Grace is my pen friend. She is a 13-year-old English girl. What's her school life like? Now let's get to know something about the school life in England.

    •Study

    Most students take the school bus to school. Some go to school by train. When they arrive at their classrooms, they put their homework in a box. Then one student will take it to the teachers' office.

    •Lunch

    Students often have lunch at school. The lunch time is usually from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. They can have free school lunch. They don't have to pay for it.

    •Uniforms

    Students often wear uniforms at school. On their uniforms, you can see the school logo(校徽). They think uniforms are important. When they go on a school trip, they all look the same. So students may not get lost. What's more, students don't need to worry about what to wear every day. Their parents don't have to buy expensive clothes for them, either.

    Today more and more children wear glasses before going to middle school. They keep their eyes watching TV or playing computer games for a long time. Eyes are the windows of our hearts (心). We use our eyes to see everything around us, so we should know how to protect our eyes.

    Love our eyes. When we open (睁开) our eyes every day, we can see the lovely friends and parents, beautiful flowers and green trees. If our eyes don't work, how can we see the world. In our eyes, everything and everywhere is dark. It's like a house with no light (光). How important our eyes are!

    Relax our eyes. First, stop to relax 30 minutes when using the computer for an hour or two. Next, remember to do eye exercises every day. Then, looking at green trees also helps a lot. In these ways, our eyes will feel relaxed.

    Have good habits. When writing homework and reading, it is important to keep a distance (距离) of 30 cm between your eyes and books. Remember to use our eyes in a right way. Don't read in bed or on a moving bus. Eat something healthy for eyes, such as carrots, fish and eggs.

    Follow my advice (建议) and get good habits. It's time to say goodbye to thick (厚的) glasses.

Canada Day

Since 1982, July 1st has been officially known as Canada Day. Canadians of all ages take part in this festival across the country.

Canada Day is the year's biggest national party. In many towns and cities, the government organizes a lot of events, often outdoors. These include parades (游行) , concerts, festivals, firework displays and ceremonies for new Canadian citizens (公民) .The celebrations often have a patriotic mood. Canada's national flag, a symbol for Canada Day, can be seen everywhere and a lot of people paint their faces red and white, which are Canada's national colors. The celebrations in Ottawa, Canada's capital city, are especially grand and exciting.

In the province of Quebec, many home rentals (租赁) start on July 1st and last for exactly one year, and many people in Quebec spend Canada Day moving from one house to another. So in Quebec, Canada Day is also known as Moving Day.

Many organizations, businesses and stores are closed this day. Only some bookstores, hospitals and gas stations may be open. Post offices are closed, too. As Canada Day falls in the Canadian summer holiday period, all schools are closed as well. In some areas, special services are provided for large events. The concerts, parades and festivals may cause some traffic jams.

Here is a story: A man sees a butterfly (蝴蝶) . The butterfly tries to get out of its chrysalis (蛹) . F{#blank#}1{#/blank#}sorry for it, the man decides to help. He cuts the chrysalis and the butterfly comes out e{#blank#}2{#/blank#}. Surprisingly enough, the butterfly is unable to fly. If the butterfly doesn't struggle (挣扎；奋斗) to leave the chrysalis, it can't fly！The struggle develops the e{#blank#}3{#/blank#} in the butterfly which makes it fly. Similarly, the challenges of life bring out the best in young people and make the fly.

When people are young, meeting and overcoming challenges will make them s{#blank#}4{#/blank#} and ready to face life.

When we look at successful people, we see that the most successful of them are people who have had to struggle.

One famous businessman, who now o{#blank#}5{#/blank#}many big supermarkets, used to carry clothes on his back and sell them from door to door when he was young. Another successful man is Dennis. His father died when he was only twenty. He had to b{#blank#}6{#/blank#}up a big family. He took up the challenges and overcame them. Today his brothers and sisters are leading s{#blank#}7{#/blank#} lives.

Sometimes challenges do not appear to us because we keep away from them. So, some parents and teachers actively encourage young people to face challenges. They might organize some a{#blank#}8{#/blank#}for young people which provide them with challenges, like rock—climbing, camping, volunteer work and so on. However, just passing exams will not prepare a person for life. We must meet and overcome challenges. The young people of today will become the leaders of t{#blank#}9{#/blank#}. For countries to continue to become successful, it is i{#blank#}10{#/blank#}that the young people learn to meet challenges and overcome them.

Eating out is more popular in Britain today than it has ever been. It is reported that British people spend more eating out than cooking for themselves and eating at home. It seems that many British people are becoming more and more interested in how good their food tastes, and also how healthy it is.

However, eating out can also be expensive, so British people do not eat out every night. When having a date with friends, or having a birthday, many people like to go to a restaurant, and people often also eat in a restaurant before going to the cinema or the theater.

As in all cultures, there are many rules of manners about eating. The knife and fork should be used in the correct way. It is also impolite to speak with your mouth full then you are eating.
    Most British cities have a large collection of food as well as British food, from the very cheap to the very expensive—French, Italian, Indian, Chinese, Thai, Japanese and many, many more.

When people are too tired to cook after work, they often get a "takeaway". This means that they order from a take－out restaurant by telephone, and then go to get it. Many take-out restaurants also send it to your house. All you have to do is to open the door, pay and eat!

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