The cheerful smiles and legendary strength of the Sherpas(夏尔巴人) have been an essential part of Mount Everest climbing expeditions(探险) from the very beginning. Indeed, very few significant successes have been achieved without them.

When Western mountaineers first set their sights on the world’s highest peak, they found in the Sherpas a people ideally suited to the hardship of high-altitude climbing, unfailingly positive, stout at altitude, and seemingly resistant to cold.

Sherpas did not venture into the high peaks until European mountaineers began arriving to climb in the world’s greatest mountain range. Mount Everest, known as Chomolungma or “Goddess Mother of the Land” to the Sherpas, was long considered as a living place of the gods where humans were not allowed to go.

Although Everest now sees many a human footprint, the Sherpas still regard the mountain as a holy place. All modern expeditions begin with a Puja ceremony in which Sherpas and other team members leave offerings and pay respect to the gods of the mountain, hoping to remain in their good graces throughout the climb.

Sherpas were first employed as porters, tasked with carrying large amounts of equipment to supply the military-style expeditions of the day. The early climbers were amazed at the strength of these people, from the fittest of mature men to the young and elderly. In addition to their heavy loads, some of the women even carried along their babies. The whole troop of Sherpas slept outside, using only rocks for shelter, as temperatures dropped well below freezing.

Stronger Sherpas soon graduated from porter status and began to undertake challenging climbing. Those who distinguished themselves were awarded the Tiger Medal, and many desired this honor and the higher pay rate it afforded. Despite the potential dangers, the Sherpa people remained enthusiastic about taking part in Everest expeditions, which even then were becoming an important source of income for a poor mountain folk.

South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a wide variety of cultures, languages, and religions. It has 11 official languages. If you want to say hello, it's "sawubona" in Zulu, and "hallo" in Afrikaans. Now, South Africa's school children may start using "ni hao" to say hello.

The country's education minister says, the nation is adding the Mandarin language teaching in some schools. Mandarin is the official spoken language of China. That country is a major trading power for South Africa.

A recent agreement between the two nations centers on five areas of cooperation. They include development in basic education, school books and lessons, mathematics and science, teacher training and career education and research.

South Africa officials have not said how much they teaching Mandarin will cost. Troy Martens is an officials with South Africa's Ministry of Basic Education. She says the new partnership is extremely valuable.

A public opinion study last year found that South Africans have mixed feelings about China. The survey showed 46 percent of South Africans do not like the spread of Chinese ideas and customs in their country, the results also showed that 60 percent dislike Chinese music, movies and television.

But Ms Martens said Chinese trade is more important than those feelings. She said it is extremely helpful to learners in South Africa to study Mandarin as well as Chinese culture. And she said not every school will offer Mandarin.

“Now this will not be compulsory, it will not be for every school, and it will not be for every child. But for schools that feel they have the capacity to offer Mandarin as a subject, we think it is a great opportunity for South African learners to be exposed to this international type of language,” said Martens.

Lisette Noonan heads the 80-year-old Pretoria Chinese School in South Africa's capital. The school serves about 500 students from kindergarten to grade 12. Every student studies Mandarin.

Ms Noonan says the school welcomes the new cooperation between South Africa and China. She said it is in the best interests of children to study Mandarin. She said that especially true with China becoming what she called “a huge economic power in the world”

Do you know Australia? Australia is the largest island in the world. It is a little smaller than China. It is in the south of the earth. Australia is big, but its population is not large. The population of Australia is nearly as large as that of Shanghai.

The government has made enough laws to fight pollution. The cities in Australia have got little air or water pollution. The sky is blue and the water is clean. You can clearly see fish swimming in the rivers. Plants grow very well.

Last month we visited Perth, the biggest city in Western Australia, and went to a wild flowers’ exhibition. There we saw a large number of wild flowers we had never seen before. We had a wonderful time. Perth is famous for its beautiful wild flowers. In spring every year Perth has the wild flowers’ exhibition.

After visiting Perth, we spent the day in the countryside. We sat down and had a rest near a path at the foot of a hill. It was quiet and we enjoyed ourselves. Suddenly we heard bells ringing at the top of the hill. What we saw made us pick up all our things and run back to the car as quickly as we could. There were about three hundred sheep coming towards us down the path.

Australia is famous for its sheep and kangaroos (袋鼠). After a short drive from any town, you will find yourself in the middle of white sheep. Sheep, sheep, everywhere are sheep.