A lovely rabbit, a cute hamster, some colourful fish, a strange-looking turtle or a snake...What kind of pet would you like? Lots of kids love animals and dream of having a pet.

    But not every family can have a pet. So, in many Western countries such as America, Britain and Australia, primary and middle school classes have their own pets. Looking after a pet is not as easy as you may think! Fish and turtles need clean water and the right food. Hamsters and rabbits need fresh vegetables and a warm place to sleep. Even little mice need good care! What would you feed a pet mouse? How about snakes?

    Class pets teach kids about nature and being responsible. Sometimes the pets have babies. It's very exciting but it also means having more animals to take care of!

    Students take turns to take care of their class pets. Every week the pets have a new “mum and dad” to look after them.

    You may want to know what happens to the class pets during school holidays. At the end of term, the teacher chooses a responsible student. This lucky student keeps the pets at his or her home for the holidays.

    Notes:

1) hamster n. 仓鼠   2) turtle n. 乌龟   3) responsible adj. 负责任的   4) choose v. 选择

Today, many students are always stressed out. They are often too busy to think{#blank#}1{#/blank#} their diets and exercise. Healthy eating, along with regular(定期的) exercise {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (keep) you healthy. Do you think it is the only way to keep us in {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(healthy)?

As we know, it is important to give your body the energy it needs. Teenage girls {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (need) about 2,200 calories(卡路里) a day and boys need a bit more. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (fiftieth) percent of your calories should come from rice, bread, {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(vegetable) and fruit. You also need to d{#blank#}7{#/blank#} a lot of water, six to eight glasses a day. Enough water will improve your skin and give you healthy hair.

Exercise can help to make you look good, feel good {#blank#}8{#/blank#} be healthy. Scientists suggest that teenagers should spend at{#blank#}9{#/blank#}(little) 30 minutes exercising every day.

Exercise can make you feel {#blank#}10{#/blank#} (relax)and energetic. It can even help you sleep better at night.

Let's eat healthily and take more exercise.

    Horses are beautiful animals. They can be in different colors, and can run quickly. People like to watch horses because they are strong and beautiful.

    Horses are mammals (哺乳动物). The mother horse usually has one baby in spring, and feeds the baby milk. Horses have long legs and big eyes, so they can see almost all the way around them. They can walk and jump.

    Horses can live up to 20 or 25 years. Sometimes people can tell how old a horse is by looking at its teeth! They usually sleep by standing up. Horses only need about three hours of sleep per day!

    People need to take care of the horses "hooves". If a horse is doing a lot of walking on hard ground, people put horseshoes on them. When the hooves need trimming (修剪), people take off the horseshoes, and then give them new ones.

    For food, horses eat food such as grass, corn, apples and carrots. They don't eat other animals. Their stomachs are small, so they eat a little at one time, but they eat many times.

    Some horses are very famous. For example, Bucephalus, the famous horse of Alexander the Great. When Alexander was a boy, he got a horse. Nobody else could ride on it. Alexander named the horse Bucephalus and the horse carried him in many battles (战役). Here is another example. Napoleon had many horses, and Marengo became famous after Battle of Waterloo.

Until the beginning of July, there has been no rain in northern Italy for over 100 days. Add to that the high temperatures, and the locals get very dry conditions. This is the most serious dry spell（干旱期）for that area in the past 70 years. Because of this situation, the country's longest river, the Po, is drying up!

This is bad news for several different reasons. The fresh water of the Po provides drinking water for northern Italy. Besides, farmers in this area need the water of the Po to keep their crops growing. What's more, the flowing river water is used to create about half of the hydroelectric power（水力发电）for Italy. Its drying up means that more natural gas（天然气） will be used, which is bad for the environment.

There have been some interesting discoveries from this lack of rain, however. Between Florence and Milan, a long ship sunk （沉没）in 1943 appeared because of the low water levels of the river. Now many tourists and locals come to see this ship. A German tank has also appeared out of water near Mantua. At other places along the river, people can even walk on the sandy river bed. Although this may be interesting, people in Italy and around the world are hoping for the return of rain to refill the Po!