【推荐1】After my family got comfortably settled in Hotel Ramada in Bangkok, we started exploring the city. After endless hours of shopping, it was finally time to go back.

This was when the trouble started. We forgot there are two Ramada hotels in the opposite directions. Absolutely unaware of this, we started searching for the way back. Google maps suggested us the shortest route which was just 20 minutes away by walk    1    

Bangkok felt different after sunset. Walking along the heavily-crowded roads with the dark-red sky felt beautiful. Lost in our talk, we didn’t realize that we passed onto the quieter part of the town.

    2     It was closed for redecoration. To our luck, nobody around us then spoke English. Worse still, we stepped in a local tuk-tuk(三轮车), which took us to an unknown area for an enormous pay. We had no idea where we were, our mobile phones nearly out of charge.

    3     He was a taxi driver. Recounting the day’s events proved to be a great conversation starter. We ended up talking through the way. He was so kind as to offer to drive us around for the rest of our stay.     4     For the next four days, from floating markets to the temples of Wat Pho, our trip wouldn’t have been so trouble free without him.

Sometimes when things don’t go according to plan, I think about the stranger we met on the streets and how a tiny mistake on our part led to unexpected results.     5    

【推荐2】Some time ago, in my class I was about to fail a student for his answer to a physics question when the student claimed he deserved a better score. The examination question sounded “safe”.

“Show how it is possible to determine the height of a tall building with the aid of a barometer（压表）.” The student had answered: “Take the barometer to the top of the building, attach a long rope to it, lower the barometer to the street, and then bring it up, measuring the length of the rope. The length of the rope is the height of the building.”

I argued that a high grade should prove his competence in physics, but the answer did not confirm this. I suggested that the student have another try. Immediately, he worked out his answer: A second best way is to take the barometer to the top of the building. Drop the barometer, timing its fall with a stopwatch. Then, using the formula to calculate the height of the building.

I was shocked by his answer. His method gave me not only a broken barometer but a U-turn in my teaching philosophy. I gave him full marks.

On his leaving my office, I recalled that he suggested there could be a better answer. So I asked him what it was. “Oh, yes,” said the student, “There are many ways. Probably the best,” he said, “is to take the barometer to the basement and ask the superintendent （楼管）. You speak to him as follows: Mr.Superintendent, here I have a fine barometer. If you tell me the height of this building, I will give it to you.

At this point, I asked the student if he really did not know the conventional answer to this question. He admitted that he did, but said that he was fed up with high school instructors’ trying to teach him how to think, and to use the so-called “scientific method”. He just wanted to solve the problem in a practical manner, not just answer the question in an expected way. Hearing this, I really had nothing to do but give the boy a firm handshake, feeling thankful that I hadn’t failed him in the first place and even more thankful, neither had he.

【推荐3】Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.

——John Wooden

Things aren’t always going to work out as you planned.     1     During these times, it can be easy to give up and drown yourself in self pity.

    2     When it happens, you really have two choices. One is to blame your circumstances on other people. The other is to figure out how to use your situation to your advantage.

Say you just got laid off. One reaction is to curse the economy and sink into a depression.     3     Let’s say you’ve done what you could and after a year, you still haven’t landed anything. In this case, what would you do?

This isn’t to say that trying to make the best out of how things turn out will always result in the best outcome but at least you’ll have some control over your situation.     4     Most people who are living their dream life got there by doing things to improve their situation.     5     However, the more you try, the higher the chances you’ll get the outcome you were aiming for.

【推荐1】For our official holidays, like the National Holiday, many people'd like to go on a visit to some places of interest. Yesterday our class had a heated discussion about whether we should travel during holidays. One man's meat is another man's poison.

Some students are for it. They think visitors can enjoy a good variety of scenery. Facing glorious(壮丽的) tourist attractions, travelers may well broaden their eyes. At the same time, they can keep fit by walking on foot, and taste different delicious food that they can't get in their own hometowns. What's more, travelling can make a contribution to our economy development, mainly to the local economy development. Most travelers need to buy tickets to go to their destinations, thus traffic department will earn money. Travelers also need to sleep and eat, thus local hotels and restaurants also share benefits. Paying admission(门票费) benefits local governments. As for native farmers, they can benefit from selling local specialities to many travelers. In this case, money circulation(货币流通) is speeded up.

On the other hand, other students are against it. They believe it's a waste of money. Some famous places of interest are too crowded, while those smaller ones are not worth visiting. Travelling may cause traffic jams here and there. What's worse, due to travelling here and there, there exist some accidents on the road. Besides, it's known that travelling can also pollute the local environment. In order to reduce air and waste pollution, people should have a rest to the full, reading books or watching TV at home. Recently, many have been afraid of being infected with COVID-19 in particular.

As far as I am concerned, travelling is a good choice to spend holidays. And the government should take some measures to solve the existing problems. More policemen should be on duty to deal with accidents in time. Can we make a small change to the period when people don't have to go to work in some provinces? Let's take the example of the National Holiday, if some provinces of our country spend this holiday mainly in late September, with the National Day coming to an end, rather than in early October, most famous places of interest will not become crowded. At the same time, visitors must obey traffic rules and shouldn't throw rubbish freely here and there. Last but not least, never should we travel when there is a pandemic(大流行病，瘟疫). It's our duty to prevent its spread.