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    Paul is a photographer(摄影师). He went to the Arctic to take pictures for NationalGeographic(《国家地理》). Finally, he saw a big and white polar bear swimming to him in the icy water.

    Paul lay down the ice to get a better photo, but the polar bear jumped out of the water and tried to attack him! Luckily for Paul, the ice cracked(破裂), or broke and the bear fell back into the water. The polar bear wasn't so lucky. It couldn't get a meal and had to swim farther away to find food.

    To understand the polar bear's problem, you need to know two things about the Arctic. First, the Arctic is mostly ocean(海洋). Second, ice covers(覆盖) a lot of the Arctic Ocean. In winter, the ice is thick, but in summer, the ice becomes thinner and breaks into pieces. Sea ice is the key to survival for Arctic animals. However, because of global warming, Arctic temperatures are rising and polar ice is melting(融化).

    Polar bears need ice  to hunt(捕捉) seals, their favourite meal. They stand on the ice and wait for the seals to come up for air. As Arctic ice melts, polar bears have to swim farther to find ice floes, or large pieces of floating ice. Sometimes, bears have to swim more than 200 km to find an ice floe. Some bears cannot swim that far and sadly they drown(淹死).

    On his last trip, Paul saw three dead bodies of polar bears. Before global warming threatened(威胁) Arctic ice, a dead bear was a rare sight. Paul is sad to see the dead bodies. Wildlife experts(专家) think global warming will have a terrible effect(影响) on polar bears. In the future, polar ice will continue to shrink and endanger the bears. Some scientists believe 65 percent of the world's polar bears will disappear(消失) by 2050. In other words, polar bears are in great danger.

    What are hurricanes?

    You may already know that hurricanes are storms. They can cause

terrible waves, winds, and rains. They happen during “Hurricane

Season,” which is from June 1st until November 30th in the Atlantic

Ocean and from May 15th until November 30th in the Pacific Ocean.

Kinds of Hurricanes

    There are five kinds of hurricanes. it helps people know a hurricane is so bad because the greater the wind speed is, the more dangerous the storm is. For example, a kind of hurricane has winds over 155 miles per hour, which are strong enough to break the buildings along the seaside completely.

    Hurricane Dangers

    When a hurricane happens together with heavy rain, there can be a terrible flood. The centre of a hurricane is called the eye. While most of a hurricane has dangerous strong winds, when the eye is a calm area in the storm in fact. When the eye of a hurricane passes over land, people might think that it's over, but before long the wind and rain increase again as the second part of the hurricane moves through.

    Hurricane Safety Tips

    There is no way to stop a hurricane or make it change direction, so if you ever find yourself in the path of a hurricane, be sure to remember the following safety tips.

    ● Be sure you have a radio, fresh drinking water, and enough food.

    ● Tell neighbors, friends, and family members your emergency plans. Tell them where you'll go if you need to leave your home.

    ● Stay inside during the storm. You could be badly hurt if you go outside.

    Zhalong is a nature reserve in Heilongjiang in northeast China．It is one of the world's most important wetlands．The area provides food and shelter for wildlife．It is an ideal home for different kinds of plants，fish and birds．

    Many birds live comfortably in Zhalong Nature Reserve all year round，while some only stay for a short time．There are many fish in the wetlands，and the birds can easily catch them for food．Zhalong Nature Reserve is an important living area for the rare red-crowned cranes．There are not manyred-crowned cranes in the world．Some of them live in Zhalong．

    Some people want to change the wetlands to make more space for farms and buildings．This means that there will be less and less space for wildlife．

    More and more birds are in danger because they do not have enough living space．Many of them died．The Chinese government wants to protect these endangered birds，and they can be safe in Zhalong．

    Every year a lot of tourists go to Zhalong to watch birds．This year members of ourBird watching Club are going to study the different kinds of birds in Zhalongand the changes in their numbers．The study begins next month．

    We do a bird count once a year．We are now inviting secondary school students to help．We need more people to help us count and do something to help the birds．Many people do not understand the importance of the wetlands．We hope this information will help them understand and make them actively take action to protect wildlife．

    National parks are large areas of public land. They give a safe home to local plants and animals. They help keep the air and water clean. They also give us the best trips. Today, there are about 7,000 national parks around the world. Forbes has listed 12 of the most beautiful ones in the world that will surprise you with their amazing landscape, geographic wonders and colourful plants and animals.

    The Grand Canyon National Park of the US is one of the natural wonders of the world. It is best known for its size and depth. It is 446 kilometres long, up to 29 kilometres wide, and 1.6 kilometres deep. The immensity of the canyon makes people feel they are very small. Every year, about 5 million people visit here. Taking a tour in the South Rim offers visitors the park's full views, while the North Rim shows beautiful wild flowers

    If you love animals, you'll like the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. The "Big Five" live here. They are the lion. African elephant, African leopard, rhinoceros and African buffalo. The name "Big Five" came from the five animals that were the hardest to catch. Now they are what people most want to see in the wild. If you visit the park, you should never miss the migration (迁徙) of over 1.5 million wildebeest (牛羚) and 250,000 zebras every year. This is the most famous site of the park.

    There are many kinds of ants(蚂蚁) in America. One is very strong. People are afraid(害怕) of it and animals are afraid of it, too.

    These ants are often in big groups(群). They eat all the animals on their way. They can kill(杀死) and eat elephants. And they can eat house. Sometimes they can kill people and eat them. When the ants come near, people leave their homes. But people are sometimes happy after the ants pass by (经过), because they can see no insects(昆虫) or snakes(蛇).

    The best time to collect green leaves is early in summer but not so early. The months of June and July provide the best leaf samples (样本) but you can find great leaf samples throughout the summer. To make a full colour collection, you have to collect leaves in autumn. I have seen many beautiful fall colour collections.

    When you select leaves for your collections, try to select leaves of about the same size and shape on the tree. Make sure you should collect the complete leaves.

    Remember, simple leaves have only one blade (叶片) or leaflet. Compound leaves have several or many leaflets. You must know these two kinds of leaves. Good leaf collections contain the entire leaf. That is a small part of the twig (嫩枝) with a lateral or terminal bud (芽).

    When you collect leaves in the field, you can place them between the pages of a magazine to protect them. And then, press them as soon as possible before you remove them from this magazine. You should dry the collected leaves carefully before placing them in a leaf press. Finally, place them in a leaf press. You should write down each leaf's name and these names should follow the leaves until the exhibition comes.