Lesson 14
Everyone Can Make Contributions to Protecting Natural Resources ①

Guidance

Natural resources are useful for us but limited. What can we do to conserve and protect them?自然资源为人们的生活提供丰富的物质和能量，但资源数量有限。如何保护和节约利用自然已成为不可忽视的问题。

1 Natural resources are things that we use that come from nature, such as plants, animals, soil, minerals, energy sources, air and water. These natural resources are used to meet the needs of all living things, including people. ② (1) _____ This means that they will not last forever. Some are renewable , like when you plant a new tree when you cut one down. Others are not renewable, like when you dig coal out of the ground. (2)_____

2 (3) _____ When you try to conserve a natural resource , you try to use less of it, so it does not get used up so fast. One way that people conserve fuel, like gasoline, is by riding a bicycle or walking when the distance is short instead of driving everywhere.

3 (4) _____ We can conserve water by making sure that our pipes and taps do not leak . ③ We can also make wise choices to conserve water, like only using the dishwasher or washing machine when they are full. (5) _____

(224 words)

Word bank

Notes

① Everyone can make contributions to protecting natural resources. 人人都可以为保护自然资源做贡献。make contributions to… 意为“为……做贡献”，注意后面接名词、代词或者动名词。

② These natural resources are used to meet the needs of all living things, including people. 这些自然资源用来满足包括人类在内的所有生物的需要。

③ We can conserve water by making sure that our pipes and taps do not leak. 我们能够通过确保水管和水龙头不漏水来节约水。

Practice

Ⅰ. Comprehension

1. What are natural resources?

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2. What does the underlined word "renewable" mean in Chinese?

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3. Please give us at least two more examples of natural resources, including renewable ones and not renewable ones.

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4. The following sentences are from the passage. Put each of them back in the correct place.

A. Everyone can make contributions to protecting natural resources.

B. Our natural resources are limited.

C. Water is a very important natural resource because we all need it to stay alive.

D. People realize the fact that Earth's natural resources are limited, and can dothings to help conserve those resources.

E. Once it is used, it is gone.

Ⅱ. Writing practice

As a middle school student, what should you do to conserve and protect natural resources?

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