It's seven o'clock in the morning in Chennai, India Lavin always has her morning bath before school. But she doesn't have a bath at home. She has a bath in a small river outside with her best friend, a baby elephant.

    Lavin lives at Arignar Anna Zoo with her parents, brothers and sisters. Her father works at the zoo and he is a special keeper for the baby elephants. Lavin is only six years old, but she can control(控制)the elephants and she has a very special friendship with them.

    At eight o'clock in the morning, Lavin goes to school, but she doesn't go on the school bus. She rides an elephant to school. After school, Lavin plays football with her elephants.

    Now it is the evening, and the baby elephants are tired Lavin sits next to them and sings to them. Sometimes, they all sleep together-friends together in the day and friends together at night.

Good Neighbours

    Mr. and Mrs. March lived together with their four daughters. Amy was very shy. Beth loved being at home. Meg looked very pretty. Jo was tall and thin and she was a tomboy. Their home was always busy and full of noise and people. Next to them lived old Mr. Laurence and his grandson, Laurie. They lived in a very large and comfortable house. But it was a house without life.

    One day, Joe saw Laurie standing at an upstairs window in his house and looking down at their garden. Jo's sisters were playing in the snow there. They were throwing snowballs and having a lot of fun. But Laurie's face was very sad.

    "Poor boy!" Jo thought. "He's all alone. He needs some friends." She couldn't stop thinking about him. She wanted to go and see him, but how could she go to the house without an invitation?

    Then one snowy afternoon, she saw Laurie's grandpa go out. This gave her an idea. She took a broom from the kitchen.

    "What are you going to do, Jo?" asked her sister Meg.

    "To clear the garden path." Answered Jo.

    When Laurie saw Jo from the window, a big smile changed his pale, sad face.

    Jo laughed and shouted, "How are you? Are you ill?"

    Laurie opened the window and said," I'm better now, thank you. I had a bad cold and had to stay inside for a week".

    "I'm sorry," said Jo. "Are you bored?"

    "Yes, very." he replied.

    "Don't your friends come to visit you?"

    "No. But I don't want to see anybody. Boys are noisy and they give me a headache."

    "Girls are quiet."

    "I don't know any girls."

    "You know us."

    "That's true! Can you come and visit me?" cried Laurie.

    "I'm not quiet, but I'd like to come," replied Jo. "I must ask Mother first." She ran back into her house.

    A few minutes later, she returned and rang the bell on the door of Laurie's house. A servant took her upstairs.

    "Here I am!" she said brightly. "Mother sends her love and my sisters gave me this blancmange (牛奶冻) for you."

    "That looks delicious," Laurie said. He was very happy to see Jo.

Jo looked around. There were lots of books on the shelves.

    "A nice room!" she said. "I can read to you if you like."

    "No, let's talk," replied Laurie.

    "All right," said Jo, "I can talk for hours. My sisters say I never know when to stop."

    "You have three sisters—Amy, Beth and Meg." Laurie continued.

    "How do you know this?" Jo was surprised.

    "You call each other's names when you are in the garden. Sometimes I can see you all around the table with your mother. She has a very kind face. I like looking at her. I haven't got a mother."

     Jo felt sad when she heard this.

    "Why don't you come and visit us?" she said, "It isn't good for you to stay in this house all the time."

    "Thank you. I'd like to come very much." Said Laurie.

    "We know all our neighbours except you." Jo said, "I'm glad we're friends now."

    She told him about all the interesting things in her life. She said," Besides(除了……之外) plays, I also love books." Laurie loved books too, and offered to show her the library in the house. The library was a wonderful room. Jo loved it.

    "Wow!" she said, "All those books!"

    Laurie said, "A person needs more than books."

    (Adapted from Little Women)

   Hye-seung Hyun is a girl from South Korea韩国). She lives with her parents, sister and brother in Seoul. What isher school day like?

   Hyungets up at seven. Her family usually eats breakfast at half past seven. Momoften makes breakfast.

   Hyungoes to school at 8:15. Classes in the morning are from 9:00 to 12:00. Thereare usually three lessons. Hyun loves art best.

   Hyunhas lunch at school at 12:30. She doesn't have time to go home. Classes in theafternoon are from 13:00 to 15:00.

   Afterhaving a swimming lesson in the afternoon, Hyun has dinner at six. Afterdinner, she practices English and the piano. She goes to bed at 22:00. Beforeit, she talks with her family for some time.

A special picnic Most people love a family picnic. But what should they do when they're having a picnic and it 1 ? That's something that will often happen in rainy England. My family's picnics were 2 . We didn't have a picnic basket or a car to 3 our picnic things. So, we'd go to a supermarket, get a shopping trolley（手推车）and 4 it with picnic food. Then we'd go to the river to have a picnic. We liked frogs so we usually went to nature to watch the5 from a close distance. One day, just after our picnic with a shopping 6 , we decided to go into the woods. We pulled the shopping trolley over the grass, hoping not to 7 any little bugs. That was when the 8 rain came pouring down! We got really wet. 9 we didn't mind. My sister, my brother and I were kids and we 10 the rain. After watching some frogs for a while, it was time for us to11 But the way back was not easy. The rain had made all the snails(蜗牛) 12 ! They were everywhere! With our big shopping trolley, we had to be 13 or our trolley would hurt them! As the rain 14 , there were more and more snails. But 15 , we arrived at home and didn't hurt any snail!

 Dear Mike,

 Today is a big day. We have a new family member. He is my little brother, Austin. My parents Michael and Sherry are very happy. My dad says I am a big brother now. But what's a big brother?

I ask my mum about it. She says, "A big brother is like a good friend. You talk and play with   him. In summer, you can go swimming with him. In winter, you can play with him in the snow. You look after him."

I think it is interesting. And I am very glad to have a brother. I want to be a good big brother!

 Do you want to come and see my little brother?

 Love,

 Peter

 Ancient coloring craft is becoming popular. Ni Shenjian can still 1 remember the  time when he started to learn the craft of making blue calico(印花布) about ten years ago. He has become an inheritor(继承人) of the craft. It started in the Song Dynasty. It 2 by people across China from that time.

It's difficult for Ni 3 much money by making the craft. He received encouragement from4 famous artist. In 2012, Ni opened a course on blue calico craft at two 5 . Some of Ni's students used blue calico elements in their designs. Others who became teachers also used 6 they learned from Ni's lessons in their own classes.

 To give blue calico something 7 than before, Ni and his family have been making a change. Over the years. Ni 8 his life is busy but meaningful. "Some jobs give you wealth, and people are often interested in such jobs. But for some other jobs, 9 you don't do them, maybe nobody else will do so 10 the future, "Ni says. "Our family are trying to keep the craft alive, "he adds.