The Chinese are very generous with money when it comes to educating their children. Some parents send their children to the best schools or even abroad to England, the US or Australia, regardless(不管) of how much this costs.  Many also want their children to take after-school activities where they either learn a musical instrument or ballet, or other classes that will give them a head start in life. The Chinese believe that the more expensive an education is, the better it is, so parents often spend a great deal of money on education. Even poor parents buy a computer for their son or daughter.

    However, what most parents fail to see is that the best education they can give their children is usually very cheap. Parents should know their children's different skills.  They will usually be good in some areas while poor in others. What most parents fail to realize though, is that today's children lack(缺乏) confidence.

    The problem is that parents are only educating their children on how to take tests and how to study well. They are not teaching them the most important skills that can be helpful to their growth. These skills can also build their confidence.

    Parents can help achieve this by teaching their children practical skills like cooking, sewing and other housework.

    Teaching a child to cook will improve 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 successfully. The result, a well-cooked dinner, will give a child a lot of satisfaction and confidence.

    An old machine, such as a broken radio or TV set that you give your child as a toy may make him curious. If he spends hours looking at it, and trying to mend it, your child might become an engineer when he grows up. It is better to do such than teach a child to read a book. These activities can teach them  to think, and to use their minds.

    How Chinese parents should {#blank#}1{#/blank#} their children

    Over the last few centuries, there have been many changes in our lives.

    To start with, people were not able to travel such a long distance in such a short time in the past. Planes were not very popular at that time because they used to be a very expensive way to travel. Nowadays, we have fast, comfortable cars, and more and more people can travel by plane.

    Secondly, in the past, people had to work much harder because they did not have the tools that we have today. Today, most of the difficult and dangerous work is done by computers and machines.

    Thirdly, in the past, the living conditionswere not as good as they are now. There were no bathrooms or running water in many houses, and many people could not buy things like fridges, TV sets or washing machines. Now, most families have several of these things.

    Finally, nowadays, more and more people have the chance to get a good education. In the past, there were fewer schools and the quality of education was much poorer. Also, it is much easier to find the educational materials that you need on the Internet now. 

    The scientific and technological development in the world is amazing. Life now is much faster and busier than it used to be. And we are still creating new things to make our lives better and easier.

    Hello! I'm Jim Green. I'm English. This is my mother. Her first name is Mary. This is my father .His name is Steven. My telephone number is seven six zero nine one seven six .My friend is Li Lei .His English name is Tony. He is a Chinese boy. His telephone number is 2815248. My Chinese teacher is Jenny Wang. She is from China. She is a good teacher.

    Information Card

    We did a survey (调查) about students' free time activities yesterday. One of our questions was about exercise and of course, it is the most important one. From the survey, we knew only 25% of the girls often have activities outside. Many girls do little exercise. They don't like P.E. classes and even don't play sports. These girls may face a lot of problems. They may get fatter and weaker, And they may get some kinds of illnesses(疾病) easily. Wang Jing, a 16-year-old girl, said, "I don't like doing exercise. I like watching TV on the sofa. I spend at least three hours watching TV a day. My sleeping time is no more than seven hours a day. I often feel tired

    Some girls said, "We don't have enough time to do exercise. We must help our parents with housework because they are very tired after a day's work. We do some washing, clean the house and finish the homework. We don't have time for doing anything else."

    Everyone may have these excuses(借口) for not doing exercise. However, we must know that if we don't do exercise, we will get sick easily. As students, we'd better exercise every day. That makes us live a healthy life.

Information Card

    Mary Dexter is a student. She is from the USA. She studies in a middle school.   ①  Her favorite subject is science. Though Mary is only 13 years old, she begins to think about her future(未来).After she finishes high school, she wants to study at college(大学)in San Diego.   ② 

    Mary wants to study marine biology. That is to say, she will learn about all the animals in the sea. And San Diego is a great place to study marine biology because it is near the sea, and the city has a great Sea World. People can see many sea animals there.

      ③   "I want to work with sea animals and help them," says Mary.

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