2 . Let’s take a minute to think about the water we use. The human body is 60% water and we need to drink lots of water to be healthy. When we are thirsty we just go to the kitchen and fill a glass with clean water. We use water indirectly too. For example, farmers, who produce the food we eat, use water to make the plants grow.     1    

    2    , but this is not the case for many people around the world. Did you know that around 750 million people do not have clean water to drink? That’s around one in 10 people in the world.     3    Every year over 500,000 children die from diarrhoea (腹泻) from dirty water. That’s around 1,400 children every day! Also, in some countries children walk many kilometers every day to get water.    4    , they can’t go to school. Therefore, they don’t have time to learn how to read or write and don’t get an education.

In 1993 the United Nations decided that March 22nd is the World Day for Water. On this day every year, countries around the world hold events to educate people about the problems of dirty water and that clean water is something that everyone should have around the world.     5    . In this way, they know how it feels to walk a long distance carrying heavy bottles.

People give them money to do this and all the money helps get clean water to as many people as possible around the world.

3 . Marty Verel, a 59-year-old kidney transplant patient in Ohio, should have been near the top of the list to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Yet like millions of others, he wasn't having any luck. Marty and his wife, Nancy Verel, would sit with computers on their laps trying for hours to book an appointment on different sites, all of which were complex. “I felt hopeless,” Nancy says.

Then Nancy heard about Marla Zwinggi, a 40-year-old mom of three who was spending up to ten hours a day online trying to secure appointments for vulnerable (易受攻击的) individuals. As a result, Nancy messaged Marla on Facebook: “Can you help?” Twenty-five minutes later, Marla responded by asking for Marty's legal name, date of birth, and other information. Nine minutes after that, Marla reported back—Marty had an appointment.

Marla's vaccine hunting started on February 1, when she learned that her parents—her father has leukemia (白血病) and her mother is a breast cancer survivor with a heart condition, were unable to get appointments themselves. She hated that they had to wait. Clicking around on vaccine registration sites, Marla discovered just how difficult it was to book an appointment. “It was like trying to get a World Series ticket,” she says.

She applied strategies that web insiders are familiar with (keeping multiple browsers open, refreshing sites every 20 seconds, erasing cookies) and added a few of her special skills. “I’m determined. I drink a lot of coffee, and I’m a fast typer,” she says. Soon enough, Marla had secured appointments for her parents. “I felt like a rock star,” she says.

Marla decided that helping others would be her way of giving back. “I feel like I need to will us out of this pandemic (大流行病),” she says. On February 10, she logged on to Facebook to let people know that she was assisting with bookings. By March 2, she’d secured appointments for 400 seniors, a feat that made Nancy and Marty fail to make an appointment themselves?

7 . There is no age limit to learn new things and be creative. That's what 102-year-old Alan R. Tripp and 88-year-old Marvin Weisbord _________ us after they released (发布) their first-ever music _________ called Senior Song Book. It just goes to show that anything is _________ even when you are very _________. You just need some willpower, a friend by your side, and a burning passion (热情) to keep on improving forever.

"_________ is that you would have loved it if you were alive back in 1940 and you can still love it today," Marvin says. The friends live in the same Pennsylvania _________ community after they didn't work any more and have been writing songs, together for the past 2 years. Their album _________ 8 songs and 2 pieces of pure music.

They are true music lovers at heart. Marvin _________ that he feels "so young" whenever he's together with Alan. After all, there's a 14-year _________ between being 88 and 102, even if it doesn't __________ it. Alan states that he "__________ getting old 10 years ago" with a naughty __________ on his face, which makes it even more funny.

"So we're writing songs that are recognizable, in all kinds that are recognizable, with lyrics telling stories about how we __________ our lives now," Marvin told Hannah Batanson of the Washington Post.

"Now we're giving people who are 64 years old a chance to be 14 again and get new songs in their heads,"__________ Alan, according to whom it was never the pair's __________ to turn a profit.

8 . The World's Coolest Bookstores

Where did you buy your last book? Chances are that you bought it on the Internet. But if you did, you missed the extraordinary experience of browsing in a real bookstore. These days bookstores offer lots of great books and plenty more.

Taipei's Eslite Dunnan Store

Time magazine once named Eslite Dunnan Store in Taipei "Asia's best bookstore ". One visit to the store tells you why. The store, spreading across five floors, offers a combination of restaurants, music and over 200,000 books. With its cosy reading spots, visitors sometimes say it's like a library. Others have called it the " 7-Eleven of bookstores" because it's open 24 hours a day.

Book Garden

The world's biggest bookstore is Tehran, Iran's Book Garden with 700,000 square feet of space. In addition to restaurants and a theater, the Book Garden features a park on the roof.

Libreria Acqua Alta

Venice, Italy, is a city surrounded by water. It seems that one of its most interesting bookstores is Libreria Acqua Alta. Its books are displayed in all things related to water such as boats, bathtubs and more.

La Caverne aux Livres

La Caverne aux Livres—the cave of books—was once a train. Today this unique French bookstore, located north of Paris, is home to thousands of second-hand books.

Bart's Books

Many readers like to sit inside with a good book. But at Bart's Books in California, guests can enjoy a good book and some fresh air. Bart's Books is believed to be the largest independently-owned outdoor bookstore in the US.

Whether you enjoy reading inside or outside, there's always an interesting bookstore to be discovered.

10 . Could looking through trees be the view to a greener future? Trees replacing the clear glass in your windows is not a work of science fiction. It's happening now.

Forest Products Laboratory researcher Junyong Zhu together with colleagues from the University of Maryland and University of Colorado has developed a transparent wood material that may be the window of tomorrow. Researchers found that transparent wood has the potential to outperform glass currently used in construction in nearly every way.

While glass is the most common material used in window construction, it comes with quite a few bad consequences. Heat easily transfers through glass and amounts to higher energy bills when it escapes during cold weather and pours in when it's warm. Glass production used for construction also comes with a heavy carbon footprint. Manufacturing emissions alone are approximately 25,000 metric tons per year, without considering the heavy footprint of transporting the glass.

The innovation was developed using wood from the balsa tree, which is native to South and Central America. The team treated balsa wood to an oxidizing bath, where the wood is kept in a bleach solution at room temperature to remove the light-absorbing substance from the structure. The wood is then penetrated（注入）with a synthetic polymer called polyvinyl alcohol（PVA）, creating a product that is virtually transparent. So the transparent wood is created, which is far more durable and lighter than glass.

Switching to transparent wood could prove to be cost efficient as well. It is approximately five times more thermally efficient than glass. cutting energy costs. It is made from a sustainable, renewable resource with low carbon emissions.

With all of these potential benefits for consumers, manufacturing and the environment, the case for transparent wood couldn't be clearer.