Boom! A clap of thunder (一声霹雳) made the old house shake. Ramon stayed under his bed. A flash of lightning (一道闪电) lit up the room."I hate this house,"Ramon thought. It was his first night in his new home.

    The house had belonged to his grandma. It was very, very old. It looked really scary at night. The trees outside his windows looked like monsters (怪物) in the dark. Their branches (树枝) looked like long arms. They waved when the wind blew. The storm made everything even scarier. Ramon hated storms, and it seemed worse in the old house.

    Later the thunder became quieter. Ramon climbed into bed and fell asleep. When he woke up, the sun was shining through his windows. Ramon climbed out of bed.

    The trees outside didn't look like monsters anymore. The branches had nice green leaves growing on them. Ramon could see a bird sitting on one of the branches. It was singing a happy song. The yard looked pretty nice in the daylight. A stream (溪) ran across the yard. A swing hung from one of the trees. Many flowers grew next to the  tree.  Butterflies  flew  around  the flowers.

    "Maybe living here won't be so bad after all," Ramon thought.

Environmental protection is one of the hottest topics nowadays. It was also something that ancient Chinese paid great attention to. In fact, the world's earliest environmental protection idea, ministry （部门） and law were all born in China. How did the ancient Chinese protect the environment?

The world's earliest idea of "managing state affairs（政事）through environmental protection"

Xunzi, a famous thinker in the Warring States Period, came up with the idea of "managing state affairs through environmental protection". He wrote in his book that vegetation（植被）should be protected well by humans.

Guan Zhong, a government officer 400 years ahead of Xunzi, was also an environmental protection expert. He said "a king who cannot protect his vegetation is not doing a good job".

The world's earliest environmental protection ministry"

Nine ministries set up by Shim, an ancient Chinese emperor, included "Yu"（虞） , an environmental protection ministry. Hie first " Yu'' leader was Boyi, an environmental protection expert. He invented wells so people could drink clean water. He knew a lot about animals and also called for animal protection.

The world's earliest "environmental protection law"

Over 4, 000 years ago, Dayu, an ancient Chinese water-control expert and also an emperor, made a rule, not allowing people to cut down trees in March or catch fish in June, because it was the time when they grew quickly.

Almost 3,000 years ago, Tianlv, the first environmental protection law, appeared in Qin. It recorded many ancient environmental protection rules. Two of them were interesting: firstly, rivers should not be blocked（堵塞）; secondly, grass and trees should not be burned to be fertilizer （肥料）except for summer. The second one is inspiring even for today. It can help to keep air clean and fresh.

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A 

B 

C 

D 

E 

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AFamily Bakery

It's 3:00 in the morning. Angela is ready to start the day at the family bakery(面包房). Vincent and his wife, Angela, are its owners(主人).

Everyone in the family works in the bakery. The oldest daughter, Claire, is good at making cakes. Maria is the middle child. She works at the counter(柜台),and sometimes she makes cookies. Paul, the youngest, is 14,and he makes bread. Vincent says, "Paul has good hands for bread." All the family work in the bakery ,but the children only work there before or after school.

The bakery is open every day. The bakery sells cookies, cakes and bread. Mr. Martin is a regular customer(常客) ． He goes to the bakery every morning. He always takes the round loaf of bread with no butter. He says it's good. Mrs. Salerno is also a regular customer. Every Friday, she buys two loaves of Italian bread and a large box of cookies. Her six-year-old daughter, Laura, always gets one free cookie. Mrs. Salerno says Vincent's bakery is the best in the city.

In a certain period of time, every family should have only one child. But nowadays many families can choose {#blank#}1{#/blank#} (have)a second or third child. More children bring happiness to their parents, {#blank#}2{#/blank#} they also add to the living cost. So the parents have to work even harder for a good life. 

Liu Ling, a mother of three, is {#blank#}3{#/blank#} good example. She is one of the hard- working and wise Chinese {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (woman). Liu Ling was born in Jiangxi Province. When she {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(grow) up, she worked in a clothes factory in Hangzhou. 

After she got married, she moved to Xi' an. Now she is working in {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (she) husband's family business. She is a mother who has three children. In order to give them a good life and education, she works as hard {#blank#}7{#/blank#} she can. 

She does really {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (good) in her work. She has to carry window frames(窗框) which are {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (heavy) than her. At present, Liu Ling has a window and door factory in Xi' an and enough products every year. She can make 50, 000 yuan per month, but she {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (hope) she can make more money as her children grow older. 

I want to tell you something about my weekend. 1 Saturday morning, I usually get up very early. It is about 8:00 a.m. I often run with my father around my apartment (公寓). After I 2 my breakfast, I often go shopping with my mother. The shopping centre is far from our home, 3 we go there by bus. We spend about 20 minutes 4 there. The shopping centre has a 5 name. It is called Louis Mall. It doesn't have 6 Chinese name.

There are many things there, such as food, meat, clothes, shoes and so on. There 7 lots of people every day. Do you know 8 so many people come here to buy things? Let 9 tell you. The 10 there always smile. How kind they are! If you come to my home, I can take you there and have a look.