【推荐2】Do you often listen to music at loud volumes? You should know that this habit is bad for your hearing, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Over 1 billion young people are at risk of hearing loss due to listening to loud noise for long periods of time, said WHO. Listening to music or watching a TV show at loud volumes can harm your hearing.

The United Nations has standards for safe listening. It is not safe to listen to sounds that are louder than 85 decibels (dB, 分贝) for eight hours or 100 dB for 15 minutes. The sound of a busy road is about 85 dB and the sound of a rock concert can be about 100 dB.

Loud noise is harmful to the inner ear (内耳). Most of us are born with about 16,000 hair cells (听毛细胞) in our inner ears. These cells detect (探测) sounds. However, listening to loud noise for a long time can make these cells work too hard and cause some of them to die. This is what causes hearing loss.

Some people might think that their music isn’t all that loud. But this can depend on where you are. For example, if you are in a noisy place like the subway, you might turn up your music too loud without realizing it. Later, when you listen to it at the same volume in a quiet place, you might feel uncomfortable.

WHO said the “safe level” for most sound is below 80 decibels for up to 40 hours a week. A level of 80 decibels is roughly equal to the noise of a subway.

【推荐1】These years, people show all kinds of things on the Internet — good food, nice clothes, wonderful vacations and so on. Now showing the number of steps is becoming popular.

People are finding it important to be in good health. To keep healthy, many people go to work on foot. When they start walking, they open the counter app on their phone to record(记录) how many steps they walk. After a day’s walk, some people show the number on WeChat or Sina. We can make them learn from each other and keep exercising.

“This helps me to exercise much and develop a good habit,” Miss Liu said. “I can also talk about how to keep healthy with my friends on WeChat. We are in the same group to encourage(鼓励)each other to keep exercising.”

Mr Wu likes to exercise. But in the past he was kind of lazy and didn’t want to exercise every day. “After I use the step counter app, everything is different. It’s great to exercise with my friends. Sometimes there are prizes for those who walk more steps. I really like it,” he said.

Walking is a relaxing and useful way to exercise. Both the old and the young like it. Recording the steps helps people develop a good habit of walking. The number can make people more interested in walking. But don’t take the number too seriously.

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【推荐2】Do you have a sleeping problem? If you do, there is an easy way to help you improve your sleep. You may need to see more sunlight, especially in the morning, according to a study.

A team of doctors from New York, US did the study, Yahoo News reported.

The team did a study on 109 office workers across the US. They found that some of the workers saw lots of sunlight during the morning hours, between 8 a.m. and lunchtime. The doctors found that these workers had a better sleep than other workers. They also fell asleep more quickly at night.

Why is sunlight so important to our sleep? Doctors say it helps us set our body clock. When there is less and less sunlight at the end of the day, our body starts to make melatonin (褪黑素) . It makes us feel sleepy so that we know it’s time to go to bed. Our body makes the most melatonin at night. But during the day, sunlight tells our body to make less melatonin so that we can stay awake and do our work.

Doctors believe that we should see 15 minutes of sunlight in the morning. It can help balance (平衡) the melatonin in our bodies.

【推荐3】Peppa Pig, a British television cartoon show, has been popular with young children around the world since it came out. It is also welcomed by Chinese children.

Peppa Pig was first created on May 31, 2004 in the UK. Since then, it has been on show in over 180 countries and in over 40 languages.

Entertainment One. a British film and TV company. owns the brand. It said Peppa Pig toys, clothing and other products were all sold well in China, which was not expected. Since 2015, Peppa Pig has got plenty of attention on the Internet in China. Entertainment One even planned to build a Peppa Pig theme park in China to welcome the Year of the Pig.

Tom Harrington, a famous TV analyst（评论员）, described Peppa Pig’s success in China as “amazing”. “China is a big market but it is very difficult for Western media（媒体）companies to get into. However, children’s culture, especially cartoon is easy to get popular,” said Tom.

Why is Peppa Pig so popular in China? A father said online, “Peppa Pig’s great success is because it introduces a family where everyone gets on well with one another.”

“My daughter likes learning English while watching Peppa Pig on TV. Each episode（一集）lasts only about five minutes. It easily catches kids’ attention,” a mother said online.

【推荐1】Gardening is popular in many parts of the world. This outdoor activity gives us beautiful plants, like pleasant-smelling flowers, fresh fruits and vegetables. Here are some other main benefits(益处）as follows:

When you are gardening, you are outdoors. So it is a perfect time to socialize(社交） with your neighbors. Most people love to talk about their hobbies, and gardeners are not different. They usually enjoy showing people what they are growing, and most enjoy sharing advice or stories about their gardens.

Gardening can greatly widen a person’s community. Some people may not have their own gardens. So, many cities and towns have community gardens. It is a public land for anyone in the neighborhood to grow what they want for free, only if they follow some basic rules.

Gardening is a great activity to do with children. It gets children outdoors and off computers, televisions and other electronics. Gardening can be a great teacher. Children can learn about nature and wildlife. Gardening can teach a child about where food comes from and healthy eating.

Gardening can bring you good health. Why? When you are in your garden, you might feel the sunshine on your skin. This means you are getting Vitamin D. Vitamin D helps keep bones strong and help us fight diseases. Also, when you garden you must move around. All the different movements needed for gardening work help you easily get a good workout, like digging holes or pulling weeds(野草）.

【推荐2】Trees do much for human beings, plants and animals. They provide a lot of wood for buildings and things for making paper. They provide homes for all kinds of insects, birds and other animals. They also keep the air clean. Trees are so important to us. But do you know how a tree grows up?

Just like us, trees change a lot as they grow. Between 1 and 3 years old, ▲ . For example, many trees grow thorns(刺) to keep the animals away.

At the age of 15, trees become young adults. They begin to produce flowers and fruit.

It is not until the tree is 20 to 25 years old that it becomes a real adult. The tree reaches its largest size. The adult tree not only gives us shade, oxygen and natural beauty, but also provides a great place for us to rest, read books or listen to music. After that, trees begin to grow older and older and even die. At this time, they still have their important place in nature. When part of a tree becomes dead, it provides a home for small animals.

In many ways, the life of a tree is just like everyone’s own life. Each period of life brings its own joy and challenge. Let’s enjoy every minute of the life of the trees and take care of them.

【推荐3】There’s something great about buying a plant, taking care of it and actually having it survive(存活) for more than a week or two. However, Caelie Wilkes shared her story on her Facebook page, “I’ve had this beautiful succulent(多肉植物) for about two years now. I was so proud of this plant. It was full and beautiful color, just a perfect plant. I put it in my kitchen window. I had a watering plan for it. If someone else tried to water my plant I would be unhappy because I just wanted to keep good care of it. I loved my plant very much.”

Unluckily, when she decided to transplant the plant to a new flowerpot(花盆), she made a shocking discovery.

“I went to pull it from the original(原来的) plastic container(容器), and found this plant was fake(假的), and it’s completely plastic! How did I not know this?”

Wilkes, a stay-at-home mom, shared photos of the plant, however, it’s clearly not alive.

“I feel like these last two years have been a lie,” Wilkes said.