We know animals have feelings. They can feel fear. We also think they feel love, since they have strong relationships with each other. So are animal feelings all similar to our own? And do they have a sense of humor?

A Parrot Named Bongo Marie

Sally’s parrot Bongo Marie didn’t get along with her other parrot, Paco. In fact, Bongo clearly didn’t like Paco at all! One day, Sally cooked a chicken for dinner. She started to cut the chicken with a knife. “Oh, no! Paco!” Bongo said loudly and laughed. Sally laughed, too, and said, “That’s not Paco.” “Oh … no,” said Bongo. This time, she seemed to feel blue. Then the parrot laughed at her own joke.

Yoga Dog

Jean Donaldson enjoys doing yoga – and so does her dog Buffy. While Jean does yoga, Buffy carefully places her toys on Jean’s body. If a toy falls, Buffy runs to put it back. Does this behavior have any real purpose? “She thinks it’s funny!” says Jean.

Animal Laughter

Can dogs “laugh”? Recent research shows that dogs can tell each other when they want to play. They make a special sound – a kind of “laugh”. Psychologist Patricia Simonet recorded the sound. Then she ________ to assess (评估) their behavior. “All the dogs seemed to like the laugh,” says Simonet. So do animals have a sense of humor? If laughter is a clue, then perhaps the answer is “yes!”

At home during suppertime, Pete announced, “Baba Olena wants us to come for Easter dinner.” Mom shook her head, “That’s sweet, but I don’t think so.” Dad laughed, “I wouldn’t want to seem rude if I didn’t like her cooking. Can you tell her thanks but we already have plans?”

Pete sighed. His parents hardly knew Baba Olena. They didn’t know about her pastries (糕点) and funny sayings. All they saw was an Ukrainian woman with strange hair and a yard full of chickens.

On Easter Sunday, they passed Baba Olena’s house as they headed for Dixie’s Diner. When they arrived, they found the diner was dark, and no cars were in front of it. “What?” said Dad. “They’re always open!” “Not today,” Mom said. “Guess we’ll be making sandwiches.”

Across the street, Baba Olena stepped out of the house, waving to them.

Pete shouted, “Looks like Baba’s expecting us.” “We can’t go there,” Dad said, but Baba was hurrying over. “You came! I’m so happy,” she said. “This morning I saw the diner is closed and thought maybe you will come.”

Inside, Pete’s parents sat stiff (僵硬地) as yardsticks while Baba was busy with her pastries happily.

Dad looked at something red on the table. “What’s this?” “Beet (甜菜) salad. I use the juice for my hair.” Baba and Pete smiled at each other.

“And this –” She set down bowls of what looked like little half-moon pastries – “is Ukrainian stuffed dumplings. These have cabbage filling; those have potato. No crane today.”

Mum looked at her, open-mouthed.

Pete laughed and explained about the “crane” chips. Dad and Mum laughed, too.

Mum took a small bite. “Delicious!” “Oh, good you like it.” Baba said.

By the time she cut the round Easter bread, everyone was talking. “Now I see why Pete wanted to eat here,” Dad said. Mum nodded. “And why he speaks highly of you nonstop.”

Later, Baba brought out the basket of eggs. “It’s an old Ukrainian tradition to play with Easter eggs,” she said. “See, Pete, hold yours to mine, end to end, like this. The egg that doesn’t break, wins.”

Pete held his egg ready. “I already won something,” he said.

(Adapted from Easter with Baba Olena)

Fou Ts’ong, a Chinese-born pianist known for his sensitive way of performing Chopin, Debussy and Mozart, died at a hospital in London. He was 86.

Born in Shanghai on March 10, 1934, Fou had already started to show an interest in music at just four years old. Three years later he began studying piano with Mario Paci, a well-known Italian pianist. In 1948, Mr. Fou moved with his family to Yunnan because of the war. It was only after returning to Shanghai several years later that he began to devote himself to the piano.

Mr. Fou made his first stage appearance in 1952 and the concert caught the attention of officials in Beijing, who chose him to compete and tour in Eastern Europe. Soon Mr. Fou moved to Poland, where he studied at the Warsaw Conservatory. To prepare for the fifth Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1955, he practised so hard that he hurt his fingers and was nearly cut from the first round of competition. Finally, he took third place and won a special prize for his performance of Chopin’s mazurkas (马祖卡舞曲). Three years later, Mr. Fou left for London. After the deaths of his parents in 1966, Mr. Fou stayed abroad and became a well-known concert pianist in the world.

In 1981, the book,Fu Lei’s Family Letters, written by Mr. Fou’s father, mainly to Mr. Fou, was published and soon became a best seller in China.

“My father had a saying that ‘First you must be a person, then an artist, and then a musician, and only then can you be a pianist,’” Mr. Fou once recalled in an interview. “Even now, I believe in this order – that it should be this way and that I am this way.”

As time went by, Mr. Fou still played the piano for a long time every day even when his fingers grew weak. It was a love that he mentioned in interviews, with pieces of wisdom from his father.