China has decided to stop the use of free plastic bags. Supermarkets, shops and outlets(经销店) in China can't offer plastic bags any more.

    Every year, people use too many plastic bags. They throw them here and there after they have used them. The government has done its best to deal with them but failed. While we offer quick service（服务）to customers, the plastic bags pollute water, earth and air, and they waste the oil. The government asks people to go back to carry cloth bags and use baskets when they go to buy something. The cloth bags and the baskets can be used again and again.

    Many months have passed. The environment has been improved a lot.

Stories and Art of Chinese Fans

    You may think you cannot live through summer without air conditioners. But in ancient China, hand fans were almost the only ones to help people keep cool.

    Chinese people started to use hand fans over 2,000 years ago. The fans came in different shapes, such as round and square. They were also made from a11 kinds of materials. Palm leaf fans were cheap and easy to make. Feather fans(羽毛扇) showed the owner's high status. Sandalwood(檀香)fans could send out a sweet smell.

    Later, hand fans became far more than just something that could cool you down. They developed into art works, in which tuanshan (round fans)and zheshan(folded fans)were the most common.

    In the shape of a full moon, tuanshan was usually made of silk. They had beautiful birds and flowers on them. Women especially those in the imperial palace(皇宫),liked to use them. Meanwhile, men, especially the literati(文人), used zheshan. The literati liked them because zheshan were usually made of paper and they could paint and write poems on them. It was a way for them to show off their ability in literature, painting and handwriting. Almost anything can be painted on zheshan.

    Today, Chinese people still use these fans, only not many people write or paint on them any more. Next time when you are waving a fan, you may think of the stories behind it.

    Plants are very important. Plants can make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals and man cannot make food from air, water and sunlight. Animals can get their food by eating plants and other animals. Man gets his food by eating plants and animals, too. So animals and man need plants in order to live. This is why there are so many plants around us.

    There are two kinds of plants: flowering plants and non­flowering plants. Almost all the trees around us are flowering plants. You can know some trees from their flo­wers and fruit. Non­flowering plants do not grow flowers. You can not see many non­flowering plants around you.

    If you look carefully at the plants around you, you will find that there are many kinds of plants. Some plants are large and some are small. Most of them are green. Thanks to the plants around us, we can live on earth.

    Halloween is a strange holiday. It started several centuries ago in Europe. It began as "Hallow Evening" which means "holy night". At that time November 1st was called "All Saints' Day" (万圣日) and people honored all the saints who did not have their own special day. People believed that all the spirits of dead people were active on the night of October 31st. So people would play all sorts of tricks on each other.

    Black is one of the traditional Halloween colors, probably because Halloween festivals and traditions took place at night. Pumpkins area symbol of Halloween, so orange has become the other traditional Halloween color. Making lanterns out of pumpkins is a Halloween custom.

    Halloween is great fun for children. They dress up as ghosts(鬼) or witches(女巫). Small children go "Trick-or-Treat". They wear costumes, knock on doors, and shout, "Trick or Treat!" People almost always choose to give them candy as a treat, instead of choosing to receive a trick from the children. Adults sometimes "trick or treat" their friends, too. Usually the "treat" is a glass of wine or some small gifts.

    Each year, many Chinese people go abroad because of all kinds of reasons. They are becoming younger and younger year by year. Even some Chinese parents send their children to foreign countries when they are only in a middle school. They think their children can get a wider view, less academic(学业的) competition or family honor. But life can be hard for young people there. At first, they have to face the cultural differences and language problems. However, these are not always the most difficult things to overcome(克服).To most children, controlling (管理)themselves well is a big challenge when they are studying alone in a strange country. Yu Yang, a 15-year-old student from Guangdong Province studies in a high school in Toronto, Canada. ⑶To his surprise, his teachers there seldom push students to study hard. And usually there isn't too much homework .Students have lots of free time to do some activities. Some of his friends spend their whole year's money in the first two months of the new term. So they have to ask their parents for some more money. On the one hand, studying abroad can help students learn foreign languages quickly and open up their eyes, but on the other hand, some children may feel lonely, become bad, lose themselves, etc. Many problems may happen to them. These are different from their original thoughts. ⑷So parents should think them over before their children go abroad.

    Started in 1636, Harvard University is the oldest of all the colleges and universities in the United States. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    In the early years, these schools were much alike. Only young men went to college. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Little was known about science then, and one kind of school could teach everything that was known about the world. When the students graduated, most of them became ministers or teachers.

    In 1782, Harvard started a medical school for young men who wanted to become doctors. Later, lawyers could receive their training in Harvard's law school. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Soon it began teaching American history.

    As knowledge increased, Harvard and other colleges began to teach many new subjects. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Today, there are many different kinds of colleges and universities. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} There's so much to learn that one kind of school can't offer it all.

A. In 1825. besides Latin and Greek, Harvard began teaching modern languages, such as French and German.

B. Most of them are made up of smaller schools

C. Yale, Princeton and Columbia were opened soon after Harvard

D Students were allowed to choose the subjects that interested them

E. All the students studied the same subjects, and everyone learned Latin, Greek and Hebrew