The world is in great need of fresh water. About 97% of water on Earth is salt water. Man can only drink or use the rest which comes from rivers，lakes and the underground. The number of people in the world is becoming larger and larger，so we need more and more fresh water. Now water shortage (短缺) becomes a big problem. And people are trying their best to find more ways to get fresh water.

Then what can we do about it？Scientists have found some ways to turn salt water into fresh water. One important way is to boil (煮沸) sea water at a high temperature. In this way，we can make a lot of fresh water. But it often costs too much. And heating is not the only way to get fresh water.

People also have other ways，such as digging deep wells (井)，keeping rainwater and protecting rivers from being polluted.

Which way is better？I think to get the most fresh water with the least money is the best. And most importantly，everyone should take part in saving water. And it's not difficult. We should just try not to waste any water in our everyday life.

【推荐2】Every year thousands of young people leave school for a few weeks or months and enjoy an unusual type of educational program. What they learn during this time does not come from books. They learn new skills by living in a different country and doing unusual jobs. There are several organizations that help students to find the experience they are looking for. The job description table below shows a few possibilities for students.

One interesting possibility is helping elephants in Thailand. ① Most people think of elephants as animals in zoos or circuses. ② Now, hundreds of them are homeless. ③ These gentle animals are often found on the streets as they do not have owners to care for them. ④ Although they may look well, they are often in poor health and don’t have enough to eat.

One center in Thailand cares for these elephants. It provides a safe and natural living space for them. When they are at the center, they stay in a building but are free to walk around. Students come from all over the world to help here. The students helpers work with the elephant keepers. These keepers train the students in caring for the elephants. In the morning, they go to the forest together and lead the elephants to the center. They clean them and give them food. In the afternoon, they take the animals back into the forest for the night. Helping at the center is interesting and the young people learn a lot.

【推荐1】China’s Green Beat is the first green media（媒体）in China. It provides enjoyable short films for people to care about environmental problems. It has made more than ten short films. They teach people how to protect the environment through stories.

John Roman from the United States and Shane Zhao from China set it up. John used to study at Northwestern University. After he left school, he came to China to learn Chinese. He hoped to get further study on China’s environmental problems. At that time, he met Shane, a high school graduate（毕业生）from Heilongjiang. They decided to set up China’s first video podcast（播客）about the environment in 2008, named China’s Green Beat. The next year, it added a new green brother. Rene Ng, a Canadian-born Chinese actor and writer working in Beijing. With his help, their films have got a lot of people’s interest. Now more and more people pay attention to environmental problems. They do what they can to make a difference. What about you?

【推荐2】Don’t throw away your old phones. You are actually throwing away real gold! Smartphones contain many useful things such as gold, silver and copper (铜). People can recycle them to make new electronics (电子器件).

But many people may not know this. In Australia alone there are more than 25 million unused mobile phones lying around, Sydney Morning Herald reported. The gold in these phones can add up to a value of more than $80 million (542 million yuan). There are about 2 billion smartphone users around the world, who change their phone once every 11 months on average. In China, people generate (产生) 80 million old phones every year, according to New Express Daily.

However, it’s not easy to get the useful things out of the phones. Smartphones have not only useful things, but also harmful materials. Guiyu, a small town in Shantou, Guangdong, is one of the world’s biggest dumping grounds (垃圾倾倒场) for electronic waste, Reuters reported. Many recycling centers in Guiyu simply break the old electronics by hand and don’t think about the pollution it causes. According to a local government report, 81 percent of children in Guiyu are harmed by lead (铅) poisoning.

Veena Sahajwalla, a professor at Australia’s University of New South Wales, has made a mini factory. It makes smartphone recycling cleaner and easier. The mini factory is very small and easy to move around. It breaks the phones and automatically (自动地) removes the useful parts. That way, humans do not get poisoned.

【推荐1】In his book The Five Love Languages, Gary Chapman explains that we give and receive love in five ways. Each way is a “love language”. When two people speak different love languages, they can be unhappy because they don’t understand each other. To form strong relationships, we need to understand how we express love and how people we love express their love, too. So, what are the five love languages?

1. Words of affirmation This love language uses words to show love. “I love you”, “You look good in that dress”, “You can always make me laugh”...

2. Quality time It means giving someone our full attention. Not watching TV together, but talking and listening to each other. Or just going out for a walk together.

3. Receiving gifts A present tells us: “He (or she) is thinking about me.” The gift does not have to be expensive, perhaps their favorite chocolate or a beautiful leaf you found.

4. Acts of service “________A__________” People speaking this love language do things for you, for example: helping you with the heavy work, getting you a cup of hot tea, singing a song to relax you, etc.

5. Physical touch Patting shoulders, holding hands, hugs...without these, people who speak a “physical touch language” will feel unloved.

We all are loved, but sometimes we just don’t know it. That’s because we don’t understand other people’s love languages. But it’s good to start with yourself. Do you know your own love language?

【推荐1】Would you like to live in a city where buildings turn the lights off for you, and self-driving cars will find the nearest parking space themselves? Although it might sound a little far from you, living in a "smart" city like this could happen sooner than you think.

Great changes have taken place in towns that we have lived in for centuries, while completely new cities are being built. One such place is the city of Songdo. Every home there will have a "telepresence" system (远程遥控系统) —allowing users to control the heating and looks, take part in video meetings, and receive education, healthcare and government services. Around the city, escalators (自动扶梯) will only move when someone is on them, and offices and schools will all be connected (连接) to the system.

The great mind behind Songdo is from the company(公司) Cisco. In fact, technology companies around the world such as IBM, Siemens and Microsoft are already in the business.

About 75% of the world's population will live in cities by 2050, so cities will need to be more modern to solve the coming problems. "Making cities smarter is one way out, and I think this will in turn make cities greener,” said Dan Hill, head of a research company.

【推荐2】Something very special happened to Tamara. She never knew she had a twin sister until she started university!

Tamara was born in Mexico. Her parents could not look after her so she went to live with a family in Manhattan, New York, USA.

When Tamara was twenty years old, she started university in Long Island. She enjoyed her university life. But one day she was walking home from class, and a student smiled at her. “Hello, Adriana!” said the student. “I’m not Adriana,” said Tamara.

This happened to Tamara again and again. Tamara didn’t know why people kept calling her Adriana. One day, when a woman called her Adriana, Tamara asked, “Why do you keep calling me Adriana?”

The woman said, “You look like my friend Adriana. You have the same face and the same hair. Is Adriana your sister?” Tamara said that she did not have any sisters. But she was interested in the girl named Adriana. At last she asked someone for Adriana’s e-mail address.

When Tamara wrote to Adriana, she found out that they both had the same birthday, they looked the same and both of them were from Mexico. When Tamara went to live with the family in Manhattan, Adriana moved to Long Island to live with a family there. It had to be true! Adriana and Tamara were twin sisters!