Yours

Jack

    Denzil wasn't a very clever donkey. He always did some silly things because he didn't think. "Look out," the other donkeys said. "Here comes Denzil—everybody runs away!"

    One day, Denzil carried two heavy bags of salt, one on each side of his back. When he was crossing a big river, he fell into the water. The salt began to melt. When he tried his best to stand up, all the salt was gone. "Hey, that's really great," thought Denzil. "I must remember that. Next time I can do it again when I'm crossing a river."

    The next time he carried two bags of cotton(棉花). "Watch this, everybody," said Denzil when he and his friends got to the middle of the river. He went into the water and was gone! Nobody told him that cotton could get heavier in water. The other donkeys pulled him out at once and luckily he was still alive.

    A 15-year-old student who invented a flashlight(手电筒) getting power from the holder's body heat is going home today from California with a big prize and a chance to do further research.

    Ann Makosinski was the only Canadian among the four winners at Google's international science competition. Thousands of young scientists from around the world took part in the competition.

    Winning the science and technology competition was "a surprise". Ann said, "I think it will have a great influence on my future."

    Ann thanked her family for encouraging her interest in science and said that her first toy was a box of transistors(晶体管).

    Ann's prize includes $ 25,000 and a "once in a-lifetime expericnce" from Google for her Hollow Flashlight, which has no moving parts or batteries.

    The idea for the invention came from seeing unwanted batteries and her friend's experience. When Ann visited a friend in the Philippines, she saw the friend couldn't study when it became dark because there was no electricity or light. She saw the need for a flashlight that has no batteries - Hollow Flashlight.

    In her project, Ann wrote "I made two flashlights that do not use any batteries or harmful materials. They do not create any noise and will always work. The flashlight needs at least a 5℃ temperature difference between the holder's body and the environment around to produce light."

    A video of Ann explaining how she creatcd the flashlight has been watched more than 1.4 million times on the Internet.

    Though Ann was successful, she has not made a decision about her career path. Ann hopes that she can find a way to join her love of film and science together.

    The four winners were chosen from 15 final competitors from eight countries. The competition attracted thousands of students in 120 countries.

Dear Tom,

    How are you? I'm at a new school this term. And I'm writing to tell you about my school. My new school is big and nice. There are one thousand and four hundred students and one hundred and forty teachers at my school. I like the teachers. They are very kind to me. My classmates are very friendly too. They teach me Chinese and I teach them English. There are trees, flowers and green grass at my school. They are very beautiful. Behind my school there is a small river. The water in it is quite clean. We can swim in it. We have no classes at weekends. Sometimes I play football or basketball with my classmates. Sometimes I stay at home and watch TV. Sometimes I go shopping with my father and mother. We all like China.

    Please write to me soon!

Yours,

Jack

    Second-grader Christian Bucks noticed that some of his friends seemed lonely on the playground during the break. Then he remembered something he learned that helps children make new friends at school. He decided to make it happen.

    Bucks started a buddy bench(朋友长椅)，a place where students can sit if they feel lonely, and other students will come up to them and ask if they want to play or just sit and talk. Bucks said it acts as a way to "grow our dream circle of friends"

    Bucks first heard about the buddy bench at a German school, and loved the idea very much. "He thought this was a great way to help other kids who might feel lonely," said his mom, Alyson.

    Last year, just before school ended for the summer holiday at Buck's school in Pennsylvania, USA, Bucks told his principal(校长) Matthew Miller about the buddy bench. He explained why he thought he school should have one. Miller and Bucks' teachers loved the idea and even let Bucks pick out the color and style of the bench!

    The buddy bench was put near the playground. Bucks hopes that students will use it and that it will help teach students to be kind to each other.

    "We show we care about others when we ask others to play," he said. "I also hope that new friendships will be made because of the buddy bench."

    Ruo Dong and Ruo Jun are brothers. They are from Chengdu. Ruo Dong is 10 years old and Ruo Jun is 9 years old. They can speak Mandarin(普通话). Now they are in Hangzhou, and they study in No. 5 Middle School. Their family are all in Hangzhou. There are five people in their family. They are their parents, their sister and themselves. Their mother is a teacher. Their father is a doctor. Their sister is very young. She is only 3 years old. She goes to a kindergarten. They say Hangzhou is a very interesting city. They like the friendly people, the delicious food and its culture(文化). They like Hangzhou very much.