1 . I shall never forget the day when the earthquake took place. The time was about 5 o’clock in the afternoon and I was driving along the road to take my daughter from school. Our plan was to go swimming together. I had finished my work at 4 o’clock and then gone to the Post Office. Then I’d stopped off at a shop in order to get some fresh fruit. We like to have some fruit to eat after our swim.

I was driving along a high road on my way to my daughter’s school. Over my road was another road which was built like a bridge for cars coming to the other way. I was hungry so I put the bag of apples in the seat beside me and started to eat one.

Suddenly I saw the cars in front of me start to move from side to side. Then my car started to shake! I didn’t know what was happening. Perhaps something had gone wrong with my car. I drove a little more slowly and then I stopped the car and at the same moment the road fell onto the cars in front of me.

I found myself in the dark. I couldn’t move. The bottom parts of both of my legs and my feet were hurting badly and I couldn’t move them. All around me was quiet. But above me I could hear shouts and a lot of noise. Then I memorized (记起) what had happened. I had been in an earthquake.

For about two hours nobody came. Luckily I could reach the bag of apples, so at least I had plenty to eat. Then I heard people climbing towards me. A team of people had come to see if anyone was under the broken road. I called out. “I’m here!” I heard a shout. Soon a stranger climbed to the side of the road near my car. “How are you doing?” he asked.

“Not too bad,” I said, “but my feet and leg feel as if they’re broken.” “We’ll have you out of there just as soon as we can.” They didn’t get me out until the next morning. I had been in my car for fourteen hours.

2 . Plastic straws (吸管) have been a major problem in global discussions of environmental damage. Maybe because of their small size, the production cost of straws is low. In many countries, straws are offered freely after buying soft drinks. Therefore, plastic straws are one of the most used plastics and pollutants in the world.

The plastic straw is light and small. Due to their small size, plastic straws are often eaten by sea animals. Environmentalists have shown that the death of many sea animals is caused by eating plastic straws. The other damaging characteristic of plastic straws is that they are made of materials which cannot degrade. That means the materials cannot be changed into small harmless (无害的) ones.

The most effective way of dealing with the environmental pollution caused by plastic straws is the reuse or banning (禁止) the use of plastic straws. Being plastics, the straws can be made new items. Many organizations around the world change used straws into new products. In Africa, local communities collect used plastic straws and use them to make mats and bags. Another way of dealing with environmental pollution caused by plastic straws is placing a ban on their production and use. Experts advise governments to ban using plastic straws to save the environment. A few countries in the world such as Rwanda, Macedonia, China, Kenya have already banned the use of plastic bags and are expected to include plastic straws and bottles. But it will be a long way to do this effectively.

There are few environmentally friendly and biodegradable productions to take the place of plastic straws. These productions include paper straws, bamboo straws. However, such straws are usually expensive as their production cost is high. It’s still a question whether they can entirely take the place of plastic straws.

3 . When you visit Kinderdijk, one of the most visited villages in the Netherlands, you step right into the middle of Dutch history.

Kinderdijk lies in the Alblasserwaard, where the Lek and Noord rivers meet together. Much of the village is near or even below sea level. Although there are canals and dykes (坝), the lowlands of the village are still at risk of flooding. Among the most deadly floods was Saint Elisabeth’s flood in 1421, which killed thousands after the dykes broke in several places. To deal with this kind of problem, the Kinderdijk windmills. (风车) were built around 1740 to move water from the lower areas to higher ground and into the canal.

Nineteen of the 20 Kinderdijk windmills remain and were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 Of the 19 windmills，16 still have millers who live inside and control the huge sails in the wind. These windmills, continue to help manage the Netherlands ongoing fight to stay above water.

For tourists; boat tours are offered along the canals and walkways lead from the visitor center to the windmills. Two windmills serve as museums, filled with old millers’ items and photos. You can climb up inside to see how the windmills work. The windmills also are working, so be prepared to feel the whole building shake when the sails turn in the wind.

Each year, about 500,000 people visit the Kinderdijk windmills and the buildings have become a must-see on any trip to the Netherlands. “There are some windmills north of Amsterdam that were built for tourists, but we’re a historical site where tourists come, so it’s the other way around,” says Kinderdijk communications manager Peter Paul Klapwijk. “Tourism is a good way to support our site.”

Peru is a country on the Pacific coast of South America,     1    includes three main areas: narrow, dry, flat land     2    (run) along the coast, the Andes Mountains, and the Amazon rainforest. In the high plain area is Lake Titicaca, the highest lake in the world, on which boats can travel. Peru has abundant plants from desert grasses     3    vast areas of jungle.

Peru     4    (rule ) by Spain from the 16th century to 1821. So Spanish is     5    (official) spoken in Peru. The ancient Inca capital, Cusco, is a popular destination for the     6    (tour) as it is close to the famous Inca ruins of the city of Machu Picchu.

There are two especially interesting things for us     7    (admire) about the Inca civilization. The first is the roads and paths they built to connect     8    (they) important cities. Second, the Inca built wonderful cities,     9     there were no markets in these cities. One of the interesting     10    (question) of history is how the Inca lived without shopping.

5 . Don’t Buy Fertilizer (肥料)! It Is All Around You.

The cost of everything seems to be rising around the world. So, growing our own food is a good way to save money. However, the cost of gardening has also been rising. Now make your own!

Consider cut grass

If you leave cut grass on the grassland, you may not need fertilizer. As grass breaks down, it benefits the soil (土壤).     1    But do not use fresh cut grass in garden beds. It will burn your plants.

Make your own compost (堆肥)

Compost is the best thing you can add to soil. Compost helps to control how much water stays in the soil. It keeps dry soil wet. Compost also adds nutrients (营养) to the soil.

To make your own compost, simply collect fruit and vegetable leftovers. Do not add meat, milk, or fats. You can keep the food leftovers in a bowl in your kitchen.     2    As the leftovers breakdown, they add nutrients.

Just be sure to bury (埋) them at least 25 to 30 centimeters deep. This will keep hungry wildlife from digging them up.     3    This will avoid damaging roots.

Use leftovers from around your house

Are you a fish owner? Plants can also get help from used fish-tank water. This water is rich in nutrients. Do you cook vegetables in water? If so, save it!     4    

And water from cooked eggs is full of calcium. This is especially useful for tomatoes. Just make sure to let the water cool to room temperature before using it on your plants.

You can even use eggshells (壳). Dry out the eggshells.     5    Add the small pieces to your garden’s soil.

6 . Grace and her family thought they had lost Thor forever when they moved to Windsor, Nova Scotia from British Columbia last August.

“We probably spent seven or eight months looking for Thor,” Grace said. “What made it worse was that there were rumors(谣言) going around that there was dogfighting in our area. We still always hoped that somebody had taken him to be a pet, but you just never knew.”

“It was terrible. My daughter Bronwyn would try to find Thor everywhere, which had been a Christmas present for her. Even while watching TV programmes, she would say, ‘Oh, look! That dog looks like Thor!’” Grace said. Then the family moved, and the hope became impossible.

But one day, the phone rang. It was their former vet in British Columbia, saying Thor was in a rescue shelter(收容所) in High River, Alberta. He had been found at a work camp in the northern part of the place and taken to south by a man planning to keep him. But the man was forced to turn him over to the shelter when he couldn’t keep Thor in his rented home. Luckily, the ring on Thor’s neck gave people some information.

Thor was flown to Nova Scotia last week. The family picked him up at the airport. “Thor was just lying in his box and looking down, and my daughter walked over and said, ‘Hey Thor.’ He immediately stood up, trying to greet my daughter. We let him out and he jumped on her as if he was giving her a big hug and he kissed her face. Then he sat down suddenly at her feet and rolled over for attention. He was cute.” Grace said.