THE YOUNG FROG AND THE OLD FROG

One day a young frog came home and said to his mother,"Oh, Mother, this morning I saw a very big animal, much bigger than you." Did he do you any harm, my dear?" his mother asked anxiously. "No, not at all. He looked so terribly big, so I dared not get close to him!"

At this moment Father Frog came out of his corner. "What's going on here?" he asked, pretending not to have heard all they had said. "Oh, Father", answered the young frog "I saw a very big animal this morning, much bigger than Mother, and much bigger than even You!"

CRICKET FIGHTING

The bold and valiant fighting cricket is favourite of many Chinese, both children and adults. Cricket owners meet and discuss the term of the fight first, sometimes with the sponsor or referee. The insects are weighed and the flat-bottomed tub or bowl serving as the battle-ground is chosen. Betting was common on pre-1949 days, but is now forbidden.

SOUND

Sounds are made when something moves or vibrates. This movement creates invisible sound waves that travel through the air, water, and even walls and other objects. When these sound waves reach your ears, you hear sounds. Animals and people use sound to communicate. The roar of lion can be heard more than 5 miles, or 8 kilometers, away. When something vibrates very fast, it makes a high sound. An object that vibrates slowly makes a low sound. The violin and the double bass are musical instruments with strings. The short strings on violin vibrate quickly and make high sounds. The long strings on a double bass vibrate slowly and make low sounds.

COLOR

Colors are everywhere. Can you imagine life without them? The amazing colored parrots in this picture would be dull gray instead. Colors not only make life interesting, they also help animals and plants in many different ways.

EARTH

Earth is our planet. It is a huge ball of rock that travels in space around the Sun. It also slowly spins around. At any one moment, only half of Earth faces the Sun. The side facing the Sun has day, and the other side has night. It takes 24 hours for Earth to spin around once. It takes Earth one year, or about 365 days, to go once around the Sun. Earth's orbit -the path it follows around the Sun- is close to the shape of a circle.

ANIMAL

Many people think of animals as furry creatures like cats, dogs, rabbits, and horses. But the animal kingdom also includes insect, birds, fish, lizards, and many other creatures. The world is alive with millions of kinds of animals.

Animals live almost everywhere on Earth. Camels can survive in the blazing hot dezert for days or even weeks with hardly any food or water. Penguins live on Antarctica, where the temperature is extremely cold. Some animals, like mountain goats, live in very high places, like the deep-sea anglerfish, live in the deepest oceans where it is completely dark.