—It is our duty to protect the Earth.

—Reading books in the sun is harmful to my eyes.

    In Hebei, there is a small village called Yeli. Through the village, you can see green trees along the riverbank. However, you can hardly imagine that, about 16 years ago, this area was covered with rocks and weeds (杂草). The big change is all because of years of hard work by two best friends: Jia Haixia, who is blind, and Jia Wenqi, who has no arms.

    The two friends decided to plant trees to make a living in 2002. Although both are disabled, they learned to work together by becoming each other's eyes and hands. With little money to buy young trees, they had to collect and plant cuttings (插枝，插条). Every morning, they went to the riverbank together. Jia Wenqi worked in the front and Jia Haixia followed him by holding one of his friend's empty sleeves (衣袖). After they arrived at the riverbank, Jia Haixia would climb on his friend's shoulders to get cuttings and Jia Wenqi would tell him which cuttings were the best. After that, they dug holes on the ground and watered the cuttings together.

    They planted 800 trees in the first year, but only two survived (存活). They didn't give up. Instead, they continued to plant more in the next years. The riverbank is now home to over ten thousand trees.

    Today, the two friends no longer need to make a living by planting trees, but they have no plans to stop. They aim to plant as many trees as possible in the area so as to protect the village from flooding (洪水) and to improve the local environment.

It's in the sun.

    All around the world, people drink tea. But tea does not mean the same thing to everyone. In different countries people have very different ideas about drinking tea.

    In China, for example, tea is always served when people get together. The Chinese drink it at any time of the day at homes or in tea houses. They prefer their tea plain, with nothing else in it.

    Tea is also important in Japan. The Japanese have a special way of serving tea called a tea ceremony(仪式).

    It is very old and full of meaning. Everything must be done in a special way in the ceremony. There is even a special room for it in Japanese homes.

    Another tea-drink country is England. In England, the late afternoon is ＂teatime＂. Almost everyone has a cup of tea then. The English usually make tea in a teapot and drink it with cream and sugar. They also eat cakes, cookies and little sandwiches at teatime.

    In the United States people drink tea mostly for breakfast or after meals. Americans usually use tea bags to make their tea. Tea bags are faster and easier than making tea in teapots. In summer, many Americans drink cold tea-＂iced tea＂. Sometimes they drink iced tea from cans, like soda.