The population of the Earth is growing faster. It is important that we look after the Earth. We need it! The Earth gives us a lot of things. We also give the Earth a lot, but some of the things are not good.

   In nature, when something dies, other animals and plants get food from it. Every animal or plant gives food for other animals or plants. However, animals can't get food from many of the things that we "give"the Earth. Animals and plants can't eat metal, plastic and glass. These things will stay in the ground for many, many years.
   Some rubbish is very dangerous for plants and animals. In some places, many animals live together. One animal makes food for many more animals. If we put rubbish and chemicals in the water, the plankton(浮游生物) can die. If there isn't any plankton, many animals have nothing to eat.
   So what can we do? Don't leave any rubbish in the countryside! Don't make so much rubbish!

    When you are about to do something brave, a cheerful wish of "Good luck!" from a friend can be helpful. But if you think you need lots of luck, what else might you do?

    In the UK and US there are some strange traditions for bringing yourself a little more good luck. Some are hundreds of years old and some are much newer.

    Have you heard the saying "When you wish upon a star"? If you are looking up at the sky on a clear night and you see a sudden flash of light, it is probably a shooting star! Seeing one doesn't happen very often. The saying goes that you have been very lucky if you see one, and so if you make a wish, it will come true.

    Maybe you have heard of the lucky  rabbit's foot. Some people believe that rabbits are lucky animals, so they carry a part of the rabbit, its foot, for good luck. There are all kinds of strange, unclear rules about which of the rabbit's feet is the luckiest. It is said that this good luck tradition is the oldest one of all. However, as the funny saying goes, "Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit!"

    People in Britain love trees. If it is autumn and leaves are falling from the trees, some people try to catch the leaves as they fall because they think each leaf they catch will bring them a lucky month in the following year—they will need to catch 12 falling leaves to have a whole of good luck!

    Nobody knows how many different languages there are in the world. The most widely used language is English. It's used by business people, airline pilots all over the world. It's also the first language of sports and science. So it's very important for us to learn English.

    English is most widely spoken in the world, while Chinese has the largest number of speakers. There are not only over one billion people living in China, but also many Chinese people living outside China. You can find large or small groups of Chinese people living in almost every country in the world.

    There are some other important languages in the world, too. Chinese is of course very important, especially in Asia. Arabic is widely spoken in many parts of Asia and Africa. Russian is spoken both in Europe and Asia. French is widely understood, not only in Europe, but also in parts of Canada, Africa and Asia. Spanish has a growing number of speakers all over the world, especially in Central and South Africa.

    What language do people speak in the United Nations? There are so many different languages in the world, but they decide to use only six of them. They are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. Everything spoken or written in one language is translated into the other five.

    We use names every day. When we meet a new person, we usually ask, "What's your name?"

    It's important（重要的）to know a person's name. Names are different all over the world（全世界）, so it is very difficult to know all names.

    In the USA, many people have a first name, a middle name and a last name. Parents choose（选择）the first names and middle names for their babies. There are names for boys and girls. For example, John, Peter, Mike are all names for boys. Elizabeth, Bonnie, Susan and Mary are all girls' names. The last name is the family name. Usually it is the father's family name.

    Everything has a name. Names are important.

    Visitors to London often eat in restaurants. The owners and workers in them are all from other countries. The visitors say in these restaurants they don't feel they are in England. Most English people eat at home as much as they can. Sometimes they themselves will think they are in another country when they are in restaurants. When an Englishman goes out of a restaurant, he may find that he doesn't understand why everything is written in French and Italian.

    Most English people think it is better to eat at home, because it is cheaper. They don't want to spend much money on food and they like cooking at home. They like fast food. But for Christmas, they will spend two or three weeks getting ready for it, because they want to have good food.