Cooking is supposed to be the     1     basic living skill for humans.   However, there are many kids who are used to being fed and taken     2     of everywhere like “little emperors and little princesses”. They can’t tell the     3     between food materials like leeks (韭菜) and shallots (小葱).       

In order to stress (强调) the importance of hard-working spirit education     4     students, the Communist Party of China Central Committee recently released (发布) the guidelines. The guidelines call for students to respect labor (劳动) work. Students should learn basic life skills and develop good working     5     on a through such education.

Students will be required to understand and master the basics of home cooking from preparing vegetables to     6    being able to complete the whole process of home cooking independently. These will be lifelong skills for kids, helping them develop into well-rounded individuals (个体) not just students     7     are able to take exams.

As children’s     8     teachers, parents should also encourage children to learn     9     to do chores at home. Students should master one or two life skills every year. These skills can include cooking, washing own clothes and tidying     10     own rooms.

It’s really important for students to take labor education both at school and at home.

Nowadays smartphones play an important role in our life and each family has got one or more phones. It is said that students     1     get phones easily at home. That worries parents and teachers a lot. Students often use phones after school or after they     2     their homework. And even worse, some students use them all day and night, and they forget     3     studies. They become crazy about using phones.

As a result, that causes     4     a lot of health problems as well as study problems. Parents often argue with their kids     5     they use their phones too much. Although they tell their kids many times not to play their phones for a long time, it doesn’t     6    . At the same time, teachers always ask students not to     7     their phones to school, but they don’t listen to their teachers     8    .

So how to get phone usage (使用)     9     control is a big problem. In most students’ opinions, it’s OK to play for a while after a long-day study so they don’t understand     10     their parents and teachers stop them using phones.

What do you think of students using phones? E-mail us at Jerry901@163.com to say out your opinions.

Chinese are very generous (慷慨的) when it comes to educating their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the     1     schools or even abroad to England, the United States or Australia. The also want their children to take extra-course     2     like a musical instrument or ballet and so on. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is. So parents will spend an     3     amount of money on education.

However, what most parents fail to see is that the best early     4     they can give their children is usually very cheap. Parents can see that their children’s skills are different, skilled in some areas while poor in     5    . The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to study well, but parents are not teaching them the most important     6     they need to be confident, happy and clever.

Parents can achieve this by teaching practical skills like cooking, sewing and doing other housework. Teaching a child to cook will     7     many of the skills that he will need later in life. Cooking needs patience and time. It is an enjoyable but difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking, so he will learn to work hard and gradually finish his job     8    . A well-cooked dinner will give him much satisfaction and a lot of self-confidence.

Some old machines, such as a     9     radio or TV set that you give your child to play with will make him curious and arouse his interest. He will spend hours looking at them, trying     10     them; your child might become an engineer when he grows up. These activities are not only teaching a child to read a book, but also to think, to use his mind. And that is more important.

JOINING A CHOIR

I’ve always loved singing, but singing hasn’t always loved me. I would open my mouth with a beautiful song in my head, fully     1     my voice to follow it-only to get an awful tone(音调) in return.

Still, without a second thought, I continued to try to sing     2     possible. On car journeys, when my sons were small, they would make a great play (hands over their ears, shouting No, Mum, stop) of going through the     3     as I sang along to the radio.     4     have had some good friends in my life who could really sing.

I have never thought about joining a choir. And when I did     5     become a member of my first choir 15 years ago, something fantastic     6     to my life. From the first time I experienced my voice as something special but also comfortable, in harmony (和谐) with the other singers, I lost my heart to singing. It was like falling in love. And everyone in the choir had the same shining smiles and bright eyes. Singing made them feel happy, too.

Although it is singing     7     that makes me happy, it is also how a choir works together. There is something magical about breathing together. The voice of everyone singing quietly together is powerful and excitingly     8     almost spiritual.

And there’s the unexpected friendship from the activities we do as a choir: raising money for good causes and taking our singing sometimes to places where people     9     and sad.

I am now a member of six choirs and, if I can, sing every day of the week. Now I can stand on a stage in front of several hundred people     10     and know that some songs will sound not bad at all.

Never give up! That is one lesson I learned when I was very young. At the age of four, I started school. I was     1     because I couldn’t talk to other kids. Maybe I was shy because I     2     got used to talking with others. I only knew Spanish, and English was just a mixture of sound. When the teacher spoke, the words became faster and faster. I was unable to     3    . I didn’t know what to do. I sometimes felt like crying, but I kept telling     4     never to give up.

Soon I started to learn English. By the end of the year I could understand, read, speak and     5     English. The next year I met my friend Eric. It was his     6     year of school and he didn’t know English, so I started to     7     him this difficult language. We kept learning more and more every year and now we are both very good English     8     I also began teaching my two younger sisters.

Now I am learning Japanese. It may be a little difficult     9     I will keep at it. No matter how hard something is, I never give up.

    10     is difficult in the world if you put your heart into it.

I first met the boy last year. He talks to me every day. He has a problem    1    stuttering when he tries to talk. It's    2    hard to understand what he is saying.

Well, this morning. I was    3    with some teachers. They were working in the school shop. He stopped by and said hello to all of     4    . After he left, they told me that he stopped every day and said hello. But of course, he never had the money to buy     5    .

I decided to get him something. I    6    a pencil, an eraser and a small notebook. The kids were all out     7    class. When I saw him, I asked him to come to me.

I couldn't tell the look on his face when I gave him just the three little     8    . Then, without a stutter, he loudly said, “Thank you so much.” He gave me a big hug before     9    back to class.

I have to say that I have     10    spend one dollar that would mean so much to me.