The ants and the grasshopper（蝗虫）lived in the same big field. The ants always worked hard, and tried to prepare and harvest enough food for winter.

Their happy neighbor, the grasshopper, couldn’t understand them. He just kept singing. One winter day, the ants were busy spreading their grain（谷物）in the sun to dry. The grasshopper was nearly dying of hunger, so he went to the ants to ask for some food.

“Why don’t you have any food of your own?” asked an old ant. “There was a lot of food in the big field all summer. What did you do?”

“Oh,” said the grasshopper, forgetting his hunger, “I sang all day long, and all night long.” “Well, then,” said the ant, “if you can sing all summer, you should dance all winter.” And the old ant went back to her work, singing the ant song. “We ants never borrow; we ants never lend.”

The Beijing Hearing Dog Association (协会) has a plan. They plan to choose some stray dogs (流浪狗) and train them. Then the dogs will be able to help the old and the deaf.

They will choose young dogs, because it’s easier to train them. The kind of dog is not important.

Twenty-four volunteers will join the training. They all have some experience of keeping dogs and they all love dogs. They will learn a special language first from the coach (教练) and they teach the dogs. This training will take 180 days. Then the better-performed dogs will enter the next training. They will learn to understand different sounds, such as knocking on door and water boiling. Then the dogs will live with the deaf or the old for 30 days.

Some people think the plan won’t work, because it will cost a lot of money. But some people like the plan and they would like to be the volunteers.

Our lives would not be the same without bees. Bees help plants grow. Many of these plants provide us with food. What would happen if there were no bees? Some fruits and vegetables that we enjoy could not grow. Bees are wonderful creatures.

But now the number of bees is getting lower and lower. Scientists worry that bees may die off. How to solve it? One answer is to make our gardens friendly to bees.

Making our gardens bee-friendly can increase the number of bees. Planting a bee garden is a great idea. These gardens provide bees with nectar (花蜜). A successful bee garden would have flowers from spring to fall. The garden would have all types of plants that are closely grouped together.

Many people believe that all bees live in hives (蜂箱). In fact, some bees dig into the ground. There they build their nests and lay their eggs. People lay wood pieces or other things on the ground. Bees can not dig nests when these materials cover the ground. Here is another good way to help bees. When you are working outside, leave loose dirt (松土) in flower beds and gardens.

Some bees’ nests are in old pieces of wood while others’ in holes, in buildings or in trees. Gardens can provide spaces like these for bees. Trees or walls that stop wind are a good idea. And cool areas also can help bees get away from the hot sun. Bee gardens also provide bees with water. Bees need water just like people do.

Making a garden friendly for bees is far from a useless task. The results are worth the efforts. A bee-friendly garden is beautiful and colorful. Most importantly, it helps to keep bees healthy and happy.