学校决定严惩顽劣的学生，以确保良好的学习环境，这本来是无可厚非的。但若过于强调规则，往往会使品性良好的学生（包括我的女儿）产生怯懦心理，以致无法享受学校生活。 TEACHER'S Dear students, It is now 12:15 midnight. I am sitting on the sofa a in my living room and I am beginning to write this STS. My two little kids, my wife and my domestic helper are having a sound sleep. My wife and my two- year-old son are sharing one bedroom while my daughter and my Filipino maid another. As they are sleeping right now, the whole flat is quiet. From the bottom of my heart I am praying for them, especially my daughter, Denise. I know my daughter is not enjoying her kindergarten school life very much. There are so many rules and the teachers punish young children very often. Just a couple of hours ago my wife told me that she went to see my daughter's teacher this afternoon. The teacher said Denise has been very unhappy this year. Last year she was very active but this year she changed to be very quiet. Actually, she is a very good child (she has never been punished by her teachers) but she is very unhappy. This is why I always Say, “Heavy punishments may have very bad consequences!” When I was a kindergarten kid many years ago, I was very much afraid of going to School. My teachers used to laugh at me because I was too Shy. My face turned deep red whenever teachers and classmates were looking at me. My mother told me all these things. When I looked at the old photos, I realized that my mother was telling me the truth. I didn't Smile in all the photos. I was very unhappy not only in kindergarten but also when I was in primary school. In short, I had a gloomy childhood. Perhaps I should show you some of my old photos later. Then you will know I am telling you the truth; I am not making up a story. For some of you, S.4 and S.5 could be the last two years of your school life. I really hope that you can have a happy and meaningful time in these two years. Ah, many of you think that it is good for us to have a party at around Christmas time and they gave me many good suggestions. I will make arrangements for that. Don't worry! Tonight I am feeling quite happy because one of you wrote me something. I can't tell you the details but I just want you to know that written words can do a lot of “miracles”. Words can change many, many things. Dennis living room可用sitting room代替；但由于同句中已经出现了sitting一词，故用living room较为恰当。 当多个名词并排出现时，and应放在最后一个名词之前。 are having a sound sleep的意思是“熟睡”，其他的表达方式有： ·are sound asleep ·are fast asleep ·are soundly sleeping 香港的佣人(maid)不一定是菲藉(Filipino maid)，可能是泰籍(Thai maid)或是印尼籍(Indonesian maid)。 这里省略了前半句中出现过的词（即bedroom）。 不少中五学生常错误地把quiet（安静）拼写成quite（相当）。 很多学生都不能分辨specially和especially的不同用法： ·is specially made for you = 特地为你而造 ·is made for kids, especially your son = 为小孩而造，尤其是你的儿子 不少学生错误地把kindergarten（幼儿园）拼写成kinder garden。 a couple of…原来的意思是“两人/两件事物”，但也可形容“几个人/几件事物” Actually可以用 In fact或 As a matter of fact代替。 此处只用very也可，但有时候very和very much不可互换： ·I like it very much.√ ·I very like it.× ·I am very much strong.× ·I am very much interested in it.√ used to 必定是过去式，用来说明以往的某些情况。 laugh at（取笑）是很不友善的举动，含有make fun of（嘲笑）或look down on（鄙视）的成份。 My face turned deep red可简单地写作I blushed。 I realized that… = I was aware that… 留意不同解释： ·the truth = 真相 ·the fact = 事实 ·the reality = 现实 In short的意思是“简言之”。 gloomy childhood的意思是“不愉快的童年”。 这里用could而不用can是表明此事不一定会发生。 time在这里的意思是“一段时间”。 简单地说around也可。 …make arrangements for…是相当有用的短语，尤其是想表明“不打算细说安排什么” details是可数名词。留意以下的不同用法： ·too many details （名词）=太多枝节/细节 ·a detailed（形容词） analysis = 详细的分析 我们很少会提及“奇迹”；一般只会说：“……可以有奇妙的效果。” 这里的Words并非解作“词”，而是“话语”。 LANGUAGE Choice of words 在写作的时候，应该多留意“选词”（choice of words）的问题。虽然很多意义相近的词或短语都可表达大致相同的意思，但选用不同的词或短语可以使文章读起来大有区别。 Ⅰ．选用较通俗（colloquial）或口语化的词可给读者亲切感。 EXAMPLE Ⅱ．选用意义较鲜明的词可避免误解。 EXAMPLE Ⅲ．选用较高层次的词或短语（但非古怪罕有）可显示自己的语言能力。 EXAMPLE 学校的“旅行日”快到了，不少同学都想知道我有什么“打算”；也有同学在他们的STSs中提及对最近的防火演习的感受。请尝试替他们选用一些更能表现英语能力的词语。