Bob Smith is old. He has two big houses and a new car. He has no wife， but he is a father of four children. He has two sons and two daughters. One son is from (来自于) Canada. His name is Jack. The other (另一个) is from England. His name is Mike. One of his daughters is from China. Her name is Meimei. She is eleven years old. The other is from America. Her name is Lucy. She's eleven, too.

    Bob Smith is not the children's real father, but he loves them very much. The children love their “father”, too. Bob Smith has many toys (玩具) for the children. He gives different (不同的) toys to different children. The boys play with toy cars. The girls play with doll (娃娃) and toy animals. Bob Smith is their good friend.

    I'm going to have a great weekend. I'll go across Canada with my parents by car. We'll drive seven or eight hours a day.

    In Toronto, we'll stay in a big hotel. The food is very delicious. There's a big swimming pool and a lot of game rooms. I think I'll play there happily. But there will be lots of people in the hotel, so I think we'll sleep in one room. And it's expensive.

    Then we are going to stay in a small cabin(小木屋) in the mountains. I really love it. The cabin is clean and quiet. We'll have two rooms, so I can get up late in the morning. But we have to get up early because we want to go swimming. There is a beautiful lake near the cabin. We can go fishing and cook food outside.

The Ling family did not think they were going home with a pet that day. Annie wanted to visit the animal shelter(避难所). She wanted to see the cats and dogs. She had wanted a pet for years. Her parents were waiting for the girls to be old enough. Annie was seven. Her sister Lily was only three. Lily was still learning how to act around animals. She had a lot of energy!

Annie and Lily were excited to see the animals. A shelter volunteer gave the Ling family a tour. The volunteer talked about why animals came to the shelter. Some were found by the road. Others were dropped off by families who could not care for them.

Finally, the Ling family got to see the animals: There was a cat section and a dog section. They were all so cute! Some of the animals looked scared. This made Annie sad. The volunteer explained that animals need time to get used to a new place. She assured(向......保证) Annie that all the people caring for these animals were kind.

The Ling family walked through the dog section. They started talking. A dog just felt like the right choice. Annie's mom could not take her eyes of fan older black dog with kind eyes. Annie's dad was interested in a large, energetic dog. Annie had found her own favorite. He was a young puppy. He was brown with spots. He had been found near the railway with six other puppies(小狗). Annie could not take her eyes off this dog. She thought he had the cutest face in the world.

Annie pleaded(恳求) with her parents. They did not want to make a quick decision. But they could see in Annie's eyes that she had found her companion(伴侣). The volunteer talked about what a good breed the dog was and that he would be kind with children. That was what the family needed to hear. They decided to take the little puppy home.

The sun is going to rise(升起) on Farmer Tim's farm. Chicken Chester wakes up(叫醒) the cows."The chickens are going to take a holiday (度假) today," Chester says "Is that so?" asks Daisy the cow.

"Yes," Chester says." We lay(产) ten eggs this week, and there are only five of us."

"But what about us?" the other cows say" We give Farmer Tim 100 bottles of milk a day. There are only ten of us! We need a holiday more than (多于) them."

"But we can't take a holiday on the same day as the chickens, "Daisy says." What will Farmer Tim say?"

Then Rooster Rowdy starts to crow(打鸣).It's time for the farmer to wake up. But Farmer Tim doesn't come out. Rowdy calls two more times. "Call him again," the chickens say. Rowdy crows again and this time Farmer Tim wakes up. But he doesn't come out. He just opens the window and says to everyone, "I work hard this week. It's time for me to take a holiday today!"

Students from a high school in Changchun, Jilin, spent 129 days creating a relief mural (浮雕壁画). Their idea came from the famous painting A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains(千里江山图)by Wang Ximeng.The mural was created on the wall of Changchun No.15 High School's art classroom.

It was completed by 21 students from this school under the guidance of their teacher, Duan Yingzi. The mural is nearly 3.5 meters high and 11 meters long. This piece of artwork has amazed a lot of people on the Internet. According to the teacher, creating this mural is part of the school's special lessons. The process of the creation includes drawing an outline (轮廓), making relief, painting base colors, and then finishing the final artwork. Most of the students in this group had no painting experience. Their teacher helped them learn the painting skills and practise painting many times.

The teacher explained that the most difficult part of creating this mural was the color mixing. "It took us over a month to finish the outline and relief work. In the following two to three months, we focused on perfecting the color mixing." she said. After trying again and again, they finally achieved this great goal.

"Although there is a difference in color compared with that of Wang Ximeng's painting, the students are still very pleased with the final result." she said.The difference is not so significant(显著的). The work still looks very beautiful.

"In the past, students could only see the artwork in books. And they were unable to fully experience its beauty.By drawing the painting, students can have a deeper understanding of the ancient Chinese artists' wisdom(智慧)."Duan said.