Have you ever planted a few trees on Tree Planting Day? Each year, millions of people, both  1 , plant a lot of trees. But this may not be the best way to make your home a  2 place.

   Last week we visited a park in Hebei. We were  3  to find most of the trees had been burned. The workers told us that the trees 4 soon after they were planted because they weren't watered well enough. 5workers burned them and cleaned the place for 6 trees to be planted this year. 7 a card found in one of the dead trees, a student wrote, ＂I hope this tree will grow up with me to   8   the backbone(栋梁) of our country.＂The workers said that the survival(存活) of the trees was really more important than  9   trees were planted.

    Some people in Beijing now have a new idea that they can donate(捐赠) some money and let professionals (专业人士) plant and  10  the trees.

    How much do you know about the universe? In the huge universe, there is the Galaxy and many other galaxies. In the Galaxy, there is the Solar System and lots of other stars. In the Solar System, there is the sun, the earth and seven other planets. As we know, the eight planets go around their star —the sun. In our Earth—moon System, the moon goes around the earth. And because our earth keeps turning around the sun all the time, we have day and night. When our part of the earth turns to the sun, it is day. When our part of the earth turns away from the sun, it is night.

    Just because the moon is closer to the earth than the sun, it looks much bigger than the sun. The sun is big enough to give out very strong light. The moon itself can't give any light at all, but it looks quite bright, too. In fact, the light from the moon comes from the sun. Although, the moon looks much bigger and brighter than the sun and other stars, in fact, all the stars are much bigger and brighter than the moon. They look smaller than the moon also because they are farther away from us. It's clear that big things will look smaller when they are farther, and small things look bigger when they are nearer.

So far, we have traveled to many other planets in the universe. But scientists haven't discovered any living things on any other planets. Scientists haven't discovered any other planets with a good environment. They aren't sure if there is any water and air for living things to live on other planets. People always ask the question: Is there anyone out space? Our scientists haven't got a clear answer either. Some people think it will be a secret for a long time. But we believe we can solve the problem some day.

Exploring our Solar System and the universe is a great national project to some countries. Our Chinese scientists are also trying to send spaceships with astronauts to those planets and even the universe. At 9:00 a.m. on October 15th, 2003, a Chinese astronaut called Yang Liwei was sent up to space. He stayed there for hours and got back to the earth at 6:00 a.m. the next day. It was the first time for Chinese to have a space travel.

    The undersea world is very beautiful. Now more and more people want to 1 in the water to find the secret there. Scuba diving (水肺潜水) is a new sport today. It can take you into a wonderful undersea world.

    If you are lucky, you will 2 find many strange animals in the sea. Some are as 3 as a school bus. Some are so tiny that you may not  4 them at all.

    During the day, there is enough 5. Everything is blue and green. When fish swim nearby, you can catch them with your hands. When you have bottles of air on your back, you can stay in 6 water for a long time. However, you can't dive too deep. And you must be very 7 when you are in deep water, because something dangerous may happen unexpectedly.

    The deep sea is not an easy place to live in. It's cold, and it's 8 too. The deeper it is, the less sunlight there is. At about 3,000 feet, there is no light at all.

    Besides the cold and darkness, deep-sea animals face a third 9 —other animals. Animals eat! Many animals eat plants. However, some animals eat 10. This means these sea animals have two big jobs. They need to find animals as food, and they have to try not to become other animals' meal.

    We are lucky to live in a rich country where we have many things. However, some of us sometimes 1 some things.

    Electricity is one thing that we waste most. Lights, TVs, radios and other things are often kept on. We should turn them off when no one is using them. It 2 less than a second to do it. Anyhow, not wasting electricity 3 money, because we do not have to pay for the electricity we do not use.

    The second thing that we often waste is water. 4 water is precious (珍贵的) and important, so it shouldn't be wasted. It is only a(n) 5 matter of turning off a tap. I am sure everybody can do it 6 if he wants to.

    Another big waste is 7. My mother used to cook so much food that much of it was thrown away. I told her we had wasted so much food. She thought l was 8. And now she cooks only what we can 9 up.

    It is not right to be wasteful. I find there is a simple way of not wasting things. That is to use only what we need and not to 10 what we do not need. In this way, we can stop being wasteful.

    A grown-up person has ten or eleven pints(品脱) of blood inside his or her body. We can lose a pint of blood without feeling anything, but if we lose too much blood, we feel weak and cold. Our faces become pale(苍白). We may die. This is what often1when somebody is hurt in an accident or a soldier is hurt in a battle. Many people used to die in this way. But nowadays they can be taken to the hospital. If they are given more blood at once, they will feel better. Their faces are no longer pale. They do not die.

    Where does this blood come from? People who are2give some blood so that it can be used in this way. Every three months they go to a place where blood is collected. A special kind of needle is put into the arm. It does not hurt. The blood runs3the needle and a rubber tube into a bottle. A pint of blood is taken in this way. Then the person who has given the blood drinks a cup of tea or coffee. He sits down for a few minutes. Then he feels quite well and goes off. Three months4he comes back and gives another pint.

    A person who gives blood5feels happy. He knows that his blood will be used to save someone's life. Perhaps one day he himself will need blood.

    When you grow older, you may decide to give blood in this way. But you cannot do this6you are eighteen.