Paris

June 19

I am writing this letter in my room. I can see the Seine (塞纳河) from the window. It is beautiful.

I am staying at a student hotel some miles from the centre of Paris. I have got a big room and I use it as a bedroom, study and sitting room! There is a kitchen in the hotel, but I don’t often cook there. I usually have my meals at the university. The food there is good and cheap.

The university is about two stops from here on the underground railway. It takes ten minutes to get there, so that’s easy. Most of the other students ride bicycles, but I haven’t got one.

I am enjoying myself very much. I like walking along the streets. I like Paris. It is quite different from our town.

Do write if you have time.

All the best!

Yours,

Gavin

Chinese schools are very different from British schools. In Britain, students have fewer classes than in China. In Britain, classes start at 9:00 a. m. and finish at 3:30 p. m. British students also have less homework than Chinese students. This gives British students more free time to go to the school club. There are many different school clubs like football clubs, swimming clubs, film clubs and book clubs.

School uniforms in Britain are also different from some school uniforms in China. In Britain, students usually wear a skirt or trousers, a jacket and a tie. Some people think that this looks very smart, but other students do not think their uniforms look very nice and they want to wear their own clothes to school.

In Britain, students study the same subjects as in China. They have to study Maths, English, Science, History, Geography, PE, Computer studies, Art and Languages.

Different students have different opinions about school in Britain. Some students think school life is very interesting and important, but some students think it’s boring and difficult.

In England, people don’t like _______ very much. When you go on a bus, or on a train, you can see people just sit looking out of the window. Often they read. They read books, magazines, and newspapers. When you meet _______ people, they often talk about only one thing, _______. So when you meet _______ in England, you should say, “Nice weather at this time of the year!”

“But it was _______ yesterday,” someone may answer. “Well, it will get warmer later.” You can say and talk like this and the English will think, “How friendly you are!”

Children’s education is changing very rapidly today. In the past, teachers made children sit still for h    52    . They made them memorize all sorts of things. In o    53     words, the children had to go on repeating things until they knew them “by heart”. Today many teachers wonder if it is possible to make children learn at all. They say you can only help them learn. They say you must let children learn and d    54     things for themselves.

But for these children, school is a kind of prison. They are there only b    55     their parents make them go. They get out of the classroom as soon as the teacher lets them leave. Many of them want to find jobs but the law will not let them work until they reach a c    56     age. And so, they have to stay in school. Often they do not learn anything at all and hate every morning.

The summer holiday is coming. Mary and her friends are making plans for the holiday. Mary is going to stay with her aunt in another city. During the weekdays, she wants to take some computer courses（课程）. And at weekends, she plans to go to the beach to relax. Her close friend, Jenny, is going camping. She is an active girl. She likes seeing the beauty of the sea. When she gets to the seaside, she wants to swim in the sea. Another friend of Mary’s, Sandra, has a different plan. She wants to take a part-time job in a fast food restaurant. Sandra likes meeting new people and listening to them talking. She thinks that she can both get some pocket money and learn something from the job. In another week, each of them will start their holiday and they are sure they are going to have a lovely holiday.

63. Write at least 50 words on the topic “Our school uniforms”（以“我们的校服”为题写一篇不 少于50词的短文，标点符号不占格）