Joe’s Pond

喬的池塘

Joe made the world a better place. He got the idea to do that at school. He watched a video there. It was about a factory. This factory produced a lot of trash and put it in a river. The trash and water were a bad mix. People populated the area by the river and drank its water. This made them sick. Many of them needed medicine and made regular visits to doctors.

喬讓世界變得更美好。他在學校里看了一部關于工廠的視頻后靈機一動產生了想法。視頻講述的工廠產生很多垃圾，他們把垃圾倒進了河里，小河變成了一條垃圾河。人們依水而居，喝的是河里的水。這樣一來，喝了臟水的人們就會生病。很多人因此需要看醫生和吃藥。

But the video wasn’t all bad news. It showed ways to pick up trash and why it’s important to do this. It said people can make a difference to their environment. The video’s important features made Joe associate trash with hurting people.

然而這部視頻里講述的也并不全是壞消息。里面還提及了處理垃圾的方法以及這樣做的重要性。視頻還提到人們可以為保護環境盡一份力。視頻中這一重要的部分讓喬想到了垃圾和因此生病的居民。

One day Joe walked through a park. He recognized some of the problems from the video. One instance of these problems was the trash in the pond. It was full of plastic cups. There was too much trash. Joe didn’t want it to hurt anyone.

有一天，喬在公園里散步，他發現了視頻中提到的一些問題。其中一個就是池塘里的垃圾。池塘里面扔滿了垃圾，全是塑料杯子。喬不想任何人因此受到傷害。

He told his grandfather about the park. His grandfather said, “You know, it’s a tradition in our family to help people. That’s why we give food to poor people. Maybe you can help people by cleaning the park.”

他把公園的所見告訴了爺爺。爺爺對他說：“你知道的，助人為樂是我們家的傳統。我們會救濟窮人就是這個原因。或許你可以幫忙把公園里的垃圾清理掉。”

Cleaning the park would involve hard work. Joe decided to organize a group to help him. He chose a wide area of the park. It had the most trash. He asked his family and friends to come. On Saturday, he gave everyone a sharp stick. They wondered why. He said, “You use the stick’s tip to pick up trash. This makes it easier.” They worked for six weeks. Different people helped each time, but Joe was always there.

這可不是意見容易的事。喬決定號召多點人幫忙。他選了公園里一片開闊的區域，那也是垃圾最多的地方。他叫上家人和朋友前來幫忙。周六那天，喬給來幫忙的人沒每人發了一根鋒利的棍子。大家都不解其意。喬解釋說：“用棍子尖的一頭撿垃圾會更容易一些。”他們連續去了六個星期。每一次都有不同的人前來幫忙，但喬卻從未缺席。

In that period of time,Joe saw a range of results.There was no trash in the water. People could swim in it. Joe knew that was a good sign. He was happy because he helped his environment. 

在那段時間里，喬看到了一些成果。人們不再往水里扔垃圾，還可以在里面游泳。喬知道這是個好預兆。他很開心，因為自己為保護環境盡了一份力。

單詞

associate v. 聯合

environment n. 環境

factory n. 工廠

feature n. 特征

instance n. 例子

involve v. 包括

medicine n. 藥物

mix n. 混合

organize v. 組織

period n. 期間

populate v. 居住于

produce v. 生產

range n. 排

recognize v. 認出

regular adj. 常規的

sign n. 標志

tip n. 尖端

tradition n. 傳統

trash n. 垃圾，廢物

wide adj. 廣泛的，寬的