High School Summer Reading List

We have studied reading lists from around the country and found the following books. There’s a good chance you will open one of them this summer.

The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan

It focuses on four Chinese American immigrant families who start a club known as “the Joy Luck Club”, playing the Chinese game of Mahjong (麻将) for money while feasting on a variety of foods. Because of the differences between Eastern and Western culture, they’ve met lots of troubles.

Life of Pi, by Yann Martel

After a ship full of zoo animals sinks at sea, an Indian boy is trapped on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger (孟加拉虎). During the hard period, he suffers a lot. But at last, he arrives at the land. The book was the winner of the 2002 Booker Prize.

The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd

During the civil rights movement of the mid-1960s, a young white Southern girl goes on the lam (逃走) with her family’s African-American housekeeper, hoping to solve the mystery of her mother who left her.

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

It’s about a young girl who lives in Nazi Germany during World War II. She steals books and shares them with neighbors as well as with a Jew who hides in her family’s basement.

My friend Mary and I set a goal many years ago to change our busy city lifestyle to a slower country pace. But every time she asked when we would move, I always said, “I’m not ready yet.” I could hear the hesitation and concern in my voice. Going to the country meant I had to leave the city where I had lived for the last 26 years, and leave friends who had become like family to me.

Mary left the room and came back carrying a bag. “This is for you,” she said and smiled. I opened the bag and found this poem:

Believe in yourself and in your dream,

Though impossible things may seem,

Someday, somehow you’ll get through to the goal you have in view.

Mountains fall and seas divide,

Before the one who in his stride,

Takes a hard road day by day.

Sweeping obstacles away.

Believe in yourself and in your plan,

Say not—I cannot but, I can.

The prizes of life we fail to win,

Because we doubt the power within.

After I read the poem, my concern disappeared. I knew it would be all right. I did have a dream. And although at times it appeared impossible, I set my goal and never lost sight of that goal. Yes, many times as I worked towards that goal I faced difficulties. When I faced those difficulties, I always remembered “Persistence (坚持) wins when all else fails.” I believed I could do it.

I am writing this story on Sunday, and tomorrow, on Monday, the moving truck will arrive. I am leaving Mississauga and moving to the country in New Brunswick.

Africa’s fight against poaching(偷猎) is often described as a war. Illegal killing is on the rise, fueled by the growing demand for ivory and rhino horn. Experts say that more than 35,000 African elephants are killed every year. And rhino poaching is thought to have reached its highest levels.

Some African rangers(巡逻队员) no longer just walk around to prevent poaching. South Africa is using drones(无线电遥控的无人飞机) to watch over its wildlife in national parks. Kenya plans to do the same. The fight against poaching is a modern war, and it is becoming increasingly high-tech.

Mike Chambers runs Bathawk Recon, the company that made the drones. Drones are a technological tool that can cover large areas, greatly reduce poaching and give rangers help.

Mike Chambers says that Tanzania’s rangers do not have the resources even to keep up with poachers. “With a quarter of a million square kilometers of protected area, it’s impossible with the budget that Tanzania has to cover that area, especially at the moment, where the resources for poachers are rising because of the international demands.”

In neighboring Kenya, the wildlife service is focusing on genetics to against poachers. Last month the service opened a lab where bush meat can be identified.

Philip Muruthi, Chief Scientist for the African Wildlife Foundation, says that along with ivory poaching, illegal bush meat hunting is also reducing Kenya’s wildlife population. Until now charging those who hunt illegally has been difficult. Poachers often say giraffe or zebra meat is beef, and so proving can be difficult.

Muruthi says the new lab can be able to tell the kind of animal the meat comes from. The lab also will be able to provide a genetic database of Kenya’s endangered animals. The information can help charge poachers.

In a survey, 1,500 people were asked the same question and were then divided into two different groups based on their answers. 1,245 people went into the first group thinking that money was the most important thing and they would consider doing what they wanted to do later. The other group, made up of 255 people, preferred following their passion(热情) and trusted that money would then follow.

Guess what happened to both groups 20 years later: 101 of surveyed people became millionaires. And only one of them came from the first group. The remaining 100 all came from those who chose a career according to their interest.

It is so common to hear friends and relatives complaining about work, workplace, coworkers, etc. Recent research shows there are 20% more heart attacks(心脏病发作) on Mondays than on any other day in Japan. Perhaps this is not surprising when you look at how most of us choose our careers.

We have few or even no choices of careers. Sometimes, even if we have choices, we are more likely to choose the one with better pay. But all the rewards we get from our work largely depend on productivity(生产能力) and few things in life affect productivity more than passion does. The world’s largest chocolate producer, Patrick De Maeseneire, once said, “Producing great chocolate is all about being passionate.” Passion creates the desire and energy required to do what others think is impossible.

Not loving our work is something that prevents us from reaching our goals. Doing what we love to do not only makes us effective but also makes others feel the same.

Lisa was preparing lunch in the kitchen while her three-year-old son, Barney, was playing by himself in the back garden.

Suddenly, she     41    (hear) a loud cry, so she rushed into the garden. There she found a big snake trying to bite her son! Lisa was very     42     (worry) and quite angry. She made up her mind     43    (save) her son from the snake’s mouth.

Lisa took up     44    old stick from the ground, with    45     she began beating the snake violently.

Lisa beat the snake continuously,    46     it didn’t work at all. Suddenly Lisa threw away the stick and threw    47     (she) to the snake, opening her mouth and biting into its back.

After the snake was     48     (bad) injured, it moved back into the forest hurriedly. It had never imagined that human beings had such terrible, sharp     49    (tooth)! Halfway home, the snake died.

It was     50    (fear) mother’s love that saved the little boy.