When Paul was a boy growing up in Utah, he happened to live near a copper smelter(炼厂), and the chemicals coming out of the smelter made a beautiful forest become a wasteland. One day a young visitor looked at this wasteland and called it an awful area. Paul got so angry when he heard these words. From then on, something happened inside him.

    Years later Paul was back to the hometown and he went to the smelter office. He asked if they had any plans or if they would let him try to bring the trees back. The answer from that big industry was "No".

    Paul then went to college to study the science of plants. Unfortunately, his teachers said there weren't any birds or squirrels(松)to spread the seeds. It would be a waste of his life to try to do it. Everyone knew that, he was told. Even if he was knowledgeable as he had expected. nobody accepted his idea.

    Paul later got married and had some kids. But he didn't give up. And then one night he did what he could with what he had. Under the cover of darkness, he went secretly into the wasteland and started planting.

    And every week, he made his secret journey into the wasteland and planted trees and grass. Slowly rabbits appeared. Later, as there was pressure(压力)to clean up the environment, the company actually invited Paul to do what he was already doing. Now the place is fourteen thousand acres of trees and grass, and Paul has received almost every environmental award Utah has. It took him a long time until his hair turned grey, but he managed to keep that impossible promise he made to himself as a child.

Situation:

    You are Yang Lin, and your friend Li Hua is now studying in Australia. She moved there last year. Write a letter to her and tell her something about your school life.

My parents a computer me.

    You may feel curious about students in other countries: Do they also have so much homework? What do they do in their spare time?

    A recent report came out on the lives of high school students in China, Japan.

    South Korea and the USA. It surveyed around 6. 200 students from the four countries last year. You will find the answers to many of your questions in this report.

    Who studies hardest?

    Chinese students spend the most time studying. Nearly half of Chinese students spend more than two hours on their homework every day. That's much more than the students of the US (26. 4%), Japan(8. 2%)and South Korea(5. 2%).

    Who sleeps most often in class?

    Japanese students fall asleep in class most often. About 45%of them say they sometimes doze off in class. In South Korea, it's 32%；in the US,21%；and5%in China.

    South Korean students don't like taking notes. About 70%say they write down what the teacher says in class, much fewer than in Japan (93%), China(90%)and the US(89%).

    Who is the most distracted?

    American students are the most active in class, but also the most distracted:  64. 2%say they chat with friends in class: 46. 9%say they eat snacks in class; and 38. 9%sny they send e-mails or read unrelated books in class.

    What do they do after school?

    In their spare time, most Chinese students study or surf the Internet. Most American students hang out with their friends. Most Japanese students do physical exercises. Most South Korean students watch TV.

    One day, as a Chinese teacher walked into his classroom, he heard Tom Andrews whisper to another boy, "Here comes the teacher. I'm sure the silly donkey is going to talk about putting in commas(送号). "The teacher said nothing but decided to teach him a good lesson. Now the teacher began his class, and talked about putting in commas, and explained how important they could be. " I'll give you an example, "said the teacher. He wrote on the blackboard the sentence: "Tom Andrews says the Chinese teacher is a foolish donkey. " The class laughed and looked at Tom, Tom looked red and he thought the Chinese teacher also knew English well. " Now, "said the teacher, "Let me show you how important commas are. He put two commas into the sentence and it was. Tom Andrews, says the teacher, is a foolish donkey. " Only at that time Tom knew the importance of commas and felt terribly sorry for his words.

The policeman ,"That's a good boy. "