Earth Hour started at 7:30 p.m. on March 31,2007 in Sydney, Australia. More than 2.2 million homes and businesses turned off their lights for an hour.

    A year later, March 29,Earth Hour 2008 became a global(全球的)activity.50 million people in 35 countries took part in it.

    On March 28, 2009, more than2100 cities in 88 countries joined in it. And the idea “Earth hour” came to China. What were people doing during the Earth Hour? Here are some people's answers:

    Ann: I'm a university student. I invited some of my friends to go out. During the Earth Hour, we were having a candle light concert on the playground. We also talked about the happy times we spent in the university.

    Julie: I turned off the lights in my house and went for a walk during the Earth Hour. It was a little strange to walk in the dark. But I think it is exciting and meaningful.

    Do you suppose Darwin, one of the greatest scientists of all time, really did fools' (傻瓜的) experiments? Or did he do experiments that were so simple and basic (基础的) that other people just thought they were foolish?

    Sometimes, people think they already know the answer to a question or a problem．Sometimes, they really do know an answer, but without thinking it is important．

    Charles Darwin didn't just think he knew something．And, he believed all things could be important no matter how simple they seemed to be．

    Suppose you drop pieces of paper that are of exactly the same size and shape．If you drop them at the same time in the same place, they will fall in the same way．Now make one of the sheets of paper into a tight little ball and let it drop along with the other pieces．What happens? You have done an experiment that is so simple that you might think it couldn't be worth anything．

    But this simple experiment is important．It explains part of our present day understandings of physics (物理学) ideas that were worked out long ago by Galileo and Newton．And these understandings set aside some of ancient Greek (古希腊的) physics．

    The scientist sometimes stops to look at very simple things and to think very hard about them．Even the simplest idea, which we might think is foolish, can shake the foundations (基础) of science．

    At present, there is much homework for American students. But home is not a good place for students to do their homework. So there come Homework Clubs. And they are more and more popular in America.

    What is the Homework Club?

    The Homework Club is a good place for students to do their homework. It is very quiet. A teacher will help students prepare for the tests there. The teacher is not to teach students but to give them help when they need.

    Where is the Homework Club?

    The Homework Club is usually in a library or in a classroom. It is a popular activity after school every day. If there is no school that day, Homework Clubs will NOT meet.

    What will students do in the Homework Club?

    In the Homework Club, the students will do their homework for the first hour and then they will draw pictures or play football.

All Together Now!

    Have you ever heard of homemade music? That's right-homemade music. Music that is made at home can be lots of fun. And all of the family can take part in it. You don't have to have good voices. And you don't need to buy a musical instrument. What a family needs is the willingness to make music.

A singing game my family like is Crazy Voices. Each person sings a different song. But everybody sings at the same time! We do sound a little crazy. But the tunes (曲调) all fit together. Sometimes we get all mixed up. Then we just hum the songs. Or we put our hands over our ears. Then we try it again. And crazy voices fill the air. We really have homemade music when we play the Tap-a-Glass. Why? We make the instrument- that's the Tap-a一Glass. This takes some time. First, we hunt for drinking glasses that have a good ring to them. We tap them with a spoon to find out. We need eight glasses- one for each tone (音调) of the scale. How do we get different tones? By putting different amounts of water in the glasses. The more water, the lower the tone. After a while, we have all eight tones of the scale. Now the Tap-a-Glass is ready. One person takes the spoon and taps out a simple tune. We always give the player time to practice a little bit first. Then we try to guess the name of the song.

    Sometimes we do echo (回声) singing. In echo singing, we sing the same song. We pick a simple tune. One person begins to sing. Then a second person starts-right after the first singer! Sure enough, we have homemade music with a homemade echo!

    My family have fun with homemade music. We enjoy the time being together. Sometimes we get all mixed up. Sometimes we have to stop because we are laughing s0 hard. But more importantly, we can make music ourselves. To us, it sounds great.