When people think of tigers, words like" strong" and " dangerous" come into their mind. But now, the big animal is calling for our help. There were once eight kinds of tigers in the world, but three died out during last century. In the past 70 years, the number of Siberian tigers has gone from as many as 300 to somewhere between 18 and 22.

   World Wildlife Fund started a programme. It is about to put an end to tiger poaching(非法狩猎) and save wild tigers. China, together with 12 other countries, has joined in. The aim is to double the number of wild tigers in the next ten years.

According to the research by Chinese officers and WWF, the Siberian tiger is already one of the planet's most endangered animals. "If the government doesn't do anything, it's quite possible that there will be no more Siberian tigers in China in 10 to 20 years." said Zhu Chunquan, director at WWF Beijing office.

    Wild animals such as deer and wild bears are tigers' main food. The poaching of these animals is the greatest danger to tigers. Another one is the trap(陷阱). "Volunteers from WWF remove traps every year, but we cannot clear all the traps ourselves," Zhu said. The most important thing people can do is to save the animals tigers eat." To protect the tigers, we need to call on more people to stop hunting wild animals."

The Art of Paper

    Chen Zijiang is a paper cutting expert whom I interviewed for my article on Chinese Art. Paper-cutting is something that he learned to do from an early age.

    "It is a Chinese folk art with a long history," Mr. Chen told me, "Paper cuts of animals have been found in tombs. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}" He added that by the Southern Song Dynasty, paper-cutting had become an important part of everyday life.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}They are paper cuts for decoration, for religious purposes (宗教目的) and for design patterns.

    Paper cuts for decoration are often seen, on windows and gates. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}They are also used on presents. A present for parents whose child has recently been born might show a paper cut of children, for example. Paper cuts which show the Chinese character for double happiness are often used to celebrate weddings.

    Paper cuts for religious purposes are often found in temples{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    The third kind of paper cuts are these used to make patterns on clothing. They are also sometimes used to decorate jewelry (珠宝) boxes. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

When I was about ten, I was woken up by the shouts（喊声）of my sister one morning. She was hungry, but my mother wasn't at home, so I made a banana cake for her. Let me share the recipe with you.

What you need:

2 eggs  3 bananas  2 cups of flour(面粉)

2 spoons of baking powder(发酵粉)

1/4 spoon of baking soda (小苏打)

1/2 spoon of salt

2/3 cup of sugar

1/3 cup of vegetable oil(油)

What to do:

l  Mix(混合) together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

l  Add the vegetable oil. Then add a little sugar, and stir (搅拌) it.

l  Pour the eggs into the bowl and stir them well.

l  Add the bananas and stir them.

l  Turn the oven to 180℃.

l  Pour them into the oven（烤箱）. Bake（烘焙） the cake for 20 minutes.

l  Get the cake out of the oven, and cut it into pieces to eat.