When I was a teenager growing up in France, I wanted to leave school and have my own life. The only way I could 1 this was to work in the local paper factory in my town, or get married. I was very nervous when I told my 2 I wanted to leave school. I thought he would say, “No! You are going to college.”I was very 3 when he said, “OK. Let's go to the paper factory.”
Two days later, he took me to the factory. I imagined everyone to be friends, 4 together and having fun. I even imagined there would be music and singing. I 5 I had watched too many movies as a teenager.
When we arrived at the factory gate, my father spoke to the guard（门卫） and one minute later we were 6. I walked around the factory looking at the building, the workers and listening to the noise. It was 7. I ran back to my father and said, “I want to go home.”
He asked me, “What do you think of the factory?”
“Too bad,” I answered.
“And marriage is even 8!”he said.
I went back to school the next day thinking about studying hard 9I could get into a good college. I enjoyed studying English so I decided to major in（主修） languages at college.
Thanks to my father and our 10 to the paper factory, I now work at the United Nations and my father is very proud of me. I married a very good man and my life is much better than it would have been working in the factory!
A
Young people and old people don't always agree. They sometimes have different ideas about living, working and playing. But in one special programme in New York State, adults and teenagers live together in a friendly way.
Each summer 200 teenagers and 50 adults live together for eight weeks as members of a special work group. Everyone works several hours each day. They do so not just to keep busy but to find meaning and enjoyment in work. Some teenagers work in the woods or on the farms near the village. Some learn to make things like tables and chairs and build houses. The adults teach them these skills.
There are several free hours each day. Weekends are free, too. During the free hours some of the teenagers learn phototaking or painting. Others sit around and talk or sing. Each teenager chooses his own way to spend his free time.
When people live together, rules are necessary. In this programme the teenagers and the adults make the rules together. If someone breaks a rule, the problem goes before the whole group. They talk about it and ask, “Why did it happen? What should we do about it?”
One of the teenagers has this to say about his experience, “You stop thinking only about yourself. You learn to think about the group.”
B
What problems do the teenagers probably have? Here is a survey showing their main problems.
Problems | Causes | Advice |
Feeling stressed | Too much homework. Don't have enough time for their hobbies. | Make a plan for study and hobbies. Find time to relax as possible as you can. |
Getting short-sighted | Too much homework. Bad reading and writing habits. | Do homework or reading in a correct way. |
Fights | Don't know how to get on well with classmates. | Make more friends and understand each other. Share your problems with them. |
Feeling tired of study | Computer games' bad influence. | Don't be crazy about computer games. Play them just for a short time when you are tired. |
Getting fat | Having more pocket money to buy snacks. Dislike doing exercise. | Use your pocket money to do something meaningful. Spend some time doing exercise every day. |
Young children don't have the skills or knowledge to stay safe in heavy traffic. The following tips（忠告）will be helpful for you to keep your children safe in heavy traffic. Children learn about road safety by watching others. As parents, make sure that you always set good examples. Your children will follow you and think it's OK to do like you. Teach your children to pay attention to traffic lights when you cross the road together with them. This helps them understand when it's safe to cross. Make sure that you walk between your children and the traffic, and hold their hands all the time.
When your children are a little older, you can start to tell them the importance of traffic knowledge. Let them start to understand the reasons why they need to be socareful. Talk with them about road signs and traffic rules.
Ask your children to play in a safe place. Never let them ride bikes on the road without an adult present at rush hour.
The most important thing you can do is to keep your children from getting hurt, so parents encourage them to follow traffic rules. After knowing about traffic rules, they'll volunteer to obey them. In this way, they'll be careful enough to keep themselves away from danger.
