It is said that about half of the people in China smoke．Many young boys and girls have the habit of smoking，though they are middle school students．

    More and more people have come to realize how serious this problem is．But they are never bored with it．Some people think it is a kind of fashion，some think it is of great fun and others think that smoking can refresh(提神)themselves．

    (A)Smoking causes many illnesses ． A lot of people always cough(B)           smoking．The most serious illness caused by smoking is lung cancer(肺癌)．At the same time smoking is a waste of money．Besides，careless smokers may cause dangerous fire．

    (C)我们都知道吸烟对我们的健康有害。In order to keep healthy，we should get rid of the bad habit of smoking．Please stop smoking at once．

(E)

    Learning to communicate well is a skill you will use all your life. You need this skill in your personal life to express your feelings to friends and family members. You need to be able to communicate well in school, too.  Your future job success may also depend on your ability to communicate.

    Kinds of Communication

    There are two main kinds of communication. The first kind is verbal communication( 语 言 交 流 ). It includes the use of words to send information. Speaking and writing are both forms of verbal communication.

    Nonverbal communication(非语言交流) includes any means of sending a message that does not use words. Your appearance, body language and the way you react are all forms of nonverbal communication.

    Being an Active Listener

    Communication is a two-way process. Sometimes you are the sender and sometimes you are the receiver. To receive the messages clearly, it helps to be an active listener. Active listening is a communication skill in which the listener shows a clear understanding of what a person is saying. You can do this in several ways.

◆Repeat what you think the speaker is saying.

◆Let the speaker know you are listening by nodding or shaking your head.

◆If the message you receive is not clear, ask questions.

◆Listen before answering.

◆Do not interrupt(打断). Allow the speaker to finish what he or she has to say.

    Jia Meng used to keep a diary in Chinese. But one year ago, the 14-year-old girl from Heilongjiang began to write her diaries in English, because Jia found her mother was reading her diary secretly. She changed the language because her mother can't read English. "It's like killing two birds with one stone," said Jia. "My privacy(隐私) becomes safe and my English improves a lot."

    Jia's mother is not the only mom who reads her child's diary. Recently, Renmin University of China had a national survey among over 2,300 parents. The results show that about 40% of parents read their children's secrets.

That's why many teenagers try to find ways to protect their privacy.

    Wu Lei, 15, from Shanxi, keeps a diary, too. But he doesn't write it on paper. He writes online, which he thinks is perfectly safe because his parents "know nothing about the Internet".

    Lu Huan, 13, from Guangdong, said her parents always secretly listened to the talk between her friends and her on the telephone in their room. To solve this problem, Lu asked her parents to buy her a cell phone.

    "Parents want to know what is going on in their children's lives," said Shao Xiaozhen, a teenage expert in Beijing. "But sometimes they go about it the wrong way." Shao suggested the teenagers that instead of hiding their secrets, talking with parents is a better solution. "If your parents know that you are safe, they'll let you keep your secrets."

Information Card

    Many people seem to know well about the rain forests. Some people even go to the rain forests to spend some of their time trying to make friends with the plants and animals there. The scientists are actually hard at work studying the plants that grow in the very top level of a rain forest. Rain forests are one of the richest environments on Earth. They are home to millions of species of plants and animals. The red research raft provides scientists with a platform from which to study life in the treetops. Scientists can even sleep on the raft, so they can stay up in the treetops for days at a time.

    Rain forests cover only about 6 percent of Earth's land surface. However, they contain more than half of the plant species on Earth. Many of these plants provide useful medicines to use against human diseases. In fact, about 25 percent of prescription medicines in the United States are based on chemicals from rain forest plants. Scientists think that many new medicines might be developed from plants that are yet to be discovered.

    Unluckily, rain forests are disappearing. Rain forest trees are being cut down for wood. Huge chunks of the forests are cleared to provide land for farm animals and crops. Scientists haven't identified all the plants in these forests yet. Some scientists think thousands of kinds of plants that we'll never even know about are being destroyed each year.

    In America, some teenagers are interested in charity. They are willing to help others. Some teenagers even set up their own charity group. Shreya Papneja is one of them.

    Shreya Papneja is 13 years old. She started a charity group called Children's Health Awareness Program in Schools. Her charity group helps kids make healthy choices and tries to stop childhood obesity(肥胖).

    A doctor once told Papneja that more than one-third of children were overweight. She did a lot of research about it. Then she made a website to teach other children about exercise and healthy eating.

    She does a lot of things for her charity group when she is free. For example, she often organizes different activities at schools around her hometown.

    I know how hard it is to make a change, but I won't give up. At least I've changed a lot. Now I eat more healthy food instead of junk food," she said to a reporter.