【推荐1】Life can sometimes feel like it’s uncontrollably toward disasters—just like the feeling you get when you’re lost control of your moving car. It’s the feeling of complete helplessness and panic. While we may be feeling overwhelmed with everything going on in our lives right now, there are still some steps we can take to control our lives again.

The first thing we need to do is to accept. When we’re feeling overwhelmed, it only means we are living, breathing humans. Life is like a roller coaster ride with its ups, downs, twists and turns. It’s also like the change of the seasons. Sometimes we forget this.

When we accept it, no matter how much we try, we may not be able to control our reality. But we can change our expectations to match our reality. This may mean changing our goals and tasks. Changing may feel like failure and giving up at the moment, but this ability is a chance to create success in the long term. Working with reality rather than against it can give us the ability to think and hope.

Sometimes, when we’re feeling overwhelmed, we may pay no attention to the things we manage to complete. However, celebrating our small wins creates space for gratitude in our hearts. Celebrating wins (whatever size) allows us to clearly see the progress we are making.

Feeling overwhelmed may be a part of life, but if we just step back a bit, we can see the ups and downs of our roller coaster ride are just called LIFE!

【推荐3】Years ago, I lived in a building in a large city. The building next door was only a few feet away from mine. There was a woman who lived there, whom I had never met, yet I could see her sitting by her window each afternoon, lying or reading.

After several months had gone by, I began to notice that her window was dirty. Everything was unclear through the dirty window. I would say to myself, “I wonder why that woman doesn’t wash her window. It really looks terrible.”

One bright morning I decided to clean my room, including washing the window on the inside.

Late in the afternoon when I finished the cleaning, I sat down by the window with a cup of coffee for a rest. What a surprise! Across the way, the woman sitting by her window was seen clearly. Her window was clean!

Then it dawned on me. I had been complaining about her dirty window, but all time I was watching hers through my own dirty window.

That was quite an important lesson for me. How often had I looked at and complained to others about something through the dirty window of my heart, through my own shortcomings?

Since then, whenever I wanted to judge（评判）someone, I asked myself first, “Am I looking at him through my own dirty window?”

Then I try to clean the window of my own world so that I may see the world more clearly.

Chinese singer Zhou Shen, 27, has become more popular after appearing on the TV show Singer《歌手》. He impressed viewers not only with his unusual recording methods - he has performed in his bedroom twice due to the novel coronavirus outbreak - but also with his singing itself. 

Zhou performed different styles of singing on the show. He covered a song by popular virtual (虚拟的) singers Luo Tianyi and Yan He, as well as sang songs with Suzhou Pingtan and Russian elements (元素). 

Singer Gao Xiaosong said Zhou has "come out of the cocoon (茧) and become a butterfly". It has taken Zhou a long time to do so. 

Zhou loved singing when he was a little boy. However, his voice didn't change like other boys during puberty (青春期). It still sounded like a girl's voice-thin and high. His peers (同龄人) laughed at him and he refused to sing in public. "I sang in my bedroom secretly," he said. 

At 17, he sang online without showing his face. Some people were fascinated (着迷) by it. On one of his birthdays, he agreed to show his face. However, when they found out that he was male, some of them made fun of him. Zhou felt bad about this, but later he got the chance to sing the theme song to the movie Big Fish and Begonia 《大鱼海棠》, which turned out to be a big success. 

After that, Zhou appeared on several TV talent shows. In his own words, "it was to give my voice a chance." He even wore women's clothes on the show Masked Singer. "It wasn't hype (炒作)," he said. "I just want the audience to focus on my singing rather than my gender (性别)."

a. shy                 b. talented and created            c. brave          d. persistent (坚持不懈)          e. kind

【推荐3】George is a little monkey. He lives in a deep forest. He likes jumping and climbing trees. He is happy every day. But he has a shortage (缺点). He is too curious (好奇的).

One day, an old man went by (经过) the forest. He carried a lot of hats. Little George saw the old man, and the old man saw George, too. The old man said to himself, “What a lovely monkey! I will catch him and take him home.”

The old man sat down and thought over. George saw and also sat down. The old man had an idea (主意). He put a hat on his head, and put the other hats on the ground. Then he pretended (假装) to sleep.

George was curious and looked at the hats. I will be nice if I put a hat on my head.” George thought. Then he climbed down from the tree, picked up a hat and put it on. The hat was too big, and covered George’s eyes, George couldn’t see anything. And the old man got up at once and caught him quickly.

Poor George!

A group of young people wearing hanfu, the traditional clothing of the Han ethnic group, made a series of performances at Donghua University in Shanghai in November last year.

The event, including ancient dancing and singing, was held by two traditional culture clubs—Han Fu and Huayue—as was seen by lots of students.

Deng Yujie, president of the university’s hanfu club, who hosted the event, said nearly 30 students took part in the performances. Deng added that in recent years, young people have become more and more interested in activities to promote and show traditional culture.

Hanfu is part of the national clothing system. Chinese fashion emphasizes（强调）implicitness—a habit of hiding the body in clothing, especially for women. The main parts of hanfu include collars, upper clothes in the style of a skirt, jade ornaments（饰品）and a sash（腰带）.

There were more than 2 million hanfu lovers in China in 2018, according to a survey by iMedia Research, a year-on-year rise of nearly 73 percent. The total value of the hanfu industry was over 1 billion yuan.

A report made by CBN Data and Tmall said hanfu sales revenue in 2019 rose by more than 200 percent year-on-year. Meanwhile, the number of online hanfu stores on the Taobao shopping platform that year reached 1,188, a rise of nearly 46 percent compared with 2018, according to the 2019 Hanfu Industry Report by Hanfu Information. The report also said that in 2019 hanfu items were mainly bought by young people, including students, with nearly 75 percent of buyers aged between 16 and 24.

【推荐3】What color of wearing do you like? Do you know “dopamine dressing (多巴胺穿搭)”? It’s one of the most talked about fashion trends (时尚趋势) for 2023. However, is there any science behind this?

“Dopamine dressing” came out from the book Dress Your Best Life. American fashion psychologist (心理学家), Dawnn Karen wrote this book in 2020. In the book, dopamine dressing is about wearing colorful clothing to get more dopamine.

Dopamine is a chemical in our brain. This kind of chemical makes people feel good. Our brain gives it out when we eat delicious food, play with our pets, listen to our favorite songs, after we exercise or when we win a game.

According to Science Focus Magazine, there are studies that show a relationship between the colors of the clothes we wear and how we act and feel. One study found that wearing red can bring better physical performance. ________ One more study showed that wearing green can help people relax because it is the color of nature. Yellow, the color of summer and warmth, can bring people happiness. But there are some problems with these studies, as people from different cultures have different ideas about dressing and colors.

In a word, “dopamine dressing” shows that we can wear colorful clothes to get more dopamine and feel good. Dressing is more than just a trend. It’s also a way of showing ourselves. So, next time you’re getting dressed, think about which colors will bring out your best self.

A．

B．

C．

D．

【推荐1】A big umbrella

Nancy: I saw seven girls in one umbrella and none of them got wet.

Taney: Oh, that must be a very big umbrella.

Nancy: No, it wasn’t raining.

A good boy

Little Robert asked his mother for two cents (美分).

“What did you do with the money I gave you yesterday?”

“I gave it to a poor old woman,” he answered.

“You’re a good boy,” said the mother proudly. “Here are two more cents. But why are you so interested in the old woman?”

“She is the one who sells candies,” Robert answered.

Break a mirror

“What are you so happy about, Jason?” Lisa asked the 98-year-old man.

“I broke a mirror,” he replied.

“But that means seven years of bad luck.”

“I know,” he said happily. “Isn’t it wonderful? I can live for another seven years.”

【推荐2】A poor traveller stopped under a tree to eat the rice and vegetables which he had brought with him. A few metres away, there was a small shop by the side of the road where a woman was frying fish and selling it to travellers who were able to afford to pay for it. This woman watched the poor traveller carefully, and when he finished his food and began to go, she shouted rudely, “You have not paid me for the fried fish!”

“But I have not had your fried fish!”

“But everyone can see that you enjoyed the smell of my fried fish with your rice and vegetables, argued the woman “If you had not smelled the fish, your meal would not have been eaten so jovially!”

Soon a crowd collected, although they supported the poor traveller, they had to agree that the wind was blowing from the shop to the place where he had eaten, and that it had carried the smell of the fried fish to him.

Finally, the woman took the poor traveller to a judge(法官), who said, “The woman says that the traveller ate his meal with the smell of her fish. The traveller agrees that the wind was blowing from the woman’s shop to the place where he ate his rice and vegetables and that it carried the smell of her fried fish to his nose while he was eating, so he must pay for it. What does your fried fish cost?”

“Twenty-five cents a plate.” she answered happily.

“Then go outside together,” said the judge. “There the traveller must hold up a 25-cent piece so that its shadow(影子) falls on the woman’s hand. The price of the smell of a plate of fried fish is the shadow of 25 cents.”

【推荐3】During the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), King Zhao of the State of Yan (燕昭王) wanted to gather talented people to make the state strong. He asked the scholar (有学问的人) Guo Wei for advice. Guo told the king a story.

In ancient times, there was a king who wanted a special kind of horse. This horse could run 1,000 li a day. It was called qianlima. He sent many people to find these horses and buy them for him. After three years, nobody found him such a horse.

One day, someone new volunteered to help. Within three months, he heard about a qianlima. He rushed to find it, but the horse was already dead. Still, he bought the bones of the horse with 500 pieces of gold.

The king was very angry. “What I want is a live horse, not the bones of a dead horse!”

This shows people you truly wish to buy the horses. Just wait and the horses you want will come very soon. The man answered calmly, “Imagine this. You’re willing to pay a high price for a dead horse, let alone a live one.

Indeed, within a year, many qianlima owners brought their horses to the king.

Guo told the king that he could see himself as the bones of the horse. “If I am valued, more talent will be willing to serve the state,” he said. The king built houses for Guo and treated him as a teacher. Soon, talented people across the state came to help the king. His state finally beat the State of Qi.