Some inventions are very important. For example, the telephone allows people to communicate all over the world. The 1 lets people travel long distances in a short time. Life is much easier with these 2inventions.

     Some inventions are just fun. A company in Japan has invented3 flowers. You can listen to music that comes through real flowers. Customers in restaurants can smell the beautiful roses 4listen to pleasant music while eating. People in the dentist's office can look at pretty lilies and listen to Mozart while having their 5examined!

     There is now a vehicle that gets you around with almost no effort 6. In fact, you drive this invention while standing on it ! This vehicle runs by electricity. It 7 quite easily. When you lean forward, it moves forward, and when you lean 8, it moves backward!

     A new kind of bubble(气泡) liquid（液）has been invented. If you blow bubbles 9 this liquid, they can last for several minutes! 10 are very strong. You can even pick them up and throw them around!

     Do you have your own ideas about inventions now?

    How much do you know about the universe? In the huge universe, there is the Galaxy and many other galaxies. In the Galaxy, there is the Solar System and lots of other stars. In the Solar System, there is the sun, the earth and seven other planets. As we know, the eight planets go around their star —the sun. In our Earth—moon System, the moon goes around the earth. And because our earth keeps turning around the sun all the time, we have day and night. When our part of the earth turns to the sun, it is day. When our part of the earth turns away from the sun, it is night.

    Just because the moon is closer to the earth than the sun, it looks much bigger than the sun. The sun is big enough to give out very strong light. The moon itself can't give any light at all, but it looks quite bright, too. In fact, the light from the moon comes from the sun. Although, the moon looks much bigger and brighter than the sun and other stars, in fact, all the stars are much bigger and brighter than the moon. They look smaller than the moon also because they are farther away from us. It's clear that big things will look smaller when they are farther, and small things look bigger when they are nearer.

So far, we have traveled to many other planets in the universe. But scientists haven't discovered any living things on any other planets. Scientists haven't discovered any other planets with a good environment. They aren't sure if there is any water and air for living things to live on other planets. People always ask the question: Is there anyone out space? Our scientists haven't got a clear answer either. Some people think it will be a secret for a long time. But we believe we can solve the problem some day.

Exploring our Solar System and the universe is a great national project to some countries. Our Chinese scientists are also trying to send spaceships with astronauts to those planets and even the universe. At 9:00 a.m. on October 15th, 2003, a Chinese astronaut called Yang Liwei was sent up to space. He stayed there for hours and got back to the earth at 6:00 a.m. the next day. It was the first time for Chinese to have a space travel.

    Can you get free plastic bags from supermarkets now? I'm afraid you can't. Things have changed.

    Free plastic bags can't be used at shops and supermarkets in China, and people have to pay for plastic bags. Because our country tried to make litter1.

    The Chinese once used about 3, 000, 000,000 plastic shopping bags a day. They are2to break, most of them can be used only once. And some people throw them away here and there, they have caused pollution for the environment. If they are burnt, they may cause bigger troubles. For example, they may cause illness for us. So the Chinese people3to bring their own bags for shopping. Some students come up with a good idea. They make the shopping bags by 4. They use old clothes to make cloth bags, and send them to their parents as presents. They also ask their parents and friends to use cloth bags instead. They think it is their5to protect the environment.

    The world of the out-of-doors is full of secrets (秘密). And they are    1interesting that quite a lot of people are busy 2them.

    All around us are birds, animals, trees and flowers. The facts about how they3 and grow are as interesting as anything could be.

    Do you know that one of the great presidents of the USA 4 hours and hours5birds? A businessman who lived near New York became so 6in insects(昆虫) that he began to get 7 together. He now has more than one thousand different kinds of insects carefully 8in glass boxes.

    Come up with me, and I will help you find some nature's secrets. Let us go9 through the woods and fields. Here we shall find how a rabbit tells the others there is danger. We shall 10 a mother bear and her young ones as they look for11and get ready for winter sleep. We shall watch bees(蜜蜂)dancing in the air to let other bees know 12 they can find food.

    I will 13 you many other interesting things, but the best thing that I can14 you is to keep eyes and ears15 when you go out of doors. Nature tells her secrets only to people who look and listen carefully.

    As we know, life today has many problems. One of the biggest is 1, such as water pollution, air pollution, 2 pollution and so on. Water pollution makes our rivers and lakes 3. It kills fish and pollutes our drinking water. Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution. 4 bad for living things in the world. Noise pollution 5 us talk louder and become angry 6.

    The Earth is 7 home and we must save it. We can't 8 rubbish here and there. We should go to work and school 9 bus or with our friends in the same car. Everybody 10 save the Earth.

    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.