Environmentalists use this occasion to report environmental problems of the planet such as the pollution of the air , water , and soil ; the destruction of the habitats , natural resourc
Trang 1Japan , an island nation in East Asia
has the total area of about 378,000 square
kilometers In Japan , the climate is rainy and
humid with four distinct seasons It is the
world’s ninth most crowded nation with a
population of about 128 million The official
language in Japan is Japanese and the dominant
religion is Buddism The basic unit of currency
of Japan is the yen
The largest city in Japan is Tokyo , the
national capital Tokyo is also the center of
government, business , banking ,manufacturing,
education , and communications
One of the oldest and most famous sports
in Japan is Sumo wresting which is well-known
to the world with the image of very heavy
wresters trying to knock opponents out of the
ring
Japan is among the top nations in the
world in education with 99% of the population
that can read and write
After the United States , it is considered
the world ‘s second largest economy with one of
the world’s highest living standards
With a colourful culture , every year ,
Japan attracts millions of tourists coming from
all over the world
KIMONO
The kimono , a dress that looks like a
robe , is the traditional clothing of Japan
Kimono styles have changed significantly
in Japan’s history Today , men , women and
even children in Japan wear kimonos The
colors , cloth materials , and decorations of a
kimono vary among people who wear it They
are different according to the sex , the age and
the marital status of the wearer They are also
different according to the seasons of the year
and the occasions for which the kimono is worn
Although most Japanese people now
wear western-style clothe such as suits , shirts or
skirts , they wear kimonos on holidays and
special occasions
INTERNET
All information is transmitted across the
internet in small units of data called packets
Software on the sending computer divides a large document into many packets for transmission Software on the receiving computer groups incoming packets into the original document Like a postcard , each packet has two parts : a packet header shows the computer where the packet should be delivered , and a packet payload contains the data being sent The header also tells how the data in one packet should be combined with the data in other packets by recording which piece of a document is contained in the packet
EARTH DAY
On April 22 , 1970 , Earth day was first internationally observed to emphasize the necessity for conservation of the world’s natural resources Since then , Earth Day has become a major education and media event Environmentalists use this occasion to report environmental problems of the planet such as the pollution of the air , water , and soil ; the destruction of the habitats , natural resources , plants and animals , and so on In addition , they also emphasize on solutions that can stop the negative effects of human activities such as recycling used materials , banning the use of harmful chemicals , protecting rain forests and animal species
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Nowadays , environmentalists are so worried about environmental problems that can directly affect people’s life Among the problems mentioned every day on mass media , air pollution and water pollution are considered the most serious ones
There are many factors that cause the pollution of the air : chemicals from burned fuels, smoke from automobiles , and acid rain from chemical transformation Smoke can cause serious health problems while acid rain is responsible for the destruction of many forest ecosystems
Trang 2Raw sewage , garbage , and oil
contribute to the pollution of water When water
is polluted , it cause a lot of waterborne diseases
and threatens marine wildlife About 1.5 billion
people around the world lack safe drinking
water and every year , 5 million people die from
diseases
British countryside
The countryside of Britain is well-known
for its beauty and many contrasts : its bare
mountains and moorland , its lake , rivers and
woods , and its long , wild coastline Many of
the most beautiful areas are national parks
When British people think of the countryside ,
they think of farm land , as well as open spaces
with peace and relaxation
They spend their free time walking or
cycling , or go to the country for a picnic or a
pub lunch Only a few people commute to work
in towns Many others dream of living in the
country , where they believe they would have a
better and healthier life
En er g y
Energy control is a program that allows
customers to buy electricity for about half the
cost of the standard rate
The power company will reduce energy
supplied to electric devices at times of high
demand such as during cold winter days when
heating systems run often , or during stuffy
summer afternoons when air-conditioners work
at most In most cases , the power company
controls the power with radio signals During
the periods of high electric demand , a radio
signal activates the switch to turn off certain
devices When electric demand decreases , a
second radio signal returns the devices to
normal operations In exchange for the power
company to control their systems , customers
receive electric rate for about half the price of
the standard one
TSUNAMI
Tsunami means “ harbor wave “ in
Japanese This indicates a seismic sea wave
by an undersea earthquake or an undersea landslide or volcanic eruption
A tsunami ‘s wavelength can reach to
200 km and may travel hundreds of kilometers across the deep ocean at the speed of about 725
to 800 km/h On the way from sea to shore , the height of the wave changes from half a meter to
15 meters or more A tsunami always has tremendous energy because of the great amount
of water It can destroy all settlements along the coast and cause plenty of deaths and property damage
MARS
Mars , one of the planets in our solar system , is sometimes called the red planet because it appears very red in the Earth ‘s night sky It is about 228 million kilometers from the Sun
Mars is a rather small planet , about half the diameter of the Earth The surface of Mars
is almost exactly the same as the surface of the dry land on Earth Mars is believed to be about the same age as the Earth , that is approximately 4.6 billion years old
Many people think that Mars is very hot ; however , it is quite amazing that it is an extremely cold place At the surface , the average temperature is about – 550C and at the extremes, it ranges from about –140 0C to 150 C
Although there is a lot of evidence about life on Mars , most scientists today do not believe that there is any life on the surface on the planet The minimum conditions required for life on a planet such as water , heat and organic molecules do not seem to exist on Mars; therefore , all of the evidence is not convincing enough for people to believe that Mars is a good place for living creatures
Trang 3The Sun
Objects in the solar system are
influenced by the Sun ‘s heat and light These
factors also allow life to exist on Earth For
humans , the Sun is not only useful and beautiful
but powerful and dangerous as well Energy
from the Sun is very useful for plants and living
creatures , but it is also harmful to people skin
and eyes with ultraviolet light Therefore ,
people are warned not to look directly at the
Sun, even with sunglasses The Sun is believed
to be about 4.6 billion years old and to go on
shining for another 7 billion years
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART
IN LONDON
Mozart was brought to London as a child
of eight in the spring of 1764 , together with his
sister Nannerl , to impress English audiences
with the same feats of precocious musical genius
that had already created a stir on the Continent
His father , Leopold , court musician to
the Archbishop of Salzburg , installed the family
in lodgings , first in Cecil Court on Tottenham
Court Road and then in Frith Street in Soho , and
set about advertising the arrival of the prodigies
In a newspaper of March 1765 , Leopold
assured prospective visitors to the Mozarts that
they may not only hear this young Music Master
and his sister perform in private ; but likewise
try his surprising Musical Capacity , by giving
him anything to play at sight , or any Music
without Bass ,which he will write upon the spot ,
without recurring to his Harpsichord
London music lovers were suitably
impressed and a report by the philosopher
Daines Barrington on Wolfgang’s remarkable
abilities was presented to the Royal Society
The young Wolfgang also appeared three times
at court where he easily mastered the keyboard
exercises King George III had devised for him
The Mozarts moved to Ebury Street ,
where the blue plaque can be seen , for several
weeks in the summer of 1764 after Leopold had
fallen ill Barred from playing any musical
instruments during his father ‘s recuperation ,
Wolfgang amused himself with composition
His first symphony was one of the results and it
was performed at one of the concerts the Mozarts undertook after Leopold recovered
The Mozarts left London in July 1765 , after fifteen months in the capital , and Wolfgang never returned In 1790 , the year before his death , he was offered the opportunity
to conduct a series of concerts in the city but he declined
EL NINO
In the 19th century and fishermen in Peru noticed something unusual They saw that the Pacific Ocean water was sometimes warm in December The fishermen called this El Nino The warm water caused problems It kept many fish away The fishermen caught fewer fish and their families were hungry
Today , El Nino still causes problems Every two to seven years and warm water of Australia’s coast ( ngoài khơi bờ biển ) moves east to South America This changes the weather around the world El Nino sometimes causes hot and dry weather in Southeast Asia and parts of South America and Australia It can also cause very heavy storms
( giông tố ) and high tides ( triều cường ) in eastern Africa and on the western coasts of North America , Central America and South America El Nino made 1998 a difficult year Parts of Canada and the United States lost power for 15 days because of an ice storm( bão băng )
In Colorado a blizzard ( bão tuyết ) knocked down 31 square miles ( 80.6 square km ) of trees El Nino caused droughts ( hạn hán )in Indonesia , the Philippines and Brazil It brought tornadoes ( cơn lốc ) to Florida and New Mexico and mudslides ( vụ bùn sụt lở ) to Peru and California and floods to China, Somalia and Ecuador El Nino also brought some surprises It caused warm winter weather
in Western Canada and fewer hurricanes ( bão lớn ) in the Atlantic It also brought snow to Guadalajara , Mexico and for the first time in more than 100 years
Scientists are not sure what causes El Nino and but they agree that El Nino causes certain kinds of weather This information is
Trang 4very helpful For example and scientists can tell
governments to plan for heavy rains Then ,
governments can protect public buildings such as
city halls , schools , libraries and courthouses
from floods Fire and police departments can
plan how they will work together in case of
emergency ( trường hợp khẩn cấp )
WHICH BIRD
HAS THE BIGGEST WING
SPAN ?
Albatross ( chim hải âu ) , a large sea
bird , has the biggest wing span of 3,5 metres It
spends most of its time in the air wandering over
the oceans Most albatross live in regions south
of the Equator , where they soar ( bay vút lên
cao ) gracefully ( một cách duyên dáng )over
the waves They come to the shores only to
breed ( sinh sản ) or during stormy weather
They can sleep peacefully on the ocean’s
surface and drink a lot of sea water They have
special glands ( tuyến ) in the head to get rid of
the salt that comes in with water These birds
are known to follow ships for hundred of
kilometers to pick up food scraps(mẩu thừa)
thrown over-board ( qua mạn tàu )
ENVIRONMENT
In the decade of the 1970s , the United
Nations organized several important meetings in
the human environment to study a very serious
problem We humans are destroying the world
around us We are using up all of our natural
resources We must learn to conserve them , or
life will be very bad for children and our
grandchildren
1.Population : Most problems of the
environment come from population
growth In 1700 , there were 625 billion
people in the world In 1900 , there were
1,6 billion In 1950 , 2,5 billion and in
1980 , 4,4 billion In the year 2000 , there
will be 6,3 billion More people need
more water, more food , more wood , and
more petroleum
2.Distribution: Scientists say there is
enough water in the world for everyone , but some countries have a lot of water and some have only a little Some areas get their rain during one season The rest
of the year is dry
3.Petroleum: We are using up the
world’s petroleum We use it in our cars and to heat our buildings in winter Farmers use petrochemicals to make the soil rich They use them to kill insects that eat plants These chemicals go into rivers and lakes and kill the fish there Thousands of people also die from these chemicals every year Chemicals also go into the air and pollute it Winds carry this polluted air to other countries and continents
POLLUTION
and
ENVIRONMENT Many people are worried about pollution ( the air , water and land around us) as a result
of the harmful effects of human activity Some
of these activities cause pollution ( dirty air , land and water ) and some are destroying the environment Here are some of the problems:
The ozone layer: A layer of gases that
stops the sun’s harmful radiation from reaching the earth Recent researches show that there are now holes in parts of the ozone layer
The green house effects : When gases
( from polluting ) trap the sun’s heat , in the same way that the glass of the green house ( a glass building for growing plants in winter ) holds the heat This may lead to global warning
Global warning : An increase in word
temperature caused , in part , by an increase in carbon dioxide and other gases
Acid rain : Rain that contains dangerous
chemicals ; this is caused by smoke factories
L O NDON
Trang 5I live in Hampstead _ about 5 km from the
center I love London Life is fast and there is
always something to do _ cinemas , theaters ,
restaurants Shopping is fantastic _ you can buy
anything you want in London Shops are open
late in the evening and on Sundays I like the
pubs _ many have music in the evenings The
street markets are great and I love London’s
parks too Lots of people in London don’t have
gardens so it’s good to get out for a walk
There are bad things about London too,
of course There are too many people _ you
have to queue for everything _ in the banks ,
supermarkets , post-offices And it’s true that
London is dirty because people just throw things
in the street and I hate that It’s also very noisy
and there is also much traffic But I still prefer
London to any other places I know
The moon
We can see the moon in the sky at night
The moon is like a bright face in the dark sky
But sometimes there are clouds in the sky
When there are clouds in the sky, we can’t see
the moon or the stars
What do we know about the moon ? Is
there any life on the moon? Are there any
animals , trees or grass there ?
When we look at the moon , we can see
some bright parts and some dark parts on it
This is because there are mountains and “seas”
on the moon But there is no snow on the
mountains and there is no water or ice in the
“seas” There is no water on the moon
We know that there is no air around the
moon and there are no clouds There are no
clouds because there is no water on the moon
We think that there is no life on the moon
On the earth day and night last 24 hours
On the moon day and night last a month Day
lasts 2 weeks and night lasts 2 weeks When it is
day on one side of the moon , it is night on the
other side The days on the moon are very ,
very hot and the nights are very , very cold
POLLUTION
Pollution happens when chemicals that
are harmful to living things get into the
environment Chemicals that cause pollution are not easy to get rid of They stay in the air , ground and water for a long time The best way
to fight pollution is to stop producing it in the first place Governments can pass laws that forbid or limit the use of chemicals that cause pollution Laws can stop factories from dumping poisonous chemicals in lakes , rivers , and the ocean Factories and power plants can clean up the smoke that they give off Engineers can build cars that burn less gasoline They can find ways for cars to give off cleaner exhaust gazes
Scientists are looking for fuels to replace coal and oil They are looking for ways to use the power in wind and in rays from the sun They are looking for safe ways to get rid of nuclear waste You can help cut down on the amount of garbage you make A lot of this garbage can be recycled , or turned back into something useful You can recycle paper , plastic , glass bottles , and metal cans Recycling helps cut down on pollution