ideas.

First of all, you can do a lot with fabric, such as scarves, tea towels, handkerchiefs and all of which can be considered as an extra gift. Many of these can be found at very little cost at a second-hand store. If the piece of cloth is big enough, use a special style knot to fasten it.

What’s more, my uncle used to have a huge collection of old National Geographic magazines and each one seemed to come with a map. Now when I think about it, those would make fantastic wrappings for gifts.

Parchment paper is light and white, yet opaque enough that a person wouldn’t be able to see through to the gift. If you receive a gift wrapped by parchment paper, you can find the paper post-unwrapping and reuse it. Wax paper could do the job, too. As much as possible, reuse paper you already have, like used envelopes in different sizes or brown paper bags. They really can look lovely!

Baskets are super cheap at second-hand stores and highly practical. Buy a basket that suits the size of your gift and the box will be able to enjoy it as well. You can’t go wrong with this choice.

Do not forget the used box. With the amount of online shopping that happens these days, there’s a good chance you have a collection of boxes somewhere in the house, awaiting recycling pickup. Use these to hold gifts, and dress them up with your creative ideas!

【推荐3】You can hardly pay no attention to hunger. Hunger has many different causes, according to Dr. Monique Tello, from Harvard Medical School.

The first cause may be medical problems. “If a person always feels hungry and can’t put on weight or even loses weight, he should go to the hospital. For people with Type 1 diabetes (糖尿病), their body isn’t able to process sugar (分解糖). They eat a lot, but still lose weight and they feel terrible.” Tello said.

If it isn’t a medical cause, the problem could be in the head. It’s reasonable to be hungry every three to five hours. However, you are likely to eat often and a lot after watching food advertisements on TV or social media. Also, the more you eat, the larger your stomach gets, and the more you want to eat. A person’s state of mind can play a role, too. Research has shown that stress can increase levels of ghrelin (饥饿激素). Pressure and worry can send people looking into the fridge when they’re not truly hungry.

Another reason may be the lifestyle. Sometimes the reason why a person is always hungry is that he eats too little, exercises too much, or both.

So, what are the solutions? First, reduce your time on watching food advertisements on TV and social media. In addition, say no to food if you’re not really hungry. Finally, change your diet by eating more food high in fiber (纤维), protein (蛋白质) and healthy fats.

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【推荐1】Summer camps in America are places for children to enjoy the summer holiday and learn new skills, games and experiences. Workers from all over the world will help run(管理) the camp. Each year, we send over 1,100 young people to work in summer camps around the USA. These young people are over 18 years old.

Lead an activity(活动) you love and get money from it.

Summer camps give you the chance to teach American campers what you know. There are places for sports, art, water activities, music, football and many more. We pay you money for your work. You can use the money to travel later.

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Camps run for around 9 weeks in the summer months of May, June, July and August but it’s not all work and no play. On your days off(假日), you can visit local(当地的) cities and towns with your new camp friends.

It is an easy way to travel across the United States.

When the camp is finished, you and your friends can travel all over America. You can take a road trip to see more of New York, go to the Niagara Falls, take part in parties, visit the White House or just walk around a beach in Florida with the friends from the camp!

Christmas is only a few days away. Tom and the two children of the family are very excited.

Their mother has already made a colorful Christmas tree and a large Christmas cake. Tomorrow she will take them out shopping in the High Street. She is going to buy them new clothes for Christmas.

People usually give each other presents at Christmas. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson have already bought presents for their children.

They will give them their parcels on Christmas morning. Tom and Irene have presents for their parents, too. Their eldest brother Jimmy is working in another country. They have already posted him a Christmas card. A few weeks ago, their parents posted Jimmy a parcel so that he would receive it before Christmas.

【推荐3】Now many people celebrate their birthdays. On that day, people usually have birthday cakes and candles. But not everyone knows the history of using them.

Long long ago, people thought when the babies were born, the demons (恶魔) would come to the families and try to hurt (伤害) the babies. So they asked their friends to come to their families to keep the babies safe and burned (燃烧) candles to keep the demons away.

There were two stories about who were the first to use cakes and candles. Some people thought the Greeks (希腊人) were the first to make birthday cakes. The cakes were round and looked like the moon. They also put candles on the cakes and burned them. And the candles are like the moonlight. Other people thought the Germans (德国人) first used cakes and candles. The big candle in the center of the cake is“the light of life”.

Now people have all kinds of cakes, sing birthday songs, make wishes and blow out the candles. Birthdays mean parties for the family and friends.

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