Carmen is a twelve-year-old girl. She has a sister and her name is Kara. Kara is ten years old.

    Tonight, Carmen and Kara want to make dinner for the family. They want to make pizza because all their family like it. They need to buy the ingredients（原料）for the pizza. So, their dad drives them to the supermarket.

    When they get to the supermarket, Carmen and Kara look for the ingredients. Soon they get all of them and go to pay for them. They are 30 dollars.

    They put the ingredients in the car. Their dad drives them home.

    When they get home, Carmen and Kara take the ingredients out of the car. They take them to the kitchen.

    In the kitchen, they clean the vegetables. Then, they cut the vegetables. Next, they take out the crust（面包皮）. They put the ingredients on top of the crust. Finally they put the pizza in the oven（烤箱）.

    They take the pizza out of the oven in thirty minutes.

    "The pizza smells good!" says their mother.

    "We think so!" say Carmen and Kara.

    The family are happy, and they eat the pizza for dinner.

    In ancient China, a woman told the best stories. She married an emperor(皇帝).Sadly, one day, this woman became ill and died. Everyone thought the emperor would soon find another favourite among his wives, but the emperor was very sad. He spent more and more time in his garden, and less and less time caring for the needs of his people. Everyone in the kingdom was worried.

    One day, a priest(牧师)passed when some children were playing with their dolls. The dolls made dancing shadows on the wall. This gave the priest an idea. He knew the stories the emperor's wife used to tell. What if he could bring those stories to life？

    The priest made a puppet(木偶)out of bits of clay(黏土).He painted the puppet to look somewhat like the emperor's wife. When the puppet was finished, the priest silently walked into the emperor's garden, carrying his puppet, a candle and a curtain. He placed the curtain near the emperor's chair. He placed his candle, his puppet and himself behind the curtain. He waited for the emperor to appear.

    The emperor did not even notice the curtain at first. The dancing shadow drew his eyes. As the priest moved the puppet behind the curtain, he told wonderful stories as the emperor's wife. It seemed as if his wife had been spending time with him. The emperor was no longer sad. At the end of each busy day, the emperor went into his garden to visit his shadow wife and hear her stories once again. That is how shadow puppets first began.

The temperature has dropped to 30 degrees below zero. But that doesn't stop the fishermen of Songyuan City in Jilin Province. Each morning, they get up early and rush to Chagan Lake with a group of horses. The fishermen use the horses to help pull fishing nets out of the frozen (结冰的) lake.

For centuries, those living around Chagan Lake have kept alive the tradition of ice fishing. They dig holes through the thick ice and use a huge net to catch winter fish in the freezing water. This special method has been listed as an intangible cultural heritage (非物质文化遗产).

Every year in December, there is a winter fishing festival, which marks the beginning of the winter fishing season. Over 20 activities are held during the festival, such as winter sports competitions, nature watching, and the selling of the first-caught fish.

None of the tourists at this year's festival would ever imagine that Chagan Lake used to be only tens of square kilometers in size. In the past, there was little rainfall and the lake grew smaller over time. Also, overfishing is one of the main reasons.

To bring Chagan Lake's beauty back, the government used a lot of different methods. They brought in water from the Songhua River, grew more plants, and kept the water clean. The lake now covers about 500 square kilometers, and fish numbers have returned to a normal level. Now, an increasing number of tourists flock to the lake each year to experience the ancient ice-fishing tradition.

The special event of ice fishing at Chagan Lake is sure to continue into the future. It's a hit with tourists, and the locals say that the life of Chagan Lake will only get better and better.

Governments around the world are pushing for an end to plastic bags. More and more businesses are changing to paper products. Using paper is thought to be better than plastic. However, it is harmful to the environment, too.

Firstly, paper bags are made from trees. Trees, as you know, are good for the environment. They can slow down climate change. An increase in the use of paper bags can cause more deforestation(毁林).

Secondly, the production of paper things requires more energy and water. About 10 percent more energy and four times as much water are used to produce a paper bag than a plastic one. You might say that we can use recycled paper to save that energy and water. This seems to be a good idea. However, it takes even more energy and water to go through the recycling process than to make a new paper bag. Products made from recycled paper are also often short- lived.

Furthermore, paper products are heavier than plastic ones. That means they require more fuel to transport. Seven trucks are needed to transport two million paper bags, while only one truck is needed to transport the same number of plastic bags. The increased weight also leads to a larger amount of waste once the bags are thrown away.

So, paper products are actually a lose- lose result for both the environment and businesses. They are more expensive than plastic products. A paper straw costs about 5 to 12 cents, while a plastic one usually costs only about 2 cents.

In my opinion, the most environment- friendly way is to avoid single- use things altogether. Products like glass water bottles and steel straws can be used over and over again. They are much better than either paper products or plastic products. By increasing the use of these items, you can greatly reduce your throwaway waste and truly make our earth a greener place!

There are four seasons in a year.  All seasons have their colours.  What is every season's colour?

Spring is green.  When spring comes, trees begin to bud (发芽).  It's a green world.  When we see green, we are happy.  Spring is the best season for parents and children to fly kites. 

Summer is different.  It's usually very hot, so the season is red.  In summer, the flowers look so beautiful.  Some children like summer because they can go swimming. 

The weather in autumn usually gets cool.  The fruits on the trees and rice are signs (标志) of autumn.  Its colour is yellow.  In the season, farmers are very busy.  Of course, they are happy too.  It's also a good season for people to go for a walk. 

What about winter? When it snows, everything becomes white.  So it is a white season.  Winter is cold and long but people like to play with snow in winter. 

In May, 16-year-old Alktur Dibat became the youngest Chinese climber to reach the top of Qomolangma (珠穆朗姆峰) . 

The boy is from Urumqi, Xinjiang.  He arrived at the South Base Camp in Nepal on April 15.  He spent 28 days getting used to (习惯) the new place and then started his climb with about 10 other good climbers. 

On May 19, Alktur finally reached the top of the world, breaking the record set last year by Xu Zhuoyuan, a girl from Hunan.  Reaching the top of Qomolangma is my biggest dream.  I feel very happy that I made my dream come true, Alktur said.  During his climb, he sometimes felt terrible, but it didn't stop him from keeping going. 

Alktur is a student at Urumqi No.  13 Middle School.  He started to learn rock climbing at 7, skiing at 8, and ice climbing at 9.  He climbed his first mountain with his father when he was 10.  In July last year, they climbed a high mountain called Muzta Ata in Xinjiang.  In February this year, Alktur climbed Siguni Mountain in Sichuan. 

To climb Qomolangma, Alktur ran 10 kilometers every morning and took special training classes on weekends.  He also took a training class organized by the Chinese Mountaineering Association. 

Alktur now wants to climb the other highest mountains.  He loves the feeling of climbing and wants to keep trying.