【推荐1】You're riding in the car on this family vacation. Suddenly your dad slows down. And you may see the following：

1. Bubblegum Alley

San Luis Obispo, California

Some call it art; others call it just plain gross. Bubblegum Alley is covered from top to bottom with wads of chewed gum, a tradition that was started mysteriously by locals in the 1950s. Some artists even created images of funny faces and the American flag.

2. Blue Whale

Catoosa, Oklahoma

Not ready to dive the depths of the ocean to see a blue whale? No problem. Just visit this 80-foot-long cement beast, which even has a slide and diving board so visitors can take a dip in the pond. When the artist died, the whale fell into disrepair. Neighbors couldn't stand to see the grinning whale fall apart, so they fixed it and now keep it bright with gallons of blue paint.

3. Lonesome Legs

Amarillo, Texas

Just what are these large legs doing in a cow pasture? According to artist Lightnin' McDuff,   they   represent a poem   about a traveler who finds a bodiless statue of an Egyptian pharaoh (法老) called Ozymandias. Using concrete over a steel frame, McDuff constructed the legs to appear as if they were   made of weathered sandstone. And the socks? A prankster (恶作剧的人) keeps adding them—even though McDuff always removes   the unwanted addition.

4. Giant Penguin

Cut Bank, Montana

Bundle up (使……穿暖)when you visit   this statue, because temperatures here can get   as low as 47 degrees below zero. As a nod to the frosty conditions, a local businessman built the 27-foot-tall penguin out of 10,000 pounds of concrete. The creator left for warmer weather, but the statue—7 times the height of a real emperor penguin—still stands, welcoming visitors to its chilly home.

①The Blue Whale has been ruined.

②Visitors can entertain in the whale.

③The socks were added by the designer.

④The legs were made of weathered sandstone.

⑤The penguin is located in a very cold area.

⑥The statue of penguin is 6 times higher than a real emperor penguin.

【推荐2】Good afternoon, and welcome to England. We hope that your visit here will be a pleasant one. Today, I would like to draw your attention to a few of our laws.

The first one is about drinking. Now, you may not buy alcohol in this country if you are under 18 years of age, nor may your friends buy it for you.

Secondly, noise. Enjoy yourselves by all means, but please don’t make unnecessary noise, particularly at night. We ask you to respect other people who may wish to be quiet.

Thirdly, crossing the road. Be careful. The traffic moves on the left side of the road in this country. Use pedestrian crossing and do not take any chances when crossing the road. My next point is about litter (throwing away waste material in a public place). It is an offence to drop litter in the street.

When you have something to throw away, please put it in your pocket and take it home, or put it in a litter bin. Finally, as regards smoking, it is against the law to buy cigarettes or tobacco if you are under 16 years of age.

I’d like to finish by saying that if you require any sort of help or assistance, you should contact your local police station, who will be pleased to help you.

Now, are there any questions?

【推荐1】Like most people, I was brought up to look upon life as a getting. It was not until in my later thirties that I made this important discovery: giving-away makes life so much more exciting. One discovery I made about giving away is that it is almost impossible to give away anything in this world without getting something back, though the return often comes in an unexpected form. One Sunday morning the local post office delivered a letter to my home, though it was addressed to me at my office. I wrote the postmaster a note of appreciation. More than a year later I needed a post office box for a new business I was starting. I was told at the window that there were no boxes left, and that my name would have to go on a long waiting list. As I was about to leave, the postmaster appeared in the doorway. He had overheard our conversation. “Wasn’t it you that wrote us a letter a year ago about delivering a special delivery to your home?” I said it was. “Well, you certainly are going to have a box in this post office if you have to make one for you. You don’t know what a letter like that means to us. We usually get nothing but complains.”

【推荐2】Stuttering （口 吃）has nothing to do with intelligence. I know this because I stutter. If it takes me a while longer to say a word, it's not because I can't remember the word; it's because the neural(神经的） pathway that transforms words in my head into sounds in my mouth is wired differently. And differences, of course, are the best way to get negative attention in our society. Taking extra time to get my words out can surely be frustrating, but that's nothing compared to the misery of dealing with people's reactions.

Almost all children who stutter are discouraged from speaking in one way or another. It's usually not as direct as someone walking up to them and saying, “Hey, stuttering kid! Keep your mouth shut!” But when your voice causes adults and peers to snicker （窃笑）or roll their eyes, it's pretty discouraging.

Growing up, I learned to avoid speaking whenever possible. I hated what came out of my mouth, full of awkward breaks and pauses. I figured whatever future I had, it probably involved a vow of silence.

Today Fm a touring author and comedian. It took me 30-something years to get over stuttering. Did I stop stuttering? No! I couldn't stop if I wanted to. But I stopped wanting to stop. Instead of wasting all my time and energy trying to meet unattainable standards, I learned that it's OK to stutter. And I learned by example. I attended the National Stuttering Association conference and met all kinds of people who stutter—people who didn't hate themselves, who didn't silence themselves. They stuttered, and they were OK with it! I remember watching them and thinking, "That's who I want to be!"

There's a popular saying in comedy: "Your weakness is your strength." When I first entered my local open-mic scene, I was quickly met with some "smart" guys looking to score a cheap laugh at my expense. I remember introducing myself to one comedian and stuttering on my name, as I usually do. Eager to demonstrate his smartness, he replied, "Is that Nina with five Ns?" "No," I said, "it's Nina with two Ns!" Just like that, I had created a joke as the result of someone making fiin of my stutter.

To this day, whenever I need inspiration for a new joke, I just think about all the ridiculous comments I get from non-stuttering people. It's a comedy gold mine!

【推荐1】About six years ago I was going through a tough time, trying to work two jobs to afford my rent. On a cold Sunday morning, I went to Game Stop—a video game retailer (零售商), to cancel the game I’d booked. A woman in a car parked outside called me when I exited the store. Though it was in broad daylight, I was shy about it and kept some distance when I walked over. She said she couldn’t walk and requested me to purchase a Kinect, a popular game, for her as her son’s Christmas gift. Because of her leg disease it was painful for her to move around. She called ahead but the employee (雇员) wasn’t willing to help. She gave me about $ 100 in cash and her credit card.

I walked back in and bought the Kinect. Then it occurred to me that this woman, a complete stranger, trusted me. What was it that stopped me from lying about the payment method and just pocket her cash? She couldn’t know I wasn’t a cheat; and how could she possibly believe in someone so much?

I handed her the cash back,explaining I had to pay with her card—it was above $100 at the time, and handed over the game and her credit card. “This is what my son’s been longing for. Thank you! By the way, just from glancing at you, I know you are the one who will be a friend to someone in need. You have a face of an angel!” she said. She gave me $10 and refused to take it back. Then she drove away.

She had no idea how much of a difference even $ 10 made. I was able to buy a few cheap groceries for the week and it really made a hard time in my life a little better. She may think I helped her; however, I truly feel like the one who was being gifted something amazing.