Duan Jiayang, a 12-year-old student of a primary school in Fujian, learns the skills to take care of vegetable fields.
"I learned how to place the mulch film（地膜）, "he says. "It's not easy."
In China, many parents pay much attention to their children's good marks, but vocational（职业的）skills have little been cared.
"Some parents do everything for their children", says Yan Mei, an official in the primary school, adding that many students are short of the basic skills needed in their everyday lives. "For example, "Yan says." Some parents would do the school's general cleaning instead of their children. "
Since March, 2020, the governments have launched（推行）a lot of policies, requiring that colleges, middle schools and primary schools pay more attention to teaching students practical skills.
Following these policies, the primary school launched an "agricultural （农业的）class base" on one of its school yards. Students plant fruit and vegetables on an area of land about 4, 000 m in size.
"In the days coming up to the May Day holiday, students of various grades at the school worked together in the fields, "says school principal Yang Bo. "They planted watermelons, carrots and corns. May Day, also known as Labor Day, is celebrated on May lst in China. "
The school hopes that students will understand the food is quite precious（珍贵的）so that they will better realize the difficulties that their parents went through.
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Do you need a mentor （导师）? Many teenagers have trouble communicating with their parents because parents always expect them to solve problems by themselves. For many reasons, they can't easily work them out. They also find it hard to deal with the relationship with their parents. What should they do? Here comes the way. There are some mentors who can help teenagers to solve the problems. Mentors are not like parents, but they can bring teenagers personal advice and help them grow. Teenagers need to express their own point of view, even if it goes against the mentors'. They will feel relaxed because they can talk with mentors freely. Zhou Ziqian is a student from Sunshine Middle School. He learned a lot from his mentor. "I preferred to have a life journey of my own with my own stories. But my parents didn't agree. I got much help from my mentor. When I shared my problems, he helped me analyze （分析） them in different ways I couldn't see. Because of his rich experiences, he could understand me well. " said Zhou, "He made me feel good and also asked me to talk more with my parents? " |
Volunteering(志愿服务)means spending some of your fee time helping others. You may volunteer to help other people, but you can also volunteer to do something good for animals, the environment, or any other thing that you care about. Volunteering helps others but it can also help yourself. If you are worried about something, doing something can be but it can also help yourself. If you are worried about something, doing something can be a great way to deal with your feelings. Volunteering can let you see your own life in new ways.
Here are some ideas about how you can do the work with your family:
●Clean up a park or a road along a river.
●Do some housework for the old persons or the sick.
●Plant trees or flowers in your community.
●Clean up a school or other public buildings.
Now some schools ask kids to spend some time helping others because volunteering gives them a sense of duty（责任）. A volunteer job can even help some kids understand what to do when they grow up. So what are you waiting for? Make a plan to start volunteering today. (182 words)
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Have your parents ever helped you with schoolwork or other projects? Do you think they are giving you too much help? Du Peng, 18, from Hebei has a story to share. When he was in middle school, his mother often let him join in English speaking competitions. To help her son win, Du's mother once asked an English teacher to help write a speech draft(稿子). "Although I got good results at the competition, I didn't feel proud," Du said. Du is not alone. Nearly 90 percent of Chinese parents said that they have helped their kids too much in school, according to a recent survey of1, 504 parents done by China Youth Daily. And 70 percent of parents agreed that over parenting (过度照顾孩子) could lead to an absence (缺失) of their children's independence. Children, on the other hand, want to do things by themselves. "Doing things by ourselves gives us a strong sense of achievement," said Liu Jiawei, 13, from Jilin. "We will leave our parents in the future. So it's better to develop skills and live independently as early as possible. " However, some think parents have good reasons to help. Jiang Qi, 14, is from Beijing. When he was in primary school，his parents often helped him by creating handmade works. "Our teachers are very strict with us, " Jiang said. "If I didn't do my work as well as others, I would be criticized (批评) for it." |
Jesse comes from the US and has a column(专栏) in an English newspaper. She helps to solve problems from different readers. Here are some of the letters she has received.
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Dear Jesse, l feel lonely. It's hard for me to make friends because I am shy. It seems that everyone in my class has a friend except me. How can I make friends? Jerry, Shaanxi |
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Dear Jesse, Now I'm in great trouble. I wonder if I should be able to remember the name of some superstars from Western countries. At lunchtime every day, I eat with my roommates in the dining hall, and we always talk about everything especially movie superstars. But when they talk about famous superstars in Western films, I feel very uncomfortable. I know very little about them and don't even remember some of the names. So I just keep silent and listen. I'm afraid I can't keep up good friendship with them because of these? Will you give me some advice? Eileen, Jiangxi |
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Dear Jesse, Recently, one of my roommates discovered that someone read her diary(日记). She thought it was me because I was the last person to leave the room. I really did not read it, but she didn't believe me. What can I do? Linda, Guangzhou |
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Dear Jesse, My friend isn't good at English and asked me to give her the answers during our English exam. Of course I didn't do that. After the exam, she no longer wanted to be my friend because I didn't help her. Yao Liuxin, Shanghai |
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Dear Jesse, I prefer to be alone and have no friends in class because I think it is difficult to keep a friendship. But I feel lonely when I see my classmates play together and happily chat with each other. What should I do? Kiki, Beijing |
I am Daisy Jones. At about 8:30 this morning I was walking on Ocean Road when a boy a bike passed me quickly. The road was empty at that time so the boy kept riding in the middle.
Suddenly a car appeared. It passed me, then followed the boy for a while. It tried to pass the boy several times but failed. The driver began to sound the horn(鸣笛). However, it seemed that the boy didn't hear it. He was probably listening to music with earplugs(耳塞)! That was terrible.
Suddenly the car speeded up and passed the boy. Unluckily it hit the boy. The boy fell off his bike onto the road. But the car did not stop. It continued on its way. I believe the driver knew he had hit the boy because I saw him look back from the window.
The car was quite old. It was a red Ford Escort. But its number plate（车牌）was so dirty that I couldn't see its number. The driver was a man with long hair. He wasn't old but I can't guess his age.
I ran to the boy . He was badly hurt. So I called the police at once. They soon arrived. The boy was sent to the hospital at once. I told a police officer what I had seen. She asked me to make a statement at the police station.
Do you know what is useful to stop a cold? It is your body working against the virus (病毒) that makes. you uncomfortable when getting a cold, but not the virus itself. So if you are strong and the virus is strong enough too, you will feel terrible.
Vitamin C won't stop a cold.
It is said that Vitamin C helps you beat the cold. However, many tests have shown that it does
not stop colds. It only helps you feel a little bit better.
Staying indoors won't protect
Cold viruses like to stay on your computer mouse or desk. A study found that 47 % of the viruses indoors are on the desks, 460o are on the computer mice, and 45% on telephones.
Wearing more clothes won't keep you away from colds.
Colds are more common in autumn and winter. That's because the cool, wet and cold weather
drives people to stay indoors where viruses may more easily jump from one person to another. And the peak (高峰期) in colds is in September and early January, because students go back to schools after the summer and winter vacation.
Old grandma's chicken soup is right.
Grandma's chicken soup is a traditional way to help you get well. Scientists say it is true. The chicken soup does help to beat a cold. Many canned(罐装) soups are just efficient (有效的) as homemade ones.
Lily and her brother Ryan were middle school students. They went camping with their parents last weekend and had a great time. While Ryan and Dad were putting up the tent in the open air, Lily and Mom started a bon fire(篝火) beside the tent. Then Lily and Ryan found four small long pointy sticks for cooking sausages( 香 肠 ) over the fire, one for each of them. They wanted to eat the delicious sausages. They turned the sticks slowly so that every side of the sausages could be well cooked. Then, they put one sausage between two pieces of bread. In this way, they could make a hot dog and add some ketchup(番茄酱) to it. It would make it more delicious. Sitting next to the bon fire and eating delicious food was Lily and Ryan's favorite part of camping.
After the meal, they all sat down, singing songs and telling stories. Ryan kept setting a stick on fire and waving it around. They finally went to bed at midnight and had a good sleep in the tent. They like this kind of relaxing activity very much. When they are free, they always have a happy family day together like this.
I'm Linda. I'm a twelve-year-old student. I have a sweet tooth. If I find some sweets in my house and no one is around me, I will eat them up in a few minutes. Mum always talks to me about how bad it is to eat too many sweets, but I just let it go in one ear and out of the other.
Last Tuesday, Aunt Lee came to visit us and bought us a box of chocolate. While Mum was busy talking to her, I took five chocolates and put them under my pillow(枕头). After dinner, I went to my room to do my homework. I ate up all the chocolates under my pillow. At around 10:00 pm, I went to bed. However, I couldn't fall asleep at all. It was until 2:00 am that I finally fell asleep. I missed the first class in school because I was too tired to get up.
When Mum came to pick me up after school, she had a serious look. She must know something. On the way home, she told me she found some chocolate wrappers(包装纸) under the pillow. I told Mum everything. Mum said, "There's caffeine(咖啡因) in chocolate, and it can keep you awake (醒着的)." I said sorry to Mum and promised not to eat chocolates before going to bed any more.
The meaning of the word "volunteer" may be a little different in different countries, but it usually means one who offers his or her services. There are many different ways in which people can volunteer, such as taking care of sick people, working in homes for homeless children, and picking up rubbish from beaches and parks. Volunteers may work within their own countries or in other countries. They are usually people with a strong wish to help those who are less fortunate(幸运的) than themselves. Volunteers don't expect any kind of pay.
At the root of volunteering is the idea that one person may have the ability to offer services that can help other people. Tracy, a good friend of mine, however, recently came back from India with a new idea of what being a volunteer means. She worked for two and a half weeks in Calcutta.
"I was asked to work in a home for sick people. I helped wash clothes and sheets, and pass out lunch. I also fed the people who were too weak to feed themselves and tried to cheer them up. I felt it was better to share with them than to think that I have helped them. To be honest, I don't think I was helping very much. It was then that I realized that I had not really come to help, but to learn about and experience another culture that helped improve my own understanding of life and the world."
