Hundreds of years ago, no dandelions grew in North America. Then people came from Europe with dandelion seeds on their clothes. The seeds fell from their clothes onto the ground. Since then, dandelions have spread all over.

    Most people believe that dandelions are weeds. They do not want them in their gardens. But some people think that dandelion flowers are pretty. And others think that dandelions taste good. They cook dandelion leaves or put them into a fresh salad. The leaves must be picked before the flowers come out or they will not taste good. Some people make dandelion flowers into wine.

    Dandelions don't die easily. If the winter is not very cold, their leaves may stay green. When the spring arrives, their flowers come out. Each night their bright yellow flowers close up. When the sun shines the next day, they open up again. Dandelion flowers are very unusual. They don' t have to get pollen (花粉) from another dandelion flower in order to form seeds. So after several days, the yellow flower turns white and soft. A tiny brown seed forms at the bottom of each white petal (花瓣). When the wind blows, the petals float away. Each white petal carries a seed away. This lets the dandelions spread their seeds all over. New dandelions grow where the seeds land.

My father was busy fixing Belinda's spaceship all afternoon. In the evening, I went to the landing place. "Dear Father," I said politely. "Have you found Belinda's parents yet?"

"Not yet, my dear." He shook his head.

I felt relaxed. I didn't want to meet Belinda's parents—they might be ten times as loud and bossy as she was.

But Belinda had followed me.

"Not yet?" she shouted. "Why not? I'll send them a message! They'll listen to me!"

Belinda ran to the radio. She shouted into it so loudly that I had to cover all my four ears. "Mummy! Daddy! I'm on an awful spaceship full of purple people! Come and find me now!"

"Poor Belinda!" my sister came and said. "Her parents must be missing her."

"Huh!" I snorted (发出哼声). "Missing her? You're joking! Who would want such a bossy kid back? They probably lost her on purpose."

Belinda's face clouded. I thought she was going to shout again, but she didn't. Instead, something very strange happened — her eyes began to water!

"Oh, help!" said Roa. "Is she dying?"

I felt terrible. "Don't die, Belinda! I didn't mean it."

Then Belinda opened her mouth wide and shouted, "What if it's true? What if they've gone away and left me here forever?"

We were all so busy comforting Belinda that we didn't notice the soft knock of a ship landing outside. We didn't see two tall people come out of it until Belinda ran out in excitement.

"Mummy! Daddy!"

Belinda's parents were even uglier than she was, but they looked polite. "Hello, dear," the female said. "We're sorry we kept you waiting."

We smiled as the three of them boarded their spaceship. "Goodbye!" shouted Belinda. "Goodbye! Thanks for taking care of our baby girl!" said her father.

None of us answered. We waved (挥手) cheerfully as the ship took off and went far away into the stars.

Dragon Boat Festival is a fun Chinese holiday. Usually, it's in June or July. Both children and adults like this holiday.

First, there are dragon boat races. Dragon boats are very long. They have bright colours, In each boat, there are many people rowing(划) . There's also somebody beating a drum. The winners of the races can get a lot of money.

During Dragon Boat Festival, people also eat a special kind of food-- rice dumplings. To make these dumplings, people prepare (准备) many things. Then they can make different flavors of dumplings. Some are sweet, some are salty (咸的) . They all taste good. People give them to friends.

On the evening of the holiday, families have a big meal together. Dragon Boat Festival is a great time for everybody.

 My two best friends and I were playing in the park near my house." Hey, look at that poster," Ollie shouted." The Harvest Fair sounds cool!"

" Yes! But S50 for a ticket?" said Marcya." That's a lot."

 After a while, we headed to my house. When we got home, Dad's friend Isaac came with six free tickets to the Harvest Fair. After Isaac left, Dad said," We have five people in our family. Wo'll have to find someone else who wants to go to the fair."

"I want to go!" said Mareya.

" So do I!" said Ollie.

 It took me one second to go from happy to awkward(尴尬的). Just then, my 80- year- old neighbour, Mrs Nish, came in."I just saw the poster. I love fairs! But tickets aren't cheap now."

 That's when Ollie got an idea. He quietly said something to Mareya, and Mareya told it to me, and I told it to my father.

" Well, we happen to have an extra(多余的) ticket to that fair! Would you like to join us?" my dad asked.

" Really?" Mrs Nish's face lit up." I'd like that very much!"

 Tho fair was fantasist. But the very best part was seeing Mrs Nish laughing. The next weekend, Ollie, Mareya, and I had our own Harvest Fair party at home. We played games and made a big pic while singing along to our favourite band Eagle Daze.