Secrets of the Earth
New Horizon Book 2 (H12) pg. 85-89
| Secrets of the Earth | |
|---|---|
| 地球の秘密 | |
| Details | |
| Word count | 395 |
| Book | New Horizon |
| Grade | 2 |
| Year | 2000 |
１９９１年の１２月２７日，ひとりの日本人の少女が，脳内出血のため，突然この世を去りました。
彼女の名前は坪田愛華。彼女は死の直前まで，ある漫画の制作に取り組んでいました。題は「地球の秘密」。
この漫画は，その後，多くの言語に訳され，広く読まれることになりました。
Aika Tsubota died on December 27, 1991. She was only twelve years old, but people all over the world will remember her for many years to come. A few hours before she died, she finished writing her last comic book. In her book she tried to explain the earth's environmental problems. The main characters in her story were Rumi, Eiichi, and Earth. You can read this comic book in many languages. If you read it, you will learn a lot about the earth.
- The rain forests grow near the equator. Only 6% of the earth's land is rain forest, but 50% of all kinds of plants and animals live there.
- The animals look for food, and the birds sing in the trees.
▲The rain forests grow near the equator. - People have lived in the rain forest for a long time. The forests ...
- give them everything.
- The earth is rich because of the rain forests.
- The rain forests are precious.
- They're cutting down the trees!
▲The rain forests are disappearing. - People cut down a lot of trees every year. Much of the wood comes to Japan.
- Other people burn down trees to make farms.
▲Trees are burning. - What a waste!
- If we lose the fain forests ...
- The animals will disappear, because they have no food.
- Life will be harder for people, too.
- What can we do?
- Well, ...
- Most of the rain forests are in developing countries. People sell the trees to make money, and they need the land for farms. They need money and food to live.
- So we can't just say, "Sop cutting down the forests."
Earth told Rumi and Eiichi about many environmental problems. Rumi and Eiichi learned that the earth is in great danger.
"What can we do?" they asked. "Each one of you can do something," said Earth. "For example, recycling saves resources and reduces pollution. Saving energy and water also helps."
The Earth said goodbye to them and disappeared. Rumi and Eiichi promised to do something to save their friend, the earth.
In August of 1994, UNEP held a Children's Summit in Japan. About 400 children from seventeen different countries got together in Shimane. Aika was born and grew up there. All the participants promised, "We'll try to save the earth." Aika was right. We must take action. We can all do something to make the earth a beautiful place again.
