Is it good to be in a middle school? Most American children think so. In America, middle schools often have sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. It is different in different places.

    For children, going to a middle school is a big change. Most middle schools in America have a special day for new middle school students. On that day, they are showed around the school by their new teachers. And they could know a lot about the history of the school. They also would make friends with the old schoolmates (校友).

    They will grow up and learn some different and difficult things in a middle school. A new middle school student will learn foreign languages, computer, music and art, health, and other skills, such as cooking.

    A middle school will have sports teams, clubs and have activities for children. They can choose what they like and join them. If they are good at singing, playing basketball or something else, or if they want to learn, they can join them. Most American children think it's good to be in a middle school.

Now students' English handwriting（书法）gets worse and worse. That makes their teachers feel worried. Is your English handwriting beautiful? If not, here are four steps that really work!

u  Using paper with lines (线条)

Using paper with lines can keep you writing straight when you write English words or sentences. Those lines on the paper can help you to write words in the right size.

u  Slow down

If your writing is hard to read, try slowing down a little. For some kids, going slower makes the handwriting clear. If you write too fast, it's hard for you to stop where you should, and even worse, you may make more mistakes.

u  Hold your pencil right

When you hold your pencil the correct way, writing is much easier. Try to be relaxed and don't hold the pencil so hard while writing, and then it makes your handwriting nice and clean. If you do so, people will think you are a student with a good habit.

u  Draw more pictures

Drawing can improve your handwriting. You need to use the skills to control(控制) your pencil better when you are drawing pictures. If you have no time for drawing at school, you can practice it at home.

Some have good handwriting and some don't. Anyway, handwriting is very important. You need to take time to improve it.

    The 21st century discoveries about the human brain and its functioning have showed the surprising fact that human abilities are not fixed at birth. In other words, what you are able to do with your life is not fixed when you are born. It is not all in the genes (基 因 ). It is not just nature: nurture (教育, 培育) plays an important part in the moulding (塑造) of what a person is, and what he/she can be.

    Brain plasticity (可塑性) or neuroplasticity (神经可塑性) refers to the amazing ability of the human brain to modify (修改) its structure and functions according to the changes within the body and/or in the outer environment.

    In his book „The Brain that Changes Itself‟ psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge, M.D., offers an introduction to the great scientists strongly supporting neuroplasticity and the people whose lives they've changed. The book describes real life stories of stroke( 中 风 ) patients learning to speak again, and the amazing story of a woman born with half a brain that restructured itself to work as a whole. It is a book that changes the way we think about our brain, its nature, and its potential (潜能).

    The genes we receive from our parents are finite (有限的), no doubt about that. However, our brain's ability to develop is infinite. New brain cells are being born all the time, and to keep them alive and growing, we have to stimulate (刺激) them.

    Here lies the promise of neuroplasticity in the moulding of children into adults who are capable of realizing their potential. For, genius is nothing but a human being who has realized his /her inborn potential! What Mozart, Einstein and da Vinci had was inborn potential plus (和，外加) the right environment.

    All geniuses started life in exactly the same way. They had parents who supported the development of their individual gifts and talents. They had the right environment and stimuli (刺激， 刺激物) that led to the best development of themselves.

    You can think about your child's gifts as the merging (融合的) colours of a rainbow. The possibilities are endless. All children are born with three natural abilities that provide them with the potential to think like a genius: the abilities to think, to learn and to develop their own individual way of thinking and learning.

    Can your child be a genius? Yes, he/she can be, if you give him/her the right environment, the right stimuli and the right guidance.

    People read books less often in these days. With the invention of radio, television and most recently, the Internet and computer games, it seems that reading books is no longer a popular activity. However, I believe that books are an important part of our lives.

    Books offer an outstanding wealth of learning and at a cheaper price than taking a course.

    Books can make people cleverer, because heavy readers have greater knowledge of how things work and who or what people were.

    Everything in today's society requires reading. Imagine trying to do something as simple as reading the directions on a medicine bottle without good reading skills. Someone could not understand them and become very sick or even die.

    Even something as simple as walking or driving through the city could become very dangerous without enough reading. Sometimes, you must be able to understand what is written and explain the meaning of them;

    Some people say that reading is a waste of time and we can do better things with our time.

    Even if we don't read books, we still read every day, and reading books can strengthen (加强)our abilities. Reading is one of the greatest things we can do in our spare time.

    With a book, you can travel anywhere you want, do anything you want, and talk to anyone you want. Reading is very important in our lives, no matter how old you are. So I think people should read books

Have you ever wondered what an American high school is really like? This article will describe a typical (典型的) high school and its students.

A typical American high school has several large buildings and enough space for about 1,500 students. Every student is given a locker. When students first arrive at school, they go straight to their lockers to put away or get their textbooks and to hang up their outdoor clothes. As American textbooks are expensive, students would rather loan (租借) than buy them. Students must pay back if they lost any of them.

American students have different types of school transport. They usually take a yellow school bus or walk to school if they live close enough. Sometimes their parents drive them to school.

When they turn 16 years of age, most take a free driving class at school for one term. If students' exam passing grades in the class and also pass their state driver's exam, they can begin driving themselves to school.

Each day, students take six or seven classes. They must take science, math, English and social studies. They can choose art, homemaking, fashion design and other classes. In some schools students are required to take one or more of the following special classes: health education, physical education or foreign language studies. Students move to different classrooms for each subject. This is because cache teacher has their own classroom. There is a five-minute break between classes, to give the students the time to hurry to their next class.

The regular school day usually ends early in the afternoon. After school more than half of the students take part in after-school activities. These activities include sports, specially football, basketball, baseball and soccer or clubs, such as yearbook, speech, school newspaper, photograph or student government.

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How do you feel when a teacher says it's time for a test? Do you get worried about it? Look at the next test skills （技巧）!

☆Go to class on time and do your homework carefully.

In this way, you will learn the lessons, such as Chinese, English, maths, and so on. You won't have so many worries.

☆Relax and go to bed on time.

After you finish your lessons in the afternoon, you need to relax in the evening and sleep well at night.

☆Get ready well.

You may take paper, a pen, pencils, an eraser, a watch, and books or a dictionary with you.

☆Read the questions carefully.

You must read the questions carefully before you answer them, or you will make mistakes.

☆Breathe （呼吸） deeply.

When you feel worried, put your pencil down on the table, close your eyes, breathe deeply and count numbers to 10. In this way, you will feel relaxed and you can do well in the test.