My name is Kate. I am a middle school student. I like my school life.

    I get up at six o'clock in the morning. Then I go running on the playground. At half past six, I have breakfast at school. After breakfast, I go to my classroom and read English.

    We have six classes every day. The first class starts at eight o'clock. I like all my lessons. I think they are interesting. My favourite subject is English. I can practise my English there. After class, I always play with my friends. We play basketball, football, and table tennis.

    I like all my lessons, my friends and my teachers. In a word, I love my school life.

do you ?

Do you your friends?

Alice in the morning.

    What do you do at the weekend? Some people like to1at home. They watch TV or play computer games at home. But others like to2. Some people go for a walk or play football in the park. Some people like to go on a trip. My friend Tom works hard in an office during the3.At the weekend, he always4the same thing. He likes travelling to a village. On Saturday he5his car and on Sunday he drives to the village with his family. His uncle and aunt have a farm there. It isn't a6one, but there's always much to do on the farm. The children can play with the animals and give them their7. Tom and his wife help their uncle in the fields. At the end of the day, they are all8and Tom's aunt gives them a big meal.

Studying Too Much?

    Most people work or study from Monday to Friday. The weekend is usually a time to rest. But today's Chinese teenagers(青少年) can hardly rest on the weekend.

    According to a survey, 24% of the Grade 7 students in Beijing have classes on the weekend. Over 40% of the middle school students have less than eight hours' sleep each day because of study. And this doesn't happen only in Beijing. Ji Chunying is a Grade 9 student in Guangzhou.

    The 14—year—old girl has to get up at 6:45 am on Saturday. Then she has classes all day. On Sunday, she goes to extra  (额外的) classes on maths and physics. But Ji doesn't complain(抱怨) . She says her classmates all work very hard.

    Zhao Ming, 13, is from Zhanjiang, Guangdong. Zhao's weekend is not that busy. But he still spends Saturday at school. After finishing his homework on Sunday, he plays basketball. “I feel happy because I still have time to do the things I like," he said. Some students are much luckier. Ding Yi, a Grade 8 student from Laiwu, Shandong, is one of them. On weekends, Ding usually gets up at 8:00 am.

    Then she spends some time doing homework. After that she is free to go shopping or watch TV. "My teacher says I don't need to push myself too much. Learning well at school is enough," Ding said, "I feel pretty lucky.