My sister Alli and I have been trying to get people to stop dropping cigarette butts (烟蒂) for seven years.

    One day, we were walking in our hometown and saw hundreds of cigarette butts on the ground.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    They made the town look so ugly that we decided to start a group to make people stop dropping butts. We called it "No Butts About It!"

    At first, we drew pictures with "The Earth Is Not Your Ashtray (烟灰缸) " written on them. We put the pictures around our hometown--in parks, by beaches, and along roads.

    We wanted to make people understand that dropping butts does harm to the environment. Most smokers don't think that dropping butts harms the earth.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Later, we wrote to companies and asked them for money to help us. We used the money to buy ashtrays to give smokers.

    We wanted smokers to carry the ashtrays with them so they didn't have to drop butts.

    At the moment, we are trying to get cigarette companies to put an ashtray in each pack of cigarettes.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Many people have started to join our group since it began.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}And there are even groups in England, Australia and India !

    Many newspapers have written about my sister and I over the last seven years. And we have won many prizes for our good work.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}We just want to make the earth a better and cleaner place for animals, plants and people.

    One day it will be.

A. My sister and I set up a "No Butts About It" group.

B. But we are not interested in prizes.

C. Today there are 45 other "No Butts About It" groups in America.

D. They made the ground dirty.

E. But it does! All rubbish does.

F. Many smokers like to drop butts here and there.

G. Some companies would like to do it.

    I have always loved cars. After graduating from college, I got one, which I regarded as my best friend. I called it Victor. For the next three years, everything I did was connected with(与…有关)Victor. I lived a happy life. But because of money problems, I had to sell Victor. Then my life broke down. Without Victor, I was like a fish out of water. Three months later, with the encouragement of my friends, I decided to start a new life. I tried and made it. Everything went well again. Losing my car made me grow up. I have learned that life won't go our way, but we can choose to be positive and make the best of it.

    Everyone needs friends. We all like to feel close to someone. It is nice to have a friend to talk, laugh, and do things with. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}We don't always want people around. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} We will feel lonely if we never have a friend.

    Friends sometimes don't get on well. Most of the time they will make up and become friends again. When friends move away, we feel very sad. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Then we call them or write to them. We can even see them again someday. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}It's surprising to find out how much we like new people when we get to know them.

    There's more good news for people who have friends. They live longer than people who don't. Why? It could be that they are happier. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Or it could be just knowing that someone cares. If someone cares about you, you'll take better care of yourself.

    Xitang is an ancient water town in Jiashan Country, Zhejiang Province. It is close to Shanghai. Since some scenes of the movie Mission: Impossible Ⅲ were filmed there, it has become very popular, both at home and abroad. More and more tourists from Western countries add this town to their "must — see" lists(列表)when they are traveling in Shanghai and Hangzhou.

    Xitang is a quiet town. You will feel very relaxed in this water town, and be surprised by its beauty. Along the river, over 10,000 people live in the old buildings built during the Ming and Qing dynasties, Most of them run gift shops and provide service for tourists here.

    Somethings special inⅪtang

    Ancient Lanes(小巷)

    There are 122 lanes ill Xitang. long and short, wide and narrow(狭窄的). No matter from which point you start, you can find and other place in the town. It's amazing, isn't it？

    Button(纽扣)Museum

    Xitang mikes all kinds of buttons. Button Museum is on the west street in xitang and it has a collection of over 1,000 buttons through the ages.

    Xiyuan Garden

    Xitang Garden is similar to other classic gardens in the south of China. It has trees, flowers, towers, bridges, lakes and waterfalls.

⑴{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Chen Jin likes doing sports. He wants to live near a park.

⑵{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Meng Ting only likes Chinese food. He hopes his host family can speak a little Chinese.

⑶{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Liu Li likes living in a big bedroom cheaper than f350 a month. She doesn't like pets.

⑷{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Han Ping loves pets. She would like a bedroom cheaper than £220 a month.

⑸{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Liu Jun hopes to live near his school- Reading School. He'd like a bedroom with a bathroom.

    Scientists are trying to make the deserts into good land again. They want to bring water to the deserts, so people can live and grow food. They are learning a lot about the deserts. But more and more of the earth is becoming deserts all the time. Scientists may not be able to change the deserts. People are doing bad things to the earth.

    Some places on the earth don't get much rain. But they still don't become deserts. This is because some green plants are growing there. Small green plants and grass are very helpful to dry places. Plants don't let the hot sun make the earth even drier. Plants don't let the wind blow the earth away. When a little bit of rain falls, the plants hold the water. Without the plants, the land can become a desert much more easily.