【推荐1】On the first day of my new high school, I almost had a nervous breakdown. Everything about the school seemed so difficult. When I got home, my parents said, “You're nervous and that’s okay. Everyone is afraid of high school.” I denied(否认)it. I wanted to be strong, so I refused to let anyone know about my fear, even my closest friends.

On the first day I was late for every class and was constantly lost. The school seemed like a puzzle that I couldn’t figure out. Was this how the whole year was going to be? I didn’t think I could rise to this challenge, especially carrying a huge backpack that I could hardly lift. It was so big that I could knock someone out with it! The schoolmates seemed to regard me as a fool, and they were probably right.

Despite my fears, after the first week I finally had my schedule figured out. With the exception of falling up and down the stairs a couple of times and getting laughed at, high school was turning out to be not so bad. It was actually much better than middle school and much more challenging.

Since then, I’ve been elected vice monitor of my class, which wasn’t much of a victory since only three people ran for the four positions.

It is normal to be scared about a new school. Take a deep breath and relax. High school is something that any student can overcome. Make sure you take part in some out-of-class activities because you’ll find it easier to make friends. Try to do your best, even if it isn’t straight A’s.

Most important of all, be who you are, whether you’re a “fool”, an athlete, or a lower grader. Don’t try to pretend(假装)to be someone you’re not. Now you know the true secrets of high school.

【推荐2】One day a poor man was begging with an old wallet in his hand. As he felt sad at his own bad luck, he kept wondering why some wealthy people were never satisfied and were always wanting more.

“Here,” said he, “is the master of this house—I know him well. He is a wealthy businessman. He should have turned over his business to others, and then he could have spent the rest of his life happily, but he didn’t. Instead, he sent his ships to sea to trade with foreign lands. However, there were great storms on the water, so his ships were destroyed and his treasure disappeared in the sea. As for me, if I had only enough to eat and to buy clothing, I would not want anything more.”

Just at that moment, Fortune came down the street. She saw the poor man and stopped. She said to him, “Listen! I want to help you. Hold your wallet, and I will pour this gold into it, but only on this condition: all that falls into the wallet shall be pure gold, but every piece that falls upon the ground shall become dust. Do you understand?”

“Oh, yes,” said the poor man.

“Then be careful,” said Fortune. “Your wallet is old, so do not load it too heavily.”

The beggar was so glad that he quickly opened his wallet, and a stream of yellow dollars poured into it. The wallet grew heavy.

“Is that enough?” asked Fortune.

“Not yet.”

“Isn’t the wallet cracking （裂开）?”

“Never fear.”

The beggar’s hands began to tremble. Ah, if the gold would only pour forever!

“You are the richest man in the world now!”

“Just a little more, add just a handful or two.”

Another piece was added, and the wallet cracked. The treasure fell upon the ground and turned to dust. The beggar had nothing now but his empty wallet. He was as poor as before.

【推荐3】Way back in 1953, high school mathematics looked like a big problem for me and several of my classmates. When we reached the 9th grade, we got Mr.Iyer, the strict math teacher who was also our class teacher. He always stuck to his discipline. We had to arrive on time, pay attention to his lectures, and never neglect (忽视) any of his homework.

As he was our class teacher, we got to know him better. Noticing some of us were fidgety one day as the midterm exams approached, he stopped solving a mathematical problem to ask us why. “There’s too much to do,” we sighed. “We’re afraid we’ll never manage to finish our review before the exams.”

“Nothing is impossible,” Mr.Iyer told us. “This classroom is on the second floor. Do you have trouble reaching here?”

We reacted with blank (茫然的) eyes.

“No, you don’t!” he said, answering his own question. “You have a staircase to help you climb up to this level. No one expects you to make it in two giant leaps. You simply take one step at a time. Any task can be solved if you focus on the next action to be taken. The rest will take care of itself, if you keep at it. One step at a time. That’s the secret.”

Then he wrote down an old motto on the blackboard: “The longest journey starts with a single step.” Having heard his staircase analogy (比拟), we saw him in a new light.

Most of my classmates scored distinctions (优等评分) in math. And I went on to become an English teacher. To this day, whenever I pass on Mr. Iyer’s invaluable advice to my own students, they brighten up at the sight of a lighter academic burden.

【推荐1】This has been a year full of natural disasters, like hurricanes, wildfires and floods. Behind many of them, though, is an unfolding event that shows no sign of stopping: climate change. Here we meet some students who have been using science to help people deal with the effects of the changing climate. Their research places them among 30 finalists at the 10th Broadcom MASTERS, a research program open to middle-school investigators.

Ryan Honary, a 12-year-old student in California, has personal experience with wildfires. One day, he was with his father at a tennis tournament when he saw wildfires raging across his home state on TV. “I called my mom and asked if she was okay.” Ryan recalls. Once he knew that she was, he asked his dad why wildfires got out of control so often. “We’re planning to send people to Mars but we can’t detect wildfires,” Ryan says.

That’s when Ryan decided to create a way to detect wildfires early — before they get out of control. He linked together a series of mini computers that had sensors to detect smoke. When smoke was detected, data was transferred wirelessly to another computer, which served as a mini meteorological(气象的) station.

Ryan brought his entire system to a park and tested it by holding the flame from a lighter in front of each sensor. When they sensed a fire, they informed the detector. It then alerted an app that Ryan built for his phone. While creating that app, Ryan talked with Mohammed Kachuee, a graduate student at the University of California. He helped Ryan use machine learning to train his app with data from 2018 Camp Fire, the most destructive fire in California history. The app took lessons from how this fire had traveled over time. Using those data, the app “learned” to tell how flames at future events might spread.

Someday, Ryan hopes his sensors might be used throughout his state. “Five of the worst fires in California just happened in the last three months,” he notes.

Mrs Turner’s telephone number was 3463, and the number of the cinema in town was 3464. People often made mistakes and telephoned her when they actually wanted the cinema.

One evening the telephone rang and Mrs Turner answered it. A tired man’s voice came over the phone, “At what time does your last film begin?”

“I’m sorry,” said Mrs Turner, “but you have the wrong number. This is not the cinema.” “Oh, it began twenty minutes ago?” said the man. “I’m sorry about that. Well, good-bye.” Mrs Turner was very surprised, so she told her husband. He laughed and said, “No, that wasn’t a mistake. The man’s wife wanted to go to the cinema, but he was feeling tired, so he telephoned the cinema. His wife heard him, but she didn’t hear you. Now they will stay at home this evening, and the husband will be happy.”

【推荐2】When I was a child，I stayed with my grandmother a lot of the time while my mother was at work. One day some money problems started to arise for my grandmother and the family. They needed a little more income so she decided to sing at the nearby retirement home(养老院)．

So I had to go with her. I wasn't sure about it at first，but as soon as my grandmother actually persuade me to get on stage and start singing，I loved it. I just loved seeing that sparkle(光亮)in those people's eyes. They would stand up and dance and clap to the beat of the music. Eventually，we were singing at many of the homes in the surrounding area 5 out of 7 days a week.

Making other people happy has always made me happy. And during that experience I even discovered my gift，singing. My grandma still sings to those people 15 years later，only for no charge now. I moved to North Carolina when I was 13，leaving my grandma in Florida，but I still carry on her effort and try and go out of my way to do something kind，even if very small，for at least one person every day. There is no better feeling in the world than the one you get when you hear appreciation in someone's voice.