Clothes are traditionally made of natural materials, such as cotton, leather and wool. They are all from plants or animals, but that doesn't mean they're friendly to the earth. For example, farmers have to use a lot of chemicals to grow cotton plants.

    Scientists are now looking for new ways to make clothing materials. They hope the new materials are both comfortable and good for the earth. Scientists have worked out how to make materials out of cornhusks (谷壳), chicken feathers and rice straws.

    "They used to be useless things. We always have a problem of how to deal with them," Yang, a scientist says. "Now, we can turn them into beautiful materials. Chicken feathers are better than other things. They have small air pockets like honeycombs. That means it will be very warm if you use them to make a jacket or sweater, and I think more and more people will like to buy these kinds of clothes."

    Let me tell you something about sharks. Sharks are among the oldest animals in the world. There are over three hundred and fifty different kinds of sharks in the world. Most sharks are about two meters long and live in the oceans.

    A shark can smell something in the water, for example, the blood of animals. That helps them find their food. Sharks mainly eat fish, other sharks and plants in the ocean.

    Most sharks bite (咬)people by mistake. They think a person is a large sea animal. When the sun goes down or comes up, sharks are looking for food. So at these times people shouldn't go swimming in the ocean. Today people kill sharks for food and their skin. The number of sharks in the world is dropping fast.

Most American families are {#blank#}1{#/blank#} than the ones in other countries. Most American families have one or two {#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

 Children in the US will leave their parents' home {#blank#}3{#/blank#} they grow up. They usually live far from their parents because they want to find good {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. They often write to their parents {#blank#}5{#/blank#} telephone them. And they often go to visit their parents on holidays.

Parents usually let their children choose their {#blank#}6{#/blank#} jobs. Americans think it is important for young people to decide their lives by {#blank#}7{#/blank#}.

Many people ask the children to do some work {#blank#}8{#/blank#} their house. And in many families, the parents {#blank#}9{#/blank#} their children for doing some housework so that(为了) they can learn how to {#blank#}10{#/blank#} money for their own use.

In our daily life, we usually use direct questions to ask for information we do not know. Direct questions are either yes or no questions such as "Are you married?" or information questions such as "Where do you live?"

It's OK to ask your friends or someone you know well direct questions, but such questions can seem unfriendly at times, especially when you are asking a stranger. For example, if you come up to someone and ask "What time is it?" or "Can you move?", he or she may refuse to help you. It is certainly right to ask questions in this way, but it's very common to make these kinds of questions more polite by adding "Excuse me" or "Pardon me" to begin your questions. "Excuse me, when does the bus leave?" or "Pardon me, may I sit here?" sounds more polite.

It's also possible to use "can" in more informal （非正式的） situations. In the past, people used" can" when asking for something, but only to speak about abilities. In the UK, some English teaching materials from Cambridge University come with the phrase （短语） "Can you lend me…" "Can I have...", etc. In the US, this form is still considered to be not true, especially for written English, and "May I have..." is better. Questions with "can" will sound more polite by using "could": "Pardon me, could you help me?"

"Would" can also be used to make questions more polite. "Would you let me borrow your pencil?" is also polite.

Another way of making direct questions more polite is to add "please" at the end of the questions, We can say "Could you help me, please?" But notice this, "please" should not appear at the beginning of the questions.

Dads have Father's Day. Moms have Mother's Day. Kids have Children's Day. But, do our 1 have a special holiday? Yes, they do!

The Double Ninth Festival is a special day for elderly people in China. The festival is on the ninth day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar （农历）. As the Chinese word for nine has the same sound2 the word for long, people take the festival to show their wishes of long life for elderly people. 

There are many3 for this festival. On that day, families get together and climb mountains for luck and in the hope that elderly people will live much4 . They also drink chrysanthemum wine （菊花酒）and wear a plant called zhuyu to make people5 the special day. Both chrysanthemum and zhuyu are thought to be clean plants that can clean houses and cure diseases. But the custom of carrying a dogwood spray（山茱萸喷雾）during the Double Ninth Festival is slowly6 and many people in the cities, do not even know what a dogwood spray looks like. 

7 elderly people is shown not only on this special day but also in daily life. For example, when there are several guests at the table; the host usually introduces 8 from the oldest to the youngest. On a9 . subway or bus, younger people always offer their seats to elderly people. 

It is a traditional virtue（英德）in China to love elderly people10 the elderly people are usually have more knowledge and experience than the young people. Besides, to love the elderly people is to love yourself tomorrow.