Would you like to keep free e-books handy to read on your phone or tablet? Several websites offer e-books you can download without spending any money at all.

Amazon

Amazon is filled with free e-books you can download. Amazon’s Best Seller list is divided into Paid and Free. Check out the free sections in dozens of genres (种类), each listing the Top 100 free e-books so you will have a lot of choices. This list changes constantly, based on how well the books are “selling” and whether they become or remain free.

Over Drive

Over Drive is an e-book service that works with local libraries to lend free e-books to readers. It includes a wide collection of e-books, from new sellers to classics. Sometimes there is a wait for a library e-book, just as there can be for a popular print book.

Project Gutenberg

Started in 1971, Project Gutenberg has over 53,000 free e-books. Project Gutenberg e-books are available to download in the U. S. but may be restricted in other countries if they are still protected by copyright.

Apple i-Books

You can read free e-books on your iPhone and iPad using the i-Books app. Head to the iTunes App Store and click the “Free Books” category. You can see a list of the top best sellers. Click “Get” to download those books to your iPhone or iPad.

Audible

Audible lets you download audio (有声) books. You can get a free audio book when you sign up for a membership. Audible is currently available for listeners in the US, the UK, Canada, India, and Australia.

Finally, when you find a free e-book you want to read, get it right away. Often the offer is open only briefly. If you wait too long, you may discover the book now has a price attached.

My favourite book, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne, talks about a formula called “SFF” which stands for “stopping finding fault”. I used to be a critical person and tried to find fault. I guess I somehow inherited this character from my father. Actually, many good qualities of my father are worth admiring except this.

My father is a person who constantly looks for mistakes in other people and he thinks no one is perfect in the world. His character created a negative atmosphere in my family. I was the same as my father, so I often felt angry, disappointed, depressed, and lonely in school.

After I had read my favourite book I began to seek “good things” in other people. It has completely changed my life. Now I feel happier, I have more friends, I have more trust in people, and I realize everyone has his own strength! Another important lesson I got from this book is that I should always behave myself in a positive manner. Let's admit that we sometimes complain about our situation. That's not good. Believe it or not, people don't like to listen to negative opinions.

One more valuable lesson I got from the book is that I should be a good listener. When I was younger, I only wanted people to pay whole attention to my words so that I could show them how important I was. I was very proud and would show off my achievements in school without considering others' feelings. I had very few friends and most people considered me as an arrogant person. Now, I find it much easier to make friends after making some changes!

It seems that the Englishmen just cannot live without sports of some kind. A famous French humorist once said that this is because the English insist on behaving like children all their lives. Wherever you go in this country, you will see both children and grown-ups knocking a ball about with a stick or something, as if in Britain men shall always remain boys and women girls! Still, it can never be bad to get exercise, can it?

Taking all amateur(业余)and professional sports in Britain into consideration, there can be no doubt that football is at the top of the list. It is called soccer in the United States. The game originated(起源于)in Britain and was played in the Middle Ages or even earlier, though as an organized game, or “association football”, it dates only from the beginning of the 19th century.

The next is rugby, which is called “football” in the United States. It is a kind of football played by two teams of fifteen players than eleven. In rugby, an oval-shaped ball is used which can be handled as well as kicked. It is a pretty rough game.

In summer, cricket is the most popular sport. In fact, it has sometimes been called the English national game. Most foreigners find the game rather slow or even boring, but it enjoys great popularity among the British.

Tennis rates high on the list, too. It was introduced into England from France in the 15th century, but it was from England that it spread to practically every country in the world.

Table tennis, or “ping-pong”, surely is not played on a great scale as it is in China or Japan. Basketball and volleyball were introduced into Britain during the late 19th century from America and are gaining popularity. Horse-back riding, swimming, rowing and golf all attract a lot of people.

It has been discovered that after the age of sixteen, the number of our brain cells begins to decrease at a speed of several million a year. They simply die off. In certain types of activity, the human brain is at its highest point in the early twenties, when it has collected enough information to be able to use the vast number of cells freely in the most effective way. Pure mathematics is one of the fields in which this happens, and we know that Albert Einstein made all his world-shaking discoveries between the age of about 20 and 25, and spent the rest of his life tidying them up and arranging them.

But in certain other types of activity (of which being an author is perhaps one), experience is more important than sharpness of brain, and there one usually finds that a person reaches his or her peak much later in life.

Besides sharpness of brain and experience, here is another thing that is very important, and that is wisdom. One can have a very quick, inventive brain and plenty of experience, but if one uses these foolishly, one harms both oneself and others. Wisdom does not always come with age ——there are plenty of foolish middle-aged people about ——but the average person tends to learn wisdom as he gets older, usually by making painful of embarrassing mistakes. Leaning to be wise is basically learning what is not possible ； and what is possible but so difficult that it is not worth all the trouble one has to go through to get there. Mostly, it is learning about human nature ； how real people behave and react, as against how one would like them to behave and react. One can read and hear lot of idealistic stuff about how to make the world a better place, which would be found if it was based on an accurate observation of human nature, but which is basically a waste of time because it is not.