Earth Hour started at 7:30 p.m. on March 31,2007 in Sydney, Australia. More than 2.2 million homes and businesses turned off their lights for an hour.

    A year later, March 29,Earth Hour 2008 became a global(全球的)activity.50 million people in 35 countries took part in it.

    On March 28, 2009, more than2100 cities in 88 countries joined in it. And the idea “Earth hour” came to China. What were people doing during the Earth Hour? Here are some people's answers:

    Ann: I'm a university student. I invited some of my friends to go out. During the Earth Hour, we were having a candle light concert on the playground. We also talked about the happy times we spent in the university.

    Julie: I turned off the lights in my house and went for a walk during the Earth Hour. It was a little strange to walk in the dark. But I think it is exciting and meaningful.

    How much do you know about "Taobao"? Do you often buy goods(商品)online? During every big festival hundreds of millions of dollars is spent online. "Who needs a shopping mall if you have Taobao? I am a Taobaoer，" says Wang Fang, 28, a writer in Beijing. Taobao, China's largest online shopping site(场所)，has become an important part of Wang Fang's life. Half of her salary(薪水)is usually spent on Taobao.

    A growing number of Chinese Internet users like Wang have found the pleasure of online shopping. Most online shoppers are students and young workers. People can find almost everything they need online, from clothes to books, from candy to DVD players. And clothing and household(家用的)products are the most popular goods bought online.

    The biggest attraction for buyers is the low prices of online goods. Buyers can also check the information easily. They can compare the prices of the same kind of goods from different sellers, and choose the cheapest one. When someone asks her about the safety of online shopping, Wang Fang said ,"It's very safe and easy. If you can't receive the goods from the sellers or are not satisfied with them, the shop owners will not get the money. You can also get your money back if you give the goods back. "

    A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held a sign which said, "I am blind. Please help me."

    There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took out a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words on it. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by could see the new words.

    Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized(认出) his footsteps and asked, "Are you the one who changed my sign in the morning? What did you write?"

The man said, "I only wrote the truth. I said what you said, but in a different way."

    What he had written was, "Today is a beautiful day, but I cannot see it."

    Do you think the first sign and the second sign were saying the same thing?

    Of course both signs told people the boy was blind. But the first sign simply told people to help by putting some money in the hat. The second sign told people that they were able to enjoy the beauty of the day, but the boy could not enjoy it because he was blind.

    In Western countries, most children get pocket money by doing some chores at home. They usually start to do chores at the age of ten. School students have to do their homework and study for test, so they don't have a lot of free time on weekdays and they often do some chores on weekends.

    Young kids can only do easy chores, so they don't get much money. But many of them only want to buy candy. And candy is cheap! They do the dishes after dinner and feed the pet cat or dog. Sometimes they water flowers and other plants in the garden.

    When kids get older, they want to buy more things. They want something more expensive than candy. Then they have to work harder. They often wash the car, cut the grass of feed the dog.

    Some chores can help kids learn new things. It is important for kids to learn how to do chores and help their parents with housework.

    CCTV reported that every year Chinese people throw away a lot of food which can feed 200 million people for a year.

    Do we have too much food? Of course not. According to the UN World Food Programmed, there were 900 million hungry people all over the world in 2013.

    About six million children die of hunger every year.

    So think about it. We should say no to people who waste food every day. An old saying goes," Every grain on the plate comes from hard work. "It tells us everybody must save food.

    Luckily a number of people have realized the importance of saving food.

    Li Hong, a waitress in a restaurant in Jiangsu, once lost her Job because she took some leftover(剩余的) food home for her son. But many people were by her side and criticized(批评) the waste of food.

    What should we do in our daily life to stop wasting food? We can do many things to prevent it from happening. Here are some tips:

    Don't order too much food in a restaurant. Only order as much as you can eat. If you can't eat all the food you order, take the rest of it home.

    Don't be too picky(挑别的) about food. Some food may not be tasty, but your body needs it.

    Don't keep too much food at home, especially for fruit and vegetables.

Dear Tom,

    Most of the time, I just stay at home for my vacation. That's too boring. But I had a special and exciting vacation last summer. My classmates and I made a trip to Mount Tai by bus.

    When we arrived there, it was dark(天黑). At 7 pm, we began to climb the mountain. It took us the whole night to get to the top of the mountain. On the morning of the next day, we enjoyed the beauty of the sunrise on the top. That's wonderful. In the daytime, we visited a temple (寺庙). In the evening, we had a big dinner in a local restaurant together. The food there was delicious but a little expensive.

    I hope you can come to China next year. Then we can visit more interesting places together.

Yours,

Mike