1 . Watching wild animals makes us pleased, cheer us up and, sometimes, even make us frightened. But do you know they can teach us? Wild geese, for example, teach a very good lesson about teamwork.

In fall, Canada wild geese fly south to get away from Canada’s cold winter weather. They lift off in no order. Yet very quickly they form a V shape, with one bird leading the flock. Scientists have discovered that wild geese flying in a V shape can help them to save energy. In this way, they can fly 70 percent farther without rest than those flying alone.

What can human learn from this?

Be an encourager. We have found that wild geese make sound in flight to encourage those that have fallen behind to keep up with the speed. Team members should communicate with each other while working towards a common goal.

Take turns. The wild goose out in front has the hardest job as it has to break up the air currents(气流). When it gets tired, it moves behind, and another goose moves to the front. By sharing the role, the flock can travel a long distance (距离). Teams can get advantages from the same idea. Based on their experience and skills, people can take turns sharing the leadership role.

Set a good example. When wild geese are on the ground, if something frightens the leader, it might fly off. So does the flock. But if the leader stays calm, the flock will do the same. Wild geese and people usually imitate their leaders. When leading, we must remember that our actions and feelings will be passed on to our followers.

Whether it is in our personal lives or our work, we need other people. We are encouraged by their enthusiasm (热情) and energy. If we face the difficulties alone, the risks are greater. Like wild geese, when we work together, our burdens are lighter.

2 . Many Chinese people will wonder what presents to get for their mums on Mother’s Day, but not many know Mother’s Day is in fact a festival from the west. Mother’s Day first began in America during the early 20th century. The festival came to China as early as in the 1980s and was widely accepted.

Why did a foreign festival become popular in China? In fact, Chinese traditional culture has always encouraged filial devotion (孝顺) to parents.

One of the examples is the story of Taste Liquid Medicine for Mother (《亲尝汤药》). It tells us the filial virtue (美德) of Emperor Wen of the Western Han Dynasty. His mother had been ill for three years. He often stayed up by her bedside and looked after her day and night. He tasted the liquid medicine first before she drank it. Also, mother’s love is an eternal (永恒的) subject in Chinese ancient poems, like Song of the Parting Son by Meng Jiao, a poet of the Tang Dynasty.

Now poems like these are still a must-read in school textbooks. Children in China are brought up with the education of filial devotion. On special days, people often use the rose or the forget-me-not (勿忘我) to show love. The carnation (康乃馨) is seen as the perfect flower for mothers around the world, but few know that China has its own flower for mothers —the tiger lily.

We can have different ways to show our love for mothers. What matters most is love, not the festival itself.

The Chongyang Festival is one of the traditional Chinese Festivals. It falls on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month and it is specially celebrated for the old. On that day, people show their love and respect for the old, wishing them good health and a long life.

The Chongyang Festival is also called the Double Ninth Festival. As both the month and the day are nine, it got this name. Among the numbers from zero to nine, nine is the highest odd number（奇数）. In China, the character “nine” has the same pronunciation as the word “forever”, meaning long life. People believe that two “ninths” meeting together stand for（代表）a long life.

________

The festival has a history of over 2, 000 years. During the Warring States Period（战国）, there was the Chongyang Festival. But it was only celebrated in the palace. From the Han Dynasty（朝代）,   it began to be popular among the common people. The name of the Chongyang Festival first appeared in the Three Kingdoms Period. During the Jin Dynasty, there were customs of enjoying chrysanthemum（菊花）and drinking wines on the day. It was not officially set as a festival until the Tang Dynasty. Since then, all the people have spent the festival with all kinds of activities. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, people in the palace all ate flower cakes to celebrate. The king climbed the mountain on the day as well. In 1989, the Chinese government set the day as the Seniors’ Day.

People in China celebrate the Chongyang Festival in different ways. Some popular ones are as follows.

As September has the clear sky and fresh air, it is a very good time to climb the mountain.

There will be a happy sense of excitement by climbing the mountain in this season. Also, it is good for health.

People enjoy chrysanthemum on the Chongyang Festival as the flower means long life. And drinking chrysanthemum wine is seen as a way to avoid bad things.

Wearing Zhuyu is also a tradition to avoid bad things as the plant has a special smell that can repel（驱逐）insects and keep out the cold.

Eating Chongyang cakes is another tradition on the festival. It is especially popular in southern China. The cake with nine layers（层）with two sheep on it is usually the best. Two sheep mean Chongyang and nine layers show people could do well in everything.

4 . Let’s Plog!

We all know that running is good for our health. Have you ever thought that running is also good for the planet? Sometimes a creative mind can bring us a win-win situation.

Plogging is becoming increasingly popular after it started as an organizational（组织的）activity in Sweden（瑞典）. What is plogging? It is a term（词语）referring to the act of picking up litter while jogging. The term “plogging” is created by combining（合并）the English words “jogging” and “plocka upp”, a Swedish term that means “picking up”.

A Swedish man called Eric Ahlstrom started the movement. Eric noticed a lot of litter when he rode to work each day. So, he decided to do something about it. In 2016, Eric began organizing groups to pick up rubbish while jogging, and thus “plogging” was born. It spread to other countries in 2018, following increased concern about plastic pollution. Plogging is considered a perfect activity, as it is good both for the body, and for the environment.

Plogging is a movement that anyone can join. To get started, choose plogging route that you know is heavily littered but still considered safe. Do not forget to bring your recyclable rubbish bags and gloves, as well as some hand sanitizer（消毒纸巾）if necessary. You can jog alone or in groups. You can do it early in the morning, or a bit before going to work, or even in the late afternoon. If you’re not much of a jogger, that’s okay! You can take a walk. Anything that suits you! It really does not matter whether you take a 2-mile jog or a 5-mile marathon, or just a 15-minute morning walk. The idea with plogging is that you do some physical exercise while helping to pick up litter!

Every day, about 2 million people plog in over 100 countries. If you have a pair of gloves, a rubbish bag, and enjoy being outside, plogging may be right for you!

5 . Do you have a good time your family? Whether you do or not, these rules will help you.

1. ___△___

Most people value some privacy in their lives. If you expect your parents to knock before entering your room, you should do the same to remind them that it is important to do so.

2. Let parents know your plans

Whether your parents set some family rules for you or not, they want to be clear about your plans. If you go outlet them know when you’ll comeback and who you’re with. Doing this can avoid some parental worries.

3. Help with the housework

Everyone knows that the housework is far from fun, including your parents! But if you choose to help with the housework with or before being asked to do so, you will be in control of your own time, Of course, you are selective about what you do around the house. That means you can choose the housework that you prefer to do and avoid the housework you dislike most.

4. Be polite

There is an expression “a little goes along way” in English. It means that a small polite gesture can have a big influence. Most quarrels (争吵) can be avoided by talking with each other nicely.

5. Apologise

Sometimes, when quarrels happen, we just cant get along well with each other. However, there must besom cone who needs to calm down and apologise, Even if apology is just “I'm the sorry that I fought with you”, it will work.

If you want to help protect the environment and save the planet, we’ve got some easy ways of going green.

·Avoid food waste

Go green and know the important of finishing your meals to avoid food waste. Do your bit to save the planet as well by planning your meals for the week, so you only buy what you need.

·Use reusable bottles

Earth Day is a great time for you to drink from reusable water bottles when you’re out and about. You should form good water-saving habits around the house, too.

·Try more plant-based meals

Try to eat less meat. It’s a surprisingly simple way we can all use to help save the planet. Try with one day a week to get you start, and then expand to more days when possible.

·Cut down on the air conditioner（空调）

Whenever you can, go green and open the window for some natural air. If you can’t live without your air conditioner, set in at between 25℃ and 27℃ for the most energy-efficient（节能的）temperature.

·Wise up to（意识到）recycling

You don’t need us to tell you how important it is to reduce, reuse and recycle. Becoming a less “throw away” society is a great message to pass on. Don’t throw away perfectly good things just because you are sick of them, or no longer use them. Instead, give them to others or list them on a free collection site online.

·Know more about nature

There’s no better way to know about the environment than by getting yourself outdoors and into nature! Whether it’s raining or sunny, you can know about the environment.

7 . In Pontevedra, Spain, people don’t shout. Since cars are not allowed in the city, there are no horns（喇叭）or noises from car engines. People don’t have to try hard to make themselves heard. What you hear in the street, instead, is the singing of birds.

“Listen,” says Miguel Lores, the mayor（市长）, opening the windows of his office. From the street below rises the sound of human voices. “More than 14,000 cars used to pass along this street every day. There were more cars passing through the city in a day than people living here.

Lores became mayor in 1999. He spent months walking around the city. “The historical city is dead,” he said one day. “It is full of cars. It is heavily polluted. There are a lot of traffic accidents. The elderly and children aren’t able to use the streets because of cars. People who had a chance to leave have done so.”

At first, Lores thought of improving traffic conditions. However, he couldn’t come up with a good plan. After lots of discussions, the government finally decided to get rid of（清除）cars.

The change has brought Pontevedra many benefits. Traffic accidents are now rare（罕见的）. CO₂ emissions（排放物）are down by 70%. Many people are moving to the city, making it lively again.

Most local people like the change. Ramiro Armesto, a mother of two young children, said, “In the past, the first thing to see in the morning was traffic jams. Now, the city is cleaner, quieter and safer.” Raquel Garcia, another parent, said she had stayed in many cities around the world. However, she had never lived in a city as “easy to live in” as Pontevedra. “Even if it’s raining, I walk everywhere. The feeling is wonderful,” she added.

8 . The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics was a great success. China has kept the promise to hold a green Olympics. Many green actions made it possible, like providing environmentally friendly smart beds, using new energy cars, supporting sporting places with 100% clean energy and reusing rain and snow water.

Take making ice as an example. China didn’t use R507a common material to make ice because it isn’t friendly enough to the environment. Through 18 months’ hard work, China independently developed the CO₂ direct cooling technology.

A net of tubes runs under the ice. High-pressure liquid (液态) CO₂ goes through them to create heat exchange. The CO₂ evaporates (蒸发) under the ice surface. The evaporation takes in heat and turns water on the surface into ice. And the CO₂ goes into another circle. This technology helps to make ice better and faster. And above all, it is much greener because there’s no new CO₂ produced. Among all the 15 ice sporting places in the Winter Olympics, 7 used the CO₂ direct cooling technology to make ice. As a result, much less pollution was caused.

Beijing did so much more to save energy. Beijing built the new sporting places with green materials. As for the old ones, Beijing used new glass walls to take the place of traditional walls to let more natural light in. 70% of the waste heat was also reused to keep warm and dry. And a large number of new energy cars were used at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics is the first to truly achieve carbon neutrality (碳中和), and it has set new standards in green technologies. Some newspapers say China has set an example for the world in environmental protection and green development.

9 . Safety is very important to everyone. As a teenager, do you know how to protect yourself in different situations?

If there is a warning sign near the water, don’t go into it. Only swim in the area where there is a lifeguard. Never swim alone. When you see someone drowning, never jump into the water to try to save him if you can’t swim. Remember to ask adults for help in time. When you go boating, you must wear a life vest (救生衣).

Some strangers may give you snacks or other things to show kindness. They may also invite you to his or her home, offer you a ride, or ask you for detailed information about you or your family. Say no to them and leave as fast as you can. If you find yourself in danger, shout “Help!” loudly or find out a safe way to get help.

Bullying (欺凌) is a dangerous and serious offense (冒犯行为) these days. If it happens to you, you should report it to the headmaster and your teachers. They will work with the parents to solve the problems.

Stay away from places that are very crowded. Once you go, watch out your feet and avoid falling down. When people around begin to push, try to keep your cool and never push harder. If you fall down in the moving crowd, cover your head with both hands.