[00:04.99]Lesson 17 1 Dialogue
[00:10.55]Mick is in the garden with his mother.
[00:14.81]He has got lots of questions to ask.
[00:19.17]Mick: What are you doing,Mum?
[00:22.54]Mum: I'm sowing cabbages.
[00:25.99]What's that in your hand?
[00:29.26]Cabbage seed. You see,I put some soil in the box,
[00:35.32] sow the seed carefully like this,and then cover it with more soil.
[00:41.77]I'll keep the box in the shade so that the sun doesn't burn the little plants.
[00:48.43]Is that all?
[00:51.36]No. Later,in a few weeks' time I'll put the little plants in the earth.
[00:58.51]Then I'll water them to stop the soil getting too dry.
[01:03.97]Several weeks after that,I will plant them in rows in the field.
[01:09.93]Do you have to feed plants like you feed chickens?
[01:14.61]Or do they grow up by themsevles?
[01:18.26]In fact they grow better if you feed them.
[01:22.52]When the plants are in the ground I'll put some powder on the soil.
[01:28.37]The powder is made from fish,blood and bones.
[01:33.10]It'll make the cabbage plants grow big and strong. Like me!
[01:38.98]Lesson 18
[01:47.52]Reading
[01:50.08]Read the passage to find the answer to this question:
[01:55.41]What has changed in the past few years?
[01:59.80]THE GREEN HILLS OF TANGSA
[02:03.56] The village people of Tangsa in northern India love their forests.
[02:09.80]Trees grow thickly on all the hills around the village.
[02:15.16]Even in the village itself,young trees are growing.
[02:20.51]A few of them can be cut each year for firewood.
[02:25.55]The rest are left to grow even taller.
[02:29.81] All of this is new.
[02:33.18]In the past there were no trees left in or around the village.
[02:39.53]People had to walk many kilometres in order to fetch wood.
[02:44.99]Trees were cut but none were planted.
[02:49.43]When it rained,the soil was carried away down the hills and into the rivers.
[02:56.48] In 1973 some strangers arrived.
[03:01.45]They wanted to cut down a large forest in the area.
[03:06.59]The villagers did not allow them to do this.
[03:11.06]They said the forest was theirs.
[03:14.90]They knew they had to save the trees.
[03:18.97]If not,they would have no wood at all.
[03:23.52]As a result,they saved 90% of the trees in the forest.
[03:29.48]They began to understand how important the forest is.
[03:34.94]If they cut trees,they must also plant new ones.
[03:40.40] Today there is a forest programme in 70 villages in this area.
[03:46.87]Meetings are held in order to explain the programme to the villagers.
[03:52.52]It is operated by the women of the area.
[03:56.98]Twice a year,large teams of women plant thousands of trees.
[04:03.33]These small trees are given to the villagers and they are free.
[04:08.89]The village women water the trees.
[04:13.05]They also make sure the cows do not knock them down or eat the leaves.
[04:19.32]Between 1975 and 1980 more than 1.2 million trees were planted.
[04:28.75] Since then,the forests have grown.
[04:32.82]People are not allowed to cut down trees when they are still small.
[04:38.39]They are only allowed to cut down trees when they are big enough.
[04:44.06]Everyone obeys the rules;anybody who breaks the rules in punished.
[04:51.42]So everybody now takes good care of the forests around their village.
[04:57.67]And the forests have grown,larger and better |