1 . Parents are the closest people to you in the world. They love you just because you’re their children. And they’d like to do anything for you. Like a lot of middle school students, Mary has a problem. She doesn’t get on well with her parents. “I really want to be my daddy’s little girl. But my father just doesn’t understand. He talks with me but doesn’t listen to me,” said Mary.

Do you and your parents also have problems? Well, why not take a walk and have a talk with them on Saturday? A study of last year showed that 1,500 Beijing families had the same problem as Mary’s family. The children, 12 to 15 years old, didn’t like talking with their parents much. They weren’t happy at home. Of course, lots of kids feel that way. But you and your parents will be much happier if you can be friends.

Here are some ways to have a good talk with them: Find a good time to talk, like when you’re eating dinner, going out for a walk or watching TV. Tell them something you’re interested in, or ask them to talk about their lives when they were young. They love to talk about those! Listen to them carefully, and look at them in the eyes. Be honest. Your parents will trust (信任) you more. You’ll have a happy family.

2 . In Britain, cars, buses and bikes must keep to the left side of the street. If a person wants to cross a street, he must be very careful. Before he crosses a street, he has to stop and look to the right first and then the left. While in China, we look to the left first instead. When visitors are in London, they should learn how to take buses and underground trains. The most important of all, they must know in which direction (方向) they are going and which bus and which underground train they should take. At the bus stop they should wait for their buses to come. As soon as they get on a bus, they must pay for their fares (车费).

All students need to have good study habits. When you have good study habits, you learn things quickly. You also remember them easily.

Do you like to study in the living room? This is not a good place, because it is usually too noisy. You need to study in a quiet place, like your bedroom. A quiet place will help you only to think about one thing. 

When you study, do not think about other things at the same time. Only think about your homework. If you do so, you will do your homework more quickly, and you will make fewer mistakes.

Good study habits are very important. If you do not have them, try to learn them. If yours are good, try to make them better.

4 . 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.

A koala is a little animal with a round head, round ears and a round body. It looks like a bear, but it is not a bear. Soft grey fur (软毛) covers its fat body. Its eyes look like buttons. It has small feet and big ears. And its nose looks like your new black shoes.

Where do koalas live? In Australia. The people in Australia take care of them. When a koala is born, it has no fur. And it is no bigger than your little toe (脚趾)!

The mother koala has a pocket in the front of her body. The baby stays in this warm pocket for six months. When the cub (幼兽) leaves the pocket, it has lots of fur. And it is as big as your shoe. It climbs to its mother’s back. It rides there while she teaches it to find food.

For most of the day the koala sleeps. At night it looks for food. It may go miles to find food and sometimes it is difficult to find it.

American boys and girls like watching TV. Some children spend six hours a day at school and four hours a day in front of the TV sets. Some children even watch TV for eight hours or more on Saturday.

Television is like books and films. A child can learn good things and bad things from it. Some TV programmes (节目) help children to understand the news, the people and places from other countries. With TV, children do not have to go out to see films. They can hear interesting music or watch a game at home. But some programmes are bad for children, so parents sometimes help them to find other interesting and useful things to do.