Unit 1 Our world
Life in a day
What do you love? What do you fear? What’s in your pocket? These are the questions from the film Life in a Day. Director Kevin Macdonald asked people around the world to answer the questions and send in a video clip from a typical day. He was interested in creating a picture of the world, a digital time capsule for the future. On 24 July 2010, people from Africa, Europe, America, Antarctica and Asia recorded events on their mobile phones and digital cameras and uploaded them onto the Internet. In all there were 81,000 video clips. It took Macdonald and a team of researchers seven weeks to make them into a film.
The film starts at midnight. The moon is high in the sky, elephants are washing themselves in a river in Africa and a baby is sleeping. At the same time, in other parts of the world, people are getting up, brushing their teeth and making breakfast. In the next minutes of the one-and-a-half-hour-long film, we watch everyday routines from more than 140 different countries and see the connections between them. In one short scene an American girl is playing with her hula hoop. In another, a child is working at a shoeshine stand in Peru. One looks well off, the other is poor, but then the shoeshine boy shows u
s his favorite thing—his notebook computer. He’s very proud of it because he earned the money to pay for it.
“We all care about the same things,” says the director and in some ways he’s right. Family and friends are the things most people love and many of them are keen on sports, like football. But then one man says he loves his cat and another loves his fridge because it doesn’t talk back.
Monsters, dogs and death are the things most people fear. One young girl is worried about growing up and a man in Antarctica says, “I’m afraid of losing this place.” But when asked, “What’s in your pocket?”, the answers are surprising. We don’t see an ID card, a shopping list, or a bus ticket. Instead, one person has a paper towel, and another shows us a button. A poor man says he has nothing. He’s not ashamed of his poverty—he’s simply happy to be alive.
The film ends just before midnight, with a young woman in her car. It’s raining outside and she’s recording a short clip on her phone. “I just want people to know that I’m here,” she says. In other words, she wants to show that her life matters.
Even though their lives are very different, the people in Life in a Day have one thing in common: each of them is able to find meaning and happiness, no matter what his or her life is like.
My work at UNICEF China
Li Zhen from UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) China was interviewed by our reporter last week. Here is what he shared with us.
Reporter: What does UNICEF do?
Li Zhen: UNICEF is an international organization. Its goal is to protect the rights of children and to make sure that every child receives health care and education.
A lot of important work is being done by UNICEF and its partners. We are always doing our best to improve the lives of children around the world. The organization has offices in most countries. I’m mainly working in the UNICEF China office in Beijing, but I do travel a lot.
A large number of activities are being organized by different UNICEF offices and partner organizations. Because of this, I’m always in touch with other offices to find out about new projects.
Reporter: What kind of programme is currently being implemented?
Li Zhen: UNICEF has an Early Childhood Development programme to help children between the age
s of three and six. Kids that age are too young to start school, but they’re not too young to start learning. Through our community programmes, children are playing and learning at the same time. Parents love these programmes.
Reporter: What are your plans for today at the office?
Li Zhen: Well, these are several things on my schedule. A big conference will be held in Beijing next week. My team is preparing to talk about our projects. I’m also writing a report for the UNICEF office in New York. Several plans are being developed to improve school quality in small town far from any big cities. My report explains some of our goals and what we’re doing to achieve them.
And later this afternoon, I’ll take part in a meeting about UNICEF’s e-learning project for parents. That programme supports Chinese parents who are living and working far away from their children.
18XX Renmin Road高中英语课文
Shanghai 200040
People’s Republic of China
12 September 20XX Dear Teens,
I’ve been at senior high for about two weeks and I love it.
Many things here are different from those in my junior high school.The school is larger.It has so many buildings that I still love my way sometimes.We have more classes and the subjects are much more difficult than before.Unlike the teachers in junior high,teachers here don’t set a lot of rules,so we have more freedom.There are more school clubs and activities.I have joined the basketball club and the guitar club.The biggest difference is that
my senior high school is a boarding school.I live in the school dorm during the week.I miss my family sometimes,but I get on well with my roommates,and I’m learning how to live away from home.
Other things are the same.Students here are as friendly,as those in the junior high school.I’ve made some friends here and we play basketball after school together—just like before.
Next week,we’re going to have the school Art Festival.I’m playing the guitar for my class and I’m excited bout that!
I like life here.So much is new,challenging and fun.I know I’ll enjoy the next three years here.
Yours,
Li Ming
Unit 2 Places
Where history comes alive
Xi’an, China
Xi’an is no doubt one of the most popular tourist destinations in China. Every year, millions of travelers visit the Terracotta Army of Emperor Qin Shihuang about 42 kilometres from the city centre, which is one of the most amazing historic sites in the world.
As one of China’s great former capitals, Xi’an grew to be the largest city in the world during the Tang Dynasty, a golden age of art and poetry. Chang’an, as it was known at the time, was the starting point of the Silk Road, which connected China to the world. It was here that Xuan Zang set out on his famous travels, which became the basis of Journey to the West. Historic sites from that time include the two Wide Goose Pagodas and the remains of the Daming Palace, which was the centre of the Tang court.
Today, Xi’an is a modern city, at the heart of China’s Belt and Road initiative, but its long history can
be seen everywhere: it is one of the few cities in the world that still have city walls. The wall, almost 14 kilometres in length, was originally built for the purpose of defence, but nowadays, it’s a great way to experience Xi’an: from here,you can get an amazing view of the city.
Florence, Italy
Florence, one of the famous historic cities in Italy, is the birthplace of many amazing ideas and discoveries!
Florence’s history is alive with the memory of a time when art, culture and science were being “reborn”. In the late 13th century, the Renaissance began here before spreading to the rest of Europe. At that time, Michelangelo,
Leonardo da Vinci and Galileo were some of the people living, working and studying in Florence. During this period, they, along with other great minds, contributed valuable artworks and made important scientific discoveries.
Florence is filled with art, science and history museums and ancient buildings, as well as historic universities. You can visit many of these places to experience and admire the amazing work and disc
overies that happened during the Renaissance period. An example is Michelangelo’s famous statue David, which he completed between 1501 and 1504. Another must-see is the University of Florence. It was started in 1321 and many famous people studied there in the Renaissance period, including Leonardo da Vinci.
In Florence today you can experience the old and the new. Historic sites are neighbours with fancy restaurants and high-end shops. While you are trying the delicious local food, you can decide which interesting places to visit next.
The kindness of strangers
It was Saturday, and Gina was excited. She usually met her friends at the weekend. However, today she would visit her aunt in Toronto. She was about to go to the bus station. This wasn’t her first bus trip on her own, but she still felt a bit nervous. The bus ride wouldn’t be short: it was going to take almost five hours. Gina put some fruit and a sandwich in her bag, in case she got hungry.
It was nine o’clock when she arrived and the station was crowded. Long lines of people were waiting there. It took 45 minutes to buy a ticket. When she got own her bus, there was one seat left, next to a boy in a basketball shirt. He was talking on his mobile phone. The boy looked up when she sat down
beside him. Gina smiled and she wanted to talk to him. However, the boy didn’t smile back. She was still watching him when he turned away and looked out of the dirty window. He didn’t want to talk. “What did I do? Was I impolite?” she wondered. Gina closed her eyes. She thought about her trip. She was going to spend a week at her aunt’s place. She couldn’t wait to arrive in Toronto! The bus started moving, and Gina quickly fell asleep.
What’s in a name?
Last year, as I was travelling through Australia,I often stopped at places with strange names:names like Murwillumbah and Waterloo.I often asked myself, “Where do all these names come from,and what can we learn from them?” Local people sometimes knew the answer and sometimes they didn’t,so I decided to look at these place names more closely and found out some interesting facts.
“Where are we?”That’s the question we all ask when we arrive in a new place.Think about it.How can we tell another person where we are?Many place names give us an idea because they describe physical features,like “big hill”, “dry desert”,or “tall tree”.Thousands of years ago,this is how the first Australians—the Aborigines—named places.Today,in Australia,there are thousands of places with Aboriginal names,towns like Murwillumbah (good campsite),Nambucca (entrance to the sea),Bondi Beach (from the word “Boondi”,the sound of water falling over
rocks) and Uluru (big rock).
The Europeans had different ideas.When they first arrived in 1606,they wanted to make this strange new land feel like home.How did they do it?Well,they borrowed names from the country they came from—it showed that these places belonged to them.French and Dutch place names like Bougainville and American Land started to appear along the Australian coast.Then,in 1770,the English explorer Captain James Cook arrived in Botany Bay.Soon,there was Melbourne,a town named after a British Prime Minister,and Waterloo,named after a famous battle between England and France.
Altogether there are over 250,000 names in Australia:names of rivers,mountains,deserts,towns,cities and many more.These names can tell us what we can find there,they can tell us about history,then can warn us about danger or they can welcome us.Next time you travel to a new place,think about its name.What is it telling you?
Unit 3 Choices
The good, the bad and the really ugly
by Jane Brown
Today, in my fridge, there are a few grapes, some bananas and some fruit juice—things that are not expensive and that are good for me. There is also a pizza, and some burgers—which are not so good. I know what this food does to my body, but what does it do to the world around me? It’s time to look at my carbon footprint and think about the difference between the good, the bad and the really ugly.
Food miles
My first stop is the label. Labels give us lots of information: how long we can keep our food, how healthy it is and where it comes from. A few hundred years ago, most of our food came from places we could walk to, but today, food travels thousands of miles. We refrigerate it, and then transport it in planes and ships all over the world. This creates pollution and causes global warming. I look at the pizza and feel bad at once—not because it’s unhealthy, but because the seafood on it comes all the way from Thailand. I know seafood is also produced in the UK, but the local seafood is more expensive. I take out a banana—it’s from Brazil, but that’s not too bad. It came here by boat, so the carbon footprint of this healthy snack is small.
Packaging
The next stop is the packaging. In the UK, we don’t recycle all our packaging; we throw away more than 30% of it. This waste goes to the rubbish dump and not to the recycling facility. Luckily, we don’t need to package food like bananas, but food like grapes needs protection. I look at the grapes in my fridge—they’re in a plastic
container and they’re from Spain.
Production
So my grapes are from Spain, but at least they grew in natural sunlight. In the UK, people grow grapes in heated greenhouses, which means our grapes are less energy-efficient. But there is one other thing in my fridge, and if pizza and grapes are “bad”, then this food is “really ugly”. It’s the burgers. They have the biggest carbon footprint because they come from cows. In the USA, cows create the same amount of greenhouse gases as 20 million cars!
As I close the fridge door, I make a checklist for my next trip to the supermarket:
1) Read the label;
2) Look at the packaging;
3) Don’t buy a lot of meat.
Maybe I could grow my own vegetables too. It’s eco-friendly. I’d save some money and I wouldn’t feel bad about eating burgers!
A recent study shows that more and more teenagers are not eating a healthy diet. We asked a student who is in senior high school to keep a food diary. Her name is Tina Fisher. In her diary, she recorded details of her meals which provided us with lots of information. It is an example of what a typical teenager eats and drinks. Does she eat any fruit and vegetables? Is there a lot of fast food in her diet? Read on and find out!
Day 1
Breakfast: Most teenagers whose parents work long hours have to prepare breakfast themselves. I woke up late for school, so I didn’t eat anything. My mum left me some yoghurt, but I put it aside. The yoghurt which she leaves for me is always the healthy kind. I don’t like it at all. I had some orange juice instead.
Lunch: My dad gives me money every week for my lunches, but I use it to buy magazines, so there’s not much money left for food. Today, I had some biscuits instead of lunch.
Dinner: By 5: I was hungry, so I had a snack that I made myself. I had a little peanut butter on bread, but I didn’t eat any vegetables. For dinner, I had a small egg sandwich. I don’t have many big meals because I want to stay slim.
Day 2