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.

    Jack gets to the bus station very early. The bus for Beijing is leaving at twelve. He sees many people at the station. Some are waiting in line, and others are walking around. Jack looks around but there is no room for him to sit in. He walks into a restaurant. He looks up at the clock there.

    It's only 11:30. Then he finds a seat and sits down. At that time, Tom, one of his friends, comes in and sits in front of him. They talk and drink. After a while, Jack looks up at the clock again. “Oh, my God. It's still 11:30. The clock doesn't work at all.” Jack becomes very sad because he misses the bus.

    My parents told me we were going camping during winter vacation. Camping! They are always trying to get me outside more. It seems like my mom is always saying, "Brian, turn off the computer!" or "Brian, put down your phone and talk to us!" They don't understand that I'm in the zone when I'm using a keyboard, so of course I don't want to stop.

    We drove for an hour to Everglades National Park. As soon as we got there, I couldn't get a signal(信号) for my phone. Suddenly, I was facing three days of no contact with the outside world. My mom tried to tell me I'd like it, "You'll be able to look around more when you're not staring at a screen."

    We took a hike with a ranger(护林者) in the afternoon. He explained a lot to us about the Everglades. At first, I couldn't care less, but after a while I started listening. By the end of the hike, I realized there was more action going on in the park than in most video games.

    We did a lot of walking and that night I was really tired. Even so, I woke up in the midnight, and I was scared at first because of some strange sounds. But then I realized it was the barred owl that the ranger had described. It sounded like it was calling out "Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you?" Then I was not afraid anymore and went back to sleep.

    The next two days we did a lot more exploring. I saw that all the land and water and animals were connected in the Everglades. Small fish eat mosquito eggs; large fish eat those smaller fish; and alligators eat the large fish. If you got rid of(除掉) the mosquitoes, you might lose some of the other animals higher up the food chain too.

    After we left, we talked in the car about the Everglades. Right in the middle of our discussion, I heard a familiar sound from my phone. My friend Jeff was sending me a message. I reached for my phone, then put it back down. "Aren't you going to reply?" asked Mom.

    "I will in a little while," I said. My dad and mom looked at each other and just smiled.

    Michelle Wie, from America, is like a lot of other young girls in many ways. She is a good student, and she likes reading, drawing, and computers. However, in some other ways, she is very different. She doesn't spend much time going out with friends or shopping or going to parties. She's very busy practising golf.

    Michelle Wie is the best woman golfer for her age in the world. She was born in 1989. In 1999, at the age of 10，she began to win games. At 13, she could hit the ball farther than most of the women in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). At 14, she showed she could hit the ball farther than most men.

    Wie began playing golf at the age of four. When she grew older, she played about four hours a day on weekdays and seven hours a day at weekends. Another thing that helped her was that she was tall. Now Wie is about six feet tall. She has the flexibility of a dancer and also is very strong. And it's clear that she loves the game.