I was in my third year of teaching creative writing at a high school in New York, when one of my students, 15-year-old Mikey, gave me a note from his mother. It explained his absence from class the day before.

I had seen Mikey himself writing the note at his desk. Most parental-excuse notes I received were penned by my students. If I were to deal with them, I'd be busy 24 hours a day.

The forged excuse notes made a large pile, with writing that ranged from imaginative to crazy. The writers of those notes didn't realize that honest excuse notes were usually dull:“Peter was late because the alarm clock didn't go off."

Isn't it remarkable, I thought, how the students complained and said it was hard putting 200 words together on any subject? But when they produced excuse notes, they were brilliant.

So one day I typed out a dozen excuse notes and gave them to my classes. I said,“They're supposed to be written by parents, but actually they are not.True, Mikey?" The students looked at me nervously.

“Now, this will be the first class to study the art of the excuse note- the first class, ever, to practice writing them. You're so lucky to have a teacher like me who has taken your best writing and turned it into a subject worthy of study.”

Everyone smiled as I went on,“You used your imaginations. So try more now. Today I’d like you to write ‘An Excuse Note from Adam to God' or ‘An Excuse Note from Eve to God'.”

Heads went down. Pens raced across paper. For the first time ever I saw students so careful in their writing that they had to be asked to go to lunch by their friends.

The next day everyone had excuse notes. Heated discussions followed.The headmaster entered the classroom and walked up and down, looking at papers, and then said, “I'd like you to see me in my office."

When I stepped into his office, he came to shake my hand and said,“I just want to tell you that that lesson, that task, whatever the hell you were doing, was great. Those kids were writing on the college level. Thank you.”

When people wanted to find their way to a place in the past,they used to have to buy a map.But they don't have to do that any more.Now they can either buy a GPS,or go online and find maps for just about anywhere.

Is this an improvement?Perhaps,but some people think some of the online companies are going too far,because they have been sending out cars with photographic equipment on their roofs,to photograph every street and house in the country.

One of these cars arrived on a Wednesday morning in the quiet English village of Broughton.The camera was on a meter-high stick an top of the car and could see over walls and into people's gardens.Some of the villagers came and stood around the car,and then asked the driver and photographer to go away.Reporters quickly arrived on the scene,and soon the event was news all over the country.

Of course,the online company in question says that it is simply collecting information that people on the Internet want.But the villagers feel differently."We used to have privacy in this country—now companies just come and take photographs of our home without even asking,"said one villager."It' not right.We mustn't let this happen.We mustn't lose our right to live privately."

There is,of course,no law to prevent people from taking photographs of houses,so the villagers cannot go to court.But many people are asking the question:"OK,it's legal,lout is rt right?"

Do you have imagination? Do you like to solve problems? If so, you could be the next great inventor(发明家). “But I’m just a kid,” you might say! Don’t worry about a little thing like age. For example, one famous inventor — Benjamin Franklin — got his start when he was only 12. At that young age, he created paddles for his hands to help him swim faster. Eventually, his creation led to what we now call flippers!

So you don’t have to be an adult to be an inventor. One thing you do need, though, is something that kids have plenty of. curiosity and imagination. Kids are known for looking at things in new and unique ways.

Jeanie Low invented the Kiddie Stool when she was just 11. It’s a folding stool that fits under the kitchen sink. Kids can unfold it and use it to reach the sink all by themselves.

At the age of 15, Louis Braille invented the system named after him that allows the blind to read.

Chelsea Lannon received a patent(专利)when she was just 8 for the “pocket diaper,” a new type of diaper that includes a pocket for holding baby wipes and powder.