Saving Resources and Caring for Small Animals
FoundationSave water and power, cut waste and recycle; grow plants and care for small animals — learn responsibility for life.
- Resources are precious; save water and power in small ways.
- Reduce, reuse, recycle — cut waste at the source.
- Plants need sunlight, water and daily care.
文體小知識：說明文把一件事講得清清楚楚。這一篇教你節約資源、減少廢物，再學習栽種植物和照顧小動物的責任。
§Text Passage
1The resources of the earth are not endless: water, electricity, paper and plastics are none of them easy to make. Save them in small daily ways: switch off lights and air-conditioning when you leave a room, use a cup of water when brushing your teeth, write on both sides of paper, and bring your own bag and bottle. When everyone does their bit, the earth bears less burden and resources last for the next generation.
2There are three keys to cutting waste: reduce, reuse and recycle. Use one plastic bag fewer, bring your own lunch box; pass old clothes and toys to people who need them; sort waste paper, cans and bottles into recycling bins. Good waste reduction lightens the load on landfills and keeps the environment cleaner.
3Besides saving resources, we can learn to care for living things: grow a pot of mung beans on the windowsill, or keep a little turtle at home. A plant needs sunlight, soil and the right amount of water; watch it sprout, leaf and flower day by day. Plants are quiet friends that teach patience and care — and harvesting brings real satisfaction.
4Caring for a small animal is a bigger promise: feed it, change its water and clean its home every day, and take it to the vet when it is ill. Animals get hungry, feel pain and lonely just like us; we must not tend to them only on a whim, still less abandon them. Before keeping a pet, the whole family should discuss it well — be a little master who carries things through.
5Whether growing flowers or keeping a turtle, what we learn is responsibility and love: living things need daily care, and resources need daily saving. Drawing a diary of the beans' growth, cleaning the turtle tank — small acts like these add up to great service for our home, the earth, and teach us to respect every life.
1Summary 重點摘要
Save water and power, cut waste and recycle; grow plants and care for small animals — learn responsibility for life.
2Vocabulary cards Vocabulary
The things and materials we use, such as water, power and paper.
Using less electricity and water, such as switching off lights.
Not buying or using what we do not need.
Using the same thing again, such as refilling your own bottle.
Sorting waste paper and bottles for recycling into new things.
A bin for recyclables, sorted by colour and kind.
When a seed begins to shoot — the start of a plant's growth.
The doctor for animals; take a sick pet to the vet.
Leaving an animal behind and no longer caring for it — irresponsible.
3Step by step Steps
- Step 1: Save water and electricityWater and power are not easily won: drinking water passes through treatment works, and electricity comes from power stations burning fuel — the more we use, the more resources are consumed. Saving is simple: brush your teeth with a cup of water instead of a running tap; close the tap tightly and tell an adult if it drips; set the air-conditioner at twenty-five or twenty-six degrees with a fan and it is cool enough; switch off lights and air-conditioning when leaving a room; unplug appliances not in use. What is saved is not just money but the earth's precious resources.
- Step 2: Cut waste at the source and recycleHong Kong's landfills are nearly full; reducing waste is everyone's duty. Remember the three keys: reduce — take no leaflets you do not need; reuse — bring your own bag, bottle and lunch box, and pass old clothes and toys to others; recycle — sort paper, metal, plastic and glass, rinse them and put them in recycling bins or collection points. Keep several sorting boxes at home and build the habit as a family. With less rubbish, landfills are under less pressure and the environment is cleaner.
- Step 3: Bring your own, use less disposableDisposable items are used once and thrown away — the most wasteful of all: a plastic bag takes hundreds of years to break down, and disposable cutlery becomes rubbish after one meal. We can carry a water bottle and refill it when thirsty; take a shopping bag or backpack when buying things; bring our own cutlery and food boxes for meals out; use a handkerchief instead of tissues. These sound small, but if each person uses one plastic bag fewer a day, Hong Kong saves millions of bags a day. Cut waste at the source; once habitual, it is easy and natural.
- Step 4: Learn to grow plantsGrowing plants is a wonderful lesson in life. Beginners can start with mung beans: lay the beans on wet cotton, put them by a sunny window, spray a little water each day, and in two or three days the beans shed their skins and sprout, sending up tender green stems and leaves. Then move them to a small pot with soil and keep watching them grow tall, flower and form pods. Measure the height with a ruler and draw a growth diary; you will find that although plants cannot speak, they repay your care every day. Planting teaches patience and carefulness.
- Step 5: Learn to care for small animalsCaring for a small animal is a daily promise. Take a little turtle: feed it the right amount of turtle food at fixed times, never too much; change the water every two or three days and keep the tank clean; keep it warm in cold weather; if it looks listless or stops eating, ask an adult or take it to the vet. Cats and dogs ask for far more: walks, brushing, a clean home — and a commitment of over ten years. Animals feel hunger, pain and loneliness; before keeping one, ask yourself whether you can persist every day.
- Step 6: Respect life, never abandonThe most important lesson is this: a life is not a toy. Some people bring a small animal home because it looks cute, then find it troublesome when the novelty wears off and give it away or abandon it — a great hurt to the animal, and possibly against the law. So before keeping a pet, the family must discuss seriously: is there time? Is there space? Who will care for it? Once decided, carry it through to the end. The same goes for plants — if one withers, learn the lesson and grow again. Respecting every small life is the finest sign of a loving heart.
5Worked example Example
Example: Your teacher gave you mung bean seeds, and you also keep a little turtle at home. How will you arrange things so both little friends are well cared for?
- Growing beans: lay them on wet cotton by a sunny window, spray a little water daily, watch them sprout and draw a growth diary.
- Keeping the turtle: feed it at fixed times, change the water every two or three days, clean the tank regularly and keep it warm in cold weather.
- Make a duty chart: divide the jobs with your family — who feeds the turtle, who changes the water, who observes the beans — and follow it daily.
- Remind yourself: beans sprout in a week, but the turtle needs years of care — caring for life means long persistence.
- Answer: Beans need sunlight, water and daily observation; the turtle needs regular feeding, fresh water and a clean tank. I will make a duty chart, share the work with my family and persist every day without giving up halfway. Caring for life takes patience and responsibility — that is what love means.
6Common mistakes Mistakes
7Quick check Quick check
Q1What should we do when leaving a room?
Q2What are the three keys to cutting waste?
Q3What do mung beans need to grow?
Q4What must be done daily for a little turtle?
Q5May we abandon a pet at will?
8Recap Recap
- Resources are precious; save water and power in small ways.
- Reduce, reuse, recycle — cut waste at the source.
- Plants need sunlight, water and daily care.
- Caring for a small animal is a daily promise, not a whim.
- A life is not a toy — respect it and never abandon it.