【推荐1】It's hard when a best friend isn't around—maybe because he or she moved to a different school or a different class.    1     You want to have new friends，but how do you make？Maybe it seems that everybody else already has his or her friends.    2     Start by looking around your classroom—think about which kids you'd like to play with at break. Look for chances to say hi to them，smile，and be friendly.    3     Invite someone to play with you or say “Do you want to sit here？”in the lunchroom. When you're at break，walk over to kids you want to play with，act friendly，and say“Hi，can I play，too？”or just join in.

If you have trouble doing this or if you're feeling shy，ask your teacher to help you make new friends. Teachers are usually pretty good at matching up friends.    4     Be kind，be friendly，share，say nice things，offer to help—and pretty soon，you'll have one，or two，or even more new friends.

    5     But when you see each other，you can share something you didn't have before he or she left：You can introduce him or her to your new friends!

【推荐1】When someone asks me what my goals are for the coming year, I don’t usually know how to reply. Of course I, as most people do, want to see an improvement in my grades. This year, however, I’m hoping for something different.

Through the course of my school life, I’ve gradually developed a new understanding of the word “prioritization (优先次序)”. The first thing I wish to get in Senior One is the ability to manage my time better. I’ll surely become busier with the coming semester, and proper organization is important. From school clubs to academic competitions, everything should be set up in a way that doesn’t influence my health, which leads me to my second goal.

My mother has always told me put my health first, so in the future, I hope to be both physically and mentally healthy. A person can’t study without the energy to do so. In order to stay energetic, they must put their health first, no matter how busy they are, or how much work they have to complete.

And finally, I hope that I won’t be discouraged by my failure and never give up on my dreams. I hope that I’ll have the courage to try new activities and clubs. I believe my final goal can apply to every student around the world. We should all respect one another’s likes and dislikes, and focus on each other’s strengths, not our weaknesses. Everyone should try to make use of all of life’s opportunities.

Albert Einstein once said, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” In my case, it’s the other way around. In order to keep moving, I must keep my balance—the balance between studies and activities, efficiency and procrastination (拖延症), academics and health, passions and dislikes. The new journey is going to be a hard one, but if I set these goals, I believe I will make it through to the end.

【推荐2】When Lina was awoken by the sound of thunder, she was alone on the island. The air was cool and bullfrogs croaked. It was that brief moment when the summer sun had set but the stars hadn’t yet appeared. Lina rubbed her eyes and looked around. “Hello?” she called. “Celia? Marie?” There was no response.

The moon was rising now, shedding light on the island. They had always called it “Forgotten Island” because no one but they seemed to remember its existence. It wasn’t on any of the maps they could find, and even the forest rangers didn’t know about it. Lina loved that the island, hidden in a heavily-wooded side stream of the river, was a secret between the three friends---her, Celia, and Marie. But now Lina was here alone, and it was night. Worse still, it was her own fault.

“Come on, Lina, let Marie row the boat.” Celia had said. Marie was two years older than Lina, but she was a hopeless rower. That’s why Lina refused and rowed the boat to the island. The argument that followed the refusal took the usual form. Celia took Marie’s side, as she always did. Lina exploded and yelled at them to just leave. So they got back in the boat and left.

A bolt of lightning crossed the darkened sky, accompanied by a deafening thunder clap. The storm was here. As the first cold raindrop slid down her neck, Lina’s mind returned to her current problem. She was stuck here by herself. She just hoped she didn’t become as forgotten as the island. The thought of it sent a chill down her back.

Suddenly, Lina spotted something in the water. It was a boat, and inside it were Marie, Celia, and Marie’s dad, who was steering through the fast flowing waters. As the boat approached, they saw Lina waving and the worried expressions on their faces turned to relief.

In her excitement Lina jumped into the river. Only once she was in the icy water did she remember how fast the water was moving. Luckily a strong arm reached into the water and pulled her out. She smiled weakly at Marie’s dad and, without a word, hugged Celia and Marie. They didn’t seem to mind becoming wet.

【推荐3】It was a nervous time. World War II had started, and British ships were always watching for German submarines called U-boats. The ship Ben Lomond had left Cape Town, South Africa, with a crew of 55, including a young officer named Poon Lim.

On November 23, 1942, the worst fear came true. The Ben Lomond was attacked by a U-boat. Within minutes the boat was sinking. Poon Lim grabbed a life jacket and leaped over the side. He swam rapidly away from the ship in case it exploded. Sure enough, it let out a large boom and sank beneath the waves. For two hours Poon Lim struggled in the water. Once he almost got onto a life raft with five other sailors, but it got away from his grasp. Then he saw another life raft that was empty, swam to it, and climbed aboard. He found a few cans of biscuits, a water jug, some flares, and a flashlight, which could be enough supplies for about a month.

Day after day Poon Lim had his few biscuits and a couple of sips of water. He searched the horizon for ships. Twice he leaped up to shout and wave when he saw help coming. Once he saw a freight ship. It passed him. At a later time, he saw a United States Navy plane. It flew low over the raft but then disappeared. Still later a U-boat spotted him but for some reason left him alone.

Poon Lim knew he needed to stay strong. He couldn’t get much exercise on an eight-foot-square raft, but he could swim. A couple of times a day, he circled the raft, always watching for sharks. Soon his food and water ran low. He knew that drinking seawater would make him sick, so he tore off the canvas cover on his life jacket and set it out to catch rainwater. Then he took apart the flashlight and used a wire inside to make a fishhook. For months Poon Lim drifted, catching fish and sometimes birds. One time he even caught a shark. Finally, after 130 days, he noticed that the color of the water was changing. Two days later, on his 133^rd day, he saw a boat. Three sailors in a small sailboat picked him up and took him to Belem, a city on the coast of Brazil. Poon Lim had crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

No one ever had survived longer on a raft at sea. Poon Lim received many honors, including Britain’s highest award. A booklet of his survival methods was put into every British life raft.

【推荐1】Twenty years ago, when Angela and I were studying in college, our professor taught us a lesson we've never forgotten. On the last day of class before graduation, she walked up on stage to teach one final lesson, which she called "a life lesson on the power of mindset". As she raised a glass of water over her head, everyone expected her to repeat the saying "glass half empty or glass half full. Instead, with a smile on her face, our professor asked, “How heavy is this glass of water I'm holding？"

Students shouted out answers, from a couple of ounces to a couple of pounds. After a few moments of fielding answers and nodding her head, she replied, "From my point of view, the absolute weight of this glass is not important. It all depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute or two, it's quite light.   If I hold it for an hour straight, my arm might feel painful.   If I hold it for a day straight, my arm will likely be losing the power of sense, and finally get paralyzed (麻痹的), forcing me to drop the glass to the floor. In each case, the absolute weight of the glass doesn't change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it feels to me．"

As most of us students nodded our heads in agreement, she continued. "Your anxiety, anger, disappointments, fear and other passive feelings are very much like this glass of water.   Think about them for a little while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and you begin to feel pain. Think about them all day long, and it will make you paralyzed, unable to do anything else until you drop them．"

【推荐2】A fat man with a camera around his neck and a bottle of sunscreen cream sticking out of his bag, he really did look like a tourist. He sat on the terrace (平台), sipping lemonade and pretending to look at a tourism brochure. His sunglasses masked his eyes, but I knew he wasn't looking at the brochure: he hadn't turned a page for the last ten minutes. As I brought him his dishes, he coughed up a "thank you" and looked at me briefly I tried not to stare at the tiny scar across his left eyebrow.

I walked back inside with my empty tray, shaking my head. He looked familiar, but I couldn't quite place him. Then it hit me. The car accident. The mysterious stranger who helped me out of my crashed car, just before it exploded. I rushed back to his table. He was gone.

I moved his saucer and found his tip, along with a card: I am deeply grateful to you. The night of your car accident, I was on my way to rob a jewelry store. Saving your life brought things back in a right way. I now live an honest life, thanks to you. God bless you! Mr. D.

I shivered (震颤). The night of my car accident, I was heading for an interview in an illegal dance club. Seeing human kindness through his heroic gesture (英雄姿态) turned my life around and brought faith back into my life. I unfolded the tip he left. Among the singles was a grand (一千块) with a pen mark underlining "In God We Trust. "I said a silent prayer for him and got back to work, smiling.

【推荐3】My two daughters and I got into the car to spend our weekend in Florida. Autumn, the elder one, offered to drive. I sat next to her, and Amber sat in back. After setting out, the three of us sang to the radio at the top of our voice.

It was a great trip until the rain poured and the rain was too heavy. “I have to pull over.” Autumn said. She tried to enter the far right lane (车道) to find a place to stop, but trucks ran fast, making water onto our car. The car was out of control, then worse — it started to move left and right. Autumn fought to control it but it was too late. We ran into a truck. The girls jumped out of the car. My chest felt much pain.

“Get out, Mom. Come on!” Amber cried. “I can’t.” I said. Autumn took out her cellphone. “There’s been an accident. Send an ambulance (救护车)!” Amber and Autumn pulled me out of the car and helped me lie on my back in the grassy area by the roadside. I had to calm myself and looked up. A man held a large umbrella over me and other kind faces appeared above me. A woman helped to treat a cut over Amber’s eye. Another woman came close to me and said, “No one in the truck was injured. Help was on the way.” The woman mentioned she was a nurse; the other woman who took care of Amber’s cut was an eye specialist. We couldn’t have asked for better care.

In the hospital the pain in my chest began to disappear. Later, the tests at the hospital made sure we had no serious injuries. We’d left all our troubles behind thanks to these kind people, who seemed to be angels (天使) in my eyes.