There are many wetlands(湿地)in China and some of them have become the world's important wetlands. The Chinese Yellow Sea Wetlands are among them. They are in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. They are home for many different kinds of birds and animals. The world's largest Milu Deer Nature Reserve(自然保护区) is in them. More than 700 milu deer live freely there. In winter you can see some red-crowned cranes in the Yellow Sea Wetlands though there are not many in the world.

It is not too hot nor too cold in the wetlands. There is a lot of rain and sunshine, too. They are really good places for wildlife. Offering food and home for some special kinds of animals and birds is not the only reason why we need to protect wetlands. Wetlands are important because they also prevent flood(洪水). But some people want to change the wetlands to make more farms and buildings. This means there will be less and less space for wildlife.

    Luckily, more and more people are beginning to realize the importance of wetlands and wildlife. Every year, on February 2nd, many activities are held to tell people more about wetlands.

The Internet is becoming important in our life. How much do you know about it?

What is the Internet?

The Internet is a large, world-wide collection (聚集) of computer networks( 网络). A network is a small group of computers put together. The Internet is many different kinds of networks from all over the world. These networks are called the Internet. If you have learned to use the Internet, you can have a lot of interest on the World Wide Web(网)

What is the World Wide Web?

The World Wide Web has been the most popular development of the Internet. The Web is like a big electronic (电子) book with millions of pages. These pages are called homepages. You can find information about almost anything in the world on these pages. For example, you can use the Internet instead of a library to find information for your homework. You can also find information about your favourite sport or film star, talk to your friends or even do some shopping on the pages. Most pages have words, pictures and even sound or music.

What is e-mail?

Electronic mail (e-mail) is a way of sending messages to other people. It' s much quicker and cheaper than sending a letter. If you want to use e-mail, you must have an e-mail address. This address must have letters and dots (点) and an" @ " (means "at"). For example: Lily @ Yahoo, com. Write a message, type a person's e-mail address, then send the message across the Internet. People don't need to use stamps, envelopes  or go to the post office since the invention of the Internet . Quick, easy and interesting — that' s the Internet .

    The earth moves round the sun, and the moon goes round the earth. When our part（部分） of the earth turns to the sun, it is day, When our part of the earth turns away from the sun, it is night. The sun is much bigger than the moon. But sometimes the moon looks bigger than the sun, because it's much nearer to the earth. The sun is very bright. It gives a very strong light. The moon looks quite bright, too. But it doesn't give any light at all. The moon looks much bigger and brighter than the stars .But actually（事实上）, the stars are much bigger and brighter than the moon. They look smaller than the moon because they're much farther away from us.

    Is there intelligent(有智力的) life on other planets(行星)? For years, scientists said "No." or "We don't know." But today this is changing. Seth Shostak and Alexandra Barnett are astronomers (天文学家). They believe intelligent life exists somewhere in the universe. They also think we will soon contact these beings(人；生物).

    Why do Shostak and Barnett think intelligent life exists on other planets? The first reason is time. Scientists believe the universe is about 12 billion years old. "This is long enough for other planets to have intelligent life," say Shostak and Barnett. The second reason is size——the universe is huge. "Tools like the Hubble Telescope (哈勃望远镜) have shown that there are at least 100 billion galaxies (银河系) ," says Shostak. "And our galaxy, the Milky Way, has at least 100 billion stars. Some planets going around these stars might be similar to Earth. "

    In the past, it was hard to look for signs of intelligent life in the universe. But now, powerful telescopes (高倍望远镜) allow scientists to discover smaller planets--the size of Mars or Earth--in other solar systems (太阳系).These planets might have intelligent life.

    Have beings from space already visited Earth? "Probably not," says Shostak. "It's a long way away. However, intelligent beings may contact us in other way, such as radio signals(信号). "In fact, they may be trying to communicate with us now, but we don't have the right tools to receive their messages. However, this is changing. By 2025, we could make contact with other life forms in our universe and we might help each other.