【推荐1】The holidays can be one of the happiest times of the year. However, all of that holiday happiness comes with high costs. The good news?     1     Here are some ideas to get you started.

♦ Book your flight early and on “off” days.

The price of travel during the holiday season increases. However, strategically (战略性地) booking your flight can help save big on your airfare.     2     For Christmas, aim to fly on Dec. 17 or 18. This might allow you to escape the high fares.

♦ Make DIY gifts that people will actually like.

It’s possible to make gifts that are inexpensive but valuable. Homemade gifts offer a personal touch that a store-bought item can’t.    3     Maybe you have an uncle who loves golf and you love to paint. You could paint him a portrait (画像) of his favourite golf course.

♦    4    

Instead of flying, you can use many other cheaper ways of travelling. One idea is to take a train back to your hometown, which offers both beautiful views and low prices. You can also make friends along the way with other locals who are heading for your hometown !

♦ Find other ways to celebrate.

    5     You can find tree lighting ceremonies, Christmas light displays, free concerts, and perhaps charities where you can donate your time. There’s nothing like volunteering to help you to experience the real meaning of the holiday.

【推荐2】The Thanksgiving Day ,the fourth Thursday in November, is coming in America. But do you know something about the annual(每年的)Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade(游行) in New York?

There are thousands of bystanders(看热闹的人)and millions of television viewers. The Parade is as traditional as turkey. The year 2016 was the 90th year of Macy’s parade. It featured 15 huge balloons in the shape of cartoon and pop culture characters, 1,200 dancers and cheerleaders, 900 clowns(小丑),10 marching bands and nearly 9,000 workers, almost all of whom were volunteers.

The floats(彩车)and balloons have been getting larger ,more colorful and more surprising since Macy’s immigrant (移民的) workers organized the first Thanksgiving Day Parade.

In 2016, school children were invited to the Macy’s parade studios(画室) outside New York City, for a first look at several just completed floats.

Bella was excited to be there. “I think it’s great because I get to see all of these floats before anyone else does in the parade,” said Bella.

John Piper is the president of Macy’s Studio. He said his work was fun all the time. “It’s a lot of work. All year long, the artists at Macy’s Studio all build these floats. We create them from scratch(涂抹). I have the finest carpenters(木匠), metal workers, painters all cooperating(合作) together,” said Piper.

The floats were supposed to advertise for commercial sponsors(赞助商) for the start of the Christmas season. But Amy Kule, the event producer said, “ And the floats are used to keep the beauty and the majesty(庄严)of the parade. A Thanksgiving parade is always about giving back and entertaining(娱乐). But most importantly, it’s about leaving it for the next generation.”

【推荐3】Each year on February 2nd, there is special festival called Groundhog Day (土拨鼠日) forecasting event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. When it comes, people from around the world, including 5,000 in the small town today, watch this tongue-twisting(发音饶舌的) small town for a sign from one groundhog that supposedly predicts when that years' spring will arrive.

If it's a cloudy day outside when the groundhog pops from its cave, then spring will arrive early that year. However, if it is sunny outside, the groundhog will supposedly be scared by its own shadow, hiding underground for six more weeks of cold weather.

Of course, Punxsutawney Phil's prediction is no more able to guarantee the extended forecast than your local weatherman. ABC News reports that an analysis by the National Climate Data Center found that Phil's predictions are more often wrong than right.

Philis is also found to have made some unpleasant predictions. Ever since 1887, he has predicted 99 extended winters and just 16 early springs .Nine of the years' predictions were unavailable, according to ABC.

The holiday began as a German tradition in 18th century and became even more of a cultural phenomenon after the 1993 film Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray.

Punxsutawney Phil has become a celebrity in his own right. Each year, the fatter animal with long teeth is watched by millions as he emerges from a cave in the town he is named after. Phil has become so beloved by the town that he actually lives in the local library with his “wife" Phyllis.

Taking inspiration from the hard state of Bill Murray’s character in the classic film, Yahoo contributor Owen Rust says Groundhog Day is a good time to reflect on one’s routines.

【推荐1】This is Ella Stevens who, at just 13 years old, is fighting for a chance to drive for the most famous team in Formula 1 (一级方程式赛车)—Ferrari.

This fall Stevens faces a series of challenges, on and off track at the Paul Ricard circuit in France, with the ultimate prize a place on the famous Ferrari Driver Academy as its first female racer. “It’s a very good opportunity for me,” Ella, already a British karting champion, tells CNN. “We have to do a few fitness tests in the first phase so that they can see our driving. ”

The Academy is, in fact, a breeding ground for future racing stars.   Its current crop includes Mick Schumacher, the son of legendary Ferrari driver Michael, Enzo Fittipaldi, whose grandfather Emerson was a double F1 world champion, as well as Arthur Leclerc, the younger brother of Ferrari’s current F1 racer Charles.

On the face of it, there’s no place for a 13-year-old girl from a small village in England—who already has a mountain to climb as a female in a sport still dominated by males.   After all, a female has not raced in F1 for nearly 30 years, and just five women have taken part in a grand prix (大奖赛).

But Stevens is being supported by a popular figure in the F1 community, Rob Smedley. He worked as a Ferrari engineer for more than a decade and is now teaching Stevens through his own Electroheads Talent Academy.

Smedley describes Ferrari’s search for a potential female racer as a “huge step”. “Having a major player in the sport, with such a rich history as Ferrari, leading on this has to be applauded,” he tells CNN. “It’s absolutely amazing that they want to do this and they’re taking positive action to increase the gender diversity within the sport.”