Do you know who invented paper? A Chinese man1Cai Lun invented paper almost 2,000 years ago. He made paper2wood.
Now we still use wood3paper. We use a lot of paper every day. If we keep on4so much paper, there will not be any trees left on the earth. If5no trees, there will be no paper. Every day, people6about 2,800 tons of paper. We use 17 trees to make one ton of paper. This means we are cutting nearly 48,000 trees every day.
Since it7more than 10 years for a tree to grow, we must start using8paper now. So how can we save paper? We can use both sides of9of paper, especially when we are making notes. We can choose drinks in bottles instead of those in paper packets. We can also use cotton handkerchiefs (手帕). When we go shopping, we can use fewer paper bags. If the shop assistant gives us a paper bag, we can save it and reuse it later.
Everyone can help to save paper. If we all think carefully, we can help10trees. But we should do it now, before it is too late.
Can trees talk? Yes—but not in words. Scientists have reasons to believe that trees do communicate with each other. Not long ago, researchers learned some surprising things. First a willow tree (柳树) attacked in the woods by caterpillars (毛毛虫) changed the chemistry of its leaves and made them tasteless so that the caterpillars got tired of the leaves and stopped eating them. And the tree sent out a special vapor—a signal causing its neighbors to change the chemistry of their own leaves and make themselves taste also terrible too.
Talking, of course, doesn't need to be always in words. We can talk to each other by smiling, raising our shoulders and moving our hands. We know that birds use a whole vocabulary of songs, sounds and movements. Bees dance their signals, flying in certain patterns that tell other bees where to find nectar (花蜜) for honey. So why shouldn't trees have ways of sending messages?
Trees are important and they can help us inmany ways. However, some of them are in danger and need to be taken care of asmuch as possible. There are some ways to save trees.
Use paper wisely. We can save trees byusing paper in a right way. What can we do? Use both sides of paper when doinghomework. Borrow books to read when you needn't buy them. Never throw old booksaway, but be kind todonate them to others who need them. Use clothtowels instead of paper towels.
Plant trees. To save trees, it's a greatidea to plant them. Spring is the best season to plant trees. If everyonearound us does it, millions of trees will appear and make our world becomegreen and beautiful.
Tell people to understand the importance oftrees and help save trees. Try to write letters to government officials (官员) and persuade (劝) them to use as littlepaper as they can.
Trees are an important part of the Earth.They provide wood for buildings and things for making paper. They provide homesfor all kinds of insects, birds and other animals. For example, many birds livein trees. Many kinds of fruits come from trees, such as apples, oranges, pearsand peaches.
Trees also help keep our air clean and ourecosystemshealthy. We breathe in oxygen and breathe out harmful gases. However, treesbreathe in harmful gases and breathe out oxygen. And trees can help other plantsgrow because they can hold the soil. Trees keep the soil from being blown away,so plants can fight against strong winds.
Trees do much for us, our environment,other plants and animals, but we don't just love trees for that. Treescan also be very beautiful—tall enough to touch the sky and so big around thatwe can't even hug them. So we should stop cutting down trees and enjoy thebeauty of them.
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live in these forests produce furniture so dry that take care of so quickly |
Every year a large part of rainforests disappears on the Earth. There were lots of plants and animals years ago. But now many of them die. Other animals have to leave and find a new forest to make their home. Why do the rainforests disappear ?
The main reason is that people destroy rainforests. People cut down many trees in the rainforests every year. They use the trees and paper. Farmers need to grow food and keep animals, so they turn rainforests into farms.
The drought (旱灾) is bad for rainforests too. In 2010, a big drought happened in the Amazon Rainforest. Rivers dried up and millions of plants and animals died. The drought also made the air the forest fire happened easily. Many animals lost their homes because of the fire.
It's time to protect the rainforests. All of us should the forests to make the world more beautiful.
Somecountries are building a great wall of trees across Africa. It is called theGreat Green Wall. The aim is to bring life to the dry lands and help to fightthe bad environment.
Thewall is about 8,000 kilometers long and about 15 kilometers wide. It coversfrom Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east, on the south of the SaharaDesert (撒哈拉沙漠). So far, Senegal hasmade the best progress by planting about 11,000,000 trees.
Manyyears ago, there were few trees in that area and the winds used to be verystrong. It was harmful to the fields. Also, there was little rain, so fewplants could grow and many people went hungry. Since the tree planting projectstarted, the trees have provided food for the local people and increased thewetness (湿度) of the air. Little bylittle, there appeared green fields for people to grow plants.
Theproject which began in 2007 is supposed to cost a total of 8,000,000,000dollars.Many countries are trying their best to help to continue the planting. So wewill be able to see the whole green wall across Africa in the near future!
