My mom isn't fancy like other moms.They wear fancy clothes and drive fancy cars. My mom wears her gardening clothes when she walks me to school.　

When fancy moms laugh，their laughs sound soft and whispery. You can hear my mom's laugh from down the hall. I show her how to laugh quietly and she practices. But before long she starts laughing even harder than before.

 At the talent show，my mom cheers loudly，“Bravo，everyone！Bravo！”instead of clapping politely the way fancy moms do.

For our class hike（徒步旅行），parents are invited. At breakfast I go over my rules for Mom，“Please don't whistle. Don't laugh loudly. No clapping. And stay in line.”

 The other moms show up wearing fancy jackets and sneakers. My mom wears cutoffs，a floppy straw hat，and her old hiking boots.

We hike along，all in a line. Soon Mom starts to whistle her hiking songs，She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain.I shake my head at her. She stops and whispers，“Oops. Sorry，Jane.”

 We keep hiking. Everything is perfect until…

 Our teacher，Ms. Steele，stops and points，“A snake！”All the moms hold their kids hands and back up，except my mom.“Watch out！It might be poisonous（有毒的）！”Ms. Steele says.

 The other moms shuttle back some more. However，my mom steps forward and says，“Hmm. Let's see what kind it is. Nope，it's not poisonous.”

 I shut my eyes.I know what's coming next. Mom makes a sudden attack.“Got it！”she says. The other moms scream，not sounding fancy at all.

Kids gather around as Mom examines the snake.“It's OK to touch，”she says.

 Everyone's too scared，but I go first.“snakes aren't slimy，”I tell them. Right away，others line up. A couple of the fancy moms come up to touch the snake's tail.

 Later，Ms. Steele tells us to draw our favorite part of the hike. After a while，I look around quickly. Everyone's picture is of Mom and me with the snake.

 As we hike back to the bus，I squeeze Mom's hand.“I'm glad I didn't tell you my don't-catch-snakes rule.”She smiles. But soon，she's whistling her hiking songs again！

 I start to make her silent，then stop. Instead，I take a deep breath and sing out too. Everyone joins in，even the fancy moms.

McDull is a talking piglet(小猪). He is not lazy. He isn't smart or good-looking. But he has a heart of gold. McDull lives with his mother Mrs Mak in Hong Kong. Before his birth, his father left them. Mrs Mak had to raise McDull by herself.

They are not rich, but Mrs Mak tries her best to make a good life for McDull. However, when McDull grows up, he becomes a detective(侦探) and leaves home. The mother and the son are not as close as before. Can they go back together and be close mother and son again?

You may find the answer by watching the movie McDull · Me & My Mum. The movie is the fifth in the McDull series. As the first appearance of McDull film, McDull became a popular cartoon character(角色) because of his spirit of never giving up. The funny piglet has many dreams but fails every time he tries. He is down, but he keeps trying and works hard for other dreams.

Mrs Mak doesn't appear very often in the first four McDull movies. But in McDull · Me & My Mum, she is a main character. The film is about mother's love.

    For all his life，my grandfather has lived in the Valley of Koi．A rushing river and the Eagle Mountain divide the valley into two．They keep the villagers safe from wolves．The soil is so rich that our crops seem to grow well by themselves，and even the precious （珍贵的） fire flowers can be found here．

    Although life in the valley was good，my grandfather still worried about his people．The mountain and river kept danger out，but they also kept us far away from the world．"We must find a way to reach out to other villages，"Grandfather said，"to trade，exchange stories and make friends．If we do not，Koi will one day disappear．"

    One day，grandfather saw a spider （蜘蛛） in his garden．He bent down to look more closely and saw it building a web between two grasses．Suddenly，Grandfather knew what the people of Koi must do．

    Many villagers were skeptical ． "It comes easily to the spider，but it is so difficult for humans，"they didn't believe it possible．"We cannot fly through the air like a spider．And what would happen if strangers learned where the fire flowers grew？"

    "If I were a fire flower，I would rather be picked from the earth and loved than left alone and unseen，"Grandfather said．Some of the villagers agreed．After that，the strongest men and women of Koi began to work．Finally，the bridge was finished!My grandfather was the first Koi villager ever to stand on the far bank of the river．When he reached the other side，a stranger came to greet him friendly with a precious ice flower as a gift to share with us．

    Our village is still small and quiet，but we are no longer shut away from the world．Next spring，I'm going to walk through the mountain to enjoy the ice flowers，I would also like to meet more strangers from other places and share them fire flowers of Koi．

On Oct. 23 Chinese swimmer Qin Haiyang got the title of Best Male Swimmer of the Year 2023. Qin won 23 gold medals in the breaststroke （蛙泳）in the big {#blank#}1{#/blank#}（竞赛；竞争）he took part in in 2023. At the world Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka in Japan，he broke five {#blank#}2{#/blank#}（亚洲的）records and became the first swimmer in history to win all three breaststroke golds at a single edition of the event. 

Breaststroke is not easy, it's harder to swim fast because all the strokes {#blank#}3{#/blank#}（发生）under the water. This makes the water push back on the swimmer more and it takes a lot of {#blank#}4{#/blank#}（技能）to swim well. Qin said to Jimu News. "Some people say I'm fast because I save {#blank#}5{#/blank#}（力量，精力）by using fewer strokes. While others might take one and a half strokes, I only need one to swim as far as they do. "

Many parents want their children to be famous. But do children have {#blank#}1{#/blank#} same dream?

A new play Hi, Ke'ai is on at Beijing Children's Art Theatre. It {#blank#}2{#/blank#}(tell) the story of a boy called Ke'ai. His parents want him to become a painter or a {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(music) one day. They teach him to paint and to play the violin,{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Ke'ai doesn't enjoy these activities. Then one day, Ke'ai's parents see a player win a gold medal(奖牌) at the Olympic Games, and they would like him{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (become) a sportsman. 

"Why do they want me to be someone else?" Ke'ai asks. "I only want to be {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(I)."

The play shows us that it is necessary (必要的){#blank#}7{#/blank#} parents to learn to understand their children. Young audiences (观众){#blank#}8{#/blank#}(real) enjoy the story and also love the music in the play. There are two songs in the play. One of them, Ke'ai's Song, is much {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(easy) to learn, so the audiences can sing the song on their way home after the play! In a word,{#blank#}10{#/blank#} an excellent play it is! It is worth (值得) watching.