（A）

Hi, I'm Zhu Hua. I'm a junior high school student in Beijing. There are twenty-six boys and twenty-two girls in my class. Half of the students come to school by bike. Five boys and four girls come to school on foot. About a quarter of us come to school by bus. The others come to school by subway. We're all from China. We're good friends.

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.

Title: {#blank#}1{#/blank#} in an American High School

Many teenagers feel that the most important people in their lives are their friends. They believe that their family members，and in particular（尤其是） their parents，don't know them as well as their friends do. In large families，it is quite often for brothers and sisters to fight with each other and then they can only go to their friends for help. 

It is very important for teenagers to have one good friend or a circle of friends. Even when they are not with their friends，they usually spend a lot of time talking on the phone. This communication is very important in children's growing up，because friends can discuss something difficult to say to their family members. 

However，parents often try to choose friends for their children. Some parents may even stop their children from meeting their good friends. The question of "choice" is an interesting one. Have you ever thought of the following questions? Who chooses your friends? Do you choose your friends or your friends choose you? Have you got a good friend your parents don't like? 

Your answers are welcome._

 Long long ago, a happy family of four lived in a simple wooden house on a mountain. They1 quarrelled and loved each other.

 One day, while Peter, the 2 , was working in the garden, he found some gold. As he dug deeper, he   found 3 gold! "Come here," he shouted. "Look 4 I' ve found!"His family ran out and were all5 to see the gold. "I can't believe it!" his sister Anna cried. The gold made 6 excited and changed their life.

 At first,7 seemed great. But soon the family began to quarrel. Peter felt that all the gold was his8 he had discovered it. Anna tried to take the gold away while her brother was sleeping. Meanwhile, their parents kept quarrelling over what kind of big house to 9 .

 One morning, Peter went outside and listened to the birds singing. He thought how 10 they sounded, though they lived in a simple nest. He suddenly knew what the 11 was. So he rushed into the house, took all the gold and 12 it off the side of the mountain! Then he planted carrots in where the gold had been discovered. Soon the family 13 quarrel ling. Day by day, people could hear their laughter in the house.

 One month later, a friend visited Peter's family. Peter told him the story about the 14 while they were having dinner together. When the friend asked them if they regretted doing it, the family looked at one another with a smile and answered"No" together 15 .

 Happiness is not how much money we have, but how sweet the laughter is.