There is a new sport in America. It’s a game called “Earthball”. “Earthball” is like ahugebeach ball. While you are playing the game, you should try to keep the ball in the air if possible. As the ball is so big, lots of people have to play together. A man called Stuart Frand invented the game. There are no winners or losers in the game. The idea is just to enjoy yourself as much as you can.

“Earthball” is just one of the games in a “New Game Festival”. The festival was first held in the countryside near San Francisco, in the USA; Perhaps other countries can follow the example of the men from California and have festivals to try out new games－it sounds like a good idea.

It might be strange to wear clothes made out of plastic bottles. But in fact, some clothing companies are already making clothes like these.

Fashion brand JUMA recently showed its newest collection at a workshop in China. Eighteen clothing things from the collection, including jackets, shirts and dresses, were made from recycled plastic bottles.

“We realized that billions of water bottles were being thrown into landfills and oceans every year and that these bottles take hundreds of years to decompose (分解) . We thought we should use them to create our clothes and help the environment,” said Alia Juma, the company’s design director.

Many other fashion companies are finding similar ways to save our planet these days. The process is really simple. First, the plastic bottles are washed and cut into small pieces. Then they are melted (融化) and shaped into small balls. The balls are melted again to form thread (线) . People can then use the thread to make different kinds of clothes.

According to Juma, it takes 67, 000 bottles to create I ton of thread. This reduces carbon emissions (碳排放) by 4. 2 tons and water use by 6. 2 tons compared with the normal way of making thread.

“Five bottles can make a shirt. Ten can make a dress, and 20 a short coat,” Juma said.

Some people might have doubts about wearing something made out of plastic bottles. But it is reported by Causeartist, a website that focuses on creativity, that the quality of the clothes made from plastic bottles could be even better than nylon (尼龙) and polyester (涤纶) . Plastic thread can be made into different materials, such as cotton, silk, or even wool. It seems that this may lead into a greener future of fashion.

Paper, pencil, whiteboard, textbook are the tools you need if you want to go to school. But recently, you can add another one to the list: an iPad.

The popular Apple tablet is not only useful for searching the Internet and watching videos, it is also being used to make learning fun.

Scientists now know that we learn better when we are enjoying ourselves, so recently software developers have made iPad applications（应用程序）that look like video games, but have strong educational content. One of the best examples of this new form of teaching application is Futaba, a game in which up to four children try to recognize a spinning（旋转的）object, and then identify what it is. The game can be used to teach English, math, foreign languages, or just about anything,and students love it. Teachers can even make their own questions. The important thing is that children enjoy the game, and don’t even realize how much they are learning!

So the next time you have to choose between making your child study or letting them play games, just remember-they could do both at the same time!