When Canadian teenager Ryan was six years old, his teacher told him that in many parts of Africa, there was no clean water. She said that people often made themselves ill, and even died, just from drinking or bathing in dirty water.
What she said made Ryan upset. He decided to raise money for a well(井) so that people in Africa could have clean water. He did extra chores for his parents and raised $70 all by himself. Then he found out that it actually cost $2,000 to dig a well.
Most people would have given up at this point, but not Ryan. He was disappointed, but determined to raise more money. Finally he collected over $2,000. That money was used to dig the first of “Ryan's wells”.
Since then, Ryan has continued to raise money for more wells. In fact, Ryan has raised over
$1,500,000!
Ryan calls himself “a normal boy” and likes to play ice hockey when he's not in school or traveling around the world talking to other students about himself and his work. As for the future. He has said that he isn't exactly sure what he will choose to do. “Something along the lines of a lawyer or a teacher. Maybe a leader!”
Who wants to eat food that is thrown away as waste? Believe it or not, that's exactly what world leaders did at a lunch held by the United Nations in 2015.
During the meal, the world leaders enjoyed dishes like salads and burgers made with thrown-away vegetables and fruits. Chef Dan Barber, who helped create the meal, hoped that the experience would make the leaders pay more attention to the issue of food waste.
It is a huge problem. One out of nine people on Earth does not get enough food. Yet every year over one third of the food produced worldwide goes to waste!
Why is so much food wasted? Firstly, food is often thrown away before it reaches customers because too much of it is produced, or because it is not kept properly in farms. Secondly, shops and supermarkets usually throw away unsold food. Finally, customers often buy more food than they need, so a lot of uneaten food is wasted.
How can you waste less food? When eating out, you may ask for less food and take home what is left. Visit fast food restaurant less often, since they usually more wasteful. Encourage your favorite restaurants to give unsold food to food banks.
You can also waste less food at home. Use smaller rice bowls so that you serve less rice.
Encourage family members to use unfinished rice to make rice puddings. Tell family members to make a shopping list and buy only what is on the list when shopping for food.
Food waste is a growing problem and we, either farmers or food sellers or customers, must take this problem more seriously and do what we can to help.
Bananas are the perfect snack. Not only are they sweet and delicious, but they are easy to carry around, so you can take them anywhere. Best of all, bananas provide different things that the human body needs!
Bananas grow best in warm places that get lots of rain. They grow on plants that look like trees. The banana plant, however, is considered a herb rather than a tree because it doesn't have a strong , woody stem（茎，干）. The plants can grow as high as 30 feet. When they reach their full height, flowers grow out from the stem. These flowers produce bananas.
Two or three times each year, the plants produce fruit. The bananas grow together, which seem like "hands". A hand is made up of 10 to 20 bananas. Growers sometimes call bananas "fingers". Each bunch（丛） of bananas has about 15 hands, and so a whole bunch may have as many as 200 bananas and can weigh more than 100 pounds.
After about three months, the bananas are ready to be picked. At this point, they still aren't the sunny yellow color of bananas. Farmers pick them when they're green. That's how they're shipped to stores. They turn yellow along the way and are ready to be sold.
If you love bananas, you've got a lot of company. Americans have been enjoying bananas since the first shipment arrived in the United States in 1876. Today, American eat more bananas than any other fruit. More bananas are sold than apples and grapes together. Every American eats over 26 pounds of bananas each year!
a. The bananas begin to turn yellow b. A banana plant grows to full height.
c. The flowers produce bananas. d. The bananas are ready to be picked.
There is a popular Chinese saying that “Fair skin(皮肤) will make up for three flaws(缺陷)”. This mentions the fact that in Chinese culture, it is believed that people who have fair skin are more beautiful. In Western culture, however, the opposite is true — many Westerners think tanned skin is prettier. The example shows that different cultures have different ideas of what they think is beautiful. These cultural meanings of the beauty, however, are no longer important. As more and more people travel overseas, ideas about beauty are being shared among cultures. The Internet has also made it easier for people to share different types of beauty since people are always posting pictures on social media. The result is an ever-changing idea of what is considered beautiful.
The cultural practice of ear piercings, for example, has become a part of modern day culture.
In Kenya, it is a tradition among Masai men and women to pierce and then make their ear
lobes( 耳 垂 ) longer using ivory and wood or stones. They then wear colorful things on their ear lobes. This is a common practice since longer ear lobes are seen as a sigh of beauty. This tradition has now found its way into present-day culture. Nowadays, this might still seem unusual to some, but with more and more well-known actors and film stars showing off their longer ear lobes, it will finally become more fashionable.
It is understood that different cultures around the world have different ways of showing beauty. However, since we now live in a worldwide society, people's views about beauty are always changing. With the help of the Internet, people are now able to easily borrow ideas from other cultures to help them stand out. So what new fashions can we expect to see in the future?
| A. Smell good B. Dress to impress C. Get ready for a speech D. A smile goes a long way E. Be careful about your body language F. Decide what image（形象）you want to present |
My friends and I joined a two-day survival（生存） training course in the mountains. The first day was really 1 －there was so much to do! Arriving at the campsite, we were divided into groups and given a tent, some food, a 2 and a compass（ 指 南 针 ）. Standing next to a small river, Fanny 3camping in the grassy area nearby. However, our instructor, Mr. Lee, pointed out that it might flood（淹没） if it rained. In the end, we found a 4 area. Putting up the tent was very hard. 5 Mr. Lee helped us a lot.
By the time we had put up the tent,6 was really hungry. “We wouldn't have got this hungry if we had brought some snacks.” Peter said. We all told him to 7 complaining（抱怨） and help us start a fire to cook our food 8. Realizing we were having trouble making the fire, he finally 9.
The next day started early. Woken by a strange noise. Peter went to see what was 10. “Some cows have eaten our breakfast!” he shouted. “That's all because you didn't 11the food properly last night.” said Mr. Lee.
Worried that Mr. Lee was angry with us, we tried very hard on our next 12 － using the map and compass to find a secret location. We made it to the location 13 the other group did. We all felt very proud of 14.
The survival training course was a great 15. Now I feel I could survive anywhere!
Next time you hold a book in your hands, stop and think. Like most other things in the modern world, it is the result of thousands of years of human invention.
First, came the invention of writing,(probable) about 5500 year ago. With writing, people did not have to remember everything in their heads. They could communicate with people that they never (see) and share their knowledge with future generations.
Later, the Greeks were well-done for their literature( 文学 ) and science, but their “books” looked very different the books of today. They were called scrolls(卷轴).
They were different to use and took a lot of space in a library. About 2,000 years ago, books with lots of pages (invent).
For more than a thousand years, the pages of books were made from animal skin. That changed in thirteenth century, when Europeans learned about a very (use) Chinese invention: paper.
But the biggest change for books in Europe came in 1439, when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. Before that, books in Europe were copied by hand, so they were very expensive. Many more people could afford the books were produced on a printing press.
These days it is difficult (imagine) a world without books. But human invention does not stop. Every year, more (story) are bought as e-books and read on a screen.
Will anyone turn the pages of a traditional book in the future,will books, like scrolls soon disappear?
—C, I couldn't agree more.
From: Mr. Smith, hotel manager |
Hi Li Ping, Thank you for your email about your lost wallet. Please sent me some more information. When did you stay in our hotel and what room were you in? Please describe your wallet. What was in it? Send me your address and phone number. All the best, Mr. Smith |
To:Mr. Smith |
Subject:Lost wallet |
Dear Mr. Smith, Yours, Li Ping |
