Friendship
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Friendship is one of the greatest pleasures that people can enjoy£® It is very difficult to find a better definition of friendship£® A true friend does indeed find pleasure in our joy and share sorrow in our grief£® In time of trial£¬ he or she is always at our side to give us his or her help and comfort£®
Knowing how valuable friendship is£¬ we should be very careful in our choice of a friend£® We must choose someone who has a good character£¬ whose activities are good and who shows kindness of heart£® We should avoid those shallow people who are easily changed by adversities or misfortune£®
A true friend can always be trusted£¬ loved and respected£® If you tell a friend your secrets£¬ he or she won¡¯t tell anyone else£® Friends share each other¡¯s joys and sorrows£® They help each other when they are in trouble£¬ and cheer each other up when they are sad£® The most important thing is that a friend always understands you£® In conclusion£¬ when you have made a good friend£¬ don¡¯t forget him or her£®
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How to Read
When you read an article you will understand and remember it better if you can work out how the writer has put the ideas together£®
Sometimes a writer puts ideas together by asking questions and then answering them£® For example£¬if the article is about groundhogs£¨ÍÁ²¦Ê󣩣¬the set of questions in the writer¡¯s head might be£º
What does a groundhog look like£¿
Where do groundhogs live£¿
How do they build their homes£¿
What do they eat£¿
When do they have babies£¿
In the article£¬the author might answer those questions£®
Sometimes an author writes out her questions in the article£®These questions give you signals£®They tell you what the author is going to write next£®When you read a question in an article you will usually find the answer to that question as you read on£®
Often an author has a question in her head but she doesn¡¯t write it out for you£®She just tells you the answer to her question as she writes£®You have to work out her question for yourself£®
As you read this article on earthworms£¨òÇò¾£©£¬try to find the questions the author had in her mind when she wrote the article£®Sometimes she will write out her questions for you£® Sometimes she will leave it to you to work them out£®
Earthworms
Do you know how many kinds of earthworms there are£¿There are about 1800 kinds in the world£¡ They can be brown£¬purple£¬red£¬blue£¬green£®They can be as small as 3 cm long and as large as 3 m long£®The garden earthworms we have in Canada are 10 cm to 20 cm long and are a pink brown color£®
The best time to see earthworms is at night£¬especially a cool£¬damp night£®That¡¯s when they come up from their burrows£¨µØ¶´£©to hunt for food£®Earthworms don¡¯t like to be in the sun£®That¡¯s because they breathe through their skin£¬and they can¡¯t breathe if their skin gets too dry£®So they try to stay down in the earth while the sun is out£®You may have noticed that if you happen to dig up an earthworm£¬it soon burrows back into the earth£®Sometimes earthworms don't make them back into the earth£®When that happens£¬you'll see a dead worm all dried up by the sun£®Earthworms must come out of the earth if it rains a lot£¬because they can't breathe in their flooded burrows£®What a dangerous life£¡
Earthworms don't have eyes£¬so how can they tell when it's dark£¿ They have special places on their skin that are sensitive£¨Ãô¸ÐµÄ£©to light£®These spots tell whether it¡¯s light or dark£®If you shine a flashlight£¨ÉÁ¹âÐźŵƣ©on an earthworm at night£¬it will quickly disappear into the ground£®But earthworms are blind to red light£®That's why people often use red lights when they go hunting worms for fishing bait£¨Óã¶ü£©£®
Earthworms don't have ears either£¬but they can hear by feeling movements in the earth£®If you want to hear like an earthworm£¬lie on the ground with your fingers in your ears£®Then have a friend stamp his or her feet near you£®This is how earthworms feel birds and people walking£¬and moles digging£¬near them£®
Some people think that if an earthworm is cut in half£¬each half will grow back the missing part and there will be two earthworms£®This is not quite what happens£®If only a small piece of the earthworm¡¯s front is broken off£¬it can grow a new head£®The new front part may be shorter than the old one£¬but the worm will be healthy and will even have grown a new brain£®And an earthworm can lose an even bigger part of its tail and still grow a new one£®Do worms feel pain when they are cut up like that£¿Scientists have found that worms can feel pain£¬but only for a short time£®As soon as they are hurt£¬their bodies make a pain-killing chemical that helps the pain to go away£®Most earthworms only live two or three years£¬but some may live as long as nine years£®
Earthworms are useful£®Farmers and gardeners like having lots of earthworms in their land because the worms help to make better soil when they dig£®That digging keeps the soil loose and airy£¨Í¨·çµÄ£©£®Loose and airy soil is very important for farmers and gardeners because it helps plants to grow£®Plants need the air and water that gets into loose soil£®Also£¬it¡¯s easy for plant roots to grow along the tunnels made by earthworms£®In a fertile£¨·ÊÎֵģ©field there may be as many as 2.5 million earthworms per hectare£¨¹«Ç꣩£®
The way an earthworm digs tunnels depends on whether the soil is soft or hard£®If the soil is soft£¬the worm can push its way through easily£®When a stone gets in the way£¬the worm just pushes it aside£®An earthworm can move a stone that is fifty times its own weight£¡If the soil is hard£¬the worm eats its way through£®It swallows the earth£®It digests the bits of dead plant and other food mixed in the soil£®Then the leftover earth passes out of the tail end of the worm in little piles called castings£®If you look carefully in fields and gardens£¬you can see these castings on the surface of the ground£®So earthworms turn the soil over and over the way a plough does£®In one year earthworms can pile up as much as 23,000 kg of castings in an area about the size of a football field£®That's a lot of plough£®
Paper and Pencil
Paper was first made in the year A.D.£¨¹«Ôª£©105£®It was made by a man named Ts¡¯ai Lun£® He lived in China£®
For over 500 years paper was made only in China£®People in Japan learned of paper around the year 600£®As years went by£¬people in other places began to make paper£®
The lead£¨Ç¦£©pencil is not made of lead£®It is made of graphite£¨Ê¯Ä«£©£®People found graphite in 1564£®They thought it was a kind of lead£®Today we still call pencils¡°lead pencils¡±£®The first pencils were made by putting string£¨Ïߣ© around sticks of graphite£®
The first wooden pencils were made by Kasper Faber£®In 1761 he started making pencils in Germany£®Kasper Faber was Eberhard Faber¡¯s great-grandfather£®In 1861 Eberhard Faber started making pencils in the United States£®They were the first pencils made in this country£®Erasers like those we use today were first made in 1752£® They were made in France by a man named Magellan£®A man named Hyman L. Lipman first put erasers on the ends of pencils£®And that is how the pencil came to be now£®
Working Together
In the early days of the old west in North America£¬ life was difficult£® People lived on farms far away from other families£® They went to town once a week or one time a month£® Then they saw their friends and neighbors£® On their farms everyone had lots of work£® There were many jobs to do£® And there were some big problems£® How did one family make a house£¿ How could they build a barn alone£¿ Those were big jobs£®
What did families do to build houses£¿ They asked for help£® They asked their friends and neighbors£® They invited them to a work party for a few days£® The women cooked together£® They made breakfast£¬ lunch£¬ and dinner£® The men worked on the building£® For the children it was like a holiday£® There were many other children to play with£® They enjoyed it very much£® Together these people built a house or a barn£® At another time the family with the new house would help neighbors£® They all helped one another for the good of everyone£®
A work party is really cooperation£® To cooperate means ¡°to work together.¡± A big job can be easy£® Many people can work together£® Then the job is not difficult£® It becomes a small job for many workers£® Working together can be fun too£®
Today there isn't much cooperation£® People don't work together very much£® Some people don't know their neighbors£® How can they ask them for help£¿
Today£¬ the idea of cooperation is unusual£® We often work against cooperation£® We often work alone£¬ not with others£® We build fences by ourselves£®
Today£¬ we wait for emergencies£® We wait for accidents to happen£® Then we are willing to help£® Then we want to help£® Then we talk to our neighbors£® Then we become true neighbors and friends£®
Why don't we always cooperate£¿ Why do we wait for emergencies or accidents£¿ Why don't we work with other people£¿ It can be fun£® Life can become easier too£®