Children have their own rules in playing games. They seldom need a referee(裁判) and rarely trouble to keep scores. They don’t care much about who wins or loses, and it doesn’t seem to worry them if the game is not finished. Yet, they like games that depend a lot on luck, so that their personal abilities cannot be directly compared.

Grown-ups(成年人)can hardly find children’s games exciting, and they often feel puzzled at why their kids play such simple games again and again. However, it is found that a child plays games for very important reasons. He can be a good player without having to think whether he is a popular person, and he can find himself being a useful partner to someone of whom he is ordinarily afraid. He becomes a leader when it comes to his turn. He can be confident, too, in particular games, that it is his place to give orders, to pretend to be dead, to throw a ball actually at someone, or to kiss someone he has caught.

It appears to us that when children play a game they imagine a situation under their control. Everyone knows the rules, and more importantly, everyone plays according to the rules. Those rules may be childish, but they make sure that every child has a chance to win.

1970 was the World Conservation (自然保护) Year. The United Nations wanted everyone to know that the world was in danger. They hoped that governments would go into action (行动) quickly in order to conserve nature. Here is one example of the problems. At one time there were 1,300 different plants, trees and flowers in Holland, but now only 860 remain. The others have been destroyed by modern men and their technology. We are changing the earth, the air and the water, and everything that grows and lives. We can’t live without these plants. If we continue like this, we will destroy ourselves.

What will happen in the future? Perhaps it is more important to ask “What must we do now?” The people who will be living in the world of tomorrow are the young of today. A lot of them know that conservation is necessary. Many are helping to save our world. They plant trees, build bridges across rivers in forests, and so on. In a small town in the United States a large group of girls cleaned the banks of 11 kilometers of their river. Young people may hear about conservation through a record called “No one’s going to change our world”. It was made by the Beatles, Cliff Richard and other singers. The money from it will help conserve wild animals.

Music is very popular in America and it is very important to American people.

Pop or popular music is what every student likes in America.     31     Students with cars buy large speakers and enjoy the loud music as they drive on the street.

Adult drivers listen to music on the radio as they drive to work. They also listen to the news about sports, the weather, and the life of American people.     32    

Popular music singers make much money. They make CDs or tapes, which TV or radio stations often use in many ways. Once the singers are heard all over the country, young people buy their CDs or tapes.    33    The popular singers also give concerts. Wherever they go, all the young people want to meet them.    34    

There are another two kinds of music that are important to American people. One is called folk music.    35     The other is called western or country music. This was started by cowboys(牛仔)who would sing at night to the cows they were watching.