学进去

Betty and Kitty are twins. They’re 10 years old. They look the same. But they have different hobbies. Betty likes collecting stamps. She has many beautiful stamps. They are from different cities and countries. But Kitty likes growing flowers. Betty and Kitty both like reading books. Betty likes reading storybooks. But Kitty likes reading science books. On Sunday, they usually ride bikes to the park. They can play with their friends there. Sometimes their parents go there, too.

Hi, I’m Abena. I live in a village in Cameroon (喀麦隆), Africa (非洲). On a typical (典型的) school day, I get up at 5:30 and I have breakfast at 6:30. Then I walk to school. Classes begin at 7:30. We have a break at 10:00 and 12:00. My favourite subjects are English and agriculture (农业). I go home at 3:30 and help my family in the field (田地). I also help my mum cook dinner. I always do my homework after dinner. I usually go to bed at 9:30.

Hello, I’m Fernando. I go to school in Rio de Janeiro (里约热内卢), Brazil (巴西). On a typical school day, I get up at 6:00. I take the bus to school. Classes begin at 7:00. We have a break at 9:30 and 11:30. My favourite subjects are PE and computer science. I go home at 1:00 and do homework. Then I usually play football. After dinner, I sometimes watch TV or read a book. I always go to bed at 10:00.

On Christmas Eve---the night before Christmas Day. That night, the whole family will get together. They will sit beside the Christmas tree to sing Christmas songs, exchange gifts, share with each other the joys and sorrows of life for a year, the inner expression of love and blessing. In the evening, a group of cute little boy or girl, playing the guitar in hand poetry (诗歌), a singing poetry of good tidings (佳音).

It is said that Father Christmas comes on Christmas Eve. He lands on top of each house and comes down the chimney (烟囱) into the fireplace (壁炉) and brings them a lot of presents. Children are very happy. They put their stockings at the end of their beds before they go to bed. They want Father Christmas to give them some presents.

The children wake up very early on Christmas Day. They can't wait to open the presents in their stockings. They wake up their parents and call: Merry Christmas! Then they give presents to each other.

I live in Shenzhen, a big city by the sea. It is clean and beautiful. There are lots of buses and cars. People cook with natural gas (天然气) and have a lot of delicious food. There are many tall buildings in the city. Ping An mansion (平安大厦) is the tallest. I love my home city.

But more than 40 years ago, it was a very small town. There were only some small shops in the streets. There were some buses. People cooked with coal (煤炭). There were not any tall buildings. Most people were fishermen. Life was hard at that time.