Early one weekend morning, I was sleeping like a log when the telephone rang. When I answered I heard my Grandma’s voice “Hey, sweetheart. I have missed you so much lately. Why don’t you come to the countryside and enjoy some fine views?” she asked. “Dad, Grandma is inviting us to her home,” I shouted to my father who was busy in the kitchen. “Fine with me,” he responded in a casual tone. After a quick breakfast, we drove to Grandma’s.

Once we arrived, we were both thrilled by the breathtaking landscape. The plum trees in the backyard were ripe with fruit, while millions of wildflowers colored the valley. Grandma prepared delicious lunch including her special homemade apple jam, which was my favorite. Seeing my greedy eyes, grandma said “Take some when you leave, and I’ve got plenty stored in the cellar (地窖) .” Talking and laughing, we didn’t even notice that it was late in the afternoon, though somewhat cooler than it had been that morning. Grandma suggested that we take her homemade wooden boat for a tour along the nearby river.

Seated in the boat, looking up at the sky, I felt like the clouds were greeting us cheerfully from above. In the vast fields, the golden trees were like brides in the sun. The breeze skimmed over the surface of the field, carrying the sweet smell of the flowers. It was like a picture painted by one of the Dutch masters. “It is so nice to spend some quality time with family,” Dad murmured. “It feels like we’re on an adventure,” I added. “It’s been so much fun!”

While we were admiring the splendid setting around us, the weather started getting hot and humid again. At first, we ignored this change, but when dad looked up at the sky, he saw dark, low clouds were approaching us. Then a fierce gale (大风) sprang up. Lightning flashed within the black clouds, followed by a roar of thunder. “Row!” Dad shouted, trembling, “A tornado (龙卷风) is coming!”

There was no time to think. We rowed as fast as we could.

Grandma opened the door for us.

Children start out as natural scientists, eager to look into the world around them. Helping them enjoy science can be easy: there’s no need for a lot of scientific terms or expensive lab equipment. You only have to share your children’s curiosity. When having a science discussion with them, you need to notice at least three things.

Firstly, give them time to think. Studies over the past 30 years have shown that after asking a question, adults typically wait only one second or less for an answer, no time for a child to think. When adults increase their “wait time” to three seconds or more, children give more logical, complete and creative answers.

Secondly, watch your language. Once you have a child involved in a science discussion, don’t jump in with “That’s right” or “Very good”. These words work well when it comes to encouraging good behavior. But in talking about science, quick praise can signal that discussion is over. Instead, keep things going by saying “That’s interesting,” or “I’d never thought of it that way before.” or coming up with more questions or ideas.

Lastly, show, don’t tell. Real-life impressions of nature are far more impressive than any lesson children can learn from a book or a television program. Let children look at their fingertips through a magnifying glass(放大镜), and they’ll understand why you want them to wash before dinner. Rather than saying that water evaporates(蒸发), set a pot of water to boil and let them watch the water level drop.

Leeches as Medical Treatment

Leeches are small wormlike creatures that live in water and suck the blood of animals and humans. In the past, though, leeches were commonly used in medicine. Then advances in science led to other kinds of treatments, and leeches disappeared from the sick room. Now, however, they are making a comeback.

The use of leeches in medicine goes back at least 2,500 years. Doctors used them to treat the sick in ancient Egypt, India, Persia, and Greece. It was believed in those days that taking blood from patients helped to bring their bodies back into balance. This belief and the practice of draining blood with leeches continued through the ages.

Another use of leeches has been investigated by a team of German doctors who study the ability of leeches to reduce pain. Their patients suffer from arthritis, a painful joint disease that often affects knees, shoulders, or fingers. When the German doctors put leeches on the arthritic knees of their patients, almost all of them felt immediate relief from the pain. Most of the patients continued to be pain-free for over a month and some for as long as six months.

Leeches have also proved indirectly useful in treating patients with heart and blood diseases. Since the 1880s, researchers have understood that certain chemicals in. leeches prevent blood from clotting or becoming hard. Many people with heart or blood problems live with a serious risk of the formation of blood clots, which can travel through the blood to the heart or brain and cause death. In the 1950s, a scientist identified the chemical in a leech that prevents clotting. Later studies led to experiments with the chemical and the development of a drug that thins the blood of patients who are at risk for blood clots.

Though doctors today do not view the use of leeches as the all-purpose treatment it once was, they now see that for certain problems, this ancient remedy may be valid after all.

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9 . Some of the greatest problems we face today are concerned with the gradual destruction of our environment. Brown clouds; wildlife ____; polluted water. These ____ all seem so huge. So my family does what we can. We take cloth bags to stores instead of using plastic bags. We walk where we don’t have to ____.

But does it do any good?

I recently learned something about flamingos (火烈鸟). These beautiful birds gather in     ___ groups of a thousand or more. Every year, when the time ____ for migration, a few flamingos start the process by taking off from the lake. But ____ of the others seem to notice, so the tiny group returns.

However, the next day they ____ again. This time a few more struggle along with them, but the vast majority still ____ no attention, so these pioneers come back.

The ____ continues for several more days. Every time a few more birds join in but, _____ the thousands of others still take no ____, the great migration plan is once again ____.

Then one day something ____. The same small group of birds takes wing and a tiny number more join in, just as before. And this time their total number, though still quite ____, is enough to tip the balance. As one, the whole group takes flight and the migration ____. What a ____ sight it must be – thousands of flamingos taking to the sky at once!

A few can make a ____. It’s true that all of the great problems of the world have been solved because of the ____ efforts of a few.

If you believe in a cause (事业), don’t ____! Others will someday take notice and together we will ____ even our greatest problems.

10 . Walk through the Amazon rainforest today and you will find it is steamy, warm, damp and thick. But if you had been around 15,000 years ago, during the last ice age, would it have been the same? For more than 30 years, scientists have been arguing about how rainforests like the Amazon might have reacted to the cold, dry climates of the ice ages, but until now, no one has reached a satisfying answer.

Rainforests like the Amazon are important for mopping up CO₂ from the atmosphere and helping to slow global warming. Currently the trees in the Amazon take in around 500 million tons of CO₂ each year: equal to the total amount of CO₂ giving off in the UK each year. But how will the Amazon react to future climate change? If it gets drier, will it still survive and continue to draw down CO₂ ?

Scientists hope that they will be able to learn in advance how the rainforest will manage in the future by understanding how rainforests reacted to climate change in the past. Unfortunately, getting into the Amazon rainforest and collecting information are very difficult. To study past climate, scientists need to look at fossilized pollen, kept in lake mud. Going back to the last ice age means drilling deep down into lake sediments （沉淀物）which requires specialized equipment and heavy machinery. There are very few roads and paths, or places to land helicopters and aeroplanes. Rivers tend to be the easiest way to enter the forest, but this still leaves vast areas between the rivers completely unsampled（未取样）.So far, only a handful of cores have been drilled that go back to the last ice age and none of them provide enough information to prove how the Amazon rainforest reacts to climate change.