Yoga (瑜伽) is a kind of sport. It is very popular around the world now. Everyone, young and old can do yoga. It’s good for both men and women.

Why do people like yoga? There’s a short answer and a long answer to that question. The short answer is that yoga makes you feel better and makes you healthier in body, mind and spirit. There’s more about the answer if you are interested. Yoga began in India about 5, 000 years ago. At that time, people wanted to be free, healthy and live a long life, so this kind of exercise was born. The early yoga was part of a religion (宗教). It was usually taught one to one—one teacher with one student. Yoga is an Indian word that means “to join together”. There are three parts of yoga altogethe: exercise, breathing and meditation (调节). In the past, people paid more attention to the spirit (精神). The idea behind the exercise was to join the mind, body and spirit as one. Yoga can give you peace, help you feel relaxed, and have fewer worries and illnesses.

Do you know there is a special (特别的) job? The worker is not a man but a dog. They’re a kind of dog. They are like the eyes of blind (盲的) people. So we call them “seeing eye dogs”.

These dogs usually need to learn for two or three years. And then they live with blind people. Their job is to help blind people walk around (四处走). They know how to cross the street. They can also avoid (避免) dangers, like cars and bikes in the street.

Sometimes you can see these dogs with blind people. Just like other dogs, seeing eye dogs are very cute. But they are not only pets. They work hard. They can do a lot of things for blind people. They are blind people’s good friends.

Farmers’ Harvest (收获) Festival in China starting from 2018, was the first festival for farmers. It falls on the Autumnal Equinox (秋分) each year.

As we all know, China has the largest population all over the world. In the past, it was difficult to feed the people. After reform and opening (改革开放), with the development of modern agriculture (农业), people’s living conditions have improved a lot.

Chinese Farmers’ Harvest Festival shows that our government is paying more attention to agriculture and farmers’ life. It will greatly encourage farmers. China has a long history of agriculture. The Farmers’ Harvest Festival, the cultural symbol, helps to show China’s long farming culture to the world. It also connects the excellent traditional Chinese culture with modern civilization (文明) and improves the cultural confidence and national pride.

The festival is especially created for farmers, so they are encouraged to think of their own ways to celebrate it. During the festival, many different kinds of activities are held across the country, such as folk culture performances, food tasting and so on.

Some people think the festival is the happiest time of a year, even better than the Spring Festival, because food gives people a sense of safety and hope. For other people, the harvest festival is a time to look back at the past and look forward to the future.