I’m going to Shanghai tomorrow morning. I plan to go shopping this afternoon, but I will be busy and maybe I will work late in the evening, so I need your help. Could you please go shopping for me this afternoon? Here are the things I need.

Oh, remember to buy some chocolate for our daughter Maggie. The money is in my handbag. It is on the wall, behind the door.

Thanks for helping!

Love,

Lucy

18-year-old Kayla Perkins explains what is in her bedroom, “I throw something on the floor and I know right where it is.” However, her parents, Steve and Deborah Perkins, of McKinney,Texas, haven’t caught on. Even Kayla admits that, at the worst, her room is a mess.

Most families at some point have at least one child whose room looks like a landfill (垃圾堆) .The mess can disturb the whole household. Dirty clothes pile up; dirty dishes get lost in the mess and smell bad; homework is lost; and valuable things are ruined.

Some parents let it go, believing that a bedroom is private space for children to manage as they wish. Others lecture their children, offer rewards for cleaning, or punish them when they don’t. What doesn’t work, parenting experts say, is constant lectures, verbal (口头的，言语的) threats or getting very angry. Mrs. Perking says they picked up all the clothes on Kayla’s floor and hid them. They cleaned everything up. When Kayla came back to a bare bedroom, there was screaming and shouting, “How can I live without my clothes?” Mrs. Perkins asked Kayla to earn her clothes back by doing housework. These days, she keeps her room clean.

Humour can help, too. For example, since Jessica, the 14-year-old daughter wasn’t bothered by the dirty clothes all over her floor, the whole family started using her room as a place to store dirty clothes. Her attitude changed after her family did that. By the time she gave in and cleaned up her room a few days later, even she was laughing.

Parenting expert, Jim Fay, also recommends that parents first ask children in a nice way to clean up and agree on a reasonable time limit. Children often behave better if you treat them in the way you would want to be treated by your boss at work - with respect and high expectation.

Cook in the kitchen

Earlier last month, my parents and I had a free day — a rare event for us. 【小题1】

For our weekend menu, we decided to make smoked pork. I found this recipe online. It looked interesting and the steps were simple. So we decided to make it for dinner one weekend.

First, according to the recipe, the pork needed to be salted. The process would take a long time. 【小题2】 Mom first thawed (解冻) the pork and then spread salt, sugar and pepper or the surface, After that, she wrapped the pork in a plastic film (塑料薄膜) and refrigerated it for two days.

【小题3】 To make smoked dishes indoors, we needed to use aluminum foil (铝箔). After searching for it for a long time, we finally found the foil in the cupboard.

After that, Dad was responsible for slicing (切片) the pork, Mother was responsible for preparing the ingredients (佐料). I was responsible for spreading the black tea and sugar for smoking on the aluminum foil and then a layer of baking paper. 【小题4】 After more than ten minutes of smoking and a few minutes of frying, the smoked pork was complete.

【小题5】 When combined with an apple vinegar sauce, the meat was even more delicious.