【推荐1】When I was a boy, my father told me that he could do anything he wanted to. Dad said that he wanted to be the first to develop color prints in our city, and so he did.

When I was 16, Dad looked closely at the violin I played and announced that he wanted to make one. He read about violin making, and then became a violin maker at the age of 43. He bought the tools and materials, opened a small store and set Mom up as the shopkeeper, while he worked at a local company. He retired from the company 17 years later and continued to make violins and other instruments.

Dad often guessed why the Stradivarius violins sound so beautiful. Some experts claimed that it was the unique varnish (油漆) that gave those instruments their beautiful sound. Dad argued that chemists could analyze the varnish—if that were the answer.

One of Dad’s friends asked him once which kind of wood was used to make violins. When Dad explained that the top was made of spruce (云杉), his friend said that he had an old piece of spruce Dad might be interested in. He worked for the next 12 months making a violin from the wood that his friend had given him. It proved to be a superior violin and it would become Dad’s masterpiece. He was convinced that the secret of the Stradivarius sound was in the wood itself.

Later, the instrument was stolen. Dad’s spirit was broken by the robbery, and he stopped making instruments. But he kept the music shop until he was 80 years old, selling guitars and violins.

【推荐2】I am a shy girl. I find it quite difficult to start small talk when I meet someone for the first time. I always wonder how the other kids my age can be so natural when they are introduced to people they’ve never met before.

On the morning of my first day in high school, I had butterflies in my stomach. I’d heard lots of the first day in high school stories. Many high schoolers had bad memories that they just couldn’t let go of for quite a while. On the way to school I was thinking about what to do when I walked into the classroom. “Shall I wave to those students who’re in the classroom? Or shall I just give them a smile and nod at them? What if they didn’t wave back or didn’t smile back?” I couldn’t stop imagining the worst situation of my first day in high school.

I kept my head down when I got close to my classroom. “Hello, little miss, I’m Mrs Sccar, would you like to start your high school life with a game?” What a relief it was to hear your new teacher talking to you in such a pleasant way! “Sure, I’d love to,” I answered in a low but happy voice.

Mrs Sccar gave me a piece of paper and it was a new school Bingo game. On the paper there were 40 squares, with 20 having questions and 20 empty. The questions were like “Have you ever visited England? Do you have three older sisters?” Holding these pieces of paper, we went to the other classmates and asked them the questions. If any of them answered “yes” to a question, I wrote down his or her name in the empty square following the question. When I’d filled in all the empty squares, I knew everyone in my classroom. I quite enjoyed my first day in high school, especially the Bingo game.

【推荐3】A young father was visiting an old neighbour. They were standing in the old man's garden, and talking about children. The young man said, "How strict should parents be with their children?"

The old man pointed to a string(细绳索) between a big strong tree and a thin young one.

"Please untie that string," he said. The young man untied it, and the young tree bent over to one side.

"Now tie it again, please, " said the old man. "But first pull the string tight so that the young tree is straight again."

The young man did so. Then the old man said, "There, it is the same with children. You must be strict with them, tie the string tight again. But when you find that they are ready to stand alone, you can take the string away."

【推荐2】The Amazing Penguin Rescue

In the summer of 2016, the ship MV Treasure sunk, creating an oil spill. Thirteen hundred tons of fuel oil were flowing right in the middle of the African Penguins’ habitat. Soon the oil covered about 20,000 penguins. Without swift help, the seabirds would have no chance of survival. Volunteers were showing up by the thousands and I also took part in what was the largest animal rescue operation ever.

A warehouse was turned into a rescue center near the habitat and hundreds of pools were built to hold about 100 oiled birds each. When walking into the center, I couldn’t believe my ears. I had expected to walk into a chorus of honking and squawking(尖声叫). Instead, the center sounded like a library. The penguins were dead silent. My heart ached for the painful birds. Cleaning them all seemed like an impossible task. But we had to carry on like doctors in an emergency room. There was no time for doubt. Cleaning oil off a penguin wasn’t easy. Even with more than 12,500 volunteers, it took a month to bathe all 20,000 birds at the center.

While volunteers were busy bathing the oiled penguins, another crisis(危机) was developing. Oil from the spill had started moving north. Tens of thousands of penguins were in the oil’s path. But we already had our hands full with 20,000 recovering birds. If any more birds were oiled, we wouldn’t have enough resources to save them.

One researcher came up with an idea: What if the penguins were temporarily moved out of harm’s way? Experts decided to have a try. Volunteers rounded up the penguins and released them 500 miles away. The hope was that by the time the seabirds swam home, the oil would be gone. The plan worked! Another 20,000 penguins were saved.

The entire penguin rescue took about three months. More than 90% of the oiled penguins were successfully returned to the wild. Looking back on the rescue, I am still amazed by the work of the volunteers. What I could hardly believe was that we accomplished an impossible task.