【推荐1】You can either travel or read, but either your body or soul must be on the way. The popular saying has inspired many people to read or go sightseeing. Here are four books we recommend that you take on your trip.

1. On the Road, 1957, by Jack Kerouac

The book is a popular spiritual guide book about youth. The character in the book drives across the US continent with several young people and finally reaches Mexico. After the exhausting and exciting trip, the characters in the book begin to realize the meaning of life.

2. Life is Elsewhere, 1975, by Milan Kundera

Jean-Jacques Rousseau once said, “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains”. The book describes a young artist’s romantic but miserable life, about how he reads, dreams and has a relationship during his trip to Central Europe. The book invites you to deeply reflect on your current life and to honor Kundera, a Czech-born writer and who went into exile in France in 1975.

3. My Name is Red, 1998, by Orhan Pamuk

The book, featuring a peak masterpiece of the Nobel Prize winner for Literature Orhan Pamuk, has been translated into more than 50 languages and published around the world. It tells a story of a young man, who has been away from home for 12 years, coming back to his hometown in Istanbul. What embraces him is not only love, but a series of murder cases as well.

4. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, 2013, by Rachel Joyce

The novel tells a story of a 60-year-old man who lives a boring and unhappy life, until one day, he received his old friend’s letter who got cancer. In deep shock and sorrow, he went out to send his reply letter. 627 miles in 87 days, he walks depending on one belief that “his friend can survive as long as he walks”.

【推荐2】Want to explore new cultures, meet new people and do something worthwhile at the same time? You can do all the three with Global Development Association(GDA). Whatever stage of life you’re at, wherever you go and whatever project you do in GDA, you’ll create positive changes in a poor and remote community(社区).

We work with volunteers of all ages and backgrounds. Most of our volunteers are aged 17-24. Now we need volunteer managers aged 25-75. They are extremely important in the safe and effective running of our programmes. We have such roles as project managers, mountain leaders, and communication officers.

Depending on which role you choose, you could help to increase a community’s access to safe drinking water, or help to protect valuable local cultures. You might also design an adventure challenge to train young volunteers.

Not only will you help our young volunteers to develop personally, you’ll also learn new skills and increase your cultural awareness. You may have chances to meet new people who’ll become your lifelong friends.

This summer we have both 4-week and 7-week programmes:

GDA ensures that volunteers work with community members and local project partners where our help is needed. All our projects aim to promote the development of poor and remote communities.

There is no other chance like a GDA programme. Join us as a volunteer manager to develop your own skills while bringing benefits to the communities.

Find out more about joining a GDA programme:

Website:www.glodeve.org

Email:humanresources@glodeve.org

【推荐3】Everyone has their favourite scenes and characters in Harry Potter books and films． One of the most memorable scenes for many came early on in the series． In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone， the owls began to send letters to Harry inviting him to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry． Owls were then mentioned frequently in the books and created amazing images in the films．

Everyone around the world loves the Harry Potter series． But if there has been one bad result of J．K． Rowling's creative gifts， it is the craze that has swept through many countries for owning an owl． Many experts suggest that because Harry Potter fans would like to own their own owl， there is a strong chance that owls may soon start to die out．

There are over 200 different species of owl． They are nocturnal birds， which means they are awake at night， usually hunting． They have large round eyes that face forwards on their flat faces． Owls also like to be on their own， unless it is the mating season．

Indonesia is one of the main countries that are now selling owls to young and old Harry Potter fans． There are many bird markets throughout the country， with the largest being Pramuka in Indonesia's capital city， Jakarta． Birds are Indonesia's most popular pet， with about 20 percent of all homes keeping at least one． It is thought that about 13，000 owls are sold each year in Indonesia's bird markets． They cost between ﹩10 and ﹩30． This is affordable for most families where the parents work． Most of the owls have been taken from the wild and do not live for very long once they have been caught．

Not everyone is happy about the situation， including the Harry Potter author， J．K． Rowling． She said， "If anybody has been influenced by my books， to think an owl would be happiest shut in a small cage and kept in a house， I would like to take this opportunity to say as forcefully as I can， "you are wrong!""