he world is not hungry, but it is thirsty. It seems strange that nearly 3/4 of the earth is covered with water while we say we are short of(短缺)water. Why? Because about 97% of water on the earth is sea water which we can’t drink or use for watering plants directly. Man can only drink and use the 3%--- the water that comes from rivers and lakes. And we can’t even use all of that, because some of it has been polluted.

Now more water is needed. The problem is: Can we avoid a serious water shortage(短缺)later on?

First we should all learn how to save water. Secondly, we should find out the ways to reuse it. Scientists have always been making studies in the field. Today, in most large cities water is used only once and then runs to the sea or rivers. But it can be used again. Even if every large city reused its water, still there would not be enough. What could people turn to next?

The sea seems to have the best answer. There is a lot of water in the sea. All that needs to be done is to get the salt out of the sea water. This is expensive, but it’s already used in many parts of the world. Scientists are trying to find a cheaper way of doing it. So you see, if we can find a way out, we’ll be in no danger of drying up.

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The world itself is becoming much smaller by using modern traffic and modern communication means. Life today is much easier than it was hundreds of years ago, but it has brought new problems. One of the biggest is pollution. To pollute means to make things dirty. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, drink it and even hear it.

Man has been polluting the earth. The more people, the more pollution. Many years ago, the problem was not so serious because there were not so many people. When the land was used up or the river was dirty in a place, men moved to another place. Man is now slowly polluting the whole world.

Air pollution is still the most serious. It’s bad to all living things in the world. Water pollution kills our fish and pollutes our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us become angry more easily.

Many countries are making rules to fight pollution. They stop people from burning coal in houses and factories in the city.

The earth is our home. We must take care of it. That means keeping the land, water and air clean. And we must be careful of the rise in pollution at the same time.

When you’re not at home,many worries may start to crowd your mind.Did I turn the coffee maker off?Did I lock the door?Are the kids doing their homework or watching television?With a smart home,you can quiet all of these worries.

  A smart home is a home with a communication network.This network connects devices(装置),such as lights and TV sets,and allows them to be controlled from far away through electrical wiring,mobile phone communication or WiFi over the internet.

 More and more people may start to consider owning a smart home,because it makes life much more convenient.It can help keep your room at a certain temperature.It can record what happens inside the home and send the video to your phone.When you are on vacation abroad,you can use a smart home controller to turn on or off the electricity when necessary.Some smart homes can receive a visitor,allowing him to come in and offering him a drink.They can even feed the cat and water the plants.

 Besides,smart homes are easy to fix.Most smart home technology and devices are wireless and can be set up with a minimum of tools,using only the guiding information.When a problem appears,you can deal with it yourself without paying a professional.

 However,for home-users,the smart home technology is far from perfect.It can be rather expensive to own the technology and the devices.Also,because the smart home system(系统)allow its owner to get home information from anywhere,it leaves the home easy to be attacked by hackers(黑客),who may secretly use or change the information in the system.

 Now,many scientists are excited at the future of smart home technology.Imagine being able to get fashion advice from your mirror,or receive food shopping suggestions from your refrigerator.While there are others who worry that those smart devices will make people lazier and lonelier.Whatever it is,one thing is for sure---smart home technology will change the way we live and work.

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Last week was Road Safety Week at Jason’s school. All the students had to take part in a talk on road safety which was given by a police officer. The following is what the police officer said.

  “Most traffic accidents（事故） shouldn’t happen. They happen because people are careless. A frequent cause of traffic accidents is speed. Some people drive too quickly. This means that if they have to stop suddenly, they cannot stop quickly enough to avoid(避免)hitting other vehicles(车辆)or people. You need to remember this when you are crossing the street or walking along the sidewalk. ”

  “It’s notonlydrivers who cause accidents, however. People on foot－pedestrians, and bicycle riders often cause accidents, too. Pedestrians sometimes walk out into the street without looking. You should always look on both sides before stepping into the street. ”

  “Do any ofyou ride a bike? Bicycle riders can cause accidents by changing directions（方向）suddenly or without warning（提醒） other road users. Before you turn left, for example, you should check behind you to make sure there aren’t any cars, trucks or buses coming. You should show with your left hand to tell that you want to turn left. You should not turn until the street is clear. ”

  “The rules of the road are very simple. If we learn them and obey(遵守)them, we should not have accidents any more. ”

The earth is 4.6 billion years old. We humans have lived on the earth for only 35,000 years, but during this period, we have changed our earth a lot in many ways. Some things we’ve done are very good for the earth while some are bad.

Few trees

All over the world, people have cut down millions of trees. When it rains or when the wind blows, the earth* is taken away. Forests have become deserts*, so many kinds of animals and plants are disappearing. 

Noise pollution

People who work and live in noisy situations can’t often hear well. This kind of pollution is harmful to human’s health. Recently, it was reported that many teenagers in America hear no better than 65-year-old people do, because these young people always listen to loud pop music. In big cities, cars and buses also make a lot of noise pollution.

Factory pollution

Factories have also polluted the land and the water. As a result, many rivers and lakes are now dead. What’s worse, some chemical factories produce terrible gas and the bad gas makes a lot of people sick.

The ozone hole

Around the earth, there’s a special kind of oxygen called “ozone”(O₃). It is important to the earth. But now air pollution is destroying* it and making a very big hole in the ozone layer. Too much harmful radiation* from the sun passes through the hole and reaches the earth directly. This is very dangerous because this kind of radiation can cause cancer*.  

More carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the air has increased a lot. It mostly comes from burning oil, coal and wood.Thishas formed ablanket*around the earth. The heat from the sun can’t escape so the temperature is rising. This is called “the greenhouse effect”. It causes the level of the oceans to rise and the climate of the earth to change.

All these problems are very serious, so we must do something now.

 Noise pollution is doing much harm to our health now. Noise，in fact，is unwanted sound and is a kind of invisible (无形的) killer. More and more students enjoy listening to music very much. When they listen to MP3 players, they like to turn up the volume (音量)．Some people love listening to loud music. Furthermore, while watching TV, they keep the volume up. But they haven't realized that the noise is weakening their hearing. In fact, the noise not only influences each member in the family, but also makes a difference to the comfort of neighbors.

 Noise pollution is a source of increasing misery (痛苦) to people in our society. If people are often disturbed by it, they may feel uncomfortable or upset. What's worse, the noise can make people mad sometimes. If a worker works in a printing factory for too long, his/her hearing loss is much faster than a common person working in a quieter environment. So everybody must pay more attention to noise pollution. Generally speaking，the following four types of noise should be watched out for：

 ◆Noise in the street

 ◆Construction site (建筑工地) noise

 ◆Noise at work

 ◆Transportation noise

 I think the local department (部门) should take measures to control the noise levels, but itˈs everybodyˈs duty to keep a quiet environment.

It was October 2004. Red foxes killed 180 penguins(企鹅) on Middle Island, Australia. Foxes are not native(本地的)to Australia. But humans had brought foxes there to use for sport hunting(狩猎). Then , the foxes started killing penguins and other native wildlife for food.

The type of penguin that lives on Middle Island is called the little penguin. It is the smallest kind of penguin in the world. Once, about 800 little penguins lived on the island. By 2005, that number was below 10. What could people do?

A local chicken farmer named Allan Marsh had an idea. Marsh wanted to train sheepdogs to protect penguins. He said the sheepdogs would scare(把......吓跑)the foxes away. Marsh used sheepdogs to guard his chickens from foxes. He thought it would work for penguins too.

Finally, in 2006, the first sheepdog began to work. Since then, the number of penguins on Middle Island has grown to 150.

Australian zoos are now trying to use sheepdogs to save the eastern barred bandicoots(东袋狸). People haven’t seen this small animal outside a zoo since 2002. The zoos plan to return bandicoots to the wild, with sheepdogs for protection.

You may hear about earthquakes, but do you know what to do before, during and after an earthquake? Here is some advice for you.

Before an earthquake. It’s necessary to prepare yourself and your family for the dangerous situation. All family members should know how to turn off the gas, water and electricity and know useful telephone numbers (doctor, hospital, police, 119,etc).Never put heavy things over beds.

During an earthquake. It’s important for each of you to stay cool. If you stay indoors, move to a safe place in the room quickly, such as under a strong desk or a strong table. The purpose is to protect yourself from falling objects. Stay away from windows, large mirrors, heavy furniture and so on. If you are cooking, turn off the gas. If you stay outdoors, move to an open area like a playground. Move away from buildings, bridges and tree. If you are driving，stop the car as soon as possible，staying away from bridges and tall buildings. Stay in your car.

After an earthquake. Once the shaking has stopped, DO NOT run out of the building at once. It’s better to wait and leave when it is safe.

Check around you and help the people who are in trouble. If your building is badly broken, you should leave it. If you smell or hear a gas, get everyone outside and open windows and doors. If you can do it safely, turn off the gas. Report it to the gas company.

Bringing a giraffe into the world is a quite difficult thing. A baby giraffe falls 10 feet from its mother’s womb and usually lands on its back at birth. In seconds it tuns its body over and tries to tuck(缩拢)its legs under its body. From this position(位置) it sees the world for the first time and shakes off the birthing fluid(液体)from its eyes and ears. Then the mother giraffe rudely makes it learn about the world for the first time.

In the book A View from the Zoo, Gary Richmond describes how a baby giraffe learns its first lesson.

The mother giraffe makes its head low enough to take a quick look at the baby giraffe. Then she stands up over the baby. She waits for about a minute, and then she starts to kick her baby hard so that it can get up.

If it doesn’t get up, the mother giraffe repeats itover and over again. As the baby giraffe gets tired after trying many times, the mother still kicks it. Finally, the baby giraffe stands for the first time on its wobbly(不稳定的) legs. Then the mother giraffe kicks it off its feet again. Why? She wants it to remember how it gets up. In the wild, baby giraffe must be able to get up as quickly as possible to stay with the family group, where there is safety. Lions and other wild animals all enjoy baby giraffes and they will eat them if the mother doesn’t teach her children to get up quickly and become alert(警觉地).       

By about 2020, a new company（公司）from India will open stores all over the world to sell their products（产品）.

At these stores, they will sell cars. But the cars are different from those they use today. The company will make cars according to your needs. So you will buy your cars piece by piece.

Why buy a top（顶部）if you don’t need one? Why buy sides of a car if you want a good view? If you always drive alone, Why buy four seats?

But only what you need: pay a dollar for the wheel, a dollar for the engine(发动机) , a dollar for a seat, and drive it away, When it is going to rain, run back and buy a top. When winter comes you can buy the sides and the top. Anyway, you might only pay 12 dollars for the car. Isn’t it cool?