There is an unusual student in Class One of Kapkendulywa Primary School in Kenya. Kimani Maruge is Class One’s star pupil. But he is a bit different from his ________. Kimani Maruge is 85 years old. But every morning he ________ the school and sits down in the classroom.

“I can’t read or write, and now this is my chance to ________,” Kimani says. “For the first time there is free education (教育) in Kenya. It is very important to me. A person is never too ________ to learn.”

Kimani has to do the same as all the other students in the class. He has to sit at the same desk and ________ the same uniform—a white shirt, blue shorts and a blue jumper. He is a very good student. He works very hard in class. Kimani’s teacher, Ezric Muniu, says, “Kimani is so clever. Now he ________ the newspapers.”

Joseph and Charles are Kimani’s classmates. They are both eight years old. Joseph says, “Now he is our ________ . He teaches us songs and ________ us stories about the old times”. Charles agrees. “My ________ live very far from here, so it is good that we can have Guga. Kimani’s nickname in class is Guga. It means “grandad”.

Education in Kenya is now free and for everyone. But there aren’t enough ________. In Kapkendulywa Primary School there are now 890 students—that’s 100 pupils in each class! “But we are happy that so many children have a chance to learn,” says Mrs Obinchu, the head teacher of the primary school.

It’s the week before school starts. Alice is shopping for clothes with two friends, Nina and Vicki. Alice puts on a black jacket, turns to her friends, and says, “Hey, what do you think?”

The girls look at her and both start laughing. “No way, Alice!”

Nina laughs. “That’s a man’s jacket.”

Alice feels a little angry. “Yeah, well. I like it.”

“Yeah,” says Vicki, “but what will people at school say?”

Alice thinks for a moment. Then she takes off the jacket. “Yeah, you’re right.”

We all know about it. Your friends wear certain clothes or listen to certain music. You don’t want to be different. So you do those things too.

Fifteen minutes later, Alice is still thinking about the black jacket. “Yeah, there’s peer pressure to follow others.” She explains. “If your clothes or hair are different, people make fun of you. You know, they laugh and point.”

Vicki agrees, “It’s true. You even have a certain kind of boyfriend or girlfriend! I think these ‘rules’ are childish (幼稚的). But when you’re different, you feel like an outsider. And that’s hard.”

Alice walks away.

“Hey Alice,” calls Nina. “Where are you going?”

“To get the black jacket. I don’t care what others think. I like it, and I’m buying it.”

You may not have heard of “freshman fifteen” before, but they are very important for students who are entering university. A freshman is a first-year college students who are going into university (大学). A freshman is a first-year college student. “Fifteen” means fifteen pounds—the fifteen pounds added (增加) to a student’s weight in his or her first year. There are a number of reasons why first-year university students gain (增加) weight; but it’s hopeful to know that freshmen don’t have to add these harmful fifteen pounds.

University kitchens serve many kinds of food. Some students choose unhealthy food, because now their parents are not nearby to help them choose. Some students visit the kitchen many times while studying. Late at night, some students get harmful fast food such as French fries and fried chicken with soda to drink. Students also have less time for walking, running, and doing sports because of their schoolwork.

If you’re careful, you don’t have to add fifteen pounds. Here are some ideas:

Think more about what you eat.

Don’t eat desserts full of sugar; have fruit after dinner.

Try not to eat so much junk food while you study.

It’s all right to have a little fast food sometimes—but not often.

Walk, run, do sports—move and you will feel better!

Remember that the “freshman fifteen” can happen to anyone. Talk to your friends about it. Together, try to eat healthy food and not to eat junk food. Walking, running, and playing sports is always more fun with friends. Help each other and you can have a healthy and happy freshman year.

People use sayings every day. You may ask an unhappy friend why she’s “feeling blue.” If you’ve done only a small part of a big job, you might call it “a drop in the bucket.”

These sayings don’t mean exactly what the words say. But it’s easy to tell why we use them. Blue is a cool, quiet color. So it’s a good word for “sad”. A bucket holds too many water drops to count. So just one drop is very little.

Other sayings are more difficult to understand. When you are about to go to bed, you are going to “hit the hay (干草).” This saying does not make much sense unless you know where it came from. It was first used in the 1930s. At that time, many Americans were out of work. Some went from place to place, looking for jobs. At night they were very tired. They often made a bed of hay in a field or barn (谷仓). As soon as their heads “hit the hay,” they fell asleep.

Here is another saying. When you are sick, you might say you are “under the weather.” But why? This saying is more than 200 years old. It began in the days when many people went from place to place by boat. When the storm winds rocked (使摇摆) the boat, people often felt sick, The boat was sailing “under the weather.”

Old sayings like these can be hard for kids to understand. But new sayings come along every day. Kids often understand new sayings better than older people do. That’s why your grandmother might not know what you mean when you say “chill out” or “give me five”. She might think you’re “off your rocker”.