China has a very long history. It has many great traditional skills that have a wide influence (影响). Here we mainly talk about kites.

    The earliest mention of a kite in ancient China dates back to the 5th century BC. It was made of wood and used as a rescue signal (求救信号).

    At the time between 770 and 221 BC, Chinese kites were actually called "muyuan". They were first invented in Shandong Province for military purposes (军事目的). The kites were used to send important messages during the Chu-Han War. During the Tang Dynasty, kites were made of lighter materials, such as bamboo, silk and paper. At that time, people began to fly kites for other purposes. It was believed that letting go of the kite could remove bad luck and illness.

    Today, kite-flying is an interesting and healthy activity in China. There are large kite-flying festivals held throughout the country, and kite makers can show off their skills during the festivals.

    We have to be fit, no matter (不管) what age we are. It's very important for kids. That's w{#blank#}1{#/blank#} they have P.E. class.

    In Britain students have two hours of P.E. each week. P.E. includes sit-ups, press-ups (俯卧撑) and skipping rope.

    Students also p{#blank#}2{#/blank#}football, basketball and cross-country running. In summer kids run and do the high and long jumps.

    When I was at school my favourite was trampoline(蹦床). Jumping high into the air always made me excited. But you need to be c{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Sometimes you don't land where you planned!

    When you get your report card there will be a grade for P.E.. Your parents will see how good you are a{#blank#}4{#/blank#} push-ups, as well as maths. But the grade for P.E. doesn't affect (影响) your chances of g{#blank#}5{#/blank#} into a good school.

    We are lucky to live in a rich country where we have many things. However, most of us usually {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (waste) some things.

    Electricity is one thing that we waste most. Lights, TVs, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (radio) and other things are often kept on even when no one is using them. We should turn them off {#blank#}3{#/blank#} we do not need them. It takes  {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (little) than a second to do it. Anyhow, not wasting electricity saves money, because we do not have to pay for the electricity we do not use. The {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (two) thing that we often waste is water. Fresh water is precious, so it shouldn't be wasted. It is only a simple matter of turning {#blank#}6{#/blank#}a tap. I am sure everybody can do this {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (easy) if he wants to. Another big waste is food. My mother used to cook so much food that much of it was thrown away. I told her we had wasted so much {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (food). She thought I was right and now cooks mainly what we can eat.

    It is not right to be wasteful. I find there is a simple way of not wasting things. That is {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (use) only what we need. Do not touch what we do not need. {#blank#}10{#/blank#}this way, we can stop being wasteful.

    Imagine you are taking a walk on the beautiful beach. Just then, your feet step over something and you hear a crack (噼啪声) —an empty plastic bottle. Things like this are happening more often because of sea rubbish.

    Studies show that 80%of all the waste is from the land. The waste is mainly plastics (塑料制品) which are really hard to degrade (降解). So the rubbish will remain there for a long time. Some of the pollution is caused accidentally. For example, about 10,000 product-filled boxes are lost at sea every year from business ships. Sometimes people just throw things into the water from boats or land. Many large rubbish areas are formed in the North Pacific Ocean.

    Thankfully, the situation isn't ignored (忽视). Groups like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) are taking action to help clean the sea. Since 2006, 76 projects have cleared out 3,814 metric tons (公吨) of rubbish from the sea. Methods of rubbish cleaning include using machines to remove (移除) the waste away from the surface of sea water. Besides, special nets are set by the mouths of rivers to stop the rubbish before it reaches the sea. If everyone does his part, sea rubbish seems like a problem that can be solved.

This month, we went on a five day trip to Xishuangbanna, a beautiful place in the south of Yunnan Province. The weather there is hot and wet. There a {#blank#}1{#/blank#} many kinds of plants and animals. I want to i {#blank#}2{#/blank#} some interesting things we saw to you during our trip.

In the jungle(丛林), we saw a twining(缠绕的)plant. These P {#blank#}3{#/blank#} grow when seeds-seeds mainly from banyan tees (榕树)are moved by animals or wind to some other trees. These seeds gradually grow, developing their own aerial (空气的) roots. Little by lite, they will get themselves around the host tree and f {#blank#}4{#/blank#} kill it, just like a snake kills its enemy.

A {#blank#}5{#/blank#} thing we learned is that when a tree gets big and strong, some of its aerial roots will grow into the ground and develop into a new tee, just like the way cell division (细胞分裂) works. The w {#blank#}6{#/blank#} tree will look like a small forest. I think this is quite a {#blank#}7{#/blank#}.

In the forest, you will sometimes find some red leaves among the green leaves. Why is that?

One reason is that the sunshine is very strong in Yunnan. The trees n {#blank#}8{#/blank#} use all of their leaves in order to do photosynthesis (光合作用) and grow, so the color of some of the leaves c {#blank#}9{#/blank#}to red.

We really enjoyed our trip to Yunnan. We learned a lot about n {#blank#}10{#/blank#} and had a rally fun time. I hope we can take more trips like this in the future.