【推荐1】①Does a lake on fire sound impossible? If you think that water can’t burn, you need to learn more about pollution.

②Let’s go and see Bellandur Lake in the city of Bengaluru in India. Bengaluru is the center for many heavy industries. Electrical and electronic goods, computer parts and parts for planes and space rockets are produced there. Much of the waste from these and a large amount of the wastewater from local people run into the lake.

③These harmful mixed things have led the lake to become covered with a thick white foam (泡沫) that looks like snow when seen from far away. When the level of the water rises, the foam does too and covers nearby areas, even roads. When a fire breaks out on the lake, it is both frightening and dangerous. People who live or work near the lake also get seriously ill because of the pollution.

④The fire has drawn a great deal of attention recently, but burning lakes are nothing new. Pollution mainly happens in developing countries like India today. In the past, it mainly took place in Europe and America. Cuyahoga River, a river in America, had caught fire at least 13 times. The fire that caused the most attention was in 1969 when oil-covered areas on the river were set on fire by sparks (火花) from a passing train. The fire reached a height of over five floors and burned for about half an hour. By that time, people in America were more aware of its dangers and wanted to change.

⑤As a result, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was founded in1970 and the Clean Water Act (1972) was put into use. This Act required all rivers throughout America be clean enough to safely allow swimmers and fish to pass through by 1983. Due to these efforts, the Cuyahoga River has never had another fire and over 60 different species of fish live in the river.

⑥If history is a guide, will it be possible for people in India to bring an end to the pollution by changing the laws in their country, too? Like many nations, it’s necessary to raise awareness of environmental protection among the general public. All of us must act!

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The wide use of artificial lights is making the nighttime on the earth increasingly brighter. That worries some people. They say that artificial light can influence birds, make plants have long growing periods, and stop people from connecting to stars. What’s more, they say, all that wasted light sent out into space is wasted money.

Here are some findings from a new study in the journal called Science Advances. The study used five years of data from a satellite. This satellite offered a great way to measure nighttime light.

With new lighting science, some areas have started using LEDs. And because this satellite is not able to see all of the light from LEDs, Scientist Kyba says the brightening in real life is probably greater than what has been measured. “For the United States, for example, we don’t see much of a change. But we know that a lot of LEDs are used. And that means that the United States is certainly getting brighter, to the eyes of people on Earth.” Kyba says.

It is said that energy-saving LEDs will reduce the cost of lighting. “But as lighting gets cheaper, we use more of it. In fact, the number of LEDs is growing very fast,” Kyba says. “All across the world, all this wanted light is expensive. It costs a lot of money to produce that light and it’s not doing anybody any good.” He and others say that we should be working to reduce the amount of light going out into space while still offering a safe and comfortable experience for people on the ground at night.

Baggy has become the first dog in the UK-and might be the world-to join the fight against air pollution by recording the pollution levels (水平) near the ground.

Baggy wears a pollution monitor (监视器) around her neck. It is different from the normal pollution monitors fixed on lampposts (路灯柱) at about 3 meters high, so she can record pollution levels close to the ground.

This idea comes from Baggy’s 13-year-old owner Tom Hunt and his dad Matt. Since Baggy stands at about the same height as a child in a pushchair (婴儿车), her monitor shows a different result. The pollution levels are much higher than those recorded by the Environment Agency at higher places in the air. Tom has reported the shocking findings to the government in order to warn that babies are at higher risk of having asthma (哮喘).

Matt Hunt said he was very proud of his son because when the boy gets an idea, he keeps his head down and gets on with it until he finally makes it. And he really wants to do some good and stop young kids from getting asthma.

“Tom were interested in environmental protection at a very early age as well as gadgets (小装置) making.” Matt added.“About one year ago, he got this new place of technology. One Sunday afternoon, we went out to do some monitoring, and he said, ‘why don’t we put it around Baggy’s neck and let her monitor the pollution?’ So we did it.”

Tom said “Most of the time, Baggy is just like any other dog. But for the rest of the time, she is a super dog, and we all really take pride in her.”