Today is Sunday. Mr. Smith drives the car to the zoo with his family. They want to see animals. They get to the zoo at 9:00 in the morning.

    They see smart elephants, cute pandas and many other animals. Mrs. Smith's favorite animals are elephants. They are very friendly and they have long noses (鼻子). The elephants from Thailand can draw very well. They're one of Thailand's symbols. Look at the small panda. He looks unhappy. He can't find his mother. The visitors(游客) can see the animals, but they can't give them food. Too much food isn't good for them.

    Welcome to the zoo and play with them.

    A horse fair is an interesting place. There were young horses from the country, little Welsh ponies and many beautiful horses too. But there were also a lot of poor, thin horses, tired from hard work. I was very sad to see them.

    At the horse fair there was a man with a gentle voice and kind grey eyes. He offered 23 pounds for me, but they refused. Then a man with a very loud voice came. I was afraid he was going to buy me, but he walked off. Then the grey-eyed man came back again and said:

    "I'll give 24 for him."

    "Done," said the salesman. "He's a quality horse and if you want him for cab (出租马车) work, he's a bargain."

Half an hour later we set off for London, along country roads, until we came to that great city. There were streets to the right, and streets to the left. We went into one of the small streets, and then into a very narrow street, with small, old houses.

    My owner stopped at a house. The door opened, and a woman, a little girl and boy, came out.

    "Is he gentle, father?"

    "Yes, Dolly, as gentle as a kitten; you can pat him."

    Dolly, the little girl, patted my shoulder without fear. It felt so good! They led me into a comfortable, clean stable, and after a delicious meal I lay down to sleep, thinking "I'm going to very happy here".

    My new owner's name was Jerry. His wife was called Polly and they had two children, Harry and Dolly. The next morning they came to see me. I loved it when they patted me and spoke in gentle voices.

    "Let's call him 'Jack', after the old horse, shall we, Harry?" said Dolly.

    "Yes, let's," said Harry.

    The first week of my life as Jack, the London cab horse was very hard. The noise and the people and the traffic on the streets scared me. But Jerry was a very good driver, and that helped a lot Jerry soon found that I was ready to work hard and do my best, and he didn't whip (鞭打) me.

    He kept us very clean, and gave us as much food as we wanted. But the best thing was that we had Sundays off.

Is your school strict?

Ghosts of our loved ones

Many people think things like ghosts and death are scary. But in fact, we just had a festival celebrating these things.

Every year, on the 15th day of the seventh month in the Chinese lunar calendar, we celebrate Zhongyuan Festival, or Ghost Festival. It is on August 30th this year. On this day, families light lanterns to help dead people find their way home. But at the same time, living people don't want to stay out at night during Ghost Festival. They believe ghosts may hurt them.

Ghost Festival and Tomb-Sweeping Day, or Qingming Festival are both holidays that honor the dead. During Ghost Festival, the spirits of all dead people are honored. But we only honor our dead family members at Qingming. People believe the spirits of the dead would come back to Earth during Ghost Festival, but not during Qingming.

In Chinese culture, death is a scary and heavy thing. People are mostly afraid of it. But in some other cultures, death is a less gloomy（阴郁的） thing. 

In the US, people remember the dead on Halloween. But they make it a fun festival. People wear scary clothes. Children do fun things, like trick-or-treating.

In Mexico, the Day of the Dead is a time for the living to connect with the dead. They make dolls of the dead and tell stories about them. There are also parties at night. Whether you like it or not, death is apart of life. Understanding death can help us cherish(珍惜) our time here and live best lives.

Our teacher asked us to {#blank#}1{#/blank#} {#blank#}2{#/blank#}a form about our favourite books and why we like the books. As I finished it, my mind{#blank#}3{#/blank#} {#blank#}4{#/blank#} {#blank#}5{#/blank#}the stories from the books. I had read before. This form not only helped the teacher learn more about us, but also made me think of my reading journey.