【推荐1】One cold winter night in Shanghai, I was walking home at one in the morning after long tiring work. I was having trouble with my job in the bank. As I walked, I thought seriously about giving up living there. City life had become too much for me.

As I walked down empty streets, I felt very small and cold. I began running, both to keep warm and to keep away any possible danger. Very few people were still out except a few sad-looking homeless people under blankets(毛毯).

Suddenly, I heard a sound behind me. I turned quickly, all I saw was a shining streetlight. Still, the noise had made me nervous, so I started to run faster. When I reached home, I realized what the noise had been. It had been my wallet falling to the sidewalk.

Now I wasn’t cold or tired anymore. I ran back to where I’d heard the noise. Although I searched carefully for fifteen minutes, my wallet was nowhere to be found. Just as I was about to give up the search, I heard the garbage truck(垃圾车) come to me. When a voice called from the inside, “Alisa Chen?” I thought I was dreaming. How could this man know my name? The door opened, and out jumped a small red-haired man “Is this what you’re looking for?” he asked, holding up a small square shape.

It was nearly 3 a. m. by the time I got into bed. But I had got my wallet back. I also had got back some enjoyment of city life. I realized that the city couldn’t be a bad place as long as people were willing to help.

【推荐2】They started the school year as strangers and they are ending the year as family. I started this school year like a regular school year and Damien like a regular student, Finn Lanning said. "One day, he showed up and just said he wasn't going to be back anymore. And when I questioned him about that, he told me that he was going back to live in the hospital for his illness."

Damien has a kidney disorder called FSGS, which requires treatment for 12 hours each day. He is in great need of a new kidney. According to Lanning, the 13-year-old wasn't suitable for a transplant because he is homeless. "When you're living in the hospital, you’re not able to be on the transplant list because folks who don't have stable housing are considered high risk for them,“ Lanning said.

Damien ended up in the foster care system due to his medical needs. When a suitable home couldn't be found, he was forced to live in the hospital. During that time, he couldn't   leave to attend school.

“As I learned more about his story and what he was facing and what his needs were, it just became really hard for me to look the other way；"   Lanning said. Lanning decided to step in, and despite not having any children of his own, he offered to take Damien in.

"It's going good,“ said Damien. He has also been moved to the top of the waiting list for a new kidney. He is hoping he can have the transplant within the next two weeks. In addition to a second chance at life, he is also getting a second chance at having a family.

【推荐2】I was a shy girl. I didn’t even like to answer the telephone for fear I’d have to talk to somebody I didn’t know. I enjoyed the loneliness of exploring nature. However, at school I had to spend all day in the company of others. My escape was reading. I spend a lot of time studying and was rewarded with good grades. My only failure was Spanish — I’d get all As on my written work and tests, but Ds and Fs on the spoken part.

Eventually I went to college. During my third year of college, I had enough of being shy and determined to change my outlook and behavior. One day while at school, I noticed an advertisement for positions on the local classical music radio station. I had grown up listening to classical music, and I could easily pronounce names such as Tchaikovsky, Albinoni, and Chopin.

I had absolutely no background in radio, and absolutely no hope of getting the job. The idea of talking to thousands of listeners in “radio land” terrified me. However, I luckily survived the interview. I was given brief descriptions of symphonies (交响乐) and a public service announcement to read, and a list of composers’ names to pronounce. It wasn’t hard for me. I left the recording session (录音时段) with a sense of relief and a sense of accomplishment. About two weeks later I actually landed the job. It was a challenging job, but I grew to enjoy it greatly. I began to feel comfortable talking to people.

Although I now spend many hours each week talking with people, I’m still basically a quiet person. Perhaps it is my soft voice and my quiet nature that helps draw people out as they respond to my questions as I interview them. My former shyness is a fortune, as I can relate to people who feel discomfortable when they talk to newspaper reporters. I still enjoy moments of loneliness and the peace found in nature. But I’m also glad I decided to make a change in my life that has opened many doors and opportunities that I never knew existed.

【推荐1】I have been in England three months now. I hope you don’t think I’ve forgotten you. There have been so many places to see and so many things to do that I’ve not had much time for writing letters.

I shall soon be starting my studies at King’s College. So far I’ve been learning about England and British ways of living. I won’t tell you about London. There are lots of books you can read and lots of pictures you can look at about this famous city. I’m sure you’ll be more interested to know what I think about life here.

I find some of the customs interesting. People here do not shake hands as much as we do in the mainland of Europe. During the first few weeks I was often surprised because people did not put out their hands when I met them. Men raise their hats to women but not to each other.

【推荐3】I travel a lot, and I find out different styles(风格)of directing the way every time I ask “How can I get to the post office?”

Foreign tourists are often puzzled in Japan because most streets there don’t have names; in Japan, people use landmarks (地标) in their directions instead of street names. For example, the Japanese will answer the travellers, “Go straight down to the corner. Turn left at the big hotel and go past a fruit market. You are seeing that the post office is across from the bus stop.”

In the countryside of the American Midwest, there are not usually many landmarks. There are no mountains, so the land is very flat. In many places there are no towns or buildings within miles. Instead of landmarks, people will tell you directions and distances. In Kansas or Iowa, for example, people will say, “Go north two miles. Turn east, and then go another mile. ”

People in Los Angeles, California, have no idea of distance on the map；they measure (测量) distance in time, not miles. “How far away is the post office?” you ask, “Oh,” they answer, “it’s about five minutes from here.” You say, “Yes, but how many miles away is it?” They don’t know.

It’s true that a person doesn’t know the answer to your question sometimes. What happens in such a situation? A New Yorker might say, “Sorry, I have no idea. ” But in Yucatan, Mexico, no one answers “I don’t know”. People in Yucatan believe that “I don’t know” is impolite. They usually give an answer, often a wrong one. A tourist can get lost in Yucatan!