Youth Activity Center

Once a king got two nice falcons (猎鹰) from his son. He had never seen such beautiful falcons before. He loved them so much and he ordered the best falconer to train them to fly.

After several months, the king came to see how the training was going on. He found that one falcon had already been able to fly high in the sky, while the other was staying on the branch (树枝) of a tree quietly, just keeping still.

The king called all his falconers together and ordered them to try every way they could to make the other falcon fly. But none of them succeeded. One day, while the king was taking a walk in the forest, an idea came to his mind. Maybe someone who knew the natural environment well could solve this problem. He sent for a farmer who lived in the forest into his palace to train it at once.

The next morning, the king saw the other falcon flying above in the sky freely. “It is unbelievable!” shouted the king. “How could you make it happen?”

The farmer replied, “It’s very easy. I just cut off the branch where the falcon rested.”

It is always the same to human beings. We all have “two flying wings” in our hearts as well, but we often don’t seem to notice them and stay where we are just for safety and comfort. We won’t realize we can fly so high and freely until the “branch” we are resting on breaks.

Bamboo is a wonderful plant for many people around the world.     16     People make tables, clothes, medicine, and musical instruments with it. Pandas may eat bamboo every day, but people can also eat it.

    17     Some bamboo grows so quickly that people say they can watch it grow. The speed of growth depends on the type of bamboo, the earth and the season. Normal bamboo grows 3cm, 10cm a day. It usually grows in tropical (热带的) areas.     18     Bamboo plants are found in Asia, Australia, parts of Africa, and South America.

One of the world’s oldest building materials is bamboo. Like today, people use it because it’s very strong. They use it to build houses, boats, and bridges. The Chinese made a bamboo bridge over the Min River in Sichuan, China almost 1,000 years ago.     19     Also, bamboo is still used to build houses today, especially in China and Philippines.

As a part of history, bamboo is very important. The great scientist Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb (灯泡), but he made it perfect. He wanted the material inside to burn for a long period of time. He tried over 1,000 different types of materials.     20     One day, he tried to use a piece of bamboo and the light bulb lit up for over a thousand hours. This invention helped other scientists to make the modern light bulb we use today.