Dai Shifang was an easygoing girl, who seldom argued with her parents. But when she became a ninth-grader, things started to change. "We often have arguments, sometimes because of some little things," she said.

    Maybe Dai has got the "ninth-grade syndrome (综合征)". Some experts think ninth-graders usually suffer a lot because of the changes in their body and mind.

    A study shows that the lack of support from parents makes things even worse. Dai's classmate Liu Shijia is an example. "The exams in Grade 9 are more difficult. So I'm under great pressure. But my parents push me so hard and they don't support me at all," she said sadly.

    As ninth-graders enter the rebellious phase (叛逆期), they want to be free and have their own ideas. The study shows that about 47 per cent of ninth-graders try to make their parents agree with them when they have different ideas. Dai feels this deeply. "I think I am an adult already. I can make decisions for myself," she said. For example, she thinks there is nothing wrong with playing with boys, but her parents don't agree with her. They often argue about that.

    To deal with these problems, an expert from Nantong gave useful advice to students. "First, talk with your parents. Sometimes you may not fully understand each other, but keep trying. Second, pay more attention to your studies. Finally, learn about the changes in your body and get to know yourself better. Then try to accept them and control your feelings," she said.

    On Miriam's 9th birthday two years ago, her aunt, who lives in Kenya（肯尼亚）, gave money to a group that cares for elephants to celebrate Miriam's birthday. Then Miriam and her mother visited Africa to learn how the group was helping elephants. Later, Miriam fell in love with the animals and wanted to help save them.

    A few months after visiting Africa, Miriam watched How I Became an Elephant, a film about the mistreatment of elephants in Thailand, and a young girl's effort to save them. Miriam decided she wanted to raise money to save elephants.

    Last year, Miriam created a program called They Deserve（应得） to Be Free after seeing how young elephants are abused in Thailand. She learned how people take a baby elephant, don't give it food or water for days and beat it hard. "It made me really sad. I need to do something useful." Miriam said.

    Miriam is working to make money for Elephant Nature Park in Thailand. She asked her friends to give money to the park rather than giving her birthday gifts.

    She recently joined about 12 other students in an art center. They made elephants from clay and decorated（装饰） them. Then she created a plan to sell clay elephants.

    Kate, Miriam's art teacher, opened her art studio（工作室） to Miriam and her friends on weekends so they could make clay elephants. She even gave them the clay." It's great to see a young student wanting to spend her time on something meaningful. This is what we should all work towards," Kate said.

    Miriam says she has sold 180 clay elephants worth 2, 000 dollars, and all of that money has been sent to Elephant Nature Park in Thailand.

    Once there lived a rich man called King. He loved chatting(聊天) very much. Every day he had his men do all the housework, so he had enough time to chat with others.

    One summer afternoon, his friend Bruce invited him to his birthday party. King kept on chatting at table. Later, all the other friends had left, but he didn't notice it. Bruce was worried, because he had just received a call from his sister and he would go to the station to meet her. But King didn't say goodbye to him, and he went on chatting.

    At that time, King's wife came in and asked her husband, "Would you like a roast(烤制) bird, dear?"

    "Of course," King answered, "but where is it?"

    "I heard a bird singing in the big tree outside just now," said the woman. "I want it to be the last dish. I'll cut the tree down. "

    "But I'm afraid it will fly away when you begin to cut the tree," said King.

    "Don't worry about it, dear," the woman said with a smile. "It is a foolish(愚蠢的) bird. It doesn't know when to leave."

    Bill is a good boy. He is seven years old, and he likes going to school. But he cannot get up early.

    He always wakes up until (直到) nine or ten o'clock in the morning.

    His mother doesn't want him to be late for school, so she buys an alarm clock for him. She says to Bill, "You must get up when you hear the clock ring." "Yes, Mum," Bill answers. From then on, when he hears the clock ring at six o'clock in the morning, he gets up quickly.

    One day his mother forgets to wind up (上发条) the clock. And the next morning, Bill doesn't get up on time. It's time for breakfast, so his mother goes to wake Bill up, Bill is in bed and his eyes are open. "Why don't you get up?" his mother asks, "You tell me that I must get up when I hear the clock ring, so I am waiting for the clock to ring," Bill said.

    The mystery(悬疑) stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are famous all over the world.

    The detective in his stories is called Sherlock Holmes. He solves mysteries in a most surprising way. Through it all, his assistant, Dr Watson, watches with admiration(钦佩). Watson then writes up the story of the mystery afterwards.

    This is a useful story writing skill. Because Watson is not very clever, the story remains a mystery until the end. The readers can sometimes pick up some clues before he does! Then, to make Watson understand the mystery, Holmes has to explain it all, step by step. So we, the readers, get to see it step by step too. Watson is almost as good a character in the story as Sherlock Holmes!

    The very first time they meet, Holmes greatly surprises Watson. When they are first introduced, Holmes says to Watson, "How do you do? I see you have been to Afghanistan.”

    Watson is too amazed by this to ask Holmes how he knows this. Watson has, indeed, been to Afghanistan. Later, he asks Holmes about it. Holmes explains that there is nothing magical about what he does. He gets to know it all by very, very careful observation (观察).

Observation One

    Watson was introduced to Holmes as a doctor. Yet Holmes thought that the way he stood and walked made him seem like a soldier. So, this meant he was probably an army doctor.

Observation Two

    Watson's face was quite dark skinned. But his wrists(手腕) were pale. So his dark face was probably sunburnt. This meant that he had been to a hot, sunny country. As he was a working doctor, this was not a holiday. He must have gone with the army.

Observation Three

    At the time, the British army had soldiers at bases in many parts of the world. So there were still a lot of places to choose from. However, Holmes saw that Watson looked very tired and he was always holding his left arm, as if it was painful. So, he had probably been with the army to a place where they were fighting. There was only one place where the British army was fighting at that time: Afghanistan.