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Find Which Direction Is South

    Do you have a good sense of direction? If not, please take with you a compass. But if you forget to take a compass, you can still find your way. 

    It's never a wise idea to believe that the family member who was good at the job of map-reading knows where the family is. You can tell by the troubled look on their faces that nothing on the ground seems to match the map. Never mind. The sun is shining and it's still morning. If you don't know the exact time, you can still find out where south is, but you'll need to be patient. 

    ①Find a straight stick and put it in the ground in a place where you can mark its shadow(a dark shape on a surface that is made when something stands between a light and the surface). 

    ②Try to position the stick as vertically(垂直)as you can. You can check this by making a simple plumb line(铅锤线). You haven't got one? OK, use a thread(线) from your clothes with a button(纽扣) tied at the end to act as a weight.

    ③Mark the end of the shadow cast(投射) by the stick.

    ④Wait about half an hour and mark the end of the shadow again.

    ⑤Keep doing this until you have made several marks. 

    ⑥The mark nearest the stick will represent the shortest shadow, which is cast at midday, when the sun is highest in the sky and pointing to the exact south. 

    ⑦Pick a point in the distance along the line between the shortest shadow and the stick.

    ⑧That point is south of where you are. 

    ⑨Now you can turn the map, like you did before, and find which way you should be travelling. 

    Zhalong is a nature reserve in Heilongjiang in northeast China. It is one of the world's most important wetlands*. The reserve offers food and places to live in for wildlife. It is an ideal home for different kinds of plants, fish and birds.

    Many birds live comfortably in Zhalong Nature Reserve all year round, but some only stay there for a short time. There are many fish in the wetlands, and the birds can easily catch them for food. Zhalong Nature Reserve is an important living area for red—crowned cranes*. There are not many red—crowned cranes in the world. Some of them live in Zhalong.

    Some people want to change the wetlands to make more space for farms and buildings. This means there will be less and less space for wildlife.

    More and more birds are in danger because they do not have enough living space. Many of them died. The Chinese government wants to protect these endangered* birds, and they can be safe in Zhalong.

    Every year, a lot of visitors go to Zhalong to watch birds. This year, members of our Birdwatching Club are going to study the different kinds of birds in Zhalong and the changes in their numbers.

    We do a bird count* once a year. We are now inviting middle school students to help. We need more people to help us count and do something to help the birds. Many people do not understand the importance* of the wetlands. We hope this information will help them understand and make them do something to protect wildlife.

Comic strips(连环漫画) are popular cartoons found in newspapers and magazines around the world. If you can think up funny dialogues, you are well on your way to becoming a successful comic strip writer. If you're also good at drawing, it will be much better!

Develop your characters(角色). Develop your characters and practise drawing them in different situations. Make sure that each has its personality, so that it's easy to tell who is who.

Make a quick sketch(素描) of your strip. When you have decided what is going to happen, work out how many panels you will need, and exactly what will be described in each panel. Stop in where the text will go, and what the characters will be doing. Use a ruler and a pencil to draw the squares. Use the pencil to draw in your images. Draw the speech bubbles, characters and any background of the scenes. Correct until you are pleased with your drawings.

Add the text. Many cartoonists just do this with a pen, but you might want to start with a pencil until you feel confident in your lettering abilities(能力).Make sure your text is very easy to read.

Ink (给……上墨) over the final lines of your squares, text and images. Be careful not to use the wet ink. When the ink is completely dry, run an eraser over your comic to clean up the paper and remove any remaining pencil marks.

Last month some parents went to a pizza restaurant in Florida with their children. On the door, they1 a sign in capital letters: "NO CHILDREN." "Why can't we bring our children?", "What does the owner want to do?" The parents were surprised and complained 2 .

So why did the restaurant 3 the sign on its door?

Troy Taylor, the owner of 4 pizza restaurant, found that many parents couldn't control their children and many children couldn't have meals quickly, so they disturbed（打扰）5 customers. Some people said that this was unfair. My Taylor explained 6 he did so. He said that the restaurant was near a busy road, so there might be some danger if the children7 good care of.8 he made up his mind to stop children from entering his restaurant.

Others supported 9 decision. They said they were bored of noisy children in restaurants and now they 10 finally have a place for adults only.

In fact, many other restaurants have 11 met the same problem. Some have done 12 , while others have tried to ban children during certain time of the day. There's one restaurant in Italy. It has been creative in 13 the problem. They give a family meal discount（折扣）to families with well-behaved children14 parents to control their children.

These methods may be15 for a while, but it is difficult to solve this problem completely.

Can a green machine help the world's poorest kids learn better? You must feel curious (好奇的) to know 1 the green machine is. Now here are some things 2 the green machine. Nicholas Negroponte 3 his team of scientists have invented a new type of computer. As a result, many poor kids will have their own laptop computers.

Negroponte works at a university. He started 4 organization called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC). The people at OLPC don't work for money. They work 5 children learn. OLPC makes computers that don't cost a lot. Then the machines 6 by them to governments of poor countries. The governments then give the computers to kids for free. The low price means millions of poor kids 7 receive a computer. This is very good for 8 .

Maybe, only a computer can open a window for them to see a 9 world than before. OLPC plans to give out over ten million computers in the future. Kids in Thailand, Nigeria, Brazil, and Argentina 10 most of them.