【推荐1】It is often said that dogs are “man’s best friends” But for some children in China, this idea has taken on an even deeper meaning.

Wu Qi, a dog trainer (养师) in Shanghai, started the Paw for Heal (PFH) program in China about eight years ago. The program trains dogs for animal-assisted therapy (动物辅助治疗). These animals help elderly people feel calm and less stressed. They also help people with mental illnesses.

In Shanghai, the dogs have been trained to help kids with autism (自闭症). Artistic children are easily confused or scared by their environments. But when the PFH dogs are around, they feel much calmer.

Pet owners can train their pets to become therapy dogs through PFH. Although this training is difficult (only 20 percent of dogs end up passing the program), it also helps a lot of people.

“She (my dog) makes me happy every day, and I think she can bring happiness to other people in need as well,” pet owner Wang rub said in a report by Sixth Tone.

Animal-assisted therapy is new to China. But Wu has high hopes for the future, as he is now working together with a Scottish (苏格兰的) organization to improve his program.

“Through learning from the European team, China may shorten the time to catch up with Western countries in this field (领域) by several decades.” Wu said in the Sixth Tone report.

【推荐2】We all know the giraffes are the tallest living animals on land. But do you want to learn more about them? Let me tell you.

Giraffes live in Africa. They have a very long neck. A giraffe can be more than 18 feet tall.

A giraffe has four long, thin legs. The front legs are longer than the back legs. It runs at the speed of about 50 kilometres each hour. A giraffe is probably famous for its long neck. It can reach the leaves at the top of the trees.

A giraffe can live for 20-25 years in the wild, and often longer at zoos. An adult (成年的) giraffe eats up to 140 pounds of food each day. A giraffe spends most of a day eating and it gets just a few leaves once. It eats leaves on tall trees, tall bushes and tall grass, too. But its favourite food is leaves on the acacia trees (金合欢树). Acacia leaves contain a lot of water, so a giraffe can go a long time without drinking.

【推荐3】Mr. Zhao is our English teacher.     1     He has a bird (鸟). It can speak Chinese.     2     It is very clever. It says “Good morning.” every morning. It can say “Hello!”, “How are you?”, “Welcome!”, “Goodbye!”, too.     3    Please look at the photo. It is very nice. It has a green mouth and big round eyes.     4     They are red, blue and yellow. The bird likes apples and oranges a lot. Mr. Zhao likes it very much.     5    

【推荐1】China has named its first five national parks—Sanjiangyuan National Park, Wuyi Mountain National Park, Giant Panda National Park, Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park and Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park. They cover a land area of more than 230,000 square kilometers and protect nearly 30 percent of the country’s key wildlife species （物种）.

Sanjiangyuan area is an important source of freshwater resources in China. More than 60-billion-cubic-meter clean water is sent downstream each year, and the volume has increased in recent years.

Wuyi Mountain National Park is known as “the kingdom of snakes”, “the world of insects”, “the heaven for birds”, and “the key to the study of Asian amphibians and reptiles”, Wuyi Mountain National Park has 558 kinds of wild vertebrates, 33.27 percent of the types in Fujian province.

Giant Panda National Park protects more than 1600 wild giant pandas. They account for （占） more than 70 percent of the pandas in China.

Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park is China’s main area where Siberian tigers and Amur leopards live. There are about 40 Siberian tigers and about 50 Amur leopards.

Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park has the largest tropical forest in China. The park covers nine cities and counties, with a total area of 4,400 square km, or about one-seventh of Hainan Islands land area.

In the future, national parks are expected to be natural classrooms for everyone. Different kinds of animals and plants live here. The country is moving fast to protect them.

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【推荐2】How to choose a good pet? There is a pet checklist (清单). We’ve named some of the animals that are often kept as pets. We’ve shown some good points and bad points about each. And we hope it may help you make the best choice.

【推荐3】In the summer vacation, 14-year-old Wen Jiayi made a good friend. He is not a person, but a panda! His name is Jingke. Wen spent three days with him, learning how he ate, slept and played.

Wen worked as a volunteer at the Wolong China Panda Garden in Sichuan that summer. Every year, volunteers go to the garden to take care of its pandas. People aged 12 to 65 can apply (申请) for the volunteer program. Each volunteer works for at least one day.

Wen cleaned the panda’s home every morning while she was volunteering. “We have to collect the pandas’ feces (粪便), as it can tell us whether they are healthy or not,” she said. Wen got to do this as well. She carefully analyzed the feces. “We check to see what is in the feces and what color it is. For example, if it is green, it means the panda has been eating bamboo leaves,” she said.

The experience also helped the volunteers better understand pandas. When Wen fed Jingke, she touched its fur.

“It was not soft, but hard. It was like touching needles (针)!” Wen said. “Pandas were not only cute but also dangerous. They like to be left alone. They may fight to protect their home.” Wen added.