Many people seem to know well about the rain forests. Some people even go to the rain forests to spend some of their time trying to make friends with the plants and animals there. The scientists are actually hard at work studying the plants that grow in the very top level of a rain forest. Rain forests are one of the richest environments on Earth. They are home to millions of species of plants and animals. The red research raft provides scientists with a platform from which to study life in the treetops. Scientists can even sleep on the raft, so they can stay up in the treetops for days at a time.

Rain forests cover only about 6 percent of Earth's land surface. However, they contain more than half of the plant species on Earth. Many of these plants provide useful medicines to use against human diseases. In fact, about 25 percent of prescription medicines in the United States are based on chemicals from rain forest plants. Scientists think that many new medicines might be developed from plants that are yet to be discovered.

Unluckily, rain forests are disappearing. Rain forest trees are being cut down for wood. Huge chunks of the forests are cleared to provide land for farm animals and crops. Scientists haven't identified all the plants in these forests yet. Some scientists think thousands of kinds of plants that we'll never even know about are being destroyed each year.

The professor always tried so hard. He had tons of brilliant ideas—but they never worked. Time after time, he would dream up an amazing idea that was sure to change the world—and then it didn't. 【小题1】 "A time machine!" he shouted. The professor's dream wasn't just any old time machine. 【小题2】

But his wife wasn't so sure about the professor's great idea. "It'll never work. You can't make time," she doubted. The professor disagreed. "【小题3】 If you can make money and save money, why can't you do the same with time?"

In his workshop, the professor drew lots of plans for his new time machine. He soon lost track(轨道) of time. He created model clocks of every shape and size. 【小题4】 Finally, he made an amazing discovery—a way to save time and give him lots of extra(额外) time. "I've got it!" he cried. "If I give up my time machine project, I'll have plenty of time for other things!"

   Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh(1853-1890)killed himself by shooting himself in the chest(胸膛).

This is what van Gogh himself told his brother, the doctors and the police just before he died.

However, in a new book Van Gogh: The Life, two Pulitzer (普利策奖) Prize-winning authors, Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, argue that van Gogh may have been murdered.They believed that the artist was protecting a 16-year-old boy named Rene Secret, who shot him accidentally.

Van Gogh's statement that he shot himself was accepted because he had been mentally unstable(精神状况不稳的)for two years. He suffered from psychotic(精神病的)attacks and imagined things that were not really happening. Art critics (评论家)believe that his unstable mental state is shown in his work, describing his style of painting as shaken. Some of his most famous paintings, such as The Starry Night, were produced during this period.

Van Gogh is among a number of creative minds who suffered from mental health problems. In fact,mental illness is so common among famous creative figures that scientists have studied whether there is link between creativity and insanity(精神错乱). Research began in the 1970s, but the idea that an unstable mind could be linked to creative genius(天才) was already around in ancient Greece.

Some scientists believe mental illness, in its more manageable state, gives artists creativity. Research has found that doing creative activities can also be therapeutic(有疗效的) for people suffering from mental illness. Painting, writing, or making something can be a positive way for people to express their thoughts.

   "Life is speeding up. Everyone is getting unwell."

This may sound like something someone would say today. But in fact, an unknown person who lived in Rome in AD 53 wrote it.

We all love new inventions. They are exciting, amazing and can even change our lives.

But have all these developments really improved the quality of our lives?

Picture this: You're rushing to finish your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings, a QQ message from your friend appears on the screen, and the noise from the television is getting louder and louder. Suddenly the computer goes blank and you lose all your work. Now you have to stay up all night to get it done. How calm and happy do you feel?

Inventions have speeded up our lives so much that they often leave us feeling stressed and tired. Why do you think people who live far away from noisy cities, who have no telephones, no cars, not even any electricity(电) often seem to be happier? Perhaps because they lead simple lives.

Our family in the UK went "back in time" to see what life was like without all the inventions we have today. The grandparents, with their daughter, and grandsons Benjamin, 10 and Thomas, 7, spent nine weeks in a 1940s house. They had no washing machine, microwave, computer or mobile phones.

The grandmother, Lyn, said, "It was hard physically, but not mentally." She believed life was less materialistic(物质的). "The more things you have, the more difficult life becomes," she said. The boys said they fought less. Probably, they said, because there was less to fight over, such as their computer. Also Lyn changed from being a "fashionable, beer-drinking granny, to one who cooked things."

Here are some simple ways to beat the stress often caused by our inventions!

Don't be available all the time. Turn off your mobile phone at certain times of the day.

Don't check your emails every day.

Don't reply to somebody as soon as they leave a text message just because you can. It may be fun at first, but it soon gets boring.

Make sure you spend some time talking to your family. Set aside one evening a week when you don't turn on the television. Play cards and chat instead.

Get a low technology hobby. Every day, do something in the old way, such as walking to have a face-to-face meeting instead of using the email or telephone.

Don't worry too much about life—laugh more.

   What is the most important invention of all time? Is it the written word that helps us to record information? Is it the telephone that lets us talk to people _________ all over the world? Is it the car that lets us travel at great speeds to meet _________? Umberto Eco, an Italian writer, thinks it is something quite different. He says the most important invention might be right in front of your _________. He is talking about a simple pair of glasses.

Modern eye glasses were _________ about 1,000 years ago. They were more than just a convenient way _________. Before glasses, writers, scientists or teachers _________ could not see properly had to memorize everything. After about ten years of poor eyesight, they could not remember well enough _________ could not work. Glasses meant that people could work into their old _________. People who wanted to remember some information could _________ and read it. Eye glasses are one of the world's greatest inventions and were probably _________ by the people who designed the first telephones and cars.