tropical rainforest are trees. There are more types of trees in the rainforest than there are anywhere else. Rainforest trees have tall straight trunks and smooth bark. The taller ones have a canopy of leaves up to 100 feet above the forest floor. The lower ones have a canopy of leaves about 60 feet above the ground.

Another type of rainforest plant is the epiphyte. Epiphytes are plants that grow on trees instead of on the ground. Orchids, bromeliads, and ferns are rainforest epiphytes. Bromeliads are interesting plants that have leaves that form a holding tank for water. These leaf tanks can hold from less than a pint to more that 10 gallons of water. These little tanks of water are home to whole communities of small creatures including bacteria, mosquitoes, tadpoles, and other animals. There are also tiny epiphytes that live on a leaf including mosses, liverworts, and lichens.

Vines are also important rain forest plants. Lianas are woody, climbing vines. They start as a ground plant and grow up the trees to the canopy. There are around 2,500 species of rainforest vines. The pitcher plant is a climbing plant that traps bugs in its pitcher for dinner.

There are large tropical rainforests in South America, Africa, and Asia. At one time rainforests covered 14 % of the Earth's surface, but now the area has been reduced to only 6%. This is because large areas of rainforest have been cleared to build farms and ranches, and because other large areas have been cleared as trees were harvested. This is the same thing that happened to most of our North American forests many years ago.

S3: A bucket is a kind of round open container with a handle for often carrying or holding liquids, water, milk, oil, sand, rice, etc.

S4: If we splash our drink on someone in a restaurant, we should make our apologies to the other immediately. Don't look for any excuse. You can say: Please excuse my carelessness in upsetting the drink. Or I'm so sorry to splash my drink on you.

T: Good. Next let's listen to the conversation about a trip to Xishuangbanna. Let's see