People all over the world eat rice. Millions of people in Asia, Africa and South America eat it every day. Some people eat almost 1 but rice. Rice is a kind of grass. There are more than 7, 000 kinds of rice. Farmers 2 rice in many countries, even in the southern part of the United States and in eastern Australia. No one really knows 3 rice came from. Some scientists think that it started to grow in two places. They think that one kind of rice grew in southern Asia thousands of years ago. Someone in China 4 about it almost 5, 000 years ago. Another kind 5 grew in west Africa. Other scientists think that rice 6 India, and Indian travelers took it to other parts of the world.
There are two main 7 to grow rice. Most rice grows in wet soil. People in many countries do all of the work of growing rice 8 hand. This is the same way farmers worked hundreds of years ago. In some countries, people now 9 machines on their rice farms. People use every part of the rice plant. They make rice oil from it. They 10 make baskets, brooms and roofs for their houses. They burn dry rice plants in fires for cooking.
Mr. Dawson was an old grouch (不高兴的人), Kids knew not to go into his yard to pick a delicious apple, even off the ground, because old Dawson, they said, would come after you with his ball bullet gun.
One Friday, 12-year-old Janet was going to stay all night with her friend Amy. They had to walk by Dawson's house , but as they got close ,Janet saw him sitting on his front porch (门廊) and suggested they cross over to the other side of the street.
Amy said not to worry, Mr. Dawson wouldn't hurt anyone. When they got close enough, Dawson looked up with his usual frown, but when he saw it was Amy, a smile changed his face as he said, “Hello Miss Amy. I see you've got a little friend with you today.”
Amy smiled back and told him Janet was staying overnight. Dawson told them that sounded fun, and offered them each a fresh picked apple off his tree. They gladly accepted. Dawson had the best apples in town.
When they got out of Dawson's, Janet asked Amy, "Everyone says he's the meanest (刻薄的) man in town. How come was he so nice to us?"
Amy explained that when she first started walking past his house he wasn't very friendly and she was afraid of him, but she pretended he was wearing an invisible (无形的) smile and so she always smiled back at him. It took a while, but one day he half-smiled back at her.
After some more time, he started smiling real smiles and then started talking to her. Just a "hello" at first, then more. She said he always offers her an apple now, and is always very kind.
"An invisible smile?" questioned Janet.
"Yes," answered Amy, "my grandma told me that if I pretended I wasn't afraid and pretended he was smiling an invisible smile at me and I smiled back at him, that sooner or later he would really smile."
There is not enough oil in the world now. As time goes by, it becomes less and less, so what are we going to do when it runs out? Perhaps we will go back to using horses, carriages and bicycles.
In the Second World War, some people didn't use gas made from petrol in their cars. They made gas from wood and plants instead. The car didn't go fast, but they ran, so this was better than nothing. However, in the future, we can't cut down all our trees to make gas; we need our trees for other things, too.
Besides different types of gas, we can also use electricity to run our cars, but first we must make the electricity! Some countries have coal and they make electricity with that, but we might not always have coal, either. Other countries have big, strong rivers, and they can use the power of water to turn turbines (涡轮机) and make electricity more easily and cheaply.
We are also able to get power from the ocean tides. We put turbines into the mouth of the river. Then the tide comes in, the water turns the turbines and then it goes out, it turns them again.
Which of these ways will be used to run our cars in the future?
Science fiction is a popular kind of writing, and many people think of Jules Verne as the father of science fiction. He was born in France in 1828. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but from his early 20s Verne decided to become a writer. At first he wrote plays for the theater. Then, in 1863, he wrote a story called Five Weeks in a Balloon. The success of this book encouraged him to write more stories such as A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) and From the Earth to the Moon (1865).
In the 19th century, many people were interested in science and inventions. Jules Verne wrote about scientific subjects in his stories and, as a result, they were very popular. Verne's writing included many predictions for the 20th century and many of them came true. He described space flight, movies, and air conditioning, a long time before they appeared. These books were very successful and they made Verne rich.
Jules Verne's books have been the subjects for many movies. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was a successful movie for Walt Disney. It was the first Disney movie to use real actors instead of cartoon drawings. Around the World in Eighty Days is another famous movie based on one of Verne's books. The main character is an Englishman called Phileas Fogg. For him, the most important thing is to be always on time!
Below are some suggestions given by the English children posted on the website about how to help Africa. Which one do you think is the best?
I think health is the most important thing. We need to make sure that the money we give is spent wisely. The money should be spent first on clean water supplies and better health care.
— Robin, aged 16, Birmingham
I think the most important thing is to improve the education of the African countries. There is an old saying, "If you give a man a fish, you'll feed him for a day. If you teach him how to fish, you'll feed him for a lifetime." We need to help people to help themselves, not just throw money at the problem when it appears.
— Rebecca, aged 15, Liverpool
People seem to give a lot more money to charity when there is a sudden, huge disaster (灾难) like the earthquake. It's good for people to do so, but I also think that everyone should give a small part of their salary (工资) to charity. If everyone did that, it would make a big difference.
— Mary, aged 14, Standford-on-Avon
Giving money to charity can help, but it's not the final answer. I think what these countries need is a good government.
— Bethany, aged 16, Newcastle
The best thing we can do is to send experts like engineers, doctors and teachers to help people to help themselves.
— Roberts, aged 16, Cardiff
