Zac and I were always best friends. We both started playing football from an early age. Zac was bigger than me and it was difficult to score a goal when he was in front of me. I was faster, though. Once I got past him, he couldn’t catch me.

There were two under-17 teams. The first team was the Springtown Stars. They played the most important games. The other was the Springtown Asteroids. They were also a good team but not as good as the Stars. Zac and I were proud to be in the Stars!

It was time for the coach to name the team for the season. Zac’s name was called out but mine wasn’t. I went to check the list on the board. I could hardly believe my eyes! How could the coach make such a mistake? I was as good as Zac. What pain I felt! I had lost my place in the Stars.

After that, I had to practise with the Asteroids but I didn’t enjoy it. I played so well, and yet no one understood this. I began to despise Zac and the coach.

However, one Saturday, I watched the Stars play against another team. I thought they wouldn’t play well without me, but I was wrong. I began to see that they had great teamwork and skills. Zac was especially good. He had worked harder than me and was now much better.

Perhaps I was not as good as I had thought. As he left the field, I gave him a big high five, “Zac, you are great! I will be back to the Stars next season.”

People are trying to build “green buildings” that are friendly to the environment. They might not seem any different from common buildings. But let’s take a closer look.

Stay cool and warm. It takes a lot of energy to light rooms. It also takes energy to heat and cool buildings. So green buildings are designed to do all these things with much less energy. An energy-smart building starts with thick walls. Special insulation(隔热材料)inside keeps heat inside in winter and keeps heat outside in summer. This saves energy for heating and cooling. Some green buildings don’t need any radiators(散热器)or air conditioning at all!

Save the trees. What a building is made from can also help the planet. To save forests, some green buildings have bamboo floors instead of wood. Bamboo looks like wood, but it’s actually a grass. It grows back 20 times faster than a tree. Another way to build green is to use recycled materials. That saves the cost and reduces pollution of producing something new.

Make better home. City planners like green buildings because they save money and they are healthier for the people who work and live inside. But you don’t need to build a whole new building. Simple changes like shading windows and planting trees can make any home greener—and a better Earth home for us all.

As more people become concerned(担忧的)about climate change, more buildings are going green. Experts are finding new ways to build green buildings. We also need to change our mind. Let’s take action now!

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Chinese opera is one of the oldest art forms in the world.     17     Different parts of China have their own local opera and there are more than 300 different kinds.     18     Actors in Sichuan opera wear specially painted masks(面具)on their faces in many different colours. They will suddenly change completely, and all the time, the actor is dancing beautifully with many difficult movements. Some actors can change face ten times in twenty seconds, and yet you never see their fingers touch their face.

Of course, you realize that the actor has many different masks, one on top of the other. They are made from very thin silk in bright colours. If the actor turns his back to you, you think he is changing his mask while you cannot see him doing it.     19     Then he shakes his head suddenly and that mask has changed, like magic, into another one!You cannot believe your eyes, and yet it has happened!

To be able to change the masks without being seen is a very special skill. It takes much time to learn it perfectly. The exact method used by the actors is a closely guarded secret that is only passed on from father to son or master to apprentice (学徒) . As China’s influence develops around the world, Chinese culture travels too.     20    

A lark (云雀) made her nest (鸟巢) in a field of young wheat (小麦). In this nest were three baby larks. The mother had to fly away every day to get them ________. All around them the wheat grew tall and began to ripen (成熟).

One day, a farmer and his son came to the ________. The farmer said, “This wheat is ripe. We must ask someone to help us ________ it.”

Hearing what they said, the larks were in great ________ because they were afraid of losing their home. When their mother got back to the nest, they at once told her what they had heard.

“We must ________ at once!” said the young larks. “Or the men will come and kill us.”

“There is no need to ________ now, my children,” said the mother. “We are quite safe at present. The man who waits for others to help him with his ________ is not to be feared. But when they come again, listen and tell me what they say.”

A few days later, the farmer found that the wheat was so ripe. He said to his son, “________ this wheat is not cut at once, we will lose half of them. We can’t afford to wait any longer for help from others. Tomorrow we must start to work, ourselves.”

When the young larks told their mother what they had heard that day, she said, “Ah! It’s ________ for us to leave now. When a man decides to do his own work and not to ________ anyone else, then it is sure to be done.”

By this time the little larks could fly, so the next day, they flew away to a new home.

“Imagine that your home is on fire. You’re allowed to save one thing. Your family and pets are safe, so don’t worry about them. What is the most important thing you have? It can be any size.”

Linda Sue wrote a book The One Thing You’d Save. In it, a teacher named Ms. Chang invites her students to think of the question above. She wants to challenge her class to name the most important thing to them. Some students know the answer right away. Others come to their decisions more slowly. And some students change their minds when they hear their classmates’ answers. As for the answers, some choose baseball cards or toy animals. One picks a sweater that has been passed down for generations(代). Another chooses a box of memories about …

Even Ms. Chang shares her own choice in the end. It is a really thought-provoking(引人深思的) question. As the students are trying to answer it, they discover more about one another and themselves.

The book is a collection of poems. The writer tells the story through narrative(叙述的) poems. What makes the book popular is that it leads people to think deeply.

The book uses black-and-white pictures to show the objects the students choose. When seeing the pictures, people may think of scenes(场景) of their homes, the classroom and more.

The pictures offer wordless moments that encourage readers to think more before they move on.

Want to know what matters most to the students? Read this book.