Dear Abby,

    I'm a helpless mother. My son Tom is 15 years old. I find that the older he{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (grow), the less we talk. I feel very sad and I {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (real) need help.

    My first problem is about his hobbies. He spends almost all his spare time{#blank#}3{#/blank#} computer games. When he gets home, he always turns on the computer and closes the door. I'm getting{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (worry) about him, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (especial) when his English teacher tells me he always gets low {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (mark) in the English exams.

    {#blank#}7{#/blank#}, he likes new technology, but I don't have enough money and I can't{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (afford) all the things he wants. Recently, I've {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(find) that he is always alone. I've never seen him talking to his friends on the phone or going out with anyone on weekends.    What should I do to help him? Please give me some advice.

{#blank#}10{#/blank#} helpless mother

    Hi, friends! I'm Lily. Welcome to{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(I) home. Look! This is a photo {#blank#}2{#/blank#}my family. In it you can see an English girl.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}is she? Well, she is my cousin——my uncle's daughter. Her name is Linda Smith. Linda is her first name. Smith is her last name.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} (this) are my parents. My mother is a teacher in a middle school. My father is a teacher,{#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Their {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (student) like them very much. Look at this boy. He is my brother—Bill. Where is he now? He is in his room and emails his friend, because he lost his soccer ball. He wants to know where he can find {#blank#}7{#/blank#}. He {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(love) to play soccer, {#blank#}9{#/blank#}he doesn't like baseball. It's difficult {#blank#}10{#/blank#}him. Can you find me in the photo? Yes, the girl in a red jacket is me. I like my family. I can say I have a nice family.

    Mr Black was over fifty years old.  He sometimes made some {#blank#}1{#/blank#}  (mistake) in his work, and he lost his work. So he {#blank#}2{#/blank#}  (have) lots of free time to do something. Then he often met his old friends under a big tree. There they talked {#blank#}3{#/blank#} anything they liked.

    One day, some old men were {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (sit) together again and talking about young people in this world. They all agreed that the old people were {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (clever) than young people. Then one of the old men said that young {#blank#}6{#/blank#}(man) were stronger than old men. All of them agreed that this was true, but Mr Black didn't. He said, "No, now I am as strong as when I was {#blank#}7{#/blank#} young man." His friends were {#blank#}8{#/blank#} (surprise) at what he said.

    "Well," said Mr Black. "Near my house, there is a big stone. When I was a young man, I tried {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (move) it, but I couldn't because I was not strong enough. I am an old man now, and {#blank#}10{#/blank#} I try to move it, I still can't. So I am as strong as when I was young. "

A better town for teenagers

    I believe there are many things that we can do to make life in our town a lot better for teenagers.

    First of all, I think more bike lanes should{#blank#}1{#/blank#}(build). A lot of teenagers in my town ride bikes everywhere, but it's very{#blank#}2{#/blank#}(danger) because there is a lot of traffic. If there are more bike lanes in the future, it will be much {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(safe) for us.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(two), I believe that we need more places for teenagers to go to.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}my opinion, teenagers won't cause problems in the street if there are more places for us to go to. So we need more{#blank#}6{#/blank#}(club) and other places where we can meet.

    Thirdly, teenagers here need more sports facilities. There{#blank#}7{#/blank#}(be) places to play ball games so far like tennis and basketball, but what about other sports,{#blank#}8{#/blank#}skating and rollerblading?

    Finally, I'm sure we'll make the town better{#blank#}9{#/blank#}we don't drop litter. If we all do something{#blank#}10{#/blank#}(help) now, our town will be much better for everyone in the future.