I'm having trouble in my life. The grades of No 1 student in our college are even lower than that of mine. To my surprise, I have no reward (奖学金). It discourages me. I'm having doubts about myself. I always want to find out if someone else is better than me, but I can't. It's unfair. I can't accept the fact.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours Frustrated

Thank you for writing to me. I' m sorry that you are having troubles because of what your college did. Is it possible that you are worrying too much? Perhaps you could use your energy to fix your attention on your studies and forget about the grades that your fellow students are getting. My suggestion would be to try to gain as much as you can and leave it at that! It can be wasteful to use your energy complaining about your college or what other students are doing.

I do not mean to lecture you, but I find that it's human's nature to see what others are doing and compare ourselves with them. You know sometimes, this will bring much unhappiness.

From your letter I can tell that you are young and smart, and that you are getting good grades. This is great. But if other students are getting good grades as well, fine, wish them good fortune and go back to your studies. Try it!

Best wishes.

Bob

There is no excuse for not doing your assignments (作业). If you can’t come to school, you should call your teacher or your classmates and ask about homework. It is your responsibility to find out what homework you have missed. It is not the teacher’s job to remind you of the missed assignments.

You must not be absent on a test day. If you are seriously ill, call and let the teacher know you will not be there for the test. If your teacher allows a make-up test (补考), you should take the test within one or two days after you return to class. Serious illness is the only reason for missing a test.

Be on time! It is impolite to be late. Also, it bothers other students. If you must come in late, be sure to do it quietly. Have your books and papers out of your bag before you come into the room. Then go to your seat and sit down quietly. In the USA, it is not necessary to knock before you enter the classroom. Most teachers will give you a low grade if you are often late.

In America, you should call your teacher by his or her last name instead of “teacher”. Also you should use Mr., Miss, Ms. or Mrs. before the last name (such as Mrs. Smith or Mr. Jones). This is polite. The teacher will tell you the title that he or she likes. It is impolite in the USA to eat, drink or chew gum during class. Don’t do these until the break. Also, removing your shoes in the classroom is not polite.

HEMLOCK, MI --When classes resume at Hemlock's K.C. Ling Elementary School next week, the students will have a brand new playground complete with gaga ball pit(坑), Boogie Board, slides and more.

About 50 volunteers worked together to build the new playground Sunday, Aug. 19. The "community build" was the culmination of nearly a year of fundraising, said Sarah Baird, a parent and chairwoman of the playground committee.

"It felt amazing yesterday to see everybody come together," Baird said Monday. "It will be all set and ready for them for their first day of school."

The school year begins Aug. 27. A ribbon-cutting(剪彩) ceremony and open house are planned for Wednesday, Aug. 22.

K.C. Ling houses the district's first- through fourth-graders. Hemlock Elementary School, the district's other elementary school, offers preschool, young fives and kindergarten.

Baird said the former playground equipment at K.C. Ling Elementary was 30 years old, unsafe and beginning to rust(生锈). A few years ago, the Richland Township Fire Department gave the parent-teacher organization $2,500 to build a new playground. The equipment they originally wanted would have cost $100,000.

"We formed a committee and we started doing some fundraising," Baird said. "I did some things and we really tried to do something with the playground."

In the end, with the support of the community, Hemlock Semiconductor, Saginaw Community Foundation, Morley Family Foundation, Dow Corning Foundation and other donors, the group raised $70,000.

"It felt amazing yesterday to see everybody come together," Baird said of the community build. "(We had) huge support from the community and we're very thankful."