More and more people think it necessary to study in an English-speaking country and it didn't take long at all for me to decide to come and study in UK.

      I have been used to school life since I came here two months ago, and I am starting to enjoy most of my time in here. School starts at 9 o'clock every morning, and every Monday, Wednesday and Friday we have long days, in which we have 9 lessons and school finishes at 4 o'clock. Every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday we have short days, in which we have only 6 lessons and finish at 1 o'clock. After lessons, we have  hours of activity time, when you can choose from a number of activities, including many sports, such as rugby(英式橄榄球) , football, basketball and tennis.

As a boarder(寄宿者), the quality of food is something I consider very important, and Merchiston has not let me down. The school kitchens are run by a professional company, and the quality of food is excellent, and they are always trying to make the diet healthy. One of the obvious advantages of being a boarder is that we can have breakfast in the school, which means we don't have to pull ourselves out of bed as early as the day pupils!

    Anny was a five-year-old girl. One day when she and her mother were in a department store（百货商店）, Anny saw a plastic pearl necklace (珍珠项链). What a beautiful necklace! She wanted it very much, so she begged（乞求）her mother to buy it for her. The mother said, “Well, I can buy you the necklace, but when we get home, we should discuss what you can do to pay for it. Can we do that?” Anny agreed with much happiness, and she got the necklace.

    How much Anny loved the necklace! She wore it everywhere and every minute. Anny also did part - time jobs to make pocket money. She worked very hard. Soon she succeeded in paying off the price for the necklace.

    Anny's daddy knew how she tried her best to get the necklace. He also knew how much Anny cared about it. One night, he asked Anny if she loved him. “Sure, Daddy.” the little girl said. “Then how about giving me your necklace?” “Oh, no, Daddy! Not my necklace!” Anny cried. “Oh, dear, it's fine.” her father gave her a kiss.

    Several days later, Anny went to her daddy, with her lips(嘴唇) trembling(颤抖). “Here, Daddy. I love you.” She held out her hand. Inside it was the plastic pearl necklace that she loved so much.

    When he saw this, Anny's father smiled with surprise. He then pulled a cute box out of his pocket. Inside the box was a real and colourful pearl necklace, which was waiting for Anny for so long.

    A couple had two little boys, ages 8 and 10, who were very naughty. They were always getting into trouble and their parents knew that, if any mischief(恶作剧) happened in their town, their sons were probably considered.

    The boys' mother heard that a clergyman(牧师) in town had been successful in dealing with naughty children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The clergyman agreed, but wanted to see them separately. So the mother sent her 8-year-old first in the morning, with the elder boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.

    The clergyman, a huge man, sat the younger boy down and asked him seriously, “Where is God?”

    The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no reply, sitting there with his mouth hanging open, wide-eyed. So the clergyman repeated the question in an even more serious voice. “Where's God!!?” again the boy made no try to answer. So the clergyman raised his voice even louder and shook his finger in the boy's face and shouted, “WHERE IS GOD?”

    The boy screamed and ran away from the room, ran directly home and hid himself in the cupboard, closing the door heavily. When his elder brother found him in the cupboard, he asked, “What happened?”

    The younger brother replied in a nervous voice, “We are in big trouble this time. God is missing—and they think WE did it!”

    I have a funny friend called Michael. He is about 1. 78mctres tall. He has poor eyesight（视力）because of too much computer work at night. He wears a pair of small, round glasses and they make him look smart.

    Michael likes to tell funny jokes and they always make us laugh. He is humorous. So when I feel bored on unhappy, I always go to him.

    He likes to wear a red T-shirt and jeans. He has short curly brown hair. Michael's legs are very long. When he passes the desk, he often knocks over our school things. He's so funny!

    He is friendly to everyone and likes helping others. He always helps me with my English. With his help, I do well in English. I'm more interested in English.

    My great-grandmother, Ethel, came from England to the United States in 1921. She brought almost nothing with her-just a few clothes and trinkets(小饰物). But she did bring some customs from "the old country" that she had learned as she grew up.

    One custom was that if you dropped a glass or a cup and it broke, you would throw a little salt over your left shoulder. It was funny that she did that-she wasn't superstitious(迷信的) in other ways. I think that she grew up doing that, so she continued to do it as a connection to her childhood.

    Ethel also taught us a New Year's Day custom that our family continues to follow today. To celebrate the new year, we would travel to a friend's house for a quick visit. My great-grandmother always took a pound of butter with her on our visits. We would enter the friend's house through the back door. The butter we brought was to give our friend a "gift of gold" to symbolize hope for prosperity in the new year.

    After my great-grandmother died, we still visited people on the first day of January, but eventually we stopped bringing the butter. We never did throw salt over our shoulders after breaking a glass or a cup. Some customs are continued when they cross from one country to another, but some customs fade away.