Thousands of years ago, the ancient people of Babylon and Egypt studied the stars in the sky and created the zodiac（黄道十二宫图）. It was first used to count time. Later, many people used the stars to describe a person’s character and to foretell（预言）what would happen in the future.

  A person’s zodiacal sign is connected to his or her birth date. Some believe this sign can tell us about a person’s character. For example, some think that a person born under the sign of Cancer (between June 22 and July 23) is kind and home-loving.

  In many countries in Asia, people believe the Chinese horoscope can describe character and foretell future events. In the Chinese horoscope, there are future events. In the Chinese horoscope, there are twelve animals. A person’s animal sign is connected to his or her birth year. Each animal has a different type of character. People born in the Year of the Rat are friendly, but careful. Those born in the Year of the Monkey are smart and good at making money.

  In Asia, a person’s blood type is also used to describe character. People with the blood type A are calm and serious, but they may be selfish. People with the blood B are independent but may be lazy. People with the blood type AB are honest, and people with the blood type O are talkative.（健谈的）

  Not everyone believes that star signs or blood types can be describe character. But reading the horoscope can still be a lot of fun.

Dear Reader ,

Imagine an 11-year-old girl washing clothes , looking after a baby , working hard in the field all day . Imagine a little girl who knows there will not be enough food for dinner , who can’t fill her stomach with water because it’s polluted , and who has watched her father , little brother and sister die because the family is too poor to see a doctor . Is it hard to believe ? For Maria Pastora , these are the real life .

Maria would gladly walk miles to school , but her mother needs her at home . If Maria grows up without going to school , what will be her future ?

But for just 52 cents a day , you can sponsor a child like Maria . Through “ Save the Children ” , you can help Maria’s mother get the tools , the ways she can turn their poor food into a good dinner , the money she needs to buy clothes and school things for Maria .

To help Maria most , you money is put together with that of other sponsors , so hard-working people can help themselves . Build a school , a hospital … bring in clean water . This is what “ Save the Children ” has been about since 1932 .

For you there are many rewards（回报）. Have the chance to write to or hear from your sponsored child . Receive photos or progress reports . Know you are helping another person . That’s how “ Save the Children ” works . But without you , it can’t work . Please take a moment now to fill in and post the form below to help a child like Maria and her village .

It can make such a difference in her life and yours .

For ten weeks , in a great house on the island of St Thomas , Dr John C. Lilly tried to teach a six-year-old dolphin to speak English . Margaret Howe , an experiment（实验）helper , would live day and night with Peter , a dolphin . And they would eat , bathe , sleep and play together from Sunday to Friday , so Margaret can only rest on Saturdays . She lived her life in swimming clothes – with a coat on colder evenings --- and cut her hair short so that she could get on with Peter more easily .

After a few days , Peter was becoming more and more interested in winning her attentions . He threw a ball against Margaret to get her to play . As time went by , he only wanted to play balls with her and not on his own .

The problem was that , just at the time Peter and Margaret began to get on well as two best friends , the experiment ended and the lab（实验室）was closed . After a few weeks , Margaret received the sad news that Peter had killed himself by refusing to breathe , and sinking to the bottom of his pool .

Dolphins may not speak English --- but , just like humans , they know all about broken hearts .

Weekday mornings are very busy for US middle school students. When your school doesn’t have a bus, and you live too far away to walk, you need a carpool (拼车). A carpool is a group of people sharing the responsibility (责任) of driving to school in the morning. There are usually four or five kids in a carpool and their parents take turns to drive the kids in their cars.

Someone’s car smells like wet dogs. Some kids get to eat desserts (甜点) for breakfast and some parents shout so much that all you try to do is to stay quiet and go unnoticed. When your mom or dad drives the carpool, your classmates get a close-up look at how strange your parents can be. It might be your first sociological (社会学) study and your first time to work with others.

Teamwork is really important in the carpool because nobody wants to make everyone else late. It’s a great lesson in responsibility. Imagine (想象) sitting in the car outside of a classmate’s house, watching the clock and counting the seconds. Then you start to understand how your carpool friends might feel when you are still inside the house at 7:48. You really begin to learn all your real life lessons just moments before the start of school—in the carpool.

“Come on, Dad! It’s 7:20 a.m. now,” said Harry.

“Today I can’t drive you and Jane to school, because I need to wash the car now,” Mr. Smith said. “You have to walk to school this morning, OK?”

“But the school is a little far,” said Jane.

“Walking is good. Now get your schoolbags and go!”

Then Jane and Harry walked to school. It took 30 minutes. When they got to school, they were very tired.

In the evening, Jane and Harry had dinner with their grandpa. They told him they were not happy to walk to school. Grandpa said, “That’s good for you. I used to (过去常常) walk two kilometers to school every day.”

“Really?” Jane said. “But I don’t like walking.”

Grandpa said, “Kids need to walk or run every day. It’s good for your health. Remember it’s very important to be healthy for kids. ”

“Oh, I’ll start walking every day,” Harry said. “I want to keep fit.”

“I will join you, Harry,” said Jane.

Everyone knows that exercise is important. We all need to exercise. Doctors say it is good for us. It makes your heart and body strong. Children who often exercise are more alert(灵活).   

There are many ways to exercise. You can walk, run, swim, skate, or play ball games. Make sure you exercise in the following ways: you have to like what you’re doing. Exercise enough but not too much. It’s best to exercise twice each week. Thirty minutes each time is enough. Try all kinds of things until you find one, two or even three sports that feel right for you. You can exercise at fitness centers.

They have a lot of equipment（装备）there. The equipment will help exercise your arms, legs and other parts of your body to make you fit. Some people buy equipment for their homes. But it is very expensive.

Exercising can be fun. Friends can exercise together at a fitness center, or they can play s ports together. How do you exercise?

I have a special job. I help a boy, Sam.

Every day I take Sam to school. I stay with Sam at school all day. In P.E. class, I always walk and run next to Sam. I don’t want Sam to fall down! I like Sam’s music class a lot. All the children sing, so I sing with them. Everyone thinks I am very funny. They like making friends with me.

After school I take Sam to buy an ice-cream. He always gives me some of his ice-cream. I love ice-cream! Then we sometimes walk home together or take the bus. The people on the bus always smile and tell me, “Good boy!”

In the evening, I relax next to Sam’s chair. He eats dinner and then he does his homework. At night, Sam sleeps in his bed. I sleep on the floor next to him. I don’t want to leave him! It’s my job to take care of him.

Welcome to Beijing Zoo!

There are many different kinds of animals here. The animals are from around the world. The panda lives in China. It’s white and black. It’s a big animal. It is very shy and it eats bamboo. Pandas usually eat bamboo for about 12 hours a day. The koala is from Australia. It likes sleeping in the day. It’s so lazy. And this camel(骆驼) is from Africa. It doesn’t often drink. It can carry very heavy things for us. The elephant is from India. Elephants are very smart. They can do many things, like drawing pictures and dancing. They like water. There are snakes in America, Africa and Australia. This snake is from America. It looks scary. It eats meat. It doesn’t like water.

Animals are our friend. You can give food to them. But remember: don’t throw (扔) things to them. Wish you a good visit in the zoo!