学进去

When I was very young, people in our village lived by planting fruit trees. My grandmother always took me to the orchard (果园) on the hill. At that time, they had to carry water from the river at the foot of the hill to halfway up the hill. Even though we worked so hard, the production level of fruit was still low because it was short of water there.

One day, two young men led a group of workers to our village. They learned about the difficulties we faced, and later, canals and other projects began to be built in my village, “Who are they?” I asked. “They are good men from our government,” my grandma replied.

Shortly afterwards, I moved to another city for my junior high school. The only reason I ever came back to my hometown was my grandmother.

One day, my family and I made time to return. We were surprised because everything had changed. The canal ran past every orchard so villagers didn’t have to go up and down the hill anymore. The river was now so clean that fish swam happily in it. When we arrived home, my grandma took out some fresh pears and apples. She told us that after the water conservation project (水利工程) was completed, a policy (政策) was made to encourage more people to increase the fruit production with clean water in the river.

Thank those good men who have devoted themselves to the development of our countryside.

Nowadays, people work hard to live in a big city. However, we should not forget our hometowns where we are from.

The Chinese are very generous when it comes to ________ their children. Not caring about the money, parents often send their children to the best schools or foreign countries. They also make their children take after-school classes. They thought their children could ________ in this way, not knowing that their kids ended up having no grades. The Chinese always believe that the more expensive an education is, the ________ it is. In the countryside, even poor parents are willing to buy computers for their children ________ they ask for one.

But in fact, the best early education that parents can give their children is usually very ________. It almost cost nothing. As parents, they should teach their children the most important skills to help them become confident, happy and clever. Parents can achieve this by teaching children ________ skills like cooking, washing and doing other chores. Teaching children to cook will improve many skills that they will need later in life. Cooking needs patience and time. It’s an enjoyable ________ difficult experience. A good cook always tries to improve his cooking skills, so he will learn to work hard and finish his job ________. His result, a great dinner, will give him much ________ and a lot of self-confidence.

Some old machines, such as a broken radio or a TV set that you give your child to play with, will make him interested. He will spend hours looking at them and trying to fix them. Perhaps your child will become an engineer ________ he grows up because these activities can teach a child to think. And that is the most important.

Students at a primary school in Fuzhou, East China Fujian Province were required to clean the school toilets to help them develop good habits. But some parents are strongly against the idea. They can’t see the advantages of students doing such chores. They think that the school should provide students with a proper education, not the chance to be school cleaners.

In fact, parents, schools and society play an equally (同等地) important role in developing the character of students. It is good for schools to give students such tasks, because few of the students will do them at home. Their parents want them to do homework only. In recent years, some parents will make mountains out of molehill when students are asked to do some chores in schools. Some complain (抱怨) about the teachers if their kids get hurt in schools; some even challenge the schools’ teaching and management. As a result, many primary schools, especially those in big cities, do not let students join in outdoor activities during breaks, fearing that they might get hurt. This is bad for the development of students’ best qualities (品质).

What the primary school in Fuzhou is doing is worth praising. Doing chores can put a kind of responsibility (责任) into students’ minds and teach them the spirit of rules as well as teamwork. Also, it can make students' in-school experiences more meaningful.