【推荐1】Newspapers, magazines, even online articles offer reading materials for people. But strictly speaking, reading means reading books. Since reading books seems to be going out of date, it has raised people’s concerns (担心).

The yearly national reading survey (调查) shows people’s reading habits have rarely changed over the past several years. The survey says about 59 percent of the adults in China read books, with one adult, on average, reading 4 or 5 books a year. This means a large number of people don’t read at all and that those who do so only read a few books a year. A worrying fact is that even students don’t seem to be reading books as they spend more time and energy watching videos online.

There are many reasons why fewer people read books today. To begin with, given the fast-changing social atmosphere, many people tend to spend time on hobbies other than reading. Also, many parents don’t care much about reading, and so they fail to educate their children and grandchildren to love reading books. Therefore, parents should create a good atmosphere that would encourage their children to read books. Thelackof public libraries might answer for the falling number of readers. China has less than 3,300 public libraries, compared with (和……相比) more than 160,000 in the United States. And unlike countries such as the US and Britain which help read among communities, China lacks a good public service system to offer books to readers.

In order to encourage people to read more books, publishers should publish books that not only have rich contents but also attract more readers to read. Besides, schools could set some special days for theme-based reading in order to encourage students to read more books. Companies or social societies could also organize different kinds of activities to get more people to read more books.

【推荐2】There is a school in my Manhattan neighbourhood that has been giving out free meals during the Covid-19 pandemic—and every time I walk past it, the line seems longer. A community fridge recently showed up a couple of blocks away; it's one of many that activists have fixed across the city to fight against growing food insecurity. Just around the corner there's a young woman who has become a regular among the beggars I usually see in the area. She lost her job because of Covid-19.

It's not all doom and gloom. While the poor are getting poorer, the 1% are making out like robbers. America's 600-plus billionaires saw their wealth grow by more than $700bn in the first few months of the pandemic. During the same period, more than 50 million American workers lost their jobs. The US government has printed trillions of dollars in economic relief but many of the forgivable emergency loans （贷款） for small businesses seem to have been taken by the super-rich. My local independent coffee shop has closed down, but Kanye West received a partially forgivable loan worth at least $2m. It is becoming increasingly clear that the US is experiencing one of the biggest wealth transfers in history.

Bernie Sanders has a plan to help. Last week, Sanders introduced a bill（ 法案） , Make Billionaires Pay Act, which would establish a one-time 60% tax （税收） on billionaires' pandemic gains and use the money to guarantee Americans free health care for a year. There is very little chance the bill will get passed.

Billionaires shouldn't exit in the first place—the idea that they should be taxed at a higher rate during a pandemic to help pay health care shouldn't be slightly controversial（ 有争议的） . However, there are some who think such a move would be extremely unfair to "poor unfortunate" billionaires who, as we all know, are one of the most unfairly hurt groups in the world.

【推荐3】International Mother Language Day is celebrated on 21 February every year. This day shall remind us about the many different languages that exist in the world. It is used to create awareness(意识) of the importance of our home languages.

Languages help us communicate our ideas, understandings and feelings. We also use our language to share our identity which means our cultural traditions, our customs and beliefs.

Many languages are unique(独一无二的) to a country, although English is the most spoken language around the world by non-native speakers. Non-native speakers are all those who learn a   language as their second or foreign language.

Did you know that there are over 7,000 languages spoken in the world? Though only 5% of those languages are represented on the internet! The languages most used on the internet are English, Russian and German.

Chinese (Mandarin), Spanish, English, Arabic and Hindi are the most spoken languages around the world but they are not represented in the same order in written text. And not all languages exist in written form at all. Some languages in Africa such as Southern Ndebele only received their first written text in recent years.

Many languages which are spoken worldwide only have few mother tongue speakers and some were never written. Languages with few speakers are mainly found in Oceania, southern Asia, Africa and the Amazon area in South America. In fact, one language dies out every two weeks, as the language is not used anymore.

【推荐3】Americans usually make allowance(宽容) for non-native-speakers who have some trouble understanding English. But they become annoyed when a person pretends to understand but doesn’t really and then creates problems because of misunderstanding what is said. No one wants soap when he asks for soup. So if you don’t understand what is said to you, admit it and politely ask the                    person to repeat or explain.

Second, it is quite rude to talk with a friend in your native language and leave your American friends standing there feeling stupid because they can’t understand the conversation. The Americans may also feel that you are talking about them or saying something you don’t want them to hear. If you must turn to your native language to explain something to a non-English-speaking friend, at least translate for your American friends so they don’t feel left out.

Learn just a few more polite English expressions, and you’ll be ready to face the world of Americans with confidence. The polite answer to a compliment(赞扬) about your looks or your works is “Thank you.” (A smile and a nod is not enough.) The response to “Thank you.” is, of course, “You’re welcome,” if someone asks “How are you?” don’t give your medical history. Just say “Fine, thanks. How are you?” Finally, what should you say when someone sneezes(打喷嚏)? It may not seem logical, but the correct response is “God bless you.” That’s about all there is to it. Now that you’ve learned this general knowledge of manners, in the U. S. A., you’ve ready to be polite in English. Let’s hope your American friends will be just as polite.