Fire can help people in many ways. But it can also be very harmful（有害的）. Fire can heat water, warm your houses, give light and cook food. But fire can burn（燃烧）things, too. It can burn trees, houses, animals or people. Sometimes big fires can burn forests. Nobody knows for sure how people began to use fire. But there are many interesting old stories about the first time a man or a woman started a fire. One story from Australia tells about a man, very long time ago. He went up to the sun by a rope and brought fire down.

    Today people know how to make a fire with matches（火柴）. Children sometimes like to play with them. But matches can be very dangerous. One match can burn a piece of paper, and then it might burn a house. A small fire can become a big fire very fast.

    Fire kills many people every year. So you must be careful with matches. You should also learn to put out（灭）fires. Fires need oxygen（氧气）.Without oxygen they will die. Cover（覆盖）a fire with water, sand, or sometimes with your coat. This keeps the air away from a fire and kills it.

    Be careful with fire, and it will help you. Be careless with fire, and it will burn you.