E

    The Earth is our home; we must take care of it. This means keeping the land, air and water clean. Pollution is a dirty word. To pollute means to make things unfit or unclean to use. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, taste it and drink it. Pollution is beginning to threaten (威胁) our health, our happiness and our life. Man has been polluting the earth from the time he first made fire, washed his clothes in the river and threw his waste on the ground. When land was used up or water became dirty, men moved on to another place. At first, the problem was not so serious because there was plenty of clean air, land and water. There weren't so many people then and their wants were fewer. All the dirty things could be absorbed (吸收) by nature and soon covered over. But this is no longer true. The increase of population and the development of industry(工业)have changed that. Man is slowly poisoning (毒害) his environment. Through the use of poison, man has polluted the land, killing the animals. By putting dirty water and chemicals into rivers and lakes we have polluted our drinking water, killing the fish.

    Our increasing population is part of the problem. More people, more waste.

    Where is this all to end? Are we turning the world into a big rubbish dump (堆存处), or is there any hope that we can get rid of (摆脱, 除去) the pollution? Luckily, millions of people have been warned of the danger of pollution. Large numbers of people are now working hard to bring pollution under control.

Using iPads to Make Learning Fun

    Paper, pencil, whiteboard, textbook are the tools you need if you want to go to school. But recently, you can add another one to the list: an iPad.

    Because the popular Apple tablet is not only useful for searching the Internet and watching videos, but it is also being used to make learning fun.

    Scientists now know that we learn better when we are enjoying ourselves, so recently software developers have made iPad applications(应用程序) that look like video games, but have strong educational content. One of the best examples of this new form of teaching application is Futaba, game in which up to four children try to recognize a spinning旋转的）object, and then identify what it is. The game can be used to teach English, math, foreign languages, or just about anything, and students love it. Teachers can even make their own questions. The important thing is that children enjoy the game, and don't even realize how much they are learning!

    So the next time you have to choose between making your child study or letting them play game, just remember——they could do both at the same time!

Information Card

In America, there are many cars. But there are few traffic jams and accidents. We hardly see traffic police in the street, but all drivers follow traffic rules strictly, and people hardly find that someone does not follow traffic rules in the street. 

About American traffic rules, there are many good terms, such as:

Stop lines: There are stop lines in all crossings without traffic lights (some have two stop lines and others have four stop lines). All cars must stop while meeting the stop line. 

Traffic lights: There are traffic lights in the crossing of the road. Cars may almost turn every direction, and the traffic lights can give signals step by step, including U-turns(掉头), There is a kind of middle lane(车道) of turning left. When a driver wants to turn left on the road, he may enter into the middle lane of turning left and give a signal of turning left. When he thinks it's safe, he may turn left. 

Specific(明确的) items: As for parking. there are three kinds of lines (their colours are white, blue and red) in the roadside. Every line may park different kinds of cars. There are many streets in some residential areas (住宅区), but no car can park there at any period of time. 

About the priority(优先权) of passengers and cars: In any case, passengers have the priority to cars. And only after passengers have passed the road, cars may go ahead. 

In general, the traffic rules of America are very specific, convenient and safe.