Life today has brought new problems. One of the biggest is pollution. Noise pollution makes us talk more loudly and become angry more easily. Water pollution makes our rivers and lakes very dirty. Air pollution is the most serious kind of pollution. Both water pollution and air pollution are not only dangerous to our health, but also dangerous to animals and plants.

     Many countries are making new laws to fight pollution. Factories must now clean their water before they throw it away. They can not let out dirty smoke into the air, either. More and more cars are now using a new kind of fuel(燃料) which does not pollute the air.

     Laws are not enough. We must all help. We can use paper bags, not plastic ones. We can keep old cans and plant flowers in them. Everybody must help to fight pollution because we can keep our country clean.

Information Card

    When Jan and Brian Dutcher moved to San Diego for Brian's new job at San Diego State University, the neighbors smiled and introduced themselves. But there were no “ bring a plate” invitations, no car pooling for her daughters Liza, 12 and Erin, 15.

    “The family really didn't know each other, and we missed that,” says Jan.“We are far from relatives. Neighbors are our family.”

    So Jan, an artist, decided to repeat a project she had done for Liza's fifth-grade class: ask each person to paint his or her face on a big canvas(帆布).The finished piece would become the new family photo.

    First , Jan painted a grid(网格) on the canvas and put it up in the garage with a table of paints nearby. Then whenever she was home, the “art room” door was up , with an open invitation for neighbors to paint. The first to stop in were kids riding by. “They thought it was cool,” says Jan, but the adults weren't so keen. “ Most said they hadn't picked up a paint brush since kindergarten,” she says. “They were afraid they'd mess it up.” But as word slowly spread, they came, some using their driver's license photos as models.

Then something started to happen. They returned —to see who had painted, or if they could recognize who was who. In Jan's garage, they began to chat about schools, jobs, and families. Almost daily. Wendy, who lived across the street and was seriously ill, came in her wheelchair to watch the fun. Neighbors began to offer their support.

    When the worst things happened and Wendy died, they stood by her husband, Bill and invited him over for dinners.

    This year has been different in the neighborhood. Families take turns hosting happy hours. “We're watching over each other now just like in the painting.” says Jan.

    Aron Ralston is an American man who is interested in mountain climbing. As a mountain climber, Aron is used to taking risks. This is one of the exciting things about doing dangerous sports. There were many times when Aron almost lost his life because of accidents. On April 26, 2003, he found himself in a very dangerous situation when climbing in Utah.

    On that day, Aron's arm was caught under a 360-kilo rock when he was climbing by himself in the mountains. Because he could not free his arm, he stayed there for five days and hoped that someone would find him. But when his water ran out, he knew that he would have to do something to save his own life. He was not ready to die that day. So he used his knife to cut off half his right arm. Then, with his left arm, he bandaged himself so that he would not lose too much blood. After that, he climbed down the mountain to find help.

    After losing his arm, he wrote a book called Between a Rock and a Hard Place. This means being in a difficult situation that you cannot seem to get out of. In this book, Aron tells of the importance of making good decisions, and of being in control of one's life. His love for mountain climbing is so great that he kept on climbing mountains even after this experience.

    Do we have the same spirit as Aron? Let's think about it before we find ourselves "between a rock and a hard place" and before we have to make a decision that could mean lire or death.

    Car Free Day encourages drivers to give up their cars for a day to protect the environment. People from around the world get together in the streets to remind the world that we don't have to; accept the society full of cars. It started from France in 1998. Because of the air and noise pollution, some French young people wanted a day without cars. On September 22nd, people in 35 cities in France didn't use their cars. They went to work or school by bike, bus or on foot. After that, September 22nd became Car Free Day. The first Car Free Day in China was in Chengdu in 2001. The slogan(口号) for the day is "If we, drive for one less day, we can have one more nice day."

    Organized activities are held in many cities on Car Free Day. In Brussels, Car Free Day shall be valid(有效的) for everybody except persons with a special permit(许可证),but they have to slow down to the speed of 30 kilometres per hour. The public transportations are encouraged. The streets are open only to walkers, bicycles and buses from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. In Beijing, it asks drivers to leave their cars at home for one day each month and walk or ride a bike to work. More and more people are taking part in the activity. In the first quarter of this year, Beijing only had 52 blue sky days, and you may see haze almost every day! We must do more for Car Free Day as a Beijing driver said, "We may not change the weather, but we can choose not to drive."

    But we do not want just one day and then a return to "normal" life. We should go on with Car Free Day.