Erik was a fourteen-year-old boy. He thought he was a young man but his parents didn't think so. They told him," When you begin to think about helping others, you'll be a young man. "

    One morning, his parents gave Erik some money to buy hamburgers at a store. He saw an old man there. The man looked very sick. Erik went up to him and found that the old man had lost his money and hadn't had anything for his breakfast. Erik took the old man to the nearest restaurant. But the man ordered only a glass of water for himself. Erik felt sorry for him, so he asked the waiter to bring the man some bread and a cup of coffee. The old man was so hungry that he ate up all the food very soon. After that, the man told Erik that he would never forget his kindness. Erik was very pleased when he heard what the old man said," You are a very good young man. "

    To their surprise, the food was a present because that day was the birthday of the boss.

    It was in August 1999 that I decided to come to China to work as a language teacher.

    I taught in Zhongshan City. Guangdong, for six months before moving to Ningbo. I came to Wanli University in 2000, and I taught there for five years. My time in Ningbo is great. I've met many wonderful Chinese teachers.

    I came to China with the idea of helping Chinese friends learn English better, and I have achieved this many times. I've traveled to many places in China, and I find that Ningbo is my favorite place.

    When I first came to Ningbo in 2000, it wasn't as clean as it is now. However, I found that this is a great city to live in. When I arrived, there was one McDonalds, and three KFC's. But we didn't get a Starbucks until 2002.

    I've really enjoyed spending my time here, especially now that I have found my beautiful wife, and we will be having our first child in Ningbo. Maybe she or he will learn Ningbo dialect（方言）, to talk with the grandparents.

    While staying in Ningbo, I have found that many people can understand English, but are very shy to speak out. I'm telling you now, it is only a language, and don't be afraid to talk, just remember, "Nobody is perfect. "

    In the 13th century, the famous Italian traveler, Marco Polo, traveled a long way to China. During his stay in China, he saw many wonderful things. One of the things he discovered was that the Chinese used paper money. In Western countries, people did not use paper money until the 15th century. .

    A Chinese man called Cai Lun invented paper almost 2,000years ago. He made it from wood.  He then put these pieces of paper together and made them into a book.

     We use a lot of paper every day. If we keep on wasting so much paper, there will not be any trees left on the earth. Every day, people throw away about 2,800 tons of paper. It takes 17 trees to make one ton of paper. This means that we are cutting nearly 48,000 trees every day.

    Since it takes more than 10 years for a tree to grow, we must start using less paper now. If we don't, we will not have enough time to grow more trees to take the place of those we use for paper.

     We can use both sides of every piece of paper, especially when we are making notes. We can choose drinks in bottles instead of those in paper packets. We can also use cotton handkerchiefs and not paper ones. When we go shopping, we can use fewer paper bags. If the shop assistant does give us a paper bag, we can save it and reuse it later.

     If we all think carefully, we can help protect trees. But we should do it now, before it is too late.

过去：①生活贫困，房屋破旧；

②污染严重，垃圾遍地；

③ 交通不便，游客很少。

现在：①生活：住房宽敞、明亮，许多人有自己的汽车；

②环境：山更绿，水更清，天更蓝；

③旅游：每年有成千上万来自世界各地的游客。

The Changes in My Hometown

    Great changes have taken place in my hometown. In the past, …