I am from South Africa. I didn't at all know the weather here was so cold, but I am glad to say that I have all the clothes for this freezing weather.

When I First got to know that l would be attending this international conference here in Finland, I had no idea what kind of clothes I should take along. I didn't know what to do when I thought of this two-week stay here, with a very formal dinner, a few parties, social gatherings and a dance during the conference.

    Luckily, my friend Julia has been to northern Europe. Yes, she was a great help. She helped me with my biggest problem. She placed an order for some warm suits and dresses, business-type clothes, of course, of dark colors. She also bought me some skirts and blouses so that I could wear the same clothes in several different ways. A couple of lively colored dresses will give me a nice change from time to time. She also helped to choose a very warm raincoat and a pair of boots.

    Oh, how lucky I am to have such a helpful friend. She saved me a lot of trouble, nothing worries me about my meeting, nor my clothes.

    Calabash brothers（葫芦兄弟） are seven brave brothers. They live in Calabash mountain. They wear different clothes. The red calabash is strong, but he does not have his own ideas. The orange calabash has two bright eyes and ears. He can see far and hear clearly. The yellow calabash has a hard head. The green calabash can swim. The cyanine（青色的） calabash is good at fire and the blue calabash hides himself very well. The purple calabash has a magic gourd（葫芦）.

    One day a pangolin（穿山甲） breaks the cave and two monsters come out. They are Monster Scorpion（蝎子精） and Monster Snake（蛇精）. The seven brothers must fight with them and save the world.

A

    Tom lives in a town near New York. His father has a factory there and his mother is a doctor. He is seven and begins to go to school this September. The school is a little far from home and his father drives a car to take him to school five days a week. So he is never late for class and his teachers like him very much.

    It is Monday today. Miss Green is teaching them to count from one to ten in the morning. Tom is studying hard. Soon he can count them. Miss Green is happy and asks," How many people are there in your family, Tom?"

    Tom stands up and says, "Two, Miss Green."

    "Who are they?"

    "My father and my mother."

    "Oh," Miss Green is surprised. Then she says, "There are three people in your family."

    "But now I'm not at home. I'm at school, you know!"

    It's 21:00 in Beijing now. Let's look at what the four students are doing.

Gina is a new teacher in a middle school. She lives in San Diego, just fifteen minutes' walk from the beach. So she always 1 along the beach after work. 

Last week was busy but happy for Gina. She. had a lot of work from Monday to Friday. When the weekend came, she decided 2 a good rest. Her weekend began when she met her friends at Sam's Chinese Restaurant on Friday night. "My friends and I all like Chinese food, so we often eat together at that restaurant, " said Gina 3 . 

On Saturday morning, Gina helped a friend move to a new house. In the afternoon, she went to her tennis class. 4 she was new to the sport, she played well. After dinner, Gina went to the Red Onion and danced there until 10:00 p. m. She really enjoyed 5 . 

On Sunday, Gina got up at 8:00 a. m. and she went to 6 small restaurant near her home for breakfast. She thought the food there was delicious. Then she spent the whole morning reading books. In the afternoon, she went swimming 7 her cousin. For lunch, they had 8 fast food together. In the evening, she went to the San Diego Folk Festival. It was 9 . Gina had great fun there. 

10 busy but wonderful weekend Gina had!