Do you live in a city? Do you know how cities began? Long long ago, the world had only a few thousand people. These people moved from one place to another. They moved over the land, hunting animals for food. No one knows how or when these people learned about growing food. But when they did, their lives changed. They did not have to move houses any more. They could stay in one place and grow it. People began to live near each other, so the first village grew. Many people came to work in the villages, and these villages became larger and larger. Then people had machines, life in the villages changed again. People built factories. More and more people lived near the factories. So the villages grew into cities. Some of them grew very big. Today, it's strange that some people are moving back to small villages. Can you tell me why ?

    The following are some project rules for the students of Sunshine Secondary School. 

    A Famous Building

    Build a model of a famous building. You can use wood, paper and glue but you mustn't use other things. You have to paint the model. Next class, you must describe your building but it doesn't have to be long.

    Musical Instruments

    You must make two musical instruments with plastic bottles. You can't use materials from toys or real instruments (乐器). In class, you have to play some music with the instruments for three minutes.

    A Short Film

    Make a film about your group. You can bring a video camera or a mobile phone from home. The film has to be in English. You can interview people in your group but their answers mustn't be long. You must play the film in class and introduce your group in three minutes.

    A Chopstick Plane

    You must make a plane with two chopsticks. You can use paper and glue but you can't use metal. You must test the plane in front of your teacher and your classmates in the playground. It has to fly for ten seconds.

Class Project {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Some things can carry messages, for example, a sign at the bus stop helps you to know which bus to take. Signs on the door tell you where to go in or out. Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of signs around you and that you receive messages from them all the time?

    People can communicate on many other ways. An artist can use his drawing to tell about beautiful mountains, about the blue sea and many other things. Books are written to tell you about all the wonderful things in the world and also about people and their ideas.

    Books, magazines, TVs, radios and films all help us to communicate with others. They all help us to know what is going on in the world and what other people are thinking about.

    We always look forward to World Book Day—it's a chance to share our love of books and reading with even more people! Here are some of the activities in different countries and places to celebrate the World Book Day, April 23rd every year.

    School Children's Books

    School Children's Books are happy that best-selling writer Holly Webb is their World Book Day writer for 2012. Holly has written a large number of books for children and she has written a special Magic Molly story just for this year's World Book Day!

    Reading Package

    On the World Book Day, every primary school student in Britain will receive a package from their school. Inside, there is a story book, a beautiful card and a reading list. Besides these three things, they will also receive a special note, which is worth one pound. Children can use it to buy their favorite books. And they can also enjoy a special price-20% cheaper.

    Share of Reading

    It is an interesting on-line activity which is for one week. People can share their opinions of a book on line. There are also many reading-aloud activities in libraries. For example, in 2010's World book Day the former US first lady Michelle Obama read aloud a book called The Cat in The Hat for more than 200 children in a library.

    Information Card

    WeiFang and Liu Lin are the students of Green School. They are good friends. Theywant to join some clubs.

    Thereare many clubs in their school. They are English club, music club, swimmingclub, chess club, art club and so on. Wei Fang wants to join the music club.She wants to be a musician when she grows up(长大).Her favourite singer is Song Zuying. (1)她能唱歌和跳舞。Now she can play the piano and play the guitar well, but she can'tplay the violin. Liu Lin can play chess and he can swim well.  But he can only speak a little English. So hewants to join the English club to improve(提高)hisEnglish. On Sundays, he often plays basketball with his friends. He wants to bea basketball player like Jeremy Lin. (2)你想加入什么俱乐部？

    American and British people both speak English of course. But sometimes it does not seem like the same language. In fact, there are some important differences between British English and American English.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Often, Americans don't say each word separately. They say several words together. Americans may say "I dunno" instead of" I don't know". Or they may say "Whaddya say?" instead of "What did you say?" However, the British are more careful in their speech. They usually say all the words and keep them separate.

    Sound is not only the difference between British English and American English. Words sometimes have different meanings too. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Americans drive trucks, but in England people drive lorries.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}In England, if you are going to telephone your friends, you "phone them up". In America, you "give them a call".

    There are also some differences in grammar. For example, Americans usually use the helping verb "do" when they ask a question. They say "Do you have a storybook?" But the British often leave out the helping verb.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Most languages are like this. Languages change over time. When people live in separate places, the languages change in different ways. This is what has happened to English. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Many people in Canada speak French but their French is very different from the French of France.