34 6 69 JaneMaiko Lisa Dear Maiko, Friday, 20 You are invited to a holiday party! Date : Friday, 20 Time : :00 p.m.8:00 p.m. Place : 400 Seattle Avenue Hosts : Bob and Lisa Please bring one present. My brother, Bob will pick you and Jane up at Jane s house at 4:30 p.m. At the party, we will decorate the Christmas tree and sing Christmas songs together. We will also exchange presents and enjoy Christmas dinner that my mother will cook for us. Please come and enjoy our party! Lisa 1 Today, we had a Christmas party at Lisa s house. We all enjoyed it. First, we decorated the Christmas tree. Then Lisa s mother served dinner. It was very nice. After dinner, we sang Christmas songs together. I knew only one of them. It was Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. I learned it in English classes in Japan. At the end of the party, we exchanged presents. I got a cute stuffed animal. Jane got a book. She looked to get it, because. I had a very good time tonight. I will have another party at home on New Year s Day in about 2 weeks. I am glad to have such experiences in Canada. 1 holidaypick up 1 What should Maiko take to the party? She. 1 1 7 1
3 70 Takashi graphtable I ve been interested in the environment since we studied about global warming. Last week, when I was looking for some information about the environment on the Internet, I found very interesting facts about forests. Today I m going to talk about them. F irst, look at the graph. This graph shows the forest area percentages of Japan and four other countries. You can see that a high percentage of the land in Japan is forest area. Also, aren t you surprised to see that the forest area percentages of the other countries are lower? For example, look at the forest area percentage of. I thought that it would be over 0%, but the forest area percentage of is about a half of the forest area percentage of Japan. Now look at the table. This table shows ten prefectures with the highest forest area percentages in Japan. You can see that only two prefectures have forest area percentages that are hthan 80%. Gifu is one of them. I like Gifu very much because Gifu is rich in nature. So, I hope that I can do something good for the environment in the future to take care of the forests in Gifu. Graph forest area percentages prefecturesrich in nature 1 20 Table Kochi 84.3 Gifu 81. Shimane 78.4 Nagano 78.1 Yamanashi 78.0 Nara 77.1 Wakayama 76.9 Iwate 76.9 Miyazaki 76.2 Tokushima 7.3 1 Russia Canada China Australia 1 1 The graph shows how many rivers each country has. The table shows ten countries with the highest forest area percentages in the world. Takashi was surprised to f ind the forest area percentage of Japan is lower than 0%. Takashi wants to help the environment by taking care of the forests in Gifu.
36 71 Museums should be free. 3 We think museums should be free. Things in museums are very important for all people, because it is fun to see them and we can learn a lot from them. We believe the city government should protect those treasures. We think museums should not be free. Museums need a lot of money. They have to take care of their buildings and they also have to buy new treasures. This money should come from the people who visit museums. Why do people have to pay money? The government should do it because many people enjoy visiting museums. With good museums a city will be famous, and if they are free, more people will visit the city. These visitors will use their money in the city. When we go to the movies, we pay money, of course. We pay money when we want to enjoy something. If people enjoy both museums and movies, why do you still think museums are so different? Things we learn at museums are very special. For example, at a history museum, we can see, listen to and feel our history. We can experience it. There are many kinds of museums: art, science and others. Some people may want to visit art museums, but not science museums. Many people do not visit all kinds of museums. The government should support different things, for example, schools and libraries, because a lot of people use them. governmentprotectcome frompay visitorsbothstillsupport 1 20 2 Group A says that museums don t need much money to pay the people who work there. Group A says that the government should pay for something many people enjoy. Group A doesn t think that we can learn history well at a history museum. Group B says that it is not fun to go to museums. Group B thinks that people are interested in many different things. Group B believes that science museums are better than history museums. group
37 Museums should be free, becausethe city government should protect our treasures. things we can learn there are very special. Museums should not be free, becauseyou should pay if you want to enjoy something. people may want to go to some kinds of the museums, but not all. they need a lot of money. 1 people will study science more. more people will visit libraries. a city will have more visitors. more people will be interested in history. 3 A museum will be a better place with the money from visitors. Our city government is not big enough to help museums. We want to see and enjoy our treasures again and again without using money. A museum should be a place even a student with no money can enter. People who are interested and want to pay money should go to museums. 1 I think museums should be free. The people who enjoy visiting them should help museums. I also think that things we experience at museums can be learned from different things, for example, or the Internet. We have a lot of ways to study. The government should support them more.
38 If museums are not free, do you still want to visit them? Why? Yes, I do. No, I don t. Because 1 Yes, I do. No, I don t. Because. 72 Masaki My grandmother lived in an old house a few years ago. It was in the countryside of Wakayama. She got very old and needed some help, so she came to our city and started living with my family. After that, no one lived in her old house. Then, her town in the countryside started a project to renew old houses like my grandmother s. In the project a lot of volunteers help to clean old houses. And the houses are rented to someone. When my grandmother heard about the project, she decided to rent her house to someone. My family went to my grandmother s house and cleaned it. Some volunteers also helped us. Among them there was a man from Australia. His name was Tom. He saw the homepage of the town and came to the town. He was staying there with a farming family. Tom said, Old houses in this town are wonderful. They are not very hot in summer, so we don t have to use air conditioners. My favorite place is irori. You can use it for cooking. It also makes the room warm in winter. It s great! Now many people live in modern houses, but I think it is very nice to live in an old Japanese house. I like living and farming in this town. I was happy to hear that. Cleaning the old house was not easy. But my family and the volunteers worked hard together. The house became very beautiful. I thought my grandmother s house was just an old one at f irst. When I cleaned my grandmother s house, I learned many good things about old Japanese houses. I want to live in an old Japanese house someday. I also hope many people will come to this town and enjoy old houses. countrysidetownprojectrenew volunteerrentamong homepagefarmair conditioner irorimoderni 1 1 Masaki s grandmother lives with Masaki s family because. she decided to clean her old house she needed the help of Masaki s family the town started a project to clean old houses the town decided to rent her house
39 Tom decided to. teach English to old people in the town rent his house in Australia come to the town after seeing the homepage live in Masaki s grandmother s house Masaki found good things about Japanese old houses when. he started his life in the countryside of Wakayama he lived in his grandmother s house with his family he came to the city to live with his grandmother he cleaned his grandmother s house with some volunteers Tom 1 you taught me about your life in Australia you came to my house to see me with your friends you talked to me about Japanese old houses you showed how to make irorii to me 4?!