教材语篇：
Trees in Our Daily Lives
Rebecca wants to know more about trees and how they help us. She is interviewing Dr Jones about tress.
Rebecca: How do trees help us, Dr Jones?
Dr Jones: They help us in many ways. They keep the air cool and clean. They take in harmful gases from the air and produce oxygen for us to breathe. They're major fighters against air pollution.
Rebecca: I know trees also make our lives more convenient. Many of the things in our daily lives come from trees. For example, paper and pencils.
Dr Jones: You're right, Rebecca. In fact, we get a lot more from trees. We get fruit and oil from them. Tea also comes from the leaves of trees. Look around this room. A lot of the furniture is made of wood. Trees are really important in our daily lives.
Rebecca: I can't imagine a world without trees.
Dr Jones: But we cut down millions of trees every year. We should stop doing this if we don't want a world without trees.
拓展语篇1：
Forests in Danger of Loss
The world has lost nearly 100 million hectares (公顷) of forest over 20 years, according to a new report by the United Nations. The world’s forests now cover 4.1 billion hectares. This area accounts for (占) 31.2% of the total (总的) land area on Earth, down from 31.9% in 2000.
People cut down trees to farm or raise animals, especially in less developed (欠发达的) areas. Because of the use of wood for fuel (燃料), as well as the practice (做法) of burning (燃烧) forests for farming, in the last 10 years, people in sub-Saharan (撒哈拉以南) Africa and southeast Asia cut down forests faster than ever before.
However, in many parts of Asia, Europe and North America, the total forest area has stayed the same or even risen. That’s because people in these places have made policies (政策) to save forests and let them expand (扩大) naturally.
拓展语篇2：
Can We Save Earth? China Does Its Part
Forestation (植树造林) in China is playing an important role in saving the Earth. 25% of the global net increase (全球净增长) in green area is from China, NASA (美国航空航天局) shows. Take a look at China’s efforts.
1959: China started to plant trees in the Mu Us Desert (毛乌素沙漠), one of the four biggest deserts in China. It has developed (发展) sand-control technology (技术). One-quarter of the desert is now forest.
1978: China began a national-level forestation project (国家级植树造林项目) — the Three North Shelterbelt Forest (三北防护林) Program. Through this program, trees have been planted in 13 provinces and autonomous regions (自治区) in northern China.
1988: Another tree-planting program in the Kubuqi Desert in Inner Mongolia (内蒙古) started. It is another good example of China’s efforts to fight desertification. About one-third of the Kubuqi Desert is now covered with trees.
2000: China started treating the Hunshandake Sandy Land in Inner Mongolia. By 2020, 23.35% of the area had been covered with forests. In the past 20 years, the area’s forest coverage rate (覆盖率) has risen by 10%.
2019: Alipay’s Ant Forest program won the UN Champions of the Earth (联合国地球卫士) award for helping 500 million people live a green life. By the end of May 2020, Ant Forest program had planted 200 million trees on 182,700 hectares of land.
拓展语篇3：
Grow a Green World
A World without trees could never be called home.
If you want to make your home greener, take action on Chinese Tree-Planting Day!
Some people go to parks and hills to plant trees.
In places in eastern China, like Zhejiang and Jiangsu, some people buy a tree in the city centre. They only need to pay around 50 yuan for a tree. Then all they have to do is take care of the tree from time to time (经常). Trees have become part of the family!
In Sichuan people have even nicer ideas. On March 12, people will go to the panda nature reserve (自然保护区) and plant bamboo (竹子) for the pandas!
Trees are good for many things, so the more, the better.
Already thinking about where to plant your first tree? Get going!
拓展语篇4：
Growing Trees Online
Ant Forest received the 2019 Champions of the Earth award (地球卫士奖), the UN’s highest environmental honor (荣誉), for encouraging people to live a greener life.
Ant Forest is a feature (功能) in Alipay. Users can get “green energy” by recording (记录) low-carbon (低碳的) activities on it, such as taking a bus to work instead of driving, recycling old clothes, or just walking. When the user’s green energy gets high enough, Ant Forest and its partners will plant a real tree for the user.
About half a billion people have used Ant Forest since it came out in August 2016. Ant Forest program has planted about 122 million trees in China’s driest areas. The trees cover a total area of 112,000 hectares (公顷).
拓展语篇5：
Stop Chopping Trees
Do you often like to use disposable (一次性的) chopsticks when eating out? It’s time to drop this habit.
China produces (生产) 80 billion (十亿) pairs of disposable chopsticks every year. About 20 million 20-year-old trees would have to be cut down for this production anunally. “The production of such chopsticks is a heavy burden (负担) on national forests.” said Bai Guangxin, chairman of Jilin Forest Industry Group.
Bai called on people to bring their own chopsticks whenever they are eating out. “We first need to bring a change to people’s eating habits and encourage everyone to carry their own chopsticks around.” He also said that there may be technology that can turn wild grass into disposable chopsticks in the future.