1. A hobby is an activity you enjoy doing, it is something of your choice, something unique to your taste and talent. A hobby can improve our well-being; it can give more meaning to our life. Just as physical exercise is important for the body, relaxation of the mind is also essential. In fact, studies reveal that people who cultivate themselves through such activities are less likely to suffer from anxieties, depression and other negative feelings. A hobby is the easiest way to restore your balance whenever you are over-worked or stressed. Since it is an activity of your choosing, it will always give you pleasure and help you to relax. Even if you indulge in your hobby for a short period of time, you still can feel the difference in your energy level and spirit. When you have a hobby, you will always find time for it.

2. The first maps were drawn by explorers to help them find their way home and show people where they had been. The maps showed the shape of the land, distances between places and special features such as caves and old trees. Nowadays, maps show the towns and villages, and the roads, railways, rivers and mountains. Symbols are used to show all the different things on a map and there is a key to explain what the symbols stand for. Over the centuries, people explored most of the Earth and put together the map of the world we use today. Maps of the world or large areas are often either “political” or “physical”. The political map shows territorial borders. The purpose of the physical map is to show features of geography such as mountains, soil type or land use including roads, railroads and buildings.

3. People have enjoyed sports for thousands of years. Children, men and women play sports both for pleasure and for challenge. Every sport involves physical skill. Every sport has a set of rules that the players of the sport follow. In some sports one person competes against other individuals. Examples of these sports include boxing, tennis and so on. In many games one team competes against the other team. People can go in for winter and summer sports. Summer sports are typical for warmer countries. Those who live in regions that experience cold winters have long enjoyed ice skating, skiing, and sledding. These activities have grown immensely in popularity over the years. Today thousands of resorts cater to the winter tourist trade, and millions of people each year take winter sports vacations.

4. A computer is a machine. It handles a lot of information. Many places use computers to help them work better. Someone sent a computer virus to a lot of computers. A computer virus is a set of bad instructions written just to hurt computers. Someone made the virus and sent it to other computers. It was set to turn on by itself. When it did, many computers around the world began to have problems. When the virus is turned on, it makes the computer do things it is not supposed to do. Many computers started filling up with a lot of useless information. Several computer projects were in trouble. One project that will have to be stopped has already spent millions of dollars. People started turning off their computers. Others stopped their computers from being hooked up to other computers.

5. The word “google” has many uses. It is an adjective, used to describe very large numbers. It is also a proper noun. “Google” is the name of a popular Internet search engine. It also has a new meaning. The writers of a new edition of a dictionary have used it as a verb. They list "google" as a verb. It means to search the Internet. This makes terms like "google me" part of the English language. A person could say "I wanted to know more about volcanoes so I googled it." "Google" is now an official part of the English language. The dictionary's editors say that this just means that the public has adopted the term. "Google" is one of 100 new words that were included in the new dictionary. Many new technology words have become common. We use them every day and don’t even think about them.

6. A change is coming in the forest. The forest is a beautiful place that people should be able to enjoy. It changes everything when the all the trees are cut. The trees, animals, and water depend on each other. Many plants and animals disappear. The water level in the ground changes. It can even affect our climate. This does not mean some of the trees cannot be cut. It just means all the trees in one place cannot be cut at one time. It means that you plant new trees when the old ones are cut. The industry is beginning to cut trees this way. They are leaving many dead trees so small animals will have homes. This seems very import to the survival of the forests. Both the loggers and the forest scientists are trying to agree on things. They have to balance the lumber we need with the forest's protection. A good rule seems to be not to cut more than you grow each year.

7. Russia and the United States decided to stop being enemies. They no longer wanted to blow each other up with bombs. Each side stopped making bombs. The U.S. no longer tests nuclear weapons. There is not enough money to support making nuclear weapons. But the piles of nuclear weapons are still around. They need to be watched over to keep them safe. The scientists who made the bombs still have a lot of their research information. They did not want to get rid of it. They decided to save it for others to use and learn from. The men and women who invented nuclear weapons helped to create large bombs. By having so many large bombs, the countries who had them did not want to use them. All of the bombs would wipe out everyone on Earth. This knowledge is being kept by scientists across the U.S.

8. One auto group hosted a special event. The event was designed to display new kinds of cars. The new cars don’t run on gasoline. Their engines are different. They run on alternative fuels. These new kinds of cars burn many different kinds of fuel. Some of these cars are called hybrids. Hybrids run on a combination of gasoline and electricity. Other cars run on natural gas. Another kind of car runs on a special fuel cell. The cell is filled with a gas called hydrogen. All of these cars use less gasoline. That makes them less expensive for people to drive. The fuel cell cars are also better in another way. They give off no emissions. They are very clean, and don’t give off bad fumes when they run. Cars that run on gasoline give off harmful fumes. These fumes pollute the air. Air pollution is very bad for the environment.

9. Many people are wondering if it is safe to talk on the phone while driving. There have been quite a few accidents while drivers were talking on the phone. Some research is being done to find out if driving while talking on the phone is dangerous. When there is a car accident police officers will find out if any of the drivers were using a cell phone. They will write this information in a report. The information will be saved and later studied. There have been some very bad car accidents caused by drivers being distracted by cell phones. Drivers sometimes forget to watch the road carefully when they are using their phones. Not paying attention to the road can dangerous, even deadly. It is important for drivers to focus on the road. They need to pay attention to what is going on around them. They might need to stop or swerve quickly.

10. People who fly in space have to eat food that they bring from earth. In the future, these people will grow their own food. Scientists are getting ready for the future by living in a biosphere in Arizona. In 1989, eight people began living inside the biosphere. They were sealed off from the outside world. They grew their own food. A scientist said that we will need some kind of life system on another planet. A new project is called Biosphere Two. Many different areas will be put in the biosphere. It will copy the oceans, the tropics, and a rain forest. A small desert and a tiny swamp will also be put in. A greenhouse will help them grow food. They will try to grow all of the food they need with no help from outside. If they can do this, then it could be done on another planet that does not have any plants growing on it.

11. There were many whales swimming in the ocean a long time ago. Then they were hunted and killed by Native American tribes. They used the whale for food, oil, and other items. Seventy years ago, they were told to stop killing them because the number of whales was so small. Now the Native Americans were told that they could start hunting them again. The problem was that other people did not want the whales to be killed. They told the Native Americans that the whales should be left alone. Many people were upset. Other people are afraid to let the Native Americans kill the whales. They think that other countries will start killing them, too. If too many people start killing the whales, then there will soon be no more whales. Some people will try to stop anyone from killing whales. They will get in the way of those trying to kill a whale.

12. A growing area recently became its own city. Many people who live there are very excited. They hope that this will give them the power to make some changes for the better in their neighborhoods. One of the first things that many people would like to do is build new parks. Before this area became a city it was hard to do things like that. Now people who live in the city can decide what they would like to do and raise the money to do it. The city’s first mayor and four new council members were sworn in. They met and had a celebration. They discussed what changes they would like to see for their new city. One change that many people want to see is better police protection. In the past this area had to depend on nearby police officers to patrol their neighborhoods. Having its own police department should make the area a safer place to live.

13. Medicine has existed for thousands of years. At first, medicine was rather an art than science. It was little based on skills and knowledge but, instead, it had connections to the religious beliefs. At the early stages of medicine, doctors relied on religious rituals in the same way as on medication. For example, a medicine man would apply herbs and say prayers for healing. The first physicians thought that bloodletting was the best treatment of all. In recent centuries, since the advent of science, most medicine has become a combination of art and science. Nowadays, we come to understand more and more about our body and to know what is going on inside the cells. Also, genetic engineering opens up new perspectives for treating inherited diseases. And, of course, new medical technologies have already saves millions of lives.

14. Throughout the history of education the most common means of maintaining discipline in schools was corporal punishment. While a child was at school, a teacher was expected to act as a parent, with the same means of making children obey as the parents had. This often meant that school students were often punished with a cane if they did something wrong. Corporal punishment at schools has now disappeared from all European countries. Thirty-one US states have banned it, but the other nineteen states (mostly in the South) continue to allow corporal punishment in schools. Teachers have the right to apply corporal punishment, although many choose not to do so. Generally speaking, most countries retain punishment for misbehavior, but it usually takes non-corporal forms such as detention after the lessons.

15. The less children play video games, or watch television, the less aggressive they become, suggests a scientific study. The American research looked at the effects of reducing the amount of computer games played, or television watched by third and fourth graders, who are aged approximately eight or nine. It was found that the more television and computer games the children had seen, the more aggressive they were. This means that television, and, more recently, games have a direct influence on such behaviour. There are potential benefits in reducing the amount of access children have to TV or computer games. Watching aggressive behaviour shapes the way children see the world and their behaviour. They learn that angry people do aggressive things and start to imitate if the circumstances prompt similar solutions.