1 . Have you seen the movie Marnie’s World? It tells a story about a clever and funny cat.

The orange cat Marnie lived a happy life, but it never left home. Marnie liked to watch TV shows. It knew the outside world through these shows. One day, the brother of Marnie’s owner (主人) took it out of the house. Then Marnie began its trip in the outside world. On the way, it made three good friends. The dog Elvis always spoke loudly. It looked unfriendly, but in fact it was kind. Anthony was a very stupid and funny donkey (驴). It wanted to be a big star one day. The rooster (公鸡) Eggbert was always afraid. They all looked strange. Later the police wanted to catch Marnie and its friends because they thought they were thieves (贼). Of course they weren’t.

How did Marnie save itself and its friends? Could Marnie finally catch the real thieves? Please go and watch the movie with your friends.

2 . Most people have heard of the Great Wall of China, but not many people outside of China know about the Grand Canal. This man-made waterway—known in China as Da Yunhe is 1, 700 kilometers long and some parts of it are more than 2, 000 years old. It links (连接) the north of China with Hangzhou, a city in the southern part of the country. It’s the longest man-made waterway in the world.

The Grand Canal was built as a way to transport grain (谷物) from the rich land in China’s south to cities in the north. In fact, it’s not one canal, but a system of canals and rivers linked together. It’s still an important part of the transport system in China. Thousands of boats use it every day to transport grain and many other types of things.

Now the Chinese government is doing new work on the Grand Canal. It is making parts of it deeper, so bigger ships can use it. The canal will also help to move water. There is a lot of rain in the south of China, but not as much in the north. The canal will carry millions of liters of water from the south to the north.

The Grand Canal is much less famous than the Great Wall so not very many tourists visit it. But it’s possible to go on a cruise (游船) along some of the oldest parts of the canal. Passengers on these cruises see beautiful parts of China that other visitors don’t see.

Do you know why different animals or insects have their own special colors? Colors in them seem to be used mainly to protect themselves.

Some birds like eating locusts (蝗虫), but birds cannot easily catch them. Why? It is because locusts change their colors together with the change of the colors of crops. When crops are green, locusts look green. But as the harvest time comes, locusts change to the same brown color as crops have. Some other insects with different colors from plants are easily found and eaten by others. So they have to hide themselves during the day and appear only at night.

If you study the animal life, you’ll find the main use of color is to protect themselves. Bears, lions and other animals move quietly through forests. They cannot be easily seen by hunters. This is because they have the colors much like the trees.

Have you ever found an even more strange act? A kind of fish in the sea can release a kind of black liquid (液体) when it faces danger. While the liquid spreads over, its enemies can’t find it. And it immediately swims away. So it has lived up to now though it is not strong at all.

How do you decide where to go on holiday? Is it the local places of interest? Or do you choose your next holiday just for delicious food?

“Food tourism” is that people travel to new places to try the local food. It is now becoming popular among visitors. There are many forms of food tourism, such as trying street food, visiting food markets, or eating at local restaurants.

A recent survey found that about 75% of Americans have traveled for food in the last five years. They said the top four countries they would visit for their food are Italy, France, Spain and Japan.

Food is an important part of holidays for British people, too. A survey team asked 2,000 British people about their main reason for a holiday. 61% of them said “the food”. And 41% said they would travel hundreds of kilometers to find the perfect meal. The top three European countries they would choose to visit for food are Italy, Spain and France.

The survey also found that British people like to try new and different foods most when they are traveling, and nearly half of people believe that they are more adventurous (胆大的) with what they eat when they are away from home.

Imagine you’re at the supermarket. You pay for some food, then throw one third of it into the trash. This may sound crazy, but millions of us are doing this around the world, although not in such a direct way.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, over 30 percent of food produced worldwide goes to waste. Most of it is thrown away by shops that are unable to sell it or by people who buy too much food.

Do we have to do so? Creative minds say no. When we have extra (额外的) money, we save it in a bank. So how about setting up “banks” for food that we can’t eat? Many countries, including China, are trying this out.

Some people in Shanghai recently set up a fridge in their community, filling it with cake and canned (罐装的) food from nearby markets and restaurants. It’s free for anyone to enjoy.

The Real Junk Food Project is a company in the UK. It reminds people that food past its sell-by date (保质期) is still okay to eat. The company collects leftover food from supermarkets and puts it on shelves in cafes (小餐馆).

The food in the cafes has no price label (标签). You can offer as much money as you want, or give back your time as payment. There are now 125 Real Junk Food cafes worldwide.

Does the food that you have bought, but can’t eat, have to become junk? You decide.

Hangzhou, together with five other cities in Zhejiang, hosted the 19th Asian Games from Sept. 23 to Oct. 8. The Games was very “smart” with the use of many exciting technologies. Let’s have a look!

What if there was an accident during the game and the players needed first aid? Drones (无人机) could be used to send things over. Using a drone saves about 60 percent of the time. Medicine, blood and other things needed for first aid can be sent to people quickly.

Every dish at the Asian Games should be safe and healthy. In the kitchen of the athletes’ village in Hangzhou, there was a special system (系统) that could tell people’s faces. If a “stranger” went into the kitchen, an alarm would go off to let people know. The managers of the kitchen would also get messages on their phones. There is also a system to keep an eye on the temperature of the fridge.

Say that you were in Hangzhou and would watch one of the games. It would be sad if you couldn’t find your way. AR (增强现实技术) was here to help you. There is a mini program called the Hangzhou Asian Games AR service. You could turn on your phone’s camera and it would see where you were and then showed you the way.

9 . “Do you want to grow your own vegetables?” Mom asked. “Yes!” My eyes got wide. Mom smiled at my excitement. She gave me a book on gardening, and I carefully planted some seeds (种子) in the back yard.

After supper, I rushed to see how much they might grow. Nothing! My mouth dropped. “Someone stole my seeds!” Mom laughed from ear to ear. She said, “Johnny, go and check the book.” I hung my head down. I read the book and I knew something needed to be done.

Early the next morning, I ran to the back yard. Everything looked the same but I wasn’t that disappointed. As the book said, I lightly watered my seeds and stuck my finger in the soil to make sure it wasn’t too dry. That evening, I couldn’t help going to check my garden again. No sign of anything green. Just dirt.

The next morning I raced to the garden again. No changes. “Why is it taking so long for the seeds to grow?” I asked. “Grow up!” I shouted. “Please, just grow!” I almost cried. Mom was too busy with housework to help. “Read the book, and wait patiently.” So I read again. I removed the grass from the soil and watered the seeds.

Then one morning, I walked out to my garden. I wasn’t expecting to see anything yet. To my surprise, a little bit of green came into my eyes. I got down on my knees for a closer look. “They grew!” I shouted. I could see little green leaves growing everywhere! I was so excited! “They finally grew! The book is right. It took several days for the seeds to be in the soil before popping up.”