Soon winter came. In one winter afternoon Chu Chu met Helen in the dorm and they discussed about some matters in their class. While Chu Chu was talking, the other girls focused their attention on the thick scarf she wore. It was very special, with nice blue and white design and colors. The girls appreciated it very much, and asked Chu Chu from which shop she had bought so nice a scarf. To their surprise it was not bought, but was knit by herself. Helen at once asked Chu Chu to teach her how to knit a scarf, and Chu Chu was happy to offer her help. Other girls were also very interested. 

At night, after a hasty supper, the girls got ready. According to Chu Chu’ s instructions, they cut the yarns, divided them by wisps，and hang it over their beds. When Chu Chu arrived, there hang many colorful yarns in the dorm. The girls listened to Chu Chu carefully and soon learned the new skill. It was uninteresting knitting, but tonight no one grumbled. Till nine the girls were still working wholeheartedly, as Chu Chu walked off yawning. An hour latter Lucy, Helen and Cathy had all successfully knitted their thin short scarves and fell asleep satisfactorily pillowing their own scarves, leaving Sophie alone to finish her own. What she wanted was a big, thick scarf. So Sophie turned on the torchlight and worked on until 12 o’clock. She turned off her torchlight and fell fast asleep pillowing her thick scarf. 

The next morning everyone got up early except Sophie. She was still in bed. She was too tired to get up. She asked her desk mate to tell Professor Hu she was ill, and was very sorry she could not attend her class today. Everything being settled, she slept in the dorm alone till 9 o’clock. Then she got up slowly and bought some fried rice from the aunt and enjoyed her breakfast. Then she was awfully busy sewing skirts for her dolls and listening to the music from her walkman.

At noon her desk mate came back to tell her the professor asked her to take care, go to the hospital and buy some medicine, in case she got seriously ill. Sophie blushed when she heard this. Then her desk mate took out a piece of paper from her schoolbag. It was Sophie’ s essay, already corrected by the professor. 

Her desk mate pointed at Sophie’ s forehead, saying: “The professor asked me to bring this to you. Why on earth must you pretend to be ill today? At the very start of this class, the professor read the beginning of your essay, praised you, and told us all that the first part of your passage was both concise and meaningful. We should all learn from you.”

Sophie was very excited to hear it. She had never wished the professor would praise her even if she escaped from her class. Hastily she picked up her essay. Beside the head of the passage the professor had ticked a big red hook and signed a “Very Good!” Sophie was very proud of herself and she read along. But the next minute her face fell as she glanced down the end of the passage. The professor’s comment for the whole passage was as follows: “I like the beginning, but neither the body nor the conclusion. Write it again for some improvement!”

  Sophie could not remember how many times she had to rewrite her homework. Each time she complained about it. But this time Sophie wrote it very carefully. Sophie could not remember clearly also how many times she had pretended to be ill, and how many classes she had escaped from. Now she would try to be better, so her professor won’t be disappointed in her by and by. 

When Sophie finished the essay and handed it in to the professor, the professor said: “Much better this time!” though she was still not very satisfied.