In July, China introduced the"Double Reduction"Policy. It hopes to reduce the stress of homework on primary and middle school students. The policy calls for reducing homework and after-school classes. According to the policy, children below the third grade will not have homework anymore.It should take no more than 90 minutes for middle school students to finish their homework. After-school training institutions(机构) are not allowed to offer advanced(提前的)teaching on weekends, holidays or during winter and summer vacations.

"Our homework is clearly less than before", said 13-year-old Shen Yuzhe from Beijing."We are not encouraged to buy workbooks anymore. The exercises are mainly from the textbook."According to Shen, students have enough time to learn new knowledge now."Our teachers are also giving us more chances to try out and learn from real life,"said Shen.

For 13-year-old Zhang Hangming from Tianjin, the best thing about"Double Reduction"is the increased time in after-school activities."We can now spend more time taking part in clubs and activities, such as dancing, volleyball and musical instruments. I can learn all kinds of skills more than schoolwork,"said Zhang.

Shen also pointed out that self-discipline becomes more important now."Some students now spend more time having fun when homework is finished early. But if you use all the free time to relax, you might fall behind other students,"he said.

You must know drug detection dogs*, they always help police a lot. But how about"drug detection squirrels"? Recently, Chongqi ng police have successfully trained* six squirrels to detect drugs. They began their work in early February.

claws Squirrels have a good sense of smell. They can smell food 30 centimeters* under snow. Being so small, they can find drugs in places where dogs may not be able to reach, such as in small or high places. The squirrels are able to use their claws to scratch at boxes to tell the police if they detect drugs, according to Chongqing police.

How to train different kinds of animals? First, the animals need to know the drug's smell very well. The trainers can put pieces of cloth with the drug's smell next to the animals' food. Next, the animals learn to search for the drug in different places, such as from a large number of bags or among people walking in crowds. If the animals successfully detect the drug, the police will"pay"them with food. After training for some time, the animals will have the conditioned reflex and they will be good at looking for drugs.

I found it hard to communicate with my mother. Relations between us became difficult. 

One day I ran away from home and stayed outside for a few hours. When I returned home at night, I saw all the pain, anger and disappointment on my mother's face. We knew that we were in great need of talk. We agreed to havebreakfast together the next morning. In the end, we decided to go to a restaurant.

On our way to the restaurant, I noticed my mother had two notebooks in her hands. I asked her what they were used for. She explained to me that sometimes it was easier to write our own feelings than talking about them. We should write down our feelings.

Our first topic was"Why am I so angry?" I wrote a half page, and my mom filled up nearly three pages. I saw the tears run down her face while she was writing. I never realized anyone could hide so much anger. After we finished writing, we exchanged our notebooks. As soon as I started reading my mother's words. I began to cry and so did she. When we finished reading, we discussed our feelings. Finally, it felt like all the anger inside me went away from my body. Our talk helped me realize so many things I had never thought of before, not only about my mother but also about other people.

My mother and I continue using our notebooks as a way of communicating. We know that no matter how we feel about each other, our notebooks are a safe place to express our feelings. We have come to an agreement that we write"I love you" at the end of each other.

We each have1 memory. That's why we can still remember things after a long time. Some people have very good memories and they can2 learn many things by heart.3 some people can only remember things when they say or do them again and again. Many of the great men of the world have got4 memories.

A good memory is a great help in learning languages. Everybody learns his mother language 5 he is a small child. He hears the sounds,6 them and then he learns to speak. Some children are living 7 their parents in foreign countries. They can learn two languages as easily as one because they hear, remember and speak two languages every day. In school it is not so easy8 a foreign language because the pupils have so little time for it, and they are busy with9 subjects too.

But your memory will become10 after you exercise more.

Kate Sessions was interested in trees when she was a child. While other girls didn't want to get their hands dirty, little Kate enjoyed picking up branches(树枝) and fruits in the forest. Kate also danced and sang songs happily there. She felt the trees were her friends. She loved the way they grew toward the sky and how their branches stretched(延伸) to get the light. Kate thought the trees were like big umbrellas that protected her and the animals, birds and plants that lived in the forest. Kate smiled as she walked among the trees, enjoying the sounds of birds. Not everyone felt at home in the forest,but Kate did.

Kate learned well in school. She learned how to read and write. She remembered the stories she read. But best of all, she liked studying wind and rain, plants and trees, especially trees. At that time, very few girls chose to study science, but Kate chose to learn ecology(生态学) because of her love for it. She still tried to make her dream come true as a person who knew much about trees. 

After leaving school, Kate came to San Diego, a city with few green plants and bad air. Kate made a decision to better the air of the city, so she brought different kinds of trees to San Diego and called on her friends to plant trees with her. With hard work, they made Balboa Park in San Diego a beautiful and fantastic garden. Kate is also known as the" Mother of Balboa Park". 

You may not be surprised to see one or two twins (双胞胎) at school. But {#blank#}1{#/blank#}about a lot of twins? 

They start primary school in Inverclyde in Scotland {#blank#}2{#/blank#} August. It is known for its large number of twins. In 2015, there were nineteen {#blank#}3{#/blank#} of twins starting primary school there. On the first day of school every year, there is a tradition (传统) in Inverclyde to welcome twins. They {#blank#}4{#/blank#}a group photo at school. They also meet many {#blank#}5{#/blank#}twin friends and play soccer together.