Christmas is coming.1 you are thinking what gifts you need to buy, the Alice Ferguson Foundation is busy 2 the environment by building relationships between people and nature.

    At the 3 of the year, it designs events to help children celebrate Christmas without increasing the amount of 4 they create.

    Hanna Seligmann who works for the foundation, said they 5 that from Thanksgiving Day to New Year's day, the household trash increases by 25 percent. Many young people do not know the6 they throw away do not decompose (分解), or break down, at the same rate. For example, paper dissolves（溶解） in about four weeks. A metal can take up to 100 years. A plastic bag will not decompose for 450 years. Glass takes 1,000 years.

    Hanna Seligmann shows adults and children 7to reduce waste during the holiday gift-giving season.

    She encourages using things that are 8 in our houses like newspaper or old magazines. With imagination，children can wrap gifts in a 9 napkin or even a beautiful scarf. In fact，there's no better way to celebrate the holiday by giving10to the planet.

    Natural resources that we use are things that come from the Earth.

    Our natural resources are limited(有限的）. This means that they will not1 forever. Some are renewable, like when you plant a new tree when you2 one down. Others are not renewable, like when you dig coal(煤）out of the3. Once it is used, it is gone.

    People realize the4 that the Earth's natural resources are limited, and people can do things to help conserve(节约）those resources. 5 you try to conserve a natural resource, you try to use less of it so it does not run out so 6One way that people conserve fuel, like gasoline, is by riding a bicycle or walking when the 7 is short instead of driving everywhere.

    Water is a very important natural resource because we all need it to stay 8. We can conserve water9 making sure that the pipes and taps do not leak(漏）. We can also make10 choices to conserve water, like only using the dishwasher or washing machine when they are full. Everyone can make contribution to protecting natural resources.

    The Earth moves round the Sun, and the Moon moves round the Earth. When the part of the Earth turns to the Sun, it is day. When the part of the Earth 1 away from the Sun, it is night. The Sun is much 2 than the Moon. But sometimes the Moon 3 bigger than the Sun, because it's much 4 to the 5. The Sun is very bright. It 6 very strong light. The Moon looks quite bright 7. But it 8 give any light at all. The light from the Moon comes 9 the Sun. The Moon looks much bigger and brighter than the stars. But in fact the stars are much bigger and brighter than the Moon. They look 10 than the Moon because they're much farther away from us.

    Benjamin Banneker was born a few months before another great American—George Washington. Benjamin was black, but he was not a slave (奴隶). He and his mother and his grandmother were free. Benjamin's grandmother came from England. In America she got a job and worked for many years to pay for her boat trip across the ocean. After working many years, she saved enough money to buy a farm. Benjamin lived with her for a while. She taught him to read, write and do arithmetic (算术).

    Benjamin's neighbours knew that he was clever. They were not surprised when he built a large wooden clock. He made each piece after studying a small pocket watch. The clock made him famous, for it was one of the first clocks built in America. People from other places began to send hard problems of all kinds to Benjamin to settle.

    Thomas Jefferson heard of Benjamin Banneker's ability to settle hard problems. He asked Banneker to help build the city that was to be the capital of the United States—Washington, D.C. Banneker worked hard on the plans for the city. He marked where the streets and buildings—the Capitol (美国国会大厦), the White House, and many other places should be built.

    Later, L' Enfant, the Frenchman who had designed the new city, had a quarrel, and went back to France in anger. He took all of the plans away. The workmen couldn't build without any plans to follow.

    For a while it seemed that the plans for the capital might have to be changed, but Benjamin Banneker remembered the plans he had helped draw. He drew each again as he had built each piece of his clock.

    If it weren't for Benjamin Banneker, Washington,

    D.C might look very different from the way it does today.

Chongyang Festival {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (celebrate) on the ninth day of the ninth month on the traditional Chinese calendar, and it is also known as Double Ninth Festival.

In Chinese culture, the number nine is thought to be yang. The ninth day of the ninth month is a double yang day and "double"{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (mean) Chong in Chinese, so it got the name Chongyang Festival. The ninth month also heralds（预示）the coming of winter, so it is a time when the living need warm clothes, and some people make the festival a time for {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (provide) special clothes for their ancestors（祖先）.

During the festival, people usually {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (climb) mountains, wear the zhuyu plant, drink chrysanthemum (菊花) wine, and eat Chongyang cake. Cake in Chinese is pronounced "gao" meaning high, so people consider climbing a high mountain to be the same as eating cake. Also, people think they {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (do) better than before after eating the cake.

Double Ninth Festival is also Seniors' Day— a day to care for the elder people and to let them {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (enjoy) themselves. On the day, many communities organize retired people to go out {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (climb) mountains.

Nature is amazing! Take a close look at the world of insects, and you'll discover many unbelievable things. Consider butterflies (蝴蝶), for example. They have beautiful wings and magical flying skills. On summer days, you always see them flying freely over flower gardens and wild fields.

But did you know how butterflies become the flying insects? It is one of the wonders of nature. In the beginning, the mother lays a small and colourful egg on a leaf or stem of a plant. It is hard to believe that the egg will become something completely different in a few days. It becomes a walking insect. This insect is called a caterpillar. It now has legs, eyes and a large body. A new life begins. The caterpillar can eat, walk and see. But it is still not a butterfly.

Soon, after growing big, the caterpillar makes a cover for itself. It covers itself in the nice protective blanket (保护层) and goes to sleep. This is known as the "pupa (蛹)" stage. After some time, the blanket breaks and a wet butterfly appears. It now has six legs, a mouth, eyes and wings. Shortly, the beautiful butterfly spreads (张开) its wings and flies away. After a few weeks, this butterfly lays her eggs, and the cycle (循环) begins all over again.

This is just one example of the wonders of nature. Look around the natural world, and you will learn many truly amazing things.