【推荐1】On Aug. 17, the National Parks Service posted the tale of the adorable note on their Facebook page, where it has since been liked over 5,200 times, and shared more than 700.

“Dear Park Ranger, Deep Creek Conversation Park was great! I especially liked the Tom Branch Falls,” the youngster, named Karina, began her letter. “I love it so much; I wanted to have a souvenir to come home with me, so I took a rock. I’m sorry, and now I want to return it. Also, here’s a donation!”

The heartfelt letter concluded with a postscript to “also look on the back”, where the girl drew a picture of the Tom Branch Falls, a waterfall in the grand park near Swain County, N.C. Lucky for Karina, the park rangers were touched by her sincere apologies for the small “theft”, and even wrote back.

“Dear Karina, thank you so much for returning the rock. It has made its way back to the Tom Branch Falls. We are so glad you enjoyed your visit,” the park officials wrote in their Facebook post. “Already, you are becoming an amazing keeper for the park. Thank you for recognizing that what is in the park should stay in the park. If every visitor took a rock home, that would mean 11 million rocks would be gone from the park every year. Now that you know to leave nature the way you find it, we hope you will help share this message with others. It is always a good thing to give another the chance to discover!” the officials concluded.

The cute letter evidently hit all the right notes with Facebook commenters, who agreed that Karina had the quality to be a “future park ranger”, and praised her parents for the valuable lesson the exercise taught the girl.

【推荐2】When school started on that warm August day, I threw myself into everything I did, including playing volleyball.I decided to become beautiful, or at the very least, thin.I stopped eating completely.Soon I began losing weight, which excited me, and I even grew to love the tiredness and light-headedness (头晕) that came with my poor diet, for those feelings meant that I was winning.

As the season went on, things became tense between my head volleyball coach, Coach Smith, and me.She felt that something was wrong with my health.She talked with me about my eating and was angry that I wouldn't listen to her when she tried to make me eat.She tried to persuade me in a determined way and so we fought constantly.Then my hunger started to affect my performance.I was so tired that practice was becoming a struggle.One afternoon, with hurt in her eyes, Coach Smith asked me what I had eaten and I told her nothing yet.She looked at me, disappointment in her eyes, knowing she couldn't make me stop, and walked away.

A couple of weeks later, I attended a formal dinner for our volleyball team.I stood there as my coach said something nice about me.I realized then that I had ruined my senior year by being disrespectful, and that I had probably ruined hers as well.So that evening I wrote her a letter apologizing to and thanking her.

Then one Saturday, as I was reading in the library, I felt someone gently take my arm and say softly, “Lynn Jones, how are you doing?” I looked up and saw the familiar face.“Thanks for the letter,” she said.“It meant a lot.”

When I think of a coach, I think of someone above me, someone who gives instruction ---not a friend.But Coach Smith is different, and, like any other good friends, she dealt with my problem in a determined way even when I hated her for it at that time.I didn't deserve her kindness, but she gave it anyway.I will forever be grateful for her help, and now for her friendship.

【推荐3】I still remember a lovely girl, though I don’t know her name.

We met in the Children’s Hospital.I was 11. I was born with a hole in my heart. So was the five­year­old girl in the bed beside me.We were both recovering from the same operation.Because I was older and wiser, I thought it was my job to look after her. “Do you want to hear a story?” I asked her one afternoon.“Great!” she said.

It was so easy to make her happy.She seemed always to be smiling or singing songs.

Life wasn’t fair. She passed away. My recovery went well. “You’re really lucky”，a nurse told me.“But how come my operation was so easy and hers wasn’t?” I asked.“Easy?” my dad said. “David, your operation wasn’t easy at all. We thought we were going to lose you. For two weeks after your operation, many things could go wrong. You’re really lucky. When you were in the coma (昏迷) , she used to come over to your bed and sing to you. She was watching over you.” my dad said.

My surgery scars (手术疤痕)are hidden under my shirt along with the memory of that kind little girl. She will be at my side like a small angel. I am old and wise enough now to know that I have an angel watching over me whenever life is fair or unfair.

【推荐1】There was once a professor of medicine, who was very strict with the students. Whenever he took the chair on the exam committee(委员会), the students would be in fear, because he was seldom pleased with the answers they gave. A student would be lucky enough if he or she could receive a good mark from him. At the end of the term, the students of medicine would take their exam again. Now a student entered the exam room and got seated before the committee. This student was a little nervous as he knew it would not be so easy to get through the exam at all.

The professor began to ask. The student was required to describe a certain illness, his description of which turned out to be OK.

Then the professor asked about the cure(药剂、疗法) for the illness, and the student, too , answered just as right. “Good,” said the professor, “and how much will you give the patient?”

“A full spoon,” answered the student.

“Now you may go out and wait for what you can get,” said the professor. At the same time the committee discussed carefully the answers the student had given. Suddenly, the student noticed that there was something wrong with his last answer. “A full spoon is too much,” he thought to himself. Anxiously he opened the door of the room and cried, “Mr. Professor, I’ve made a mistake! A full spoon is too much for the patient. He can take only five drops.”

“I’m sorry, sir,” said the professor coldly, “but it’s too late. Your patient has died.”

【推荐3】One afternoon last week, I saw three tearful children from my son’s school being comforted by teachers. That morning, my 11-year-old had stomach pains, retching（干呕）into a bowl. Talking to other mothers later, I heard about other children with stomachache or difficult sleeping the night before.

What caused so much pain? Sports day. Sports day might be necessary at a highly-competitive independent school, but not at a village primary school. For the children who can fly like the wind, sports day cause no problem. For those who are overweight or just not good at sport, it is nightmare（噩梦）. Even for those who enjoy running but fall halfway down the track in front of the entire school and their parents, it can prove a disease.

Why do we put our children through this annual suffering? Some may say competition is character building; or it’s taking part, not winning, that’s important; or that’s a tradition of school life. I just felt great pity for those children in tears or in pain.

Team games at the end of sports day produced some close races, wild enthusiasm, lots of shouting — and were fun to watch. More importantly, the children who were not so fast or quick at passing the ball were hidden a little from everyone’s eyes. Some of them also had the thrill of being on the winning side.

I wish that sports day could be abandoned and replaced with some other less competitive event. Perhaps an afternoon of team games, with a few races for those who want them, would be less stressful for the children and a lot more fun to watch.

【推荐1】Dou Kou, a Chinese boy, is called “the youngest writer in the world”. He has written three books till now. Dou Kou was born in Jiangsu in 1994. When he was 7 months old, his parents started working in over 30 different cities, such as Xi’an and Shenzhen. This kind of life gave him things to think and write about. When he was 9 months old, he could speak and at the age of one, he could say five to six hundred words. At three, he could look up words in the dictionary. At four, his father taught him how to learn by himself. His parents like reading very much. So does he. At the age of 5, he began writing fairy tales. At the age of 6, he wrote a novel about his life in different cities with his parents. His fairy tales are all from his life. One day, he found many mice in the house. They not only ate their food but also hurt his mother’s hand. So he thought, “If we give mice the stomachs of cows, they will eat grass and they will be helpful to people.” This was his first fairy tale Change Stomachs for Mice. Now he studies well in a middle school. He has written his third book, the novel called Eyes of Children. He says,“I am not different from other children, I just wrote several books.”

【推荐1】Big Bubbles

We all love bubbles. They float through the air like little glass balls, shining with colors and light. You can make bubbles with dishwashing soap and a paper cup. Soap makes the water stick together in a round shape. The bubbles you blow will be really big!

Here’s what you will need:

• A large bowl • A spoon • 4 cups of water

• 5 tablespoons of dishwashing soap

• A pair of scissors

• A paper cup

Follow these steps(步骤) to make big bubbles:

1. Fill the bowl with the water.

2. Add the dishwashing soap into the water and mix them together.

3. Cut a small hole in the bottom of the paper cup. This is the hole that you will blow through.

4. Dip the top rim of the cup into the soapy water. Slowly lift the cup out of the bowl. There should be a thin “window” of soapy water filling the open space of the cup.

5. Slowly put your mouth up to the hole in the bottom of the cup. Gently blow air through the hole. A big bubble will rise into the air! For   a party, you can make a bowl of soapy water and a paper cup bubble-blower for each friend. If your friends do step 4 and 5 again and again, just think of how many bubbles you can make together!

【推荐2】Two Earthquakes in Two Months:

Comparing the Quakes in Haiti (海地) and Chile (智利)

Overview (概要) How do the earthquakes in Chile and Haiti compare? Here, students perform a gallery walk to learn more about the earthquakes from a specific point, and then do a specific research and presentation project or response activity. Finally, they seek answers to their unanswered questions.

Materials Print copies of photographs, charts, documents and other visuals to display, as described below; computer (s) with Internet access (optional), research materials, handouts.

Warm-up Choose and prepare a “gallery” of photographs, graphics, news reports and other materials to display around the room to enable students to consider the 2010 earthquake in Chile.

Depending on course program, choose materials for the gallery that provide a window on the two quakes, through one of the following specific points, or the focus of your choice:

Earthquakes through History Putting the 2010 Chilean and Haitian quakes into historical view related to other earthquakes, including the 1960 Chilean quake and the 2004 Asian earthquake and tsunami.

Rescue and Aid Considering domestic and international response to the disasters by militaries, governments and aid organizations, including rescue and recovery as well as efforts to provide food, water, health care and shelter to those affected.

Related The article Underwater Plate Cuts 400 Mile Gash compares several earthquakes:

Mr. Lin figured that the quake on Saturday was 250 to 350 times more powerful than the Haitian quake.

But Paul Caruso noted that at least on land, the effects of the Chilean tremor (震动) might not be as bad. For one thing, he said, the quality of building construction is generally better in Chile than in Haiti. And the fact that the quake occurred offshore should also help limit the destruction. In Haiti, the rupture (断裂) occurred only a few miles from the capital, Port-au-Prince. The rupture on Saturday was centered about 60 miles from the nearest town, Chillan, and 70 miles from the country’s second-largest city, Concepción.

Read the article using the following questions.

A．Position:

B．Power:

C．Building:

D．Rescue:

【推荐3】Being the world’s most trusted volunteer abroad organization, IVHQ （International Volunteer Headquarters）offers volunteer programs in more than 50 destinations. Here are a few of them.

Marine Conservation Program

Volunteers of this program work in Queensland, Australia. You will join conservation efforts like collecting sea rubbish.

Requirements: Volunteers need to be 18 years or over. Able to swim. Speak fluent English. Present a police check. Have travel insurance. Complete our free pre-departure training.

Fees: 1 week $1,010, 2 weeks $2,020, 3 weeks $2,980

Shriners Hospitals for Children Program

Volunteers in Shriners Hospitals for Children in Honolulu, Hawaii need to pick up patients, deliver supplies and tutor patients.

Requirements: Volunteers must be at least 16 years old. Available to volunteer two hours per week for at least five months. Agree to a police check and a drug test. We offer free training upon your arrival.

Fees: No fees are needed.

Youth Support Program

Volunteers are placed in community centers of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA to provide tutoring and positive activities for the youth. You can also help organizations by beautifying spaces, re-organizing classrooms and preparing materials.

Requirements: Volunteers need to be 18 years or over. Have travel insurance and provide a police check. The training fee is included in the program fee.

Fees: 1 week $520, 2 weeks $825, 3 weeks $1,125

Pre-School English Program

Volunteers working in Cusco, Peru will teach English in pre-schools with younger children of 4 to 5 years old.

Requirements: 18 years and over. No previous teaching experience is required, but a basic understanding of Spanish is. Emergency contact, police check and resume （简历）are required. Training will be conducted online for free.

Fees: 1 week, $320,2 weeks $550, 3 weeks $735