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 earn 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 each 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 are involved in after-school activities. These activities include sports-especially football, basketball, baseball and soccer or clubs, such as yearbook, speech, school newspaper, photograph or student government.

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    Mr Turner was a famous writer. He was born in New York in a rich family on 13th September, 1941. His father came from England. He was a worker. His mother came from Australia and she worked as a doctor.

    When Mr Turner was seven, he began to go to school. He usually rode his bicycle to school. At school, he first wanted to be a manager. But at the age of fifteen, he decided to be a writer. In 1965, he wrote his first book and in 1967 he wrote his second book. After that he was famous all over America. At the age of thirty, Mr Turner married a woman from England. 然后他们去了英国并住在那里居住。 They had four children. Mr Turner died on 15th July, 2008.

Dear Mom and Dad,

    How are you? I hope everything is okay. I'm doing well.

    Here at Valley College, I'm very busy with my English classes at the ESL Center. My teacher says, "It's important to practice English outside the classroom." That's why I'm writing this e-mail in English!

    Sometimes I'm a little afraid to use my English, but people are usually nice. I speak English with others here in the dorm(宿舍) and the dining room.

    I feel very comfortable here. This college has everything! It's like a small city. The student store is next to my dorm. There's a beautiful garden across from the student store. The health center is on the corner, across from my dorm. The sports center is on the corner of College Avenue and Garden Street, There are three coffee shops on College Avenue!

    There is one thing the college doesn't have, Mom: your cooking!

Love,

Sunny

    The Chongyang Festival is a traditional Chinese festival. It is celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth lunar(阴历) month. It's also called the Double Ninth Festival.

    The festival started as early as the Warring States Period (475-221BC). It has a history of more than 1, 700 years. Among the numbers from zero to nine, nine is the highest odd number(奇数). People believe that two "ninths" meeting together stand for a long life. So it is a special holiday for Chinese people to show love and respect for their elders. They hold many kinds of activities in honor of old people to wish them good health and a long life.

    The festival comes during the golden time of fall. On the day, people traditionally drink Chrysanthemum(菊花)wine, eat Double-Ninth Cakes and climb mountains. They also carry a kind of plant, its name is dogwood, People in ancient times believed that the plant could drive away evil(邪恶的) spirits and prevent them from catching an illness in winter.