Each one of us shares this planet with seven billion others. And we all need1. People and products need to move from city to city and country to country. However, we all know2most cars, motorcycles, boats and planes cause air pollution. They are also3. This is a serious problem in many cities.4inventors are coming up with creative ideas to try to reduce the pollution and noise.
In many countries around the world, motorcycles are very5. Now Vietnam has around 33 million motorcycles and China has almost 120 million. Motorcycles are a faster and6way to get around a city than cars. Yet air pollution is a growing problem. In large cities, people7it is difficult to breathe. To solve these problems, a U.S. company designed an environmentally friendly motorcycle. It uses electricity as fuel (燃料). As a result, there is8pollution. It's also quiet and fast. This makes9a good choice for getting around a city.
The Italian city of Venice is a city with only a few10. There are no cars in the city centre.11cars, water taxis and buses carry people along the city's canals (运河). However, they cause pollution,12to the water. English engineers Dick and Jem designed a solar-powered (太阳能) water taxi. The water taxi13run for a day after being recharged (充电).
Planes also cause air and noise pollution. Designing an environmentally friendly airplane is a real14. Some airplane companies have15to solve the problems. Swiss engineers have gone one step further. They developed a solar airplane.
Believe it or not, oceans and seas are easy to be harmed by the development of human society. They are also influenced by man-made pollution easily. It is human beings that do great harm to the ocean ecosystems (生态系统).
The coral reefs (珊瑚礁) are fine ecosystems that provide food and protection for many ocean creatures (生物). The coral in almost all of the oceans is in danger from pollution. Chemicals from factories end up in the seas and oceans and destroy (破坏) coral reefs. If the coral systems die, some ocean creatures will be sure to die out.
Protecting the ocean also has something to do with the protection of ocean wildlife like dolphins. The fishing industry depends on modern ways to catch many fish in order to earn more money. But the nets for fishing also catch other sea animals. The fishing boat workers are advised to check their nets and set other ocean animals free. But the boats are in a hurry to make money and often other ocean animals are caught with fish.
Oil spills (泄露) can destroy the ocean environment because oil kills all ocean life. The world depends on oil and because there is plenty of oil off the shore (岸) in many countries, the need for oil is more important than the risk of the oil spill. However, the fact is that one ocean mistake can lead to an ocean environment accident that will cause years of damage to the fine ocean ecosystems. Oil spills will kill all the creatures in the area of the spill. The oil will be washed up on the shore and destroy the ecosystems along the shore, including birds.
Everyone who cares about the environment should pay more attention to protecting the ocean, and all of us should do something for the protection of the ocean.
The homestay (寄宿家庭) provides English language learners with the good chance to speak English outside the classroom and the experience of being part of an American home.
What to Expect
The host will provide places to live and meals. Rooms will be cleaned every day. And the host is there to offer help and advice on your physical and mental (精神的) health.
Living Area
Host families are mainly in Zones 2, 3 and 4. Most hosts don't live in Zone1 because much of central New York is trading center. Zones 3 and 4 often offer larger houses in uncrowded areas.
But it's very convenient to travel to the center of New York by subway.
Meal Plans
It's important to know that few American families still provide a traditional cooked breakfast.
Your breakfast mainly includes fruit juice, bread and coffee. Cheese, fruit and cold meat are not part of the breakfast. Dinners are usually made up of meat or fish with vegetables followed by dessert, fruit and coffee.
Friends
If you want to invite a friend to visit you, you must ask your host for permission (许可) first, because some families feel uncomfortable when there are strangers at their home.
We spoke to three students from around the world about different national holidays. There are different customs for each festival.
Tan Xiaodong, 15, Hong Kong, China
"It'll soon be Chinese New Year. Before it, we'll clean the house and decorate (装饰) it for good luck. Every shop is going to close for a few days and we'll go out a lot to celebrate in the streets. We might go and see the lion and dragon dances in the city center. I love this festival."
Wendy, 16, Sydney, Australia
"Australia Day is on 26th January and it's an important holiday here. We always have a Monday off, so we celebrate for three days. My parents and I go to the countryside for a picnic and friends always come over. Many people go to beach parties or street parties and there are lots of music and dancing. What fun!"
Amy, 14, New York, USA
"The first Thanksgiving Day was hundreds of years ago when Europeans who came to American thanked God for his help. It's still a very important day for families to be together. This year we're going to visit my grandparents and we'll eat a delicious meal of turkey. Thanksgiving Day is on the fourth Thursday in November every year."
My mother is fifty-five years old. She retired (退休) just two months ago. After that, she was bored and didn't know what to do every day. She was kind to us before, but recently she had a chip on her shoulder. She often quarreled with my brother and me without any reason. Also, relations between my parents became difficult. My mother got into trouble and didn't know how to deal with it. My brother thought of a good idea to solve the problem. He bought her a new smartphone and taught her how to use WeChat. My mother's life changed a lot from then on. No matter where she went and whatever she did, she always used it. She took photos with her new smartphone and always shared her photos in her friend circle to express how happy she was. As a result, she often did something by mistake. She often forgot to turn off the gas and the food she was cooking usually got burnt. My father tried to stop her, but it didn't work.
This afternoon, my mother prepared to make dumplings for dinner. She took a lot of pictures in order to post them into her friend circle. After dinner, we took out our smartphones and waited to see the photos she had taken. To our surprise, we didn't find any pictures of her dumplings. At last, my father couldn't help asking her, "Why don't you share your delicious dumplings in your friend circle today?" My mother looked embarrassed and said, "_________" "Oh, my God! I have to spend more money buying a new one!" cried my brother.
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Dear Larry,
It was lovely to hear from you again and to know that things are going well with you.
Thanks for telling me all about the Chinese Moon Festival. It you enjoyed a great party in Inner Mongolia (内蒙古). It makes me think of the festival we in when we travelled in South Africa. The people there kept many goats (山羊), sheep and cows. Beef was expensive and was only for very special time. In all our time there we were never served beef in the villages, because beef is not usually served to visitors.
, I happened to see these pictures and thought you'd like to see them. A Chinese girl gave Tang Suit to Joan and me when she left school. We tried them on in the university car park. Someone took photos for us though I was wearing my kilt (苏格兰短褶裙)! It seemed to be so different that some suggested that I could start a new look.
We wore Tang Suit to a dinner which was held on the ship in August when we visited Germany. Some Chinese ladies came and spoke to us. They were interested in my traditional Chinese clothing.
We both hearing from you again. Best Wishes!
Yours,
Ken and Joan
Some countries are building a great wall of trees across Africa. It is called the Great Green Wall. The aim is to bring life to the dry lands and help to fight the bad environment.
The wall is 8,000 kilometers long and 15 kilometers wide. It covers from Senegal in the west to Djibouti in the east, on the south of the Sahara Desert (撒哈拉沙漠). So far, Senegal has made the best progress by planting about 11,000,000 trees.
Many years ago, there were few trees in that area and the winds used to be very strong. It was harmful to the fields. Also, there was little rain, so few plants could grow and many people went hungry. Since the tree planting project started, the trees have provided food for the local people and increased the wetness (湿度) of the air. Little by little, there appeared green fields for people to grow plants.
The project which began in 2007 is supposed to cost a total of 8,000,000,000 dollars. Many countries are trying their best to help to continue the planting. So we will be able to see the whole green wall across Africa in the near future!
