Editor: Today our topic is part-time job. Are they good for school children or not?

Headmaster: Certainly not. Children have got two full-time jobs already: growing up and going to school. Part-time jobs make them so tired that they fall asleep in class.

Mrs. White: I agree. I know school hours are short, but there's homework as well, and children need a lot of sleep.

Mr. White: Young children, perhaps some boys, stay at school until they're eighteen or nineteen. A part-time job can't harm them. In fact, it's good for them. They earn their pocket money instead of asking their parents for it. And they see something of the world outside school.

Businessman: You're quite right. Boys learn a lot from a part-time job. And we mustn't forget that some families need the extra money. If the pupils didn't take part-time jobs, they couldn't stay at school.

Editor: Well, we have got two for, and two against. What do our readers think?

    Are you interested in students in other countries: Do they also have so much homework like you? What do they do in their spare time?

    On April 8,a report came out on the lives of high school students in China,Japan,South Korea and the US.It surveyed（调查）around 6,200 students from the four countries last year.You will find the answers to many of your questions in this report.

    Who study hardest?

    Chinese students spend the most time studying.Nearly half of Chinese students(48.6%) spend more than two hours on their homework every day.That's much more than students of the US(26.4%),Japan(8.2%) and South Korea (5.2%).

    Who sleep most often in class?

    Japanese students fall asleep in class most often.About 45% of them said they sometimes sleep in class.In South Korea, it's 32%;in the US,21%;and 5% in China.

    Who are the most distracted（分心的）?

American students are the most active in class,but also the most distracted.64.2% said they chat with friends in class;46.9% said they eat snacks in class;and 38.9% said they send emails or read storybooks in class.

    What do they do after school?

    In their spare time, most Chinese students study or surf the Internet.Most American students go out to play with their friends.Most Japanese students do physical exercises.Most Korean students watch TV.

    WeChat is a social mobile application with voice and text messaging timeline and several social features like ‘Message in a Bottle'. WeChat, a popular instant messaging tool run by Tencent Holdings, aims to help users access mobile services without downloading separate apps, which experts said may challenge the business of smartphone app distributors such Apple Store.

This new feature, named ‘Mini Programs', allows WeChat users to find a variety of services such as ticket buying by scanning a QR (quick-response) code, saving them the trouble of installing a number of different apps on smart devices, according to the transcript of a speech by Zhang Xiaolong, Tencent's senior executive vice president, on Wednesday. The new function is expected to come online on January 9.

    Zhang, known as the father of WeChat, emphasized that ‘Min Programs' is not a mobile app distributing function.

    Still, experts and app developers said that the rollout (推出) of ‘Mini Programs' on WeChat will erode the market share of app distributors like Apple Store in China.

     “‘Mini Programs' will attract lots of start-ups, because a program based on WeChat can help them build up businesses at much lower costs,” a Shanghai-based app developer, told the Global Times Wednesday.

    If a start-up wants to promote its business via a separate application, it has to hire a special team to develop two different apps— one each for iOS and Android.

    Lsiunched in 2011, WeChat has evolved to include services such as ‘Order Taxi', ‘Food Delivery', e-commerce and payments from just an instant messaging app.

    City Life in Thailand is much like city life in the United States. People live in tall buildings or in houses close together. But outside the cities, life is different. People usually live on farms far apart from one another. They grow their own food or buy fresh food almost every day at the market. But the market is not in a building. It is a floating market located on a river.

    Lamai and her family live on a farm. They grow fruits and vegetables and sell them at the market each day. Long before the sun comes up, Lamai and her brother help their parents. They pick out fruits and vegetables and clean them. Then they load everything into a long boat.

    Their boat is ready by about 6:00 a.m. Lamai and her mother row to the closest floating market. On the way the water is still and peaceful. Lamai sees the bright sun beginning to shine.

    Soon Lamai hears laughing and yelling in the distance. Her mother rows the boat around a corner. Suddenly they are at the floating market. Hundreds of boats are gathered at a wide place in the river. Lamai's mother is selling bananas and ripe tomatoes today. For Lamai a trip to the market is more than just a chance to sell or buy something. It is a chance for her to talk to her friends.

    Today Lamai sees her friend Suki. He is helping his mother prepare meals in their boat. Lamai loves the smell of the fried bananas Suki's mother is making. Lamai's mother rows over to buy a late breakfast. As Lamai eats, she and Suki talk about their summer plans.

    At around 11:00 a.m. people begin to go home. She is sleepy from waking up so early. Her mother has sold most of what they brought to the market. The will leave the market with less food in their boat but with more money for Lamai's family.

    Most of us have friends as close as family, who, when necessary, we'd call at 3 a.m. for comfort or congratulations because we know they won't get angry about us. They're almost part of us, and we share with them with our troubles and successes. But although I love these Pour Your Heart Out friends, I also need the energy of my Let's Party friends. These friends care on a different level—less stressful, less deep—but they still care.

    And such friendships are important. 'With some friends, you want to be playful rather than deeply opening your heart,' says psychotherapist (心理治疗师) Susie Orbach. 'They feel relaxed and easy that you won't keep talking about your problems or stories, and you also feel the same way. It's healthy to have lots of different friends at different levels of closeness because not only is it impossible to be close to everyone, it's also unnecessary. You need to look at yourself from different angles (角度). This is the only way you can experiment with different parts of yourself.'

    Of course, it's upsetting to be with friends who can't-or-won't -allow you to open up your heart when you really need to find someone to listen to. But if we accept our Let's Party friends for what they want to offer us—fun, laughter, full stop—then we enrich our lives greatly.

    When Gitanjali Rao shared how she likes "finding solutions to real problems”, it was hard to imagine this dynamic 11-year-old girl could settle a problem that has escaped scientists for years.

    In just three months, Rao came up with a device（装置）that can replace the costly and lengthy tests currently used to reliably determine lead levels in our fresh water. Inspired by the current litigation （诉讼）in Flint, Michigan, a case of water pollution from 2014 to 2015, Rao designed a new testing system that resulted in her being named America's Top Young Scientist for 2017.

    Rao had been following the water problem for about two years. She was amazed by the number of people affected by lead pollution in water and wanted to do something to change this. Gitanjali spent months trying to convince local high schools and colleges to give her lab time to continue her experiment. At home, Gitanjali worked on her project in the "science room” she asked her parents to create for her. Rao has created a device that uses three parts: a cartridge, a Bluetooth reader and an app. To put it simply, the cartridge contains carbon nanotubes（纳米管） that react to lead. This reaction is then registered by the Bluetooth reader, which sends a signal to a mobile app that can tell you immediately if your water is safe to drink.

    Rao appropriately named the device Tethys after the Greek goddess of fresh water, and is hoping to make a little improvement to get the device on the market. While we may not be aware of any lead pollution present in our aging pipelines, lead poisoning can cause delays in physical and mental development. With Rao believing that the "purpose of science is to make a difference”, her incredible invention could make a difference to millions of people in the United States.