Feb. 17 should have been the start of the spring semester for many middle and primary schools in China. However, to control the spread of the COVID-19, many schools had delayed the start of the semester, following instructions from the Ministry of Education (MOE). But students in China were still studying.

Instead of having classes at school, many students in Beijing and Guangzhou began their first day of online classes on Feb 17. Students in Shanghai started online classes on March 2. "In the morning, I have English class, followed by Chinese and math, " Liu Bo, a Junior 3 student from Beijing, told Xinhua. "I have also learned about epidemic(流行病) prevention. "

According to the MOE, students were mainly taking classes to review previous knowledge rather than taking new classes during the online study period. Online courses were required to include contents about epidemic prevention, psychological health (心理健康) and educational activities (教育活动).

"Online courses are only temporary measures (暂时的措施) taken during the epidemic, so when the new semester begins, schools should not replace(替代) classroom teaching with online classes, " Lu Yugang from the ministry told China Daily.

The ministry also called on schools not to increase their students' schoolwork burden(负担). Schools should not ask students to study online for long periods of time or study things beyond( 超出) their curriculum(课程). Students must have enough time to rest, the ministry added. Also, it stressed that protecting students' eyesight must be a priority(优先).

Hi, I'm a middle school student. I'm Judy. In my class there are thirty-eight students. How do they go to school every day? Seventeen of them take the bus because they live far from the school. Six students walk. They think walking is good exercise. Fifteen students ride their bikes to school because they like riding bikes very much and their homes are not far from the school. No one goes to school by car. How do you go to school? Haha, I'm one of the fifteen.

One cold evening in November, I was walking in the street with my 7-year-old daughter Nora. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Nora stopped and said to me, "Look, Daddy! The poor man is sitting inside a cardboard(纸板) box over there. I think he must be cold and hungry. Can we take him home?"

I don't remember how to reply to her at that time—— {#blank#}2{#/blank#}something like, "That wouldn't really help him." I might make my daughter feel better by {#blank#}3{#/blank#}him an apple. At that time, I found my daughter was no longer a little kid and that she had grown up. A few days later, a newspaper  {#blank#}4{#/blank#} that some volunteers tried their best to help others in different ways every Sunday. I decided to join them with my daughter Nora. She was excited about it.

When Sunday came, we got to an old people's home. We first cleaned the floor and then took out the {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. After that, we talked with the old people there. Nora learned a lot during the visit.

Dear Nancy, 

Friendship is important in a person's life. Now I want to tell you some of my {#blank#}1{#/blank#}(idea) about it. 

Today I met {#blank#}2{#/blank#} 18- year- old girl named Lily. She told me her experience. Some years ago she broke (伤了) her best friend {#blank#}3{#/blank#}(Bob) heart in a basketball game. She wasn't happy and didn't know what {#blank#}4{#/blank#}(do). From then on, Lily never had true friendship. 

This is not only Lily's problem. We all may meet many kinds of problems in {#blank#}5{#/blank#}(us) life. Almost all the people have friends but only few of them can get true friendship{#blank#}6{#/blank#} they think their friends should do everything for them. And they won't care {#blank#}7{#/blank#} it before losing it. 

How can we get true friendship? It takes much time and also {#blank#}8{#/blank#}(need) love. If you spend much time doing good to your friends, they can feel it and love you, too. When there {#blank#}9{#/blank#}(be) problems, we should face them but not ignore (忽视) them. 

I also hope you can have true friendship in your life. I'm sure you'll be much {#blank#}10{#/blank#}(happy). 

Gina

 Mr. and Mrs. George and Olivia Ransom bought an old house, and were spending time fixing it up. The walls needed painting and the wooden floorboards(地板) needed replacing.

 One day, they pulled (拉) up some old floorboards and were surprised to see a case under the floor. They pulled it out, dusted it off and opened it. It was full of old newspapers from the year1977. George and Olivia were interested to read the news stories at that time. But as they took the newspapers out, they noticed a black box at the bottom of the case. It was locked.

Then Olivia remembered that there were some old things in the kitchen. There was a cup with old keys in it. She ran to get the cup, took out the keys and tried them in the lock. One of them opened it!

 The box was full of jewellery (珠宝). There were necklaces and rings of silver and gold. Olivia and George were amazed. Who put the jewellery there, and why? Who did it belong to?

 George remembered a story in the old newspapers. He quickly found it again and they read it together.

"That name— Jensen, said George. "It's familiar to me— why?"

"It's the old lady who sold the house to us!" replied Olivia. "Her name was Mrs Jensen. She told us her husband died in 1978 and he was a jeweller."

"That's strange," said George. "I wonder, was there really a jewellery theft? Or did Stanley Jensen hide the jewellery under his own house? But why...?"