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Scientists Grow Gardens Underwater

Happy World Reef Day!

The world's most famous coral reef is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.
It's the world's biggest reef too.
全世界最大的珊瑚礁在澳洲的大堡礁。

Coral reefs are very important for life underwater. Many kinds of fish live
in them. They're like apartment buildings for fish! Some people fish there.
They sell or eat the fish.
很多魚類住在珊瑚礁裡面，牠們就像魚的公寓。有一些人會捕魚來自己吃或拿去賣。

Taiwan's biggest coral reef is by Lamay Island. But more than half of Lamay
Island's reef died in 2020. This is because the ocean is getting warmer. It's
sometimes too warm for coral reefs.
台灣最大的珊瑚礁在小琉球，但是 2020
年，小琉球的珊瑚死了一半以上。因為海洋溫度升高。

Coral reefs are made of millions of very small coral animals. Reefs take
thousands of years to grow. But we need them now.
珊瑚礁是由數百萬極小的珊瑚蟲組成，要好幾千年才形成。

Scientists are working to save coral reefs. Last year, they tried a new idea.
They planted new coral on reefs. These scientists are underwater gardeners!
科學家正在努力拯救珊瑚礁，他們在珊瑚礁上種新的珊瑚，他們是海底的園藝師！

The idea worked! The new coral grew. More fish came every day!
這個計畫成功了！新的珊瑚長了出來，更多魚來到珊瑚礁附近！

Scientists gardening underwater, saving reefs and protecting ocean life! Far
out, dude!
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Vocabulary
氣候暖化造成很多地方的珊瑚礁大量死亡，科學家忙著搶救。

1. underwater 在水下
It's so hot today! 今天好熱喔！
Yeah, I wish I could go diving underwater. 對啊，真希望潛到水裡。

2. ocean 海洋
In the ocean? 潛到海裡？
In the ocean, with colorful fish, turtles and coral reefs around me.
在海裡，四周都是繽紛的魚、烏龜和珊瑚礁。
Where can you find such a place? 哪裡可以找到這種地方？
Xiao-liu-qiu. 小琉球。

3. warmer 更溫暖的
But it's in Pingtung. 不過那在屏東。
It maybe even warmer there. 那裡可能更熱。

4. die 死亡
You're right. 你說得對。
But I'd die if I didn't go swimming somewhere.
但是假如我不去哪裡游泳我就會熱死。

今天的單字你可記住了？
underwater 在水下
ocean 海洋
warmer 更溫暖的
die 死亡
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Quiz

1. What is the world's most famous coral reef?
A: The Belize Barrier Reef
B: The Great Florida Reef
C: The Great Barrier Reef

2. Where is Taiwan's biggest coral reef?
A: Orchid Island
B: Green Island
C: Lamay Island

3. What is making coral reefs die?
A: Warmer oceans
B: Too many fish
C: New coral

Answers
1. C
2. C
3. A
 

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Robots Find Salt Water on Mars

What does "environment" mean?

Go outside. Look around. Lie on the grass. Look at the sky.

Our environment is the natural things around us. It is the air, plants,
animals, the clouds in the sky…
什麼是環境呢？出去走走，到處看看，躺在草皮上，望向天空。我們的環境就是空氣、植物、動物跟天空中的雲。

The Earth's environment keeps us alive. We have air to breathe. We have water
to drink and food to eat.
地球的環境讓我們有空氣可以呼吸，我們有水可以喝，有食物可以吃。

But our planet has 8 billion people! It needs help.
但地球有八十億人口！它需要幫助。

We can help. But can another planet help too? Can people live there one day?

Hmmm...which planet? Some planets are too hot or too cold. Some are okay. But
do they have water?
我們幫得上忙。但另一個星球也可以幫忙嗎?
有一些星球太熱，有一些星球太冷。有一些星球還可以的，但它們有水嗎？

The planet Mars is not too hot or too cold. Scientists are learning more
about its environment. They sent robots to look around.
火星不會太熱或太冷。科學家派機器人去了解。

Guess what one robot found?! Salt water! Mars had salt water a long time ago.
Maybe Mars has water now!
他們找到了甚麼呢？一台機器人找到鹽水。火星很久以前有鹽水，或許現在有淡水了！

Can people live on Mars one day? Scientists need to find out more. For now,
let's help our environment here on Earth!
________________________________

Vocabulary
有水的地方可能就有生命，科學家很想知道別的行星是否有水。

1. sky 天空
Hey, you're back! 你回來了！
How's Hehuanshan? 合歡山如何啊？
It was great! The air was fresh and the sky seemed bigger.
很棒，空氣新鮮，天空好像變大了。

2. cloud 雲
There were no clouds at night so we watched the stars.
晚上沒有雲，所以我們看星星。
That's wonderful! 太棒了！

3. grass 草地
So you just laid on the ground outside? 所以你們就躺在外面地上？
Yeah, we laid on the grass until midnight. 對，躺在草地上到半夜。

4. long time ago 很久以前
I love stargazing. 我喜歡觀星。
I saw many shooting stars on Taipingshan a long time ago.
我很久以前在太平山看到好多流星。

今天的單字很好記。
sky 天空
cloud 雲
grass 草地
long time ago 很久以前
________________________________

Quiz

1. What does the Earth's environment do?
A: Makes us special
B: Keeps us alive
C: Learns about Mars

2. What did scientists send to Mars?
A: Air
B: Robots
C: Clouds

3. What did Mars have a long time ago?
A: Animals
B: Salt water
C: Plants

Answers
1. B
2. B
3. B
 

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Making Houses from Seaweed

I love the beach! Let's swim! Wait! What's all that brown stuff? It smells
like bad eggs!
我喜歡海邊，我們去游泳吧！等一下，海灘上那個咖啡色的東西是甚麼？它聞起來好像臭掉的雞蛋。

That brown stuff is seaweed. Seaweed grows in the ocean. Ocean waves push it
to the beach.
原來是海帶。海帶生長在海裡，被海浪推到沙灘上。

Some beaches have a lot of smelly seaweed! People don't want to go to those
beaches.
有的海灘會有很多臭臭的海帶，讓人根本不想去。

What can we do with this seaweed? Well, we can make houses!
這些海帶可以拿來做什麼呢？可以用來蓋房子！

A gardener in Mexico is making houses from seaweed. His company cleans the
seaweed from the beach. He mixes the seaweed with other materials.He makes
the blocks. He dries them under Mexico's hot sun. Then the gardener builds
houses with the blocks. He makes a little money by selling some of the
houses. He gave 14 houses to people in need.
墨西哥的一個園丁用海帶來建造房屋。他的公司清理海灘上的海帶，然後把海帶混合其他的材料，製造成磚塊，用這些磚塊來蓋房子，賣掉這些房子可以賺一點錢。他也曾經把十四棟房子送給需要的人。

Are the seaweed blocks safe? Researchers say they are good for 120 years.
這些海帶磚安全嗎？研究人員說它們還可以維持一百二十年。

Lots of seaweed on beaches is a problem. Making houses from this seaweed is a
great idea!
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Vocabulary
海帶可以用來當作房屋的建材，沒有想到吧？

1. make 做
Let's have some sushi tonight. 我們今晚來吃壽司。
I'll make them myself. 我自己來做。
Good. Then I'll make seaweed pork rib soup. 好啊，那我做個海帶排骨湯。

2. smelly 有臭味
Why is sushi so delicious? 為什麼壽司這麼好吃？
Because I'm a good cook? 因為我是很棒的廚師？
Of course. But I sometimes find sushi a little smelly.
當然啦，不過我有時候覺得它有點臭。

3. egg 蛋
But it's just rice and some fish. 但它只是米飯加一點魚。
And some eggs. 還有一些蛋。

4. mix with 混合
You like eggs, right? 你喜歡蛋，對吧？
Yeah, especially when they're mixed with onions. 對，特別是它混搭洋蔥的時候。

請注意，來一起讀單字。
make 做
smelly 有臭味
egg 蛋
mix with 混和
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Quiz

1. Where does the gardener live?
A: America
B: Canada
C: Mexico

2. What's bad about seaweed on the beach?
A: It's clean
B: It's smelly
C: It looks good

3. How many years are the seaweed blocks good?
A: 20
B: 120
C: 220

Answers
1. C
2. B
3. B
 

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Scientists Learn How Butterflies Began

Guys! There's a butterfly on my nose! *giggle* It tickles! *sneeze* Aa… aa…
AAA-CHOO!

How many kinds of butterflies are there? Scientists say there are more than
19,000 kinds! Butterflies have lots of beautiful colors.
科學家說，世界上的蝴蝶種類超過一萬九千種！蝴蝶有各種繽紛的色彩。

Where did the first butterfly come from? Scientists wanted to know. They went
back 100 million years. That's back to dinosaur times…
科學家想知道，世界上第一隻蝴蝶出現在甚麼時候？他們一路找回到一億年前，也就是恐龍的時代。

Many kinds of animals were not living yet. There were no dogs. There were no
cats. And there were no butterflies. But there were lots and lots of moths.
那時候沒有狗狗、沒有貓咪，也沒有蝴蝶。不過有很多很多蛾。

Moths and butterflies are in the same family. But they are very different.
Butterflies have lots of bright colors: yellow, blue, green, and more. Most
moths do not. That's because moths fly at night. Many are black, brown, or
gray. These dark colors help them keep safe.
蛾跟蝴蝶是親戚，但牠們其實大不相同。蝴蝶有很多鮮豔顏色，蛾沒有，這是因為蛾是夜行性的，暗沉的顏色比較安全。

Scientists think a moth didn't like the dark 100 million years ago. It liked
the light! It wanted to fly in the bright sunlight! Flying in the sun made
the moth's dark colors brighter. Now scientists think that's where the first
butterfly came from!
科學家認為一億年前，有一隻蛾不喜歡晚上，牠喜歡光亮的地方！在陽光下飛讓這隻蛾的顏色變亮了，科學家認為這就是第一隻蝴蝶的起源！

A dark moth gave the world beautiful bright butterflies, thanks to the sun!
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Vocabulary
一億年前的陽光，讓蛾類開始演化成蝴蝶。

1. bright 光亮的
Wow, look at these paintings! 哇，你看這些畫。
The colors are so bright and beautiful! 顏色好鮮明，真好看！

2. sunlight 陽光
Yeah, it's like they come alive under the sunlight.
對啊，在陽光下好像變成活的。
How many butterflies are there in this painting? 這幅畫裡有幾隻蝴蝶？

3. dark 黑暗的
I guess at least one hundred. 我猜至少一百隻。
It would look good on a dark wall. 掛在黑暗的牆上可能不錯。

4. night 夜晚
The dark wall of our house? 我們家那面黑暗牆壁嗎？
Are you thinking of buying it? 你想買這幅畫？
Maybe. It would look even better at night. 也許。它晚上看起來可能更好。

來讀讀單字。
bright 光亮的
sunlight 陽光
dark 黑暗的
night 夜晚
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Quiz

1. How many kinds of butterflies are there?
A: 19
B: 1,000
C: 19,000

2. Which animals have lots of beautiful, bright colors?
A: Moths
B: Butterflies
C: Dinosaurs

3. Why do most moths have dark colors?
A: To keep safe
B: To fly
C: To look cool

Answers
1. C
2. B
3. A
 

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Iraqis Plant Trees to Stop Deserts

Phew! It's very dry! Are we in a desert? I need water...

A desert is a place without water. It gets very little rain. It's hard to
find plants in a desert. Plants need water to grow.
沙漠裡面很少下雨，水很少，也沒有甚麼植物。

Good soil needs plants. Without plant roots, the soil can't hold water. The
soil gets hard and dry. No plants can grow. The place becomes a desert.
少了植物的根，土壤很難留住水分，很快就會變乾、變硬。最後這片土地就會變成沙漠。

Iraq has two big deserts. This country has long, hot, and dry summers. Now
the earth is getting hotter. And Iraq is getting less water from rain and
rivers. More places there are becoming desert.
伊拉克有兩個大沙漠。伊拉克的夏天又長又熱，現在因為全球暖化，伊拉克的水越來越少，更多地方變成了沙漠。

People want good soil again. So some people planted trees. Then more people
planted trees! Now Iraq wants to plant 5 million trees!
伊拉克希望改善土壤品質，決定開始種樹。他們決心要種五百萬顆樹！

The tree roots will help the soil hold water. Then more plants can grow.
Their roots will help the soil. Then more plants can grow. Their roots will
help the soil. Then more…
樹根可以幫助土壤留住水分，這樣就可以種更多植物，留住更多水分，變成一個正向循環！

The earth needs our help! Can you plant a tree today?

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Vocabulary
伊拉克希望多種樹，把沙漠變成綠洲。
1. grow 種植。
I'm trying to grow roses, but it's a lot of
work.我正在種玫瑰，但是它需要做好多事。
Roses? You can't even grow cucumbers! 玫瑰? 你甚至不會種小黃瓜!

2. soil 泥土。
That's why I'm using the soil for roses. 這是為什麼我用這些泥土來種玫瑰。

3. root 根部。
But roses have deep roots. 但是玫瑰的根很深。
Your pots are not big enough. 你的花盆不夠大。
Since when did you know so much about roses? 你什麼時候開始這麼懂玫瑰?

4. more 更多。
I read about it. 我有看書。
But I learned more from my mom. 但是我從我媽媽那裏學到更多。
She plants roses every year. 她每年都種玫瑰。

你有種過任何植物嗎? 一起來讀今天的單字。
grow種植
soil泥土
root根部
more更多
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Quiz
1. What is a desert?
A: A place without water
B: A plant
C: Good soil

2. What can grow when tree roots help the soil hold water?
A: Strong winds
B: No plants
C: More plants

3. How many trees do they plan to plant in Iraq?
A: 5
B: A million
C: 5 million

Answers
1. A
2. C
3. C