Hi! I’m Lilly. My family and I live in a big house. I’m 11 years old. 【小题1】 His name is Tom. He is 8.

My mom is a nurse, and she works in a hospital. 【小题2】 So she doesn’t have enough time to do the housework. My dad often helps her and he likes it. My dad works in a bank. He arrives home at about 4 p.m., so he can do a lot of things at home.

Every evening dad cooks dinner. 【小题3】 After dinner dad does the dishes and I help him dry them. Then we take a shower and dad reads us short stories.

In the morning, mom makes breakfast. Tom and I make our beds. 【小题4】, then dad takes us to school by car.

On Saturday, we clean the house. I clean the furniture and dad sweeps the floor. Tom takes the rubbish out and waters the plants. Dad likes cleaning the windows but he hates ironing (熨) clothes. He never does it. My grandma comes to visit us twice a week, and 【小题5】

On Sunday, we wash the car together and dad often takes us to play in the park and eat in our favourite restaurant.

Whether or not kids should get paid to do chores has long been debated (研讨). Some parents think hard work deserves (值得) some money. Others believe chores mean being an active member of the family, not a payday.

*Kerry Flatley

I have a 9-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter. 【小题1】 This weekly payment, however has nothing to do with their chores. Doing chores is part of being a helpful member. 【小题2】 If kids decide the payment isn’t worth the effort of doing chores, what will happen? Parents can only let their kids stop doing chores or increase the amount of payment. That will be terrible.

*John Crohn

【小题3】 I want to tell my kids that helping other people isn’t always tied to money!

* Shirley Pierce

My kids are still too young to do many chores. Once they are old enough, however, I plan to pay them for doing chores. 【小题4】 Doing “personal chores”, like making their own beds, won’t get paid. “Basic chores”, like doing the dishes, will result in a small “salary (薪水)”. And they will be given a bit more money for “special chores”, like watering the plants and feeding the pet dogs.

* Grace Murset

【小题5】 In the real world, work is always tied to money. I think we should prepare our kids for the real world.

It was half past five in the evening when Nancy came home from work. She walked into the living room and looked at her three children. The children were fourteen, eleven and eight years old. They were watching TV happily.

The room was dirty and untidy. There were dirty shoes and dirty clothes on the floor . Toys were here and there .

Nancy got angry, “What a mess !” she said to her children. “ I work all day and have to do housework all evening. I’m very tired. I need to have a good rest. I won’t do the housework anymore!”

Nancy did as she said. She didn’t do any housework. Every evening she sat on the sofa and watched TV. A week later, every dish in the kitchen was dirty. All the children’s clothes were dirty, too. Every rubbish bin (垃圾桶)was full .

Then one day Nancy got very surprised when she came home from work. The kitchen was clean. The children had cleaned it.

The next day, when Nancy got home, she found the living room was clean, and the children were washing their clothes. Nancy was happy and went to help them.

Now Nancy and her three children do the housework together. Then they all sit on the sofa and watch TV.