Save the world's trees

    "When it comes tothe Earth, there is no time to waste." says the Earth Day Network. And that isright. Protecting our environment is very important, and World Earth Day wascreated in 1970 to ask more people to protect our environment. On April 22, peoplearound the world celebrate Earth Day.

Every year thereis a special topic, and this year it is "Trees for the Earth", so Earth Daythis year will be all about planting trees. They are planning to plant 7.8billion trees within the next five years.

That's a biggoal, and you might wonder why trees are so important. Because they can take incarbon dioxide (CO₂) and protect the air quality(质量). CO₂ isa chemical in our atmosphere, but humans make too much of it. Each person makesabout 2.3 tons a year, which is bad for the environment.

Well guess what!Planting new trees is important because people cut down a huge number of trees.Last year, there were 3 trillion trees in the world, about 139 billion inChina. But according to China Daily, the world's total number has been almostcut in half since human civilization(文明) began. That's because 15billion trees are cut down every year.

So we need toplant more to make up for（弥补）the ones we lost. One treecan take in 21. 8 kilograms of CO₂ per year. And it's still one ofthe cheapest and best ways to get rid of CO₂.

    But don't forget that we can also help the environment by cutting down on how much energy(能源) or water we useevery day. Every little thing helps.

根据短文内容，回答问题（1-4），英译汉（5）。

    Liu Mingxiao, 13, is a pretty and smart girl. She comes top in her class. But many students try to stay away from her because her mother has AIDS(艾滋病). Liu's father has died of AIDS. But Liu didn't get it.

    AIDS means fear(惧怕)for most people. “Nobody wants to play games with me. They call me bad names behind my back. Even a teacher who used to like me turns her back on me now. It makes me feel sad.” said Liu.

    Liu's mother didn't know what happened to her daughter until one day Liu came back home with her nose bleeding(流血的)，“ She fought with a boy who said something bad about her father.” said Liu's mother. “My heart really hurts. My daughter did nothing wrong!”

    For many of these children, the biggest problem they now face is how other people look at them. Many of them have to drop out of school(辍学)because they can no longer stand others' indifference(冷漠).

    “People are afraid of AIDS because they know little about it,” said Wang Chongrun, head of a group to help children living with AIDS. Wang went to the villages and gave lessons about AIDS to the people there.

    “Many of these children are just as healthy as others,” Wang said.

    “Even if they have AIDS, it's still safe to eat and play with them. They need our love and understanding. A friendly smile means a lot to them!”

    A traveler in South Africa once set out on a long journey. When crossing a wide plain(平原), far from home, he saw a lion at a distance. The lion saw him at the same time, and followed him slowly.

    When the traveler walked fast, the lion walked fast! When he stopped, the lion stopped! The man realized that the lion meant to follow him until the dark, and then attack(攻击) him.

    He was not able to run away from the lion because the lion ran faster than him. So he thought of a plan to fool it.

    He came to a large rock. He hid behind the rock, where the lion could not see him. Then taking a stick which he could find there, he put his coat and his hat on it, in order to make them look like a man. He then placed the stick with the coat and the hat standing in the ground above the rock. He then left quietly.

    The lion stopped and watched the coat and the hat, at a distance. At nightfall, it jumped onto the coat and the hat to try to kill the man.

    But the traveler was already far away. Before long, he reached his own home.

    When it comes to the letter grade on your test or homework, you might notice that there is no letter E. Have you ever thought about why that is so?

    In the A, B, C, D and F grading system, the first four letters are typically considered passing grades. An F in this system simply stands for "fail". The word "fail" happens to start with the letter F, which seems to leave out the letter E.

    The first college in the US to use a letter grading system like the ones we use today is Mount Holyoke College. In 1897, they began to use the following grading scale;

    A: 95-100% (excellent)         B: 85-94% (good)      C: 76-84% (fair)

    D: 75%( nearly passed)         E: below 75% (failed)

    We can see the inclusion of E instead of F.

    Gradually, the letter grading system became more popular all over the US. However, many schools decided to drop the E grade and go straight to F. There is no evidence(证据) to really support this, but one possible explanation is that teachers were worried that some students and parents might mistake E for "excellent".

    Why do we have letter grades? Well, part of the reason is that they made grading simpler during a time of great change for schools. As the 20th century began, growing cities and an increase in immigration led to larger school classrooms. Most teachers at that time thought this new letter grading system was an easy, fair and clear way to grade students.

    Today, more and more people think that letter grades don't fully show students' learning. However, as teachers try to improve grading methods, many parents continue to prefer the letter grades they got as kids, as they are familiar and easy for parents to understand. So while they might not be perfect, the letter grades probably aren't going away any time soon.

    Do you know Kumamon (熊本熊)? He is the most popular bear in Japan. With the big black body, red cheek (脸颊)and wide-open eyes, Kumamon always looks surprised. It makes him very lovely. And people of different ages love him.

    熊本熊和真正的熊一样高。 He is the mascot (吉祥物) of a place called Kumamoto in Japan. Before the lovely mascot appeared in 2010, few people knew about this place. But now it is very famous and lots of people come to visit it every year.

    Kumamon has his website, blog and facebook page, so people can know what he is doing every day. People can also see him on over 10000 things, like shirts, bags and candy boxes.

    Why is Kumamon so popular? First, he has a cute look. Second, people can find him on so many things that they can hardly forget him. Third, he is very funny. And there are a lot of photos and videos about him on the Internet. They make people laugh a lot. People think he is not just a mascot, but more like a person. 

   ①  Hi, I'm Mary Brown. Look at this photo. Two girls are in it. They are my sisters, Linda and Jane.

  ②   Hi, I'm Harper Seven Beckham. I'm an English girl. Harper is my first name. Seven is my middle name. Beckham is my last name. Here's my family photo. This is my father David Beckham. That is my mother Victoria Beckham. Those are my brothers Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz.

  ③   My name is Kimi. I'm not English. I'm Chinese. My father is Lin Zhiying. His English name is Jimmy. My mother is Chen Ruoyi. Her English name is Kelly. Oh, Angela and Cindy are my good friends.

  ④   Who am I? I'm Cindy. My Chinese name is Tian Xinchen. Tian Liang is my father. Ye Yiqian is my mother. Tian Chenyu is my brother.

A.     B.

C.     D.

E.