Junior school students in Harbin，Heilongjiang, had a "long weekend". They had four days off from Oct. 19-22. It was not for any festival, but was caused by serious smog.
    The smog was caused by high levels of PM 2.5 in the air.
    PM 2.5 is small particles（微粒） of pollution in the air with a diameter （直径） of 2.5 micrometers or less. Waste gas from cars and factories is the biggest cause of PM 2.5 pollution.  On Oct. 17, the World Health Organization named air pollution a cause of cancer.
    To better protect children, cities are taking action.
    On Oct. 21, Harbin Education Bureau decided to close primary and junior high schools for two days.
    Beijing started a program on Oct. 22 which has a warning system with four levels. The red warning is the highest warning level. It means that the next three days will see serious pollution.
    When a red warning is issued（发布）, schools will close.
    If there's pollution that's not as serious, the Beijing Commission of Education will ask schools to stop PE classes and outdoor activities.
How will students be informed?
    "First, the Commission of Education will inform schools online," Ye Yan, head of Beijing Shijingshanqu Experimental Primary School, told Beijing Times. "Then teachers will text students' parents."
    Will the days off affect the study plan?
    "Missing school days will be made up during the summer or winter vacations,"  said Wang Hao, a physical education teacher in Beijing Chaoyang district.
    For students in Harbin who had the long weekend, they would go to school on the next two Saturdays.

C

    Paul is a photographer(摄影师). He went to the Arctic to take pictures for NationalGeographic(《国家地理》). Finally, he saw a big and white polar bear swimming to him in the icy water.

    Paul lay down the ice to get a better photo, but the polar bear jumped out of the water and tried to attack him! Luckily for Paul, the ice cracked(破裂), or broke and the bear fell back into the water. The polar bear wasn't so lucky. It couldn't get a meal and had to swim farther away to find food.

    To understand the polar bear's problem, you need to know two things about the Arctic. First, the Arctic is mostly ocean(海洋). Second, ice covers(覆盖) a lot of the Arctic Ocean. In winter, the ice is thick, but in summer, the ice becomes thinner and breaks into pieces. Sea ice is the key to survival for Arctic animals. However, because of global warming, Arctic temperatures are rising and polar ice is melting(融化).

    Polar bears need ice  to hunt(捕捉) seals, their favourite meal. They stand on the ice and wait for the seals to come up for air. As Arctic ice melts, polar bears have to swim farther to find ice floes, or large pieces of floating ice. Sometimes, bears have to swim more than 200 km to find an ice floe. Some bears cannot swim that far and sadly they drown(淹死).

    On his last trip, Paul saw three dead bodies of polar bears. Before global warming threatened(威胁) Arctic ice, a dead bear was a rare sight. Paul is sad to see the dead bodies. Wildlife experts(专家) think global warming will have a terrible effect(影响) on polar bears. In the future, polar ice will continue to shrink and endanger the bears. Some scientists believe 65 percent of the world's polar bears will disappear(消失) by 2050. In other words, polar bears are in great danger.

Bradford City Matters

    Welcome to the winter edition（版） of City Matters.

    "Don't Drop It; Stop It!"

    Put rubbish in your wheelie bin（有轮大垃圾筒）.

    You must put your rubbish in your wheelie bin to keep your environment clean. Don't pile your rubbish up（堆放） in your house or garden-use a wheelie bin or one of our larger bins.

    You can buy a wheelie bin from our Waste Management Section at 01943 874122.

    You can tell us about mice or rubbish in your area by phoning our Public Health Unit at 01943 874146.

         ▲     

    Did you know that you can get a 50 fine（罚款） for dropping rubbish on the streets? Our Council officers are on the streets of Bradford looking for people who drop rubbish. They will fine people who drop litter. This is part of our "Don't Drop It; Stop it!" campaign（运动）.

    Don't fill your bin-recycle.

    Just think how full your bin gets over the holidays.

    To reduce your waste:

    Say "no" to unwanted bags.

    Take your own bags to the supermarket or reuse old ones.

    Get your free shopping bag from our Advice Center.

    Recycle your waste.

    Take bottles to your local recycling center.

    Buy recycled things.

    Cards and paper are good examples.

    Our competition winners

    As part of our "Don't Drop It; Stop It!" campaign, community groups from the north, south, east and west of the city-500 volunteers-entered our competition to clean up their area. The goal was to make the city cleaner for those who live, work, shop or play there.

    The four winners were: High Trees Parent Group, South Bradford Community Project, The Bridge Community Association and Forest Youth Group.

    All pets' owners know that pets use their body language to communicate with us. Since they live much simpler lives than we do, they depend on us and they need to express their needs to us. For example, cats do this with their ears, bodies and sounds. Sometimes they simply want our attention, while other times, they are telling us" My food is empty."

    I have one cat. He tells me different things. For example, when his food bowl is empty, he lets out a howl(长嚎). When he is hungry and doesn't find food to cat, he climbs onto my table and walks on it.

Now research shows that 67% of people think they understand what their pets want or need. The more we show our understanding of what they are telling us, the better our pets will be able to communicate with us. Try to pay close attention to what your pet is "telling" you and you will find it is eager (渴望) to "talk" to you.

    Do you want to know what our life will be like in the future? Let's have a look. You may get a surprise.

    You will go to the kitchen when you are hungry. You will give orders to the kitchen robot. The robot will find a special food for you in a few minutes. Then it will bring it to you.

    In the kitchen you will find a special food machine. The food machine will tell you what your body needs. It will help you eat healthily. The food machine will be connected with (连接) the kitchen robot. The robot can get messages from the food machine.

    After having a meal, you can go to your home office. You will work at home and you don't need to go out to work anymore. You will have a special information screen. When you receive a message from a friend in America, your information screen will be turned on automatically(自动地). Your friend's face appears on the screen. Then you can talk to your friend easily.