There are many kinds of animals that live in the forest, such as mice, rabbits, squirrels, bears.

    Animals in the forest depend on（依靠）one another for food. Many small forest animals, such as mice, eat green plants for food, and then larger animals eat them. This is called food chain. A food chain begins with the sun. The green plants in the forest use the sun's energy to make food for themselves. It's called photosynthesis(光合作用). Mice eat flowers and seeds that forest plants produce(生产).The mice get their energy from the plants, and the mice become food for a larger animal, such as the hunting hawk. So the energy from the sun passes from the plants to the mice to the hawk. A break（中断）in any part of this food chain means some animals may not have enough food to eat.

    Some of the greatest problems we face today are the destruction (破坏) of our environment. Brown clouds, polluted water, endangered wild animals.., these problems seem so huge.

    So my family does what we can. We take cloth bags to stores instead of using plastic bags. We walk where we don't have to drive...

    But does it do any good? When I am the only one in line at the market with cloth bags, am I doing any good? Does my walking to stores make any real difference to the world?

    I recently learned something about flamingos (火烈鸟) which like to get together in groups of a thousand or more. Every year, when the time comes for migration (迁徙), a few of them first takeoff from the lake. But none of the others seem to notice, so the small group returns. However, the next day they try again. This time few more fly along with them, but most of them still pay no attention, so they return again. They try for several times. Every time a few more birds join in but, since the thousands of others still take no notice, the great migration plan is once more stopped.

    Then one day something changes. The same small group of birds once again starts flying and a small number more join in just as before, then more. Finally, they all take flight and the migration really begins. What a spectacular sight it must be—thousands of flamingos taking off into the sky at once!

    A few can make a difference. Even if you're the one to take the first step, and continue trying, others will someday take notice and together we will solve even our greatest problems.

It was Sunday afternoon. Maggie sat, putting her1 into the blue water of her family's new swimming pool. She had been expecting the pool for months.2 , she didn't feel so happy.

As soon as her mom asked what was wrong, Maggie replied, "Amelia is3 of the water. She doesn't know how to swim. I thought that 4 would be playing with me in the pool all summer. I5 Amelia. Nothing is as much fun without her."

"Why don't you invite her to6 ? Maybe we can help her feel 7 in the water. Remember how we taught your little brother to swim? Now, he swims like a dolphin." Maggie looked a little more8 . "You're right. I think I'll call Amelia right now." Later that afternoon, Amelia came with her dad. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" he asked. Amelia9 . "I think I'm ready to do this."

"I'm proud of you. I'll be back in a couple of 10 , okay?" said her dad. Amelia nodded again,11 she sat on the side of the pool.

All afternoon, Maggie and her mom worked with Amelia in the water. When Amelia's dad came to pick her up, everyone was surprised the time had gone so 12 .

"Watch this, Dad" shouted Amelia. "I can float on my back." She proudly showed him her new13 .

"This is amazing!" said Amelia's dad. "You two must be great teachers."

Maggie and her mom14 at each other. "I think Amelia was just ready to learn," said Maggie's mom. "She made up her15 to swim and did all the work herself"

"Can we come back tomorrow, Dad?" asked Amelia. Everyone laughed.

I start my first day of school at junior high today! I can't believe this day has finally arrived.

What I am thinking about m{#blank#}1{#/blank#}me nervous（紧张的）. After all, I was one of the leaders at my old school. The younger students all looked u{#blank#}2{#/blank#}to us sixth graders. Now, I am going to be a new kid all over again and I am going to have to make new friends.

I am not alone. All of us going into the junior high are in the same b{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. In fact, I am not w{#blank#}4{#/blank#} about being a new junior high school student. I am excited about it! I am excited about all the different s{#blank#}5{#/blank#}I get to study.

The letter I got last week from my new school says that this Friday will be Club Day. There are a lot of a{#blank#}6{#/blank#}at my new school. I think I might take p{#blank#}7{#/blank#} in the Film Making Club. Dad told me that a good w{#blank#}8{#/blank#}   to make new friends is to meet people who share your hobbies.

I will miss my old friends when I am in this new school, but I know there will be at least three other students from my primary school. I also know that I can talk with my old friends even if we no longer go to the s{#blank#}9{#/blank#}school.

I am so excited now! Mum, Dud, Grandma, and Grandpa are all excited for me as well. I think I am going to enjoy m{#blank#}10{#/blank#}at the junior high school after all. I am looking forward to a great year and an exciting new world!

People know animals do have feelings, but they are not sure if these feelings are correctly understood. In recent years, scientists have done research about the feelings of cows, frogs and pandas.  ▲  It says that humans can tell whether a chicken is happy or sad by listening to its calls.

The researchers put a bowl behind a door. Inside the bowl, sometimes, there was something chickens love to eat, such as rice or insects. Sometimes, there was nothing. When the chickens saw food behind the door, they seemed happy and produced fast and loud sounds, known as food calls. When there wasn't food, the chickens made low and long noises to express disappointment. The researchers recorded all these sounds and studied their waves.

Then the researchers chose 16 recordings of such chicken noises. Half were from the chickens seeing the food and half were from the chickens finding no food. The recordings were played to 194 volunteers. Sixty-nine percent of the volunteers correctly understood whether the chickens were feeling happy or not, and some of them even had no experience of taking care of chickens.

The result shows that humans have the natural ability to understand the feelings of chickens. Hopefully, this finding can bring about new technology to help with chicken-raising, a big industry in many countries. Some scientists are already working on a smart computer program that can identify chickens' feelings. This is good news for farmers who want to make the birds happier and healthier.