【推荐1】It seems that no one can live a happy life without friendship. While a great number of people expect others to be their friends, they don't give friendship back. That is why some friendships don't last long. To have a friend, you must learn to be one. You must learn to treat your friend the way you want your friend to treat you. Learning to be a good friend means learning three rules: be honest; be generous; be understanding.

Honesty is where a good friendship starts. Friends must be able to trust one another. If you do not tell the truth, people usually find out. If a friend finds out that you haven't been honest, you may lose your friend's trust. Good friends always depend on one another to speak and act honestly. Generosity means sharing and sharing makes a friendship grow. You do not have to give your lunch money or your clothes. Naturally you will want to share your ideas and feelings. These can be very valuable to a friend. They tell your friend what is important to you. By sharing them, you help your friend know better.

Sooner or later everyone needs understanding and help with each other. Something may go wrong at school. Talking about the problem can make it easier to solve. Turning to a friend can be a first step in solving the problem. So to be a friend you must listen and understand. You must try to put yourself in your friend's place so that you can understand the problem better.

No two friendships are exactly alike. But all true friendships have three things in common. If you plan to keep your friends, you must practice honesty, generosity and understanding.

【推荐2】My Best Enemy

Once again, I was in a new school. So was a girl in my class named Lisa. That was where the similarities ended.

I was tall and she was small. My thick black hair had been recently cut short into an untidy style. Her natural blonde hair flowed to her waist and looked great. I was 12 and one of the oldest in the class while she was 11 and the youngest. I was awkward and shy. She wasn’t. I couldn’t stand her, considering her my enemy. But she liked me and wanted to make friends with me.

One day, she invited me over and I said yes---I was too shocked to answer any other way. My family had moved six times in six years, and I had never managed to develop any friendships. But this girl who wore the latest fashions wanted me to go home with her after school.

She lived in a fun part of town that had two pizza places, an all-night bookstore, a movie theater and a park. As we walked from the school bus stop through her neighborhood, tried to guess which house might be hers. Was it the white one with the perfect lawn or the three-story house with a front porch? I got very surprised when she led me into an old apartment building. She lived on the fourth floor in a two-room place with her mother, her stepfather, her two brothers and her sister.

When we got into the room she shared with her sister, she took out a big case of Barbies, which was my next surprise. I had never played with them. We sat on the floor, laughing as we made up crazy stories about the Barbies. We found out that we both wanted to be writers when we were older and both had wild imaginations. We had a great time that afternoon.

Lisa was loved by the whole neighborhood. The bookstore owner lent her fashion magazines; the movie theater gave her free tickets... Soon I was included in her magic world. We slept over at each other’s houses and spent every free moment together.

Lisa, my first real friend since childhood, helped me get through the rough years of early adolescence (青春期) and taught me an amazing thing about making friends: your worst enemy can turn out to be your best friend.

【推荐3】On the first day of school our teacher introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.

I turned around to find a little old lady with a warm smile. She said, “Hi, handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old.”

“Why are you in university at such a YOUNG age?” I asked. She replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of kids, and then retire and travel.”

I knew she was joking. I was curious (好奇) what might have encouraged her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

“I always dreamed of having a university education and now I’m getting one!” she told me. We became friends. Every day we would talk nonstop after class. I always enjoyed listening to this “time machine” as she shared her wisdom (智慧) and experience with me. And Rose easily made friends wherever she went.

At the end of the term we invited Rose to make a little speech. She cleared her throat and began, “We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. I’ve learned a few secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.”

“There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change...”

【推荐1】I needed to get some money so, after Christmas, I took a job in the clothes department at Graham’s for the first fortnight of the January sale. I can’t say that I enjoyed it, but it was an experience I’ll never forget. I could never understand why there were so many things in the sales; where did they all come from? Now I know the secret! Firstly, there is the special winter stock and the stock that people buy all the year round; some of these things are slightly reduced. Secondly, there are the summer clothes they couldn’t sell last year; these are heavily reduced to clear them. Thirdly, there are cheap clothes bought in specially for the sales; these are put out at high prices ten days before the sale begins and then are reduced by 60% in the sale. Clever! Lastly, they buy in “seconds” (clothes not in perfect condition) for the sale and they are sold very cheaply.

When I arrived half an hour before opening on the first day of the sale, there was already a queue around three sides of the building. This made me very nervous. When the big moment arrived to open the doors, the security guards, looking less confident than usual, came up to them, keys in hand. The moment they had unlocked the doors, they hid behind the doors for protection as the noisy crowd charged in. I couldn’t believe my eyes; this wasn’t shopping, it was a battlefield! One poor lady couldn’t keep her feet and was knocked over by people pushing from behind. Clothes were flying in all directions as people searched for the sizes, colors and styles they wanted. Quarrels broke out. Mothers were using their small children to crawl(爬行) through people’s legs and get hold of things they couldn’t get near themselves.

Within minutes I had half a dozen people pushing clothes under my nose, each wanting to be the first served. Where had the famous English Queue gone? The whole day continued like that, but I kept my temper! I was taking money hand over fist and began to realize why, twice a year, Graham’s were happy to turn their expensive store into a battlefield like this. In the sale fever, people were spending money like water without thinking whether they needed what they were buying. As long as it was a bargain it was OK. You won’t believe this but as soon as I got home I crashed out for four hours. Then I had dinner and went back to bed, fearing the sound of the alarm which would tell me to get ready for the second day of the sale.

【推荐1】There is a famous story about how Walt Disney was inspired to build Disneyland. The story goes that during an afternoon visit to Griffith Park located near the Burbank Studios, Walt took a seat while his two young daughters rode the merry-go-round. Walt thought there should be a place where both children and their parents could enjoy spending some time together in an environment that would be both entertaining and pleasing to the eye, so with this thought came the idea for Disneyland.

Walt’s original plan was to build an eight-acre park located near the Burbank Studios that would be a place for his employees and their families. Those plans were put on hold because of the start of World War II. By 1952, Walt had created a special department to build the park.

Finally in 1953, the first steps in building the park happened when Walt hired the Stanford Research Institute to make a survey to determine the best possible location for the future park. Considering population growth and the future freeway construction, they finally found a location in Anaheim and 160 acres of land were bought for the site of the new park.

The building of the park was very expensive and to create funding for the project Walt developed the idea of the “Walt Disney’s Disneyland” television show. It turned out to be a marvelous idea — not only gaining the money to build the park but also presenting the park to the American public.

Construction officially began on July 21, 1954, and it was an ambitious (野心勃勃的) building schedule of less than one year to complete the new park for the projected opening day. Walt watched over the park’s construction and progress continued with just a few minor hold-ups. Finally, the park was ready for the Opening Day on July 17, 1955.

【推荐3】When Kyle Jauregui recently went to pick up his younger sister's birthday cake, he met with a bittersweet surprise.

On arriving at the baker's, he learnt that Madison's cake had already been paid for—by a complete stranger. It was a touching act of kindness, but, as it turned out, not a random one. The cake had been paid for by a lady known simply as “McKenna's mum” —as part of a gesture she had been making for a while, and for a heartbreaking reason.

While Madison was set to celebrate turning 11, McKenna Jodell Fox would have turned ten on the same day. McKenna was only nine months old in 2008, when she was crushed by a falling TV set as her family prepared to move house.

It's a painful occasion for her mum, but one she has transformed into something positive. The cake she bought was accompanied by a card which read as follows:

“Dear Birthday Girl Family,

In honour of my daughter's 10th birthday, I have chosen your birthday cake to pay for. Each year I do this random act of kindness because I am unable to buy my daughter a cake of her own. Today is her big double-digit birthday. Please enjoy your day. ”

By Kyle's own admission, the whole family was left speechless. “We just want to say thank you to McKenna's mom,” he wrote,“and wish McKenna a happy birthday. There's still good in this world. ”