What’s six and seven? Yes, it’s 13. And that’s the age (年龄) of Jimmy, my pen friend in the USA. He’s a middle school student. And here is a picture of his room.

You can see a bed, a desk and a chair in the room. The bed is yellow and you can see Jimmy’s hat and quilt on it. The desk is blue and white. There are some books, a pencil box and a blue pencil on it. In the pencil box are two pens. One is black and one is red. What color is Jimmy’s chair? Well, it’s brown. What is under the chair? Ah, it’s his baseball.

Jimmy has a clock. He has a watch, too. Can you find his watch in the picture? It’s on the quilt.

Do you think Jimmy is tidy?

4 . There are many different kinds of jobs for people to do in the world. Now there is a special job. Who does the special job? The workers are not men but dogs. These dogs are like the eyes of special people. Who are the special people? They can’t see with their eyes. So we call these dogs “seeing eye dogs”.

How long should these dogs usually learn? They need to learn for two or three years. And then they live with the special people. Their job is to help them walk everywhere. These dogs know how to help the special people walk at the crossing of the streets. Cars and bikes in the streets are dangerous, but these dogs can help the special people a lot.

Sometimes you can see these dogs playing with the special people. Just like other dogs, these dogs are lovely and smart. Are they dangerous? No, they are kind and friendly. They work hard and they can do a lot of things. With the help of these dogs, the special people’s lives become more convenient. They are the special people’s good friends and helpers.

7 . In England, people often talk about the weather because they can have four seasons in one day. In the morning the weather is warm just like in spring. An hour later black clouds come and then it rains hard. The weather gets a little cold. In the afternoon the sky will be sunny, the sun may begin to shine. It may be just like a day in summer. You can also have summer in winter, or have winter in summer. So in winter you can sometimes swim, and in summer you can sometimes wear warm clothes. When you go to England, you will see that some English people usually take an umbrella or a raincoat with them on a sunny morning. But you’d better not laugh at them. If you don’t take an umbrella or a raincoat in the morning, maybe later you will have to walk in the rain.

8 . October is a special (特殊的) month for us. We have some fun things in our school this month.

There have been many great inventions for things that changed the way we live. The first great invention was the one that is still very important today—the wheel. This made it easier to carry heavy things and to travel to a far place. For hundreds of years after that, there were few inventions that had as much influence as the wheel.

In the second half of the 19th century, many great inventions were made. Among them were the camera, the light and the radio. These all play a big part in our daily life today.

In the first part of the 20th century, there were many valuable inventions, such as the helicopter (直升飞机) in 1909, movies with sound in 1926, the computer in 1928, jet planes (喷气式飞机) in 1930. This was also a time when a new material was first invented. Nylon (尼龙) came out in 1935. It changed the kind of clothes people wore.

The middle part of the 20th century brought new ways to help people get over illnesses. These new ways could allow people to live longer. By the 1960s, most people could expect to live to be at least 60.

New inventions will some day allow us to do things we have never dreamed of.

10 . Free time is a good chance for teenagers to have fun. What about free time with parents around? Some teenagers want free play time without their parents’ supervision (监管) while parents and experts may think differently.

Lin Tao, a middle school student, thinks teenagers should be free to play. “Last time I played with my parents around. I was nervous and just couldn’t enjoy myself,” Lin says. “And my friend Chen Xiaoxin has similar experiences. Once, he went out to play with his classmates. Everyone felt uncomfortable under his mother’s supervision.”

Wang Min, a mother of a 14-year-old boy, thinks playtime needs supervision. She explains, “People usually say I like to control my kid, but that’s not true. I am just worried that he will get into trouble. Some guys may have a bad influence on him and some games may mislead (误导) him. He might even get indulged in the games and can’t get back to real life.”

Mr Ma, a doctor of social studies, says it’s understandable for teenagers to wish for freedom. Free play helps them to be independent. Parents can give them more space. They don’t have to supervise them all the time. However, teenagers should find out the exact details (细节) about the activities before playtime. Then they can communicate with their parents and decide together whether they can go out to play alone.