Every year, wildfires burn millions of hectares of forest land, leaving many homes damaged and a lot of people homeless. ________, smoke jumpers help to stop this. They are brave guardians (卫士) for us.

Smoke jumpers are a special type of firemen. ________ regular firemen, they work in a different way. They jump from planes into areas that are difficult to ________ by car or on foot, such as the middle of a mountain forest. They run to put out fires as fast as they can.

At a fire site (现场), smoke jumpers first check the land and ________ how to fight the fire. Their main purpose is to stop afire from spreading (扩散). Using basic tools such as shovels and axes, smoke jumpers ________ land of burnable materials, like dry grass and dead trees. They carry water with them, too, but only a little.

Most of smoke jumpers are men, ________ more women are joining them now. The most important things are your height and ________. Smoke jumpers employed in the United States, for example, must be between 54 or 91 kilograms, so they don’t get blown away by the strong winds or get ________ when they land. Smoke jumpers must also be able to live in the wild. In Russia, many smoke jumpers know how to find food in the forest and can even ________ simple furniture from trees so that they can survive (生存) in the wild.

The work is ________, and the hours are long. But for these firemen, smoke jumping isn’t just a job. They love being able to jump out of planes, fight fires, and live in the forest.

Clothing is a language. From the traditional clothing we can know more about culture.

Africa has a long history and a rich ________, and this is shown in traditional dress. The three colours—red, gold and green, are often used in the clothing. These three colours ________ different meanings. The pictures on clothing also have different kinds of ________.

Clothing has strong social meanings, so people are very ________ in choosing what to wear. It would be a serious _______ to wear the wrong clothes, or to dress in the wrong way. For example, in Ghana, a woman should wear her waistband (腰带) _______ according to the importance of the social event.

Traditional dress also tells us about ________ life. African designs are famous for loose clothing. The ________ there can be very high during the daytime but very low at night, so it ________ that the clothes should be comfortable for daily life.

Today although more and more young people like wearing Western clothes, especially in big cities in Africa, ________ African dress is still quite ordinary. This is because it has deep cultural meanings.

Look at the picture. It’s a pair of wooden shoes. Do you know who invented them and wore them? Probably you can’t give an answer. The fact is that nowadays wooden shoes are a true ________ of Holland.

Wooden shoes were worn by the early Germans who ruled Holland. In Holland, the ground was ________. Wooden shoes were perfect because they were water resistant(防水的) and easy to put on and ________.

In the beginning, wooden shoes were made by hand. The long process ________ shoemaker to product only 3 pairs each day. Over the years, special tools were invented and shoemakers could make more wooden shoes a day. Today, wooden shoes are made on large machines. But they are still painted and polished by hand.

Wooden shoes can keep our feet dry and wearing them is even ________ to be healthy. However, very few Dutchmen (荷兰人) wear them nowadays. If you want a picture of someone wearing them, you need to travel to the countryside in search of farmers and workers.