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    The Earth is our home; we must take care of it. This means keeping the land, air and water clean. Pollution is a dirty word. To pollute means to make things unfit or unclean to use. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, taste it and drink it. Pollution is beginning to threaten (威胁) our health, our happiness and our life. Man has been polluting the earth from the time he first made fire, washed his clothes in the river and threw his waste on the ground. When land was used up or water became dirty, men moved on to another place. At first, the problem was not so serious because there was plenty of clean air, land and water. There weren't so many people then and their wants were fewer. All the dirty things could be absorbed (吸收) by nature and soon covered over. But this is no longer true. The increase of population and the development of industry(工业)have changed that. Man is slowly poisoning (毒害) his environment. Through the use of poison, man has polluted the land, killing the animals. By putting dirty water and chemicals into rivers and lakes we have polluted our drinking water, killing the fish.

    Our increasing population is part of the problem. More people, more waste.

    Where is this all to end? Are we turning the world into a big rubbish dump (堆存处), or is there any hope that we can get rid of (摆脱, 除去) the pollution? Luckily, millions of people have been warned of the danger of pollution. Large numbers of people are now working hard to bring pollution under control.

    Many people are surprised when they find that the Internet was set up in the 1960s. At that time， computers were large and expensive. Computer networks didn't work well. If one computer in the network broke down， then the whole network stopped. So a few network system had to be set up. It should be good enough to be used by many different computers. If part of the network was not working， information could be sent through another part. In this way computer network system would keep on working all the time.

    At first the Internet was only used by the government， but in the early 1970s， universities， hospitals and banks were allowed to use it， too. However， computers were still very expensive and the Internet was difficult to use. By the start of 1990s， computers became cheaper and easier to use. Scientists had also developed software that made "surfing" the Internet easier.

    Today it is easy to get online and it is said that millions of people use the Internet every day. Sending e-mails is more and more popular among young people. The Internet has now become one of the most important parts of people's life.

    Garbage(垃圾) Island

    You can't see it from the air. It's almost impossible to see from a ship. But somewhere in the North Pacific is a huge island of garbage, just below the water surface.

    What is the island made of?

    The garbage island is not an island, but a collection of millions of plastic and other objects. The water movements of Pacific Ocean bring the objects together and cause them to go around in a big circle.

    Charles Moore found it in 1997 and named it “the Great Pacific Garbage Patch” .

    Where does all the plastic come from?

    Much of the garbage comes from everyday objects, such as shopping bags and water bottles. Some of these objects finally reach the ocean. Garbage from the western coast of North America takes about six years to reach it. Objects from East Asia take about a year. Other garbage comes from ships passing through the area.

    Is the Garbage Patch dangerous?

    The larger pieces of garbage are a problem for wildlife. For example, sea turtles（海龟）and seabirds often think the plastic is their food. They eat the plastic and die.

    In addition, the plastic stops sunlight from reaching deeper water. Without sunlight, very small sea animals die. Then, there is less food for larger fish to eat.

    What can we do to help stop it?

    Cleaning up the island isn't easy. But we can make people realize the problem. One environmentalist(环保主义者), David de Rothschild, is sailing around the world in boat made of plastic bottles to teach people about the problem of garbage in the sea.

    Another idea is that we can recycle the plastic garbage. Environmental engineer Cesar Harada is building a robot that collects pieces of plastic. Harada hopes to use his robot in the Pacific. Harada also has a website for reporting environmental problems. He says, “I hope everybody can become an environmental activist.”

    Radios, telephones and televisions are widely used in the world. When you switch on the radio, you can listen. But when you use the telephone, not only can you listen to others, but also you can chat with them. However, you cannot see anything at all. Television is much better than both of them. People can watch TV and listen to it, but they cannot take part in what they see.

    Today, some people are using a new type of telephone called vision phone. With it two people who are talking can see each other. Vision phones can be of great use when you have something to show the person whom you are calling. It may also have other uses in the future. Some day you may be able to call up a library and ask to read a book right over your vision phone. You may be able to do the shopping through it too. Perhaps in the near future, vision phones will come into our everyday life.

    The Wandering Earth(流浪地球), China's first successful movie whose background is space, as shown on February 5. It is based on(基于)a short story of the same name by Liu Cixin, China's top  science—fiction writer.

    ⒈Capsule(太空舱)—a core(核心)element(要素)

    The space capsule used in the film has made the audience(观众)interested. "This was the first time anything like that was done, "said Wang Hong, the producer(制片人)of the movie. At first, the production(制作)team planned to use a small space capsule that had appeared in an earlier film, but found that it could not meet their needs for filming.

    ⒉Giant vehicles(巨大的车辆)—key to the film

    Giant vehicles are the key element in the film. Famous actors, Ng Man—tat and Wu Jing, said they could not even imagine what these vehicles would be like before filming, because the idea was far ahead of our time.

    The production team made about 10, 000 props(道具)to show the space better, including the giant vehicles.

    ⒊Saving planet itself

    In the film, the earth itself is pushed forward by 10, 000 giant

thrusters(推进器). It carries 3.5 billion people about 4.2 light years

through space in order to avoid destruction(破坏)by the dying sun.

In Liu's story, each thruster is 11, 000 meters in height.

    ⒋Amazing opening

    At the beginning of the film, it shows the environment and life in an

underground city—a big tree growing upside down, busy bookstores and snack bars and so on. There are also many snow scenes (片段)throughout the whole film.

    Carrots (胡萝卜) are grown on farms and in small family gardens all over the world. They are easy to plant and easy to harvest (收获). They have a good taste.

    When people think about carrots, a picture of a long, thin, orange-colored vegetable usually comes into their minds. But carrots come in many different sizes and shapes. And not all carrots are orange.

Carrots should be grown in sandy soil that does not hold water for a long time. The earth also should not be too hard. To prepare your carrot garden, dig up the earth and turn it over (翻土).

    Weather, soil, condition and time affect (影响) the taste of carrots. Warm days and cool nights are the best time to grow great delicious carrots.

    The best way to decide if a carrot is ready to be harvested is by its color. Usually, the brighter the color is, the better the taste is.

    Most people do not know that carrots can be grown during the winter months. If the winter is not cold enough to freeze the ground, you can grow and harvest carrots the same way as you do during the summer months.

Carrots are prepared and eaten in many different ways. They ate cut into thin pieces and cooked with other vegetables or meat. They are also washed and eaten just as they come out of the ground.