The lifestyle of families has changed because of science and industry（工业）.

    More Americans used to live on farms, nearly each family had many children. In a farm family, parents and their children often lived with grandparents. Uncles and aunties often lived nearby, too. But when industry became more important than agriculture（农业）in American life, families became smaller, industry needs lots of workers. They must be ready and able to move off the land and move again whenever necessary. It isn't easier for large families to move from place to place as small families can. Today, more and more small families have appeared, smaller families may have no children and they may have only a man and a woman because keeping children is really hard work. It takes parents not only money and time, but also much more energy and makes young couples（夫妇）busy working, studying and enjoying their lives all day. They are probably not important in keeping children.

    That's why the increasing of population in most developed countries are becoming more and more slowly, In China today, each family has only one healthy child because of one-child policy.

    In this way, the country can develop farther than before and young children can have more opportunities to get education and to find suitable jobs.

    Every year, wildfires(野火) destroy much forest land. homes are broken down, and thousands of people die. smokejumpers are stop helping to stop this.

    Smokejumpers are a special kind of firefight. they jump from planes into areas that difficult to reach by car or on foot. they race to put out fires as fast as they can.

    At a fire site, Smokejumpers first examine the land and decide how to fight the fire. their main goal is to stop fire from spreading. using basic tools such as shovels and axes, smokejumpers clear land of burnable material like plants and other dry material. they carry water with them too, but not much.

    Although most smokejumpers are men, more women are joining. Most important are your weight and height. Smokejumpers in the U.S. for example ,must be 54 to 91 kilograms, so they don't get hurt when they land, or get blown by strong winds.

    Smokejumpers must be able to live in the wilderness. in Russia ,many smokejumpers know how to find food in the forest and even make simple furniture from trees.

    They work is dangerous, the hours are long. But for these firefighters, smokejumpers isn't just a job. They love being able to jump out of planes, fight fires, and live in the forest. As 28-year-old Russian smokejumpers Alexi Tishin says,“This is the best job for the strong and brave.”

    Welcome to Xiangshan City!

    Xiangshan City is an interesting place to visit. (1)It is a beautiful city with many old buildings.

    Take a walk through the center of the city on Main Street. Look first at the Xiangshan City Hotel. It is on the corner of Main Street and Park Avenue. It is about 150 years old and people like to stay there. There is an interesting old building across from the hotel. This is the old post office. Now it is a store for books and videos. There are many places to eat on Main Street. You can have lunch or dinner in one of these places. There is a park between Main Street and Bridge Street. You can sit on a bench(长凳)in the park. (2)It's nice and quiet, nd you can enjoy the clean air and sunshine.

    You can also take a walk down Park Avenue. Look at the old buildings and interesting stores on this street.

Information Card

    Paul is a boy in Brazil. He has many pen-friends around the world. He likes writing to them and receiving their letters in return. He started writing to his first pen-friend, Thomas Wright from Britain, when he was ten years old. They have been writing to each other for two years now.

    Paul also has five other pen-friends. They are from Korea, Malaysia, Switzerland, Norway and Mexico, He got their names and addresses from various sources (各种来源): the International Pen-friend Club, the Look and Learn magazine and the newspapers.

    Paul enjoys writing to people from other countries because he finds it very interesting to learn more about those countries and the different cultures and customs that are found there.

    He hopes to visit his pen-friends some day. In the meantime, he will continue writing to them and enjoying their friendship.

    He will also try to look for penfriends from other countries such as Holland, the Philippines and Japan.

    Needless to say, all the letters of Paul and his pen-friends are written in English—the international language.