When we are talking about animals in China, the most precious (珍贵的) animal we would think of is the panda. In fact, we have one kind of bird as precious as the panda,1many people don't know much about it. The bird is called crested ibis (朱鹮) . It is as2as snow with a red face and looks very beautiful. It is also in danger like the panda.

Crested ibises3in tall trees by small rivers or rice fields. They look for small fish and4small animals for food. About one hundred years ago,5crested ibises lived in China, Russia and Japan. Later, as they lost their homes,6them was getting smaller and smaller. Between 1965 and 1980, people didn't see any of them living in the wild. Luckily, on May 23, 1981, scientists7seven of them in the south of Shanxi Province. 8protect crested ibises in the wild, the Chinese government is setting up nature parks and developing other plans. Now scientists are doing a lot of research to help them to9more babies. Today there are about 1,500 crested ibises living in the wild. Zoos and research centres10after about 500 crested ibises.

    Water is the1of all the things we eat and drink. Not many people understand this but2quite true. The human body3go without food for a long time. We've got many examples for this. Yet two4three days without water can usually make people5. Man can't live6water.

    Many people don't understand how7water the human body needs8work well, and many people, especially young people, do not drink enough,9in very hot weather. Our body is mostly water, about 65% to 75%. That is to say about two thirds of our body is water. When we do sports, some of the water will get away from our body.10we don't drink some water, we won't have enough water. If we don't have enough water, we'll feel tired and many of us will get ill. So you know how important water is to us.

    Throughout the year, 1school organizes charity events and activities. One of 2events of the year is the food drive. For the past few years, this has been a very successful charity event and most of the students have taken part in it. Each school does its food drives a bit 3. However, most of the time the food drives are set up in a similar style.

In my school it usually lasts for 4weeks. Most of the time, students will bring the food 5home. The food 6for a long period of time, such as canned goods and pastas. We 7organize activities outside the school. Some students go door to door around their neighborhood asking 8people are willing to donate some food. Some set up donation boxes in churches and 9areas such as stores or cinemas. The students all work really hard and the members of the community are very supportive.

After that time is over, we will bring the collected food to our local Community Table. The families in our community can go for 10warm meal if they need to. Usually, a group of students go with one of our teachers to deliver the food. I 11food with our teacher last year, and I was surprised to see so many families 12were struggling with hunger in our community.

I was glad that our school was able 13out all of those families. We do this several times each year. 14meaningful event! Sure, we can't change the world, 15we can do our best to make our world a better place.

I was walking along a busy road when I noticed a young man standing near the crossing selling toys.1I would hurry past such sellers. But I found this young man was 2, so I stood for some time without crossing the street. I wanted to see how he sold his things.

Soon, a young mother with a little girl came by and the child set 3 eyes on one of the teddy bears. The mother asked the 4 and it was only one dollar. She 5 out a 10­dollar note from her handbag and told the young man that she was giving him 10 dollars and wanted the 6 back. I was wondering how he was going to do it. He told the young mother to put the money in the bag 7 around his neck and take out her change.

I realized that this young man depended on believing people would not cheat him. There was no way for him to know 8 someone took out more than they should have done. I was so 9. I bought a car model from him that I did not need. As I walked down the street, I gave the car model to a kid walking with his father.

I kept thinking that the world would be a better place if we could all learn to 10others more, like the young blind street seller.

Last Tuesday I took my two daughters, aged four and five, to town by1. It began to rain hard so I decided I would leave the children in the car before I went quickly into a shop. I2 the girls not to touch anything and told them I would be3 within a few minutes. Then I 4 all the doors and 5 them happily looking out of the window.

I returned to the car in less than five minutes but the girls had disappeared! I could hardly believe my eyes. The car doors were6 locked, the windows 7 shut and on the back seat were only two coats. I was8 and ran to the comer of the street where there was no9 of them. I rushed up to an10 lady nearby and asked 11 she had seen two small girls but she said" No". Feeling sick with fear, I sat on the driver's seat, and. 12to stop trembling (颤抖). Suddenly, I heard a merry laugh behind me. I got out of the car, ran round to open the boot (汽车后备箱) and there inside were two very red-faced and. 13 children. They had obviously pulled out the back seat, 14 behind it and then they were unable to push the seat forward again. With tears in my15, I leaned forward and pulled their ears.