Look around you — how many plastic things can you find in your house? Most homes today are almost full of plastic, from water bottles to clothes, chairs, and even computers. Regretfully, so are our rivers and oceans.

According to research, about 583 billion plastic bottles were produced in 2021. That is 100 billion more than just five years ago. In 2022, five trillion (万亿) plastic bags were used. That was 160,000 every second. Americans alone used half a million drinking straws (吸管) every day.

However, very little of the plastic that goes into recycling (回收利用) bins can make it through the recycling process. Experts think that only around 9 percent of plastic is recycled. About 16 percent is burned for electricity or heat. The rest ends up in landfills (废物填埋地) or bodies of water.

So how do you make sure plastic things you use are recycled? Begin by making sure the things you put in your recycling bin can be recycled. And in most cases, plastic things can’t be used again if they have more than one kind of plastic in them. That’s because some plastics can’t be mixed together.

How about those plastic things that are able to be recycled at a recycling center? First, workers make sure that each plastic is clean. After that, the plastic things are made into small pieces. At last, they are melted (熔化) and used to create new things. One of the commonly seen products is new plastic bottles. Recycled plastic can also be used to make clothes, pens, pencils, and building materials!

In springtime, many Americans take on a major project: cleaning their homes from top to bottom. We often call this kind of work "spring cleaning." Part of spring cleaning often involves clearing out clutter (杂物). We do away with things we no longer need.

If we are to believe the many stories on Marie Kondo, the Queen of Clean, clutter adds unnecessary stress to our lives. Clutter is holding us back from our dreams and goals. 【小题1】

An expert on the subject, Sabine Kastner of Princeton University, has been studying how the brain processes clutter for 20 years. The media, Kastner says, often writes about clutter in a very simple, black-and-white way: Clutter affects the mind and we need to clear it out. But it is much more complex than that. For starters, our brains are designed to deal with clutter. Very early in the development of our eyesight, we begin to group objects that we see. 【小题2】

According to Kastner, there is not a one-size-fits-all solution. 【小题3】 In fact, some people need to see their work. If something is carefully put away, to them it does not exist anymore. Out of sight, out of mind. For other people, objects can stimulate their creativity and give them ideas.

【小题4】 Kastner notes that some people may get distracted by having lots of things around them. These people may need more organization and less clutter to work well.

【小题5】Whether the area is cluttered or clear-they work the same. And for others it may depend on the project. For administrative work, they might need a clear workspace. But for more creative projects, they may need many things around them. It is complex.

Some birds are masters of crime. That means these species steal food from other birds and get away with it. Scientists have long wondered what these birds have in common. A new study suggests that big body size does not predict bad behavior. Instead, it is the size of the birds' brains that matters most.

To learn more about what makes some birds tend towards a life of crime and how they steal food from other birds, scientists analyzed 856 published reports of thieves. Researcher Julie says she started the project after watching birds steal dry dog food out of unattended bowls. She read about some dramatic examples of thieves, including birds that steal food from others flying in midair or bending through the sky. She learned that members of some species disturb other birds until they spit up food in their mouth.

Families that steal also tend to eat fish, mice, and other vertebrates （脊椎动物） instead of just insects. These meatier （多肉的）meals are hard to catch, and they deliver lots of valuable calories, so they are attempting to steal.

Finally, birds that steal tend to have big brains in relation to their bodies. That may seem surprising, since human bullies （欺凌弱小者）are often thought to be stronger in size. But for birds, stealing isn't about strength. It takes a clever brain to get food out of another hungry bird's claws, especially if that bird is bigger than you are.