Have you ever saved money to do something special? Cindy Evans and her third-grade class are sure to answer, "Yes!"

    Cindy Evans works at Big Beaver Elementary School in Big Beaver, Pennsylvania. One day, she and her third-grade class read about the Great American Smokeout in Weekly Reader. The Smokeout is an event to help people give up smoking. The American Cancer Society runs it.

    "We read that about l million people give up smoking each year," said Ms Evans. Then her students asked her. "What does 1 million look like?" Ms Evans told her class the best way to see 1 million was to collect 1 million things.

    "I was thinking about collecting 1 million small things like erasers," said the teacher. But her students had a better idea: to collect 1 million pennies (分) and give them away to the American Cancer Society. Soon the class started their big job.

    Many people in the neighbourhood joined the students. According to Ms Evans, the bank in their neighbourhood had to keep more pennies because so many people were collecting them.

    That June, the class went to the office of the American Cancer Society with 1,177,500 pennies, or$11,775. They hoped that the money could help more people keep healthy.

    I look at Grandma, and I don't know what to do.

    "Go! Go! But come back with some wood and some fruit," she says.

    "Ok!" I say, and I run out of the door and down the street out of the town. I follow an old track and it leads me towards the hills. Suddenly I see the nursery in front of me. It is like a sea of green. There are all kinds of trees and a very big vegetable garden. I step inside the gate. It is quiet here, safe from the wind and it smells so good.

I hoped to be set free one day,so I was nice to the Lilliputians.Gradually,     ▲     .Sometimes the children even played hide-and-seek in my hair.

One day,the king said to me,"Gulliver,I invite you to watch an important performance.It is a contest called Rope Dancing".In the contest,a thin rope was tied between two poles very high above the ground.People had to dance on this rope.Each dancer tried to jump higher than the others.I had never seen such a dangerous sport.

"Your Majesty,"I said,"many dancers must fall and be hurt or killed."

"Yes,"he replied,"But I will give the best jobs in my kingdom to the men who are not afraid and jump the highest."What a strange way to choose who will work for the country!"I thought.

Then,as the king watched,I tied each corner of my handkerchief to a strong stick, and pushed the four sticks into the ground.My handkerchief was now under the rope but above the ground.Any dancer who fell would land on the handkerchief and not get hurt. The king was very pleased with my invention.His family and many other people watched the rope dancing.

Would you and the queen like to see better?"I asked the king.I gently put them on my hand and held it beside the rope.They had a good view of the dancers.One very skilled performer held on to the rope and flipped(翻转)his body right over it.The king and the queen clapped loudly and cheered.Later the king told me that he made this man one of his chief(首要的)advisors.

The king and I met often.He seemed to enjoy our conversations.One day,I said again,"Your Majesty, please set me free."This time he answered,"I have talked to my

advisors.We agree that you have been good to our people." 

In most parts of the world, many students help their schools make less pollution.  They join the Environment Club.  In the club, people work together to protect the environment. 

No-rubbish lunches.  How much do you throw after lunch? The Environment Club asks students to bring their lunches in bags that can be recycled.  The students try their best to make less rubbish. 

No-car days.  No-car days were started by 35 cities in France on 22nd September, 1998.  They were started to protect the environment.  By now, more than 1,000 cities around the world have had a no-car day.  In China, more and more people are taking part in the activity.  On a no-car day, nobody comes to school in a car—not the students and not the teachers! Cars give pollution to our air, so remember: Walk, jump, bike or run! Use your legs! It's lots of fun!

Turn off water! Do you know that some broken toilets could waste 20 to 40 ml of water an hour? In a year, that will fill a small river! In the Environment Club, the members mend those broken toilets. 

We have only one Earth.  Let's work hard together to make our world cleaner and more beautiful.