Qian Lei is a student of Class Two, Grade Seven. He is twelve years old. He often wastes (浪费) 1 at home and at school. The teacher worries about him and asks his father 2 with him.
One evening, 3 supper his father asks him," How do you like the vegetables and the meat?" "Oh, they are just so so. They 4 delicious."
"They are delicious, I think," says his father." When I was at your age, I went to school 5 every day. It was ten kilometres from my home to the school. I had 6 bike, no pencil box. I couldn't eat ice cream. There weren't TV sets, fridges, washing machines 7 any other electrical appliances (电器) in my home. After school I had to do a lot of housework 8 my parents. When your grandparents were at your age, they couldn't go to 9 because they were very poor. They had only a little food and they had to do a lot of hard work. There was no light, telephone or radio in their home."
"Didn't they have a telephone or a radio?" says the boy. "Why didn't they 10 some money from the bank to buy these things? I don't believe you."
The father doesn't say anything.
In most parts of the world, many students help their schools make less pollution. They join "environment clubs". In an environment club, people work together to make our environment clean.
●No-garbage lunches. How much do you throw away after lunch? Environment clubs ask students to bring their lunches in bags that can be used again. Every week they will choose the classes that make the least garbage and report them to the whole school!
●No-car day. On the no-car day, nobody comes to school by car—not the students or not the teachers! Cars give pollution to the air, so remember:
Walk, jump, bike or run.
Use your legs! It's lots of fun!
●Turn off the water! Did you know that some toilets can waste twenty to forty liters (升) of water an hour? In a year that would fill a small river! In environment clubs, students mend those broken toilets.
We love our environment. Let's work together to make it clean.
Look at the following. It shows a cross-section (横截面) of a mountain and the land on each side of it. The sea is on the west side of the mountain.
In January, February and March, warm wet winds blow strongly across the sea towards (朝) the mountain. The winds pick up moisture (湿气) as they blow across the sea. When clouds reach the mountain, they rise and become cooler. The higher they have to go, the cooler they become. The moisture in the clouds turns to rain. As a result, the clouds drop rain on the west side of the mountain. Some of the clouds pass over the mountain, but there is little rain in them.
In July and August, strong winds blow from G towards the mountain. They pass over a wide desert, where it is always very hot. The winds become hot and dry. They rise when they meet the mountain. They do not form clouds because there is no moisture in the hot air.
The diagram shows why there are wonderful farms on one side of the mountain, but there is a desert on the other side.
