2 . In the city I live in, we have a small local national park full of trees. I like that place very much, although I do wish it was bigger.

One day, I was walking around in the park along a path (小路) when I saw a beautiful squirrel (松鼠) lying in the middle of the path. I stopped and found that there was something wrong with one of its legs.

Just at that time, a man with two little kids was behind me. They were my neighbors. They were going up the same path. I said hello to them. The dad asked me, “Why are you standing still here?” I said,“Look! Here is a beautiful squirrel, but....” Noticing the squirrel, one of the kids shouted, “Quickly dad, catch it for me. I want to put it in my birdcage.” His brother nodded, asking their dad to catch the squirrel.

Then I stopped them.“Please wait. Do you really want to catch it and put it into the birdcage?” My neighbor said, “Yes. I will catch it and take it home.” I said angrily, “Animals are our friends and this is the last place in our city that the squirrel can live in. We must protect them. If we are kind to this tiny animal then we can start to be kind to bigger ones.” My neighbor smiled and said,“You misunderstood me. I will take it home and cure (治疗) it and when it is well, I will take it back to the park and set it free. Do you come long with me?”After hearing his words, I became happy. I followed him with the injured squirrel to his home. A few days later, when the squirrel was well, we took it back to the park and sent it free.

I felt glad that we did a good thing. We should protect animals.

Irregular bedtime may influence healthy brain development of young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits. Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both got worse on mental tasks than children who had fixed bedtime, researchers found.

The effect was most striking in three-year-olds, where boys and girls scored lower on reading, maths and spatial skill tests than children of the same age who kept to a more strict schedule. Scientists said the lack of routine might weaken early development by disturbing the body clock, or through sleep deprivation (剥夺), which affects the brain’s ability to remember and learn new information.

“If a child is having irregular bedtime at a young age, they’re not synthesizing all the information around them at that age, and they will get a harder job to do when they are older”, said Amanda Sacker, one of the researchers. Irregular bedtime throughout childhood appeared to have accumulative effect, leading to greater problems later on.

Sacker and her colleagues drew on information in the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), a long-term record of UK children who are now in or approaching their early teenage years. They looked at how the children’s performance were on tests at various ages, and whether bedtime had any impact. Parents who took part in the MCS were asked whether their children went to bed at a regular time on weekdays. Those who answered “always” or “usually” were put in the regular bedtime group in Sacker’s study, while those who answered “sometimes” or “never” were put in the irregular bedtime group.

Sacker suggests that irregular bedtime affects the brain’s ability to store and learn new information. Early child development has deep influences on health and wellbeing across the life course. Therefore, reduced sleep, especially if it occurs at key times in development, could have important impacts on health throughout life.