Learn English with American Primary School Textbooks

Chapter 3 Social Life (3)
8. “The country must stay united to become a powerful nation.”

9. RobertE． Lee
04Pollution Environmental pollution around us

Today was Saturday. Lynn and Ron had looked forward to today. Mother will take them going somewhere to look out over the city. Mother and the children crossed the busy street. As they started to enter the bank, mother looked up. elevator. It is going up on the outside of the bank, that is a glass elevator," said mother. "We will go up over twenty floors."

"Look this way," said Mother. "If the air is clear, you might be able to see the electric plant near our house."

The elevator began to move off the ground.
"Look," said Ron. "What is all that dirty smoke in the air?"

"That's smog," said Mother. "Sometimes we call it pollution. It is called smog because it is smoke and fog together."

"Where does the smog come from?" asked Ron. "I don't see anything burning."

"Smog in the air comes from many things," said Mother. "See all those cars and trucks? All of them burn fuel that puts gases in the air. Sometimes there is no wind to blow the gases away. If there is a layer of warm air over cool air, it makes smog. It is not good to breathe air with smog. Sometimes it makes people sick.”

"I have heard the word pollution," said Lynn. "But I thought it was trash."

“Pollution can be caused by many things,” said mother. “On the way home we can talk about kinds of pollution.”

The family kept talking about pollution as they went home. They talked about how a clean environment would help living things stay healthy. Then they started talking about ways they could help to keep the environment clean.
“You are right, Lynn. Trash is pollution. Think about all the garbage our family throws away. Each city throes away some trash that could be used again,” said mother.
“Our church is collecting newspapers and old cans,” said Ron. “They take it somewhere where they make it into new cans and paper.”

“Making old things into new things is called recycling,” said mother. “Many old things can be used again.”

As the family got near their home, they heard a loud noise.
"I hear something," said Ron.
"I think it is a fire engine," said Lynn.
"I'll turn down the radio. I can't hear," said mother.
"I see a flashing light," said Ron.
As the fire engine passed, Mother said, “We have noise pollution, too. Remember yesterday when Dad was using the saw, the dog was barking, and you had on the radio? All of those things together made a lot of noise. When people work in noisy places for a few years, it hurts their hearing.”

One man made some animals listen to loud music. One ear of each animal was covered. The other ear was not. Then he tested the hearing in both ears. He found the animals had lost some hearing in the ear that was not covered. young people who play loud music have the hearing of old people.
Loud noises do other things. Sometimes people who work in noisy places have poor hearing and more accidents.
A law was passed that says people should get rid of noise wherever they can. Some machines don't have to be so noisy. Sometimes people think that a noisy machine has more power.
Mother explained again how important it is to use earth in a wise and careful way. When we pollute, we are just being selfish. We may be making others sick and causing them extra work. As children of God we should think of God and others .
Vocabulary
Elevator ["eliveit?] n. Elevator, lift
Electric [i"lektrik] adj. electric, electric, shocking
smog [sm? ɡ] n. smoke
fog [f? ɡ] n. Fog;
vt. To envelop and confuse with mist;

vt. & vi. vague
fuel [fju? l] n. fuel, combustion agent;

vt. Add fuel to, stir up;
vi. Refueling
gas [ɡ? s] n. Gas, gas, gasoline, poisonous gas, empty talk, interesting things;
vt. To inhale poisonous gas;
vi. to brag
layer ["lei?] n. layer, layer

trash[tr? ? ] n. Poor material (work), garbage, waste, worthless people;

vt. smash, dirty

garbage ["ɡɑ: bid?] n. 〈US〉garbage, waste; 〈mouth〉nonsense

recycling [ri: "saikli?] n. recycling

Flashing ["fl?? i?] n. Flash, waterproof board, rain shield
get rid of remove, remove

Selfish ["selfi?] adj. Selfish, self-interested
Practice
1. When water, air, or ground is not clean, we call it.

2. Lynn and Ron were looking at the city from a glass ．

3. The dirty air Ron saw was called ．

4. Smog is smoke and ．

5. When people work in very noisy places for a few years, it hurts their ．

6. Some young people who like loud music have the of old people.

7. A law was passed that say you should get rid of as much as possible.

8. Some people think a noisy machine has more.

Translation
Today is Saturday, Lynn and Ron have been looking forward to today, mother will take them somewhere to observe the city.Mom and kids walk through a busy street, and when they're about to enter the bank, mom looks up: "Look at the elevator, it's going up outside the bank. It's a glass elevator, and we're going to the 20th floor."

"Look this way," Mom said, "if the air is clean, you can see our house near the power plant."

The elevator starts to leave the ground.

"Look," said Ron, "what's that dirty smoke in the air?"

"It's smog," Mom said. "Sometimes we call it pollution. It's called smog because smoke and smog go together."

"Where's the smoke coming from?" Ron asked. "I don't see anything burning."

"Smog in the air comes from many sources," Mom said. "See these cars and trucks? These vehicles burn fuel and emit gases into the air. Sometimes there is no wind to blow the smoke. If there is a layer of warm air in the Above the cold air, smog is created. Breathing smoky air is not good, and sometimes it makes people sick."

"I've heard the word pollution," Lynn said, "but I thought it was trash."

"Pollution can be caused by many things," Mom said. "We can talk about all kinds of pollution on the way home."

On the way home, the family kept talking about the pollution.They talked about how a clean environment is good for the health of living things, and then they started discussing what can be done to help keep the environment clean.

"You're right, Lynn. Trash is pollution. Just think of all the trash our family throws out. Every city throws away some trash that can be used again," Mom said.

"Our church collects newspapers and old cans," said Ron, "and they take the rubbish somewhere where they can be turned into new cans and paper."

"Turning old things into new things is called recycling," said my mother. "There are many old things that can be used again."

As the family approached their home, they heard a loud bang.

"I heard something," said Ron.

"I think it's a fire truck," Lynn said.

"I'm going to turn off the radio, I didn't hear it," Mom said.

"I saw a flash," said Ron.

After the fire truck passed, Mom said, "There's still noise pollution. Remember yesterday? Dad was using the saw, the dog was barking, you guys were listening to the radio, and all these sounds mixed together made a lot of noise. After a few years of local work, the hearing can be damaged."

A man did such an experiment: He let some animals listen to very loud music, and one ear of each animal was blocked, and the other ear was not.He then tested the animals' hearing in both ears.It turned out that the animals lost part of their hearing in their unplugged ears.Some young people who like to play loud music have the same hearing level as the elderly.

Noise can have other effects as well.Sometimes, those who work in noisy environments have poor hearing and more accidents.

We have passed a law that people should try to get away from noise wherever they can.Some machines don't have to be so loud.It's just that sometimes people think that a loud machine has more power, which is not true.

Once again, Mom explained how important it is to use the earth wisely and carefully.When we create pollution, we are selfish, we make other people sick, and create extra work for them.

Exercise
1.When the water, air or ground is not clean, we call it.

2.Lynn and Ron observe the city through a glass.

3.The dirty air Ron saw was called.

4.Smoke is smoke and.

5.When people work in very noisy environments for a few years, it can hurt them.

6.Some young people who like to listen to loud music have older people.

7.We've passed a law to get people out of as much as possible.

8.Some people think that loud machines are stronger.

1. pollution pollution 2． elevator
3. smog smoke 4． fog fog

5. hearing 6． hearing
7. noise noise 8． power power
05Communication in Modern Times
Men have thought of new ways to communicate with each other at all times. They have learned to talk over long distances. Writing is no longer done only by hand. Pictures and sounds can be sent over air waves and even to and from space.
Writing
(End of this chapter)