Hundreds of years ago, life was much harder than it is today. People didn't have modern machines.

    There was no modern medicine 1.

    Life today2new problems. One of the biggest is pollution. Water pollution has made our rivers and lakes dirty. It kills our fish and affects (影响) our drinking water. Noise pollution makes us 3 louder and get angry much easier. Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution. It affects 4 living thing in the world.

    Cars, planes and factories all pollute our air every day. Sometimes the pollution is5thick that it is like a quilt (被状物)over a city. This kind of quilt is called smog(烟雾).

    One morning, Lillian was sitting in the garden.

    She was looking at the wonderful 1 of every colour. Her favourites were the big yellow sunflowers. They had 2 yellow faces.

    She 3 that the sunflowers turned their big heads towards the sun as it rose in the east. "Wow! That's why people call them sunflowers," she thought.

    "Do sunflowers 4 LOVE the sun?" she wondered.

    At noon, Lillian looked at the sunflowers again. 5 !The sun moved across the sky. And all the sunflowers turned their heads to 6 it as it moved.

    That evening, 7 the sun was setting(下山)，Lillian noticed that the sunflowers were all facing west- 8 the setting sun. Their faces turned again!

    "Sunflowers really do love the sun," she thought to 9 . "They follow it across the sky each day, turning their faces to 10 as much sun as they can."

    The sunflower-what an interesting name and plant!

    It says that bats (蝙蝠) are almost blind (瞎的). Do you know 1 the bat finds the way? In fact (事实上), bats find their ways 2 the help of their ears. Bats make a 3 that we can't hear at all. They cry when they fly and the echoes (回声) of these cries come back to their 4. In this way they can know where they should go. Bats fly out in the 5. In the daytime, they just stay together in their homes.

    When the evening comes, they begin to 6 and look for 7. The next morning, they come back from work to sleep 8 the evening. Some people 9 that bats are bad animals. In fact, they are very 10. They catch and eat pests (害虫). This is very good for people.

    Saving the environment is actually quite simple, when you come to think about it. It does not have to be a problem. If you and everyone follow these tips, you are helping save the environment easily.

    Switch off the lights when you leave the room. By now you have probably wasted thousands of watts (瓦特) lightening your room 1 you weren't there. If you work on a home office, this habit is not only bad for the environment, but also for your pocket.

    Turn off the computer when possible. If you know that you will be 2 for four hours or more, turning it off could lead to large savings over the long run.

    Print only when necessary. Sure, reading on paper might be more comfortable, but you should avoid printing those two-line e-mails every time. Read it on the screen and print only necessary documents. Remember also to use 3 sides of the sheet.

    Use fluorescent lamps (荧光灯). The fluorescent lamps may 4 more in the stores, but within the time you use one, you should have already recovered the investment. A normal incandescent light bulb (白炽灯泡) lasts 750 hours but a fluorescent bulb will give off the same amount of light yet last for 7,500 to 10, 000 hours with 1/3 of the wattage.

    Use low-flush (冲洗) toilets. In your household, 40% of the pure water is flushed down the toilet. You can 5 this easy way at home; use small plastic bottles, filled with water or stones to displace (置换) the amount of water in toilets. This will make it a "low-flush toilet", or you can use a displacement bag in your tank, which might reduce 1-2 gallons per flush.

Environmental protection is one of the hottest topics nowadays. It was also something that ancient Chinese paid great attention to. In fact, the world's earliest environmental protection idea, ministry （部门） and law were all born in China. How did the ancient Chinese protect the environment?

The world's earliest idea of "managing state affairs（政事）through environmental protection"

Xunzi, a famous thinker in the Warring States Period, came up with the idea of "managing state affairs through environmental protection". He wrote in his book that vegetation（植被）should be protected well by humans.

Guan Zhong, a government officer 400 years ahead of Xunzi, was also an environmental protection expert. He said "a king who cannot protect his vegetation is not doing a good job".

The world's earliest environmental protection ministry"

Nine ministries set up by Shim, an ancient Chinese emperor, included "Yu"（虞） , an environmental protection ministry. Hie first " Yu'' leader was Boyi, an environmental protection expert. He invented wells so people could drink clean water. He knew a lot about animals and also called for animal protection.

The world's earliest "environmental protection law"

Over 4, 000 years ago, Dayu, an ancient Chinese water-control expert and also an emperor, made a rule, not allowing people to cut down trees in March or catch fish in June, because it was the time when they grew quickly.

Almost 3,000 years ago, Tianlv, the first environmental protection law, appeared in Qin. It recorded many ancient environmental protection rules. Two of them were interesting: firstly, rivers should not be blocked（堵塞）; secondly, grass and trees should not be burned to be fertilizer （肥料）except for summer. The second one is inspiring even for today. It can help to keep air clean and fresh.

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