【推荐1】Ivan searched through his bedroom for his shoes. Oh, they were at the back of the door, covered in mud (烂泥). Now he remembered he had taken out Buster, the dog, last night. It was muddy in the yard. He couldn’t wear muddy shoes to school, but he didn’t have any others.

He got a washcloth and wiped the mud off his shoes. Then he ran out of the door and toward the bus stop.

On the bus, Ivan sat alone. Other kids sat around him, laughing and smiling, but no one talked with him. At school, he found his place and sat there quietly.

In class, Mr. Henderson smiled at him. “Morning, Ivan. I’m happy to see you today. I read your book report, and I really enjoy it. You have a special way with words.”

Ivan looked in surprise at Mr. Henderson. He slowly smiled. “Thanks, Mr. Henderson. I really like that book.”

“Good,” said Mr. Henderson. “There are more books like that. I’ll show you after class.”

Ivan waited excitedly all through class. He didn’t think about his muddy shoes or his empty stomach. All he thought about was reading more books. He really liked books, but he didn’t have any at home. When class ended, Mr. Henderson showed Ivan many books in the corner of a room. Ivan looked uncertainly at his teacher. “I can read all of them?”

“Yes, of course, but take one at a time.” He said.

Ivan smiled. His bad day got better. “Thanks, Mr. Henderson. I can hardly wait.”

【推荐3】Reyes Guana grew up in a poor Mexican（墨西哥）family. As a boy, Guana got on well with the school cleaner. He called her “Nike” because she wore Nike shoes. Nike made everything very clean. He told her he wanted to be a cleaner, “Well, it’s good if you want to be a cleaner,” Nike told little Guana. “But make sure you go to college.”

Guana also looked up to the principal（校长）of his school. He told the boy that his job was to help students and teachers. “Wow, when I grow up, if you keep your dream, you will.” the principal replied.

And Guana really got there. But it was quite a long journey for him. Twenty-three years ago, he followed in Nike’s footsteps and was cleaning schools. He worked at three schools to make money for his college education. He held that job for four years and then worked his way up to being a school safety monitor（安全监察）. After that he worked as a teacher for a few years.

Now, as a principal, Guana never forgets where he came from. He helps students from poor families and is nice to every school worker.

【推荐1】For his eleventh birthday, Lin was given a gift that would shape his life. On that day his father took him to the Children’s Activity Centre and said he could choose any course that interested him. There was just one requirement: Lin would have to promise to study it for at least one year.

To that point Lin had had many hobbies, but none kept his interest for more than a week or two. His mum once gave him a bag of stamps to encourage stamp collecting. That hobby lasted a week. Then his father got him some paints hoping that Lin’s artistic side would shine through. Those paints were now under his bed, still unopened. This time Lin’s parents would let him decide.

Lin’s eyes moved down the notice board that listed all the courses on offer. He stopped at “Photography,” He liked the idea of taking beautiful pictures but the notice said that each student needed their own camera. Although Lin’s family wasn’t poor, they weren’t rich either, and a camera cost a lot of money. He continued looking.

The next course to catch his eyes was “Language Art”. He didn’t even know what that meant. His father explained that it taught people how to make public speeches. Lin, a shy boy, could think of nothing worse.

Then he saw it. “Cooking” sounded like something he’d like to do. It was inexpensive and convenient, it could be done alone and it was also creative.

Based on Lin’s hobby history, his dad had doubts, but he agreed. Much to his parents’ surprise, Lin kept his promise. He studied cooking at the Centre every Saturday, and practised at home, making delicious meals for his family. Everyone looked forward to birthdays, when they could eat his cakes. Lin got great satisfaction from the pleasure his food brought to others.

The months turned to years but his hobby never changed again.

Now Lin is an adult and runs a successful restaurant. When customers say they enjoy his meal, he still gets the same pleasure he did as a child, and remembers the special gift he received all those years ago.

【推荐2】Hello! This is my family. I’m David Green. I’m from England. My family is in Beijing. My father and mother work here. My father is a doctor and my mother is a teacher. I have a sister but no brothers. My sister and I are students of a middle school in Beijing. We love China. My home is very nice. My family has a TV and a computer. My room is big. I have a bed, a desk and two chairs in it. My books are on my desk. I have an MP3 player (播放器) in my bag. There are some pictures on the wall. I like my room and I like these pictures very much.

【推荐3】Li Shizhen was born in 1518. His father was a poor doctor. Li Shizhen often saw that people became ill. He decided to study medicine so that he could help people.

Li Shizhen read many books about medicine. He found that many of the old medicine books were full of mistakes. So his wish was to write a new one.

He did his best to study medicine science. He studied not only the herbs(草药) in his own garden; but also the wild ones. He set out to collect herbs and talked with old peasants(农民). He learned a lot from curing(治疗) patients.

After many years of hard work and study, Li Shizhen finished his great work Ben Cao Gang Mu(《本草纲目》). At that time he was sixty. His book is now one of the greatest contributions of the Chinese people to the medicine science of the world.

【推荐1】

【推荐2】Sleep and Weight

A couple of groups of researchers have found the reason why people are getting fatter. Researchers from the University of Chicago recruited (征募) 12 young men who came to their sleep lab on four different nights. Two nights, the men slept only four hours. The other two nights, they slept ten hours. Researchers Van Carter headed the study.

"After two nights of either short sleep or long sleep, we checked in their blood every 20 minutes or 30 minutes the levels of the hormone stimulating appetite (刺激食欲)."

They also checked the hormone that signals the brain when you're full. They found that when the men slept 10 hours, they woke up with normal levels of hormone and normal appetite. But when they slept only four hours, they had higher levels of hormone that stimulates appetite and lower levels of the hormone that signals fullness.

"Yeah, our study suggests that short sleep does modify the hormone that controls appetite in such a way that one is hungrier."

And not only were the men hungry, but also what they wanted to eat wasn't nutritious (有营养的).

"The foods that they preferred were candy, cookies, cake, ice cream, potato chips, pretzels, bread, pasta, rice, all high carbohydrate (碳水化合物) food."

Another study came to similar results. Researchers at Stanford University analyzed (分析) data from over 1, 000 volunteers who answered questions about sleep habits and also had their hormone levels measured. Psychiatrist (精神病专家) Emmmanuel Meno saw the same increase in the hormone stimulating appetite, and the same decrease (降低) in hormone that signals fullness.

"What's interesting about it is that it's counter-intuitive (反直觉的), because most people would say, 'Oh, yes. If you sleep a lot, you are lazy and you're going to be overweight.' and actually that's not what we observe (观察)."

Over the past forty years, American adults have cut down their average sleep time. They slept about eight and a half hours. Today, it's down to seven or less. Meno says Americans might want to reconsider (重新考虑) the amount of time they sleep.

"Now I think what we are finding is that it's important to sleep the right amount, and healthy sleep is as important as exercise and nutrition. I think, indeed, people who are overweight should sleep a little more. But if they treat better their sleep, it may help them to lose weight."

【推荐3】Being outgoing is good for your life. For those outgoing people, it’s easier to have more fun in their life. In fact, being outgoing is not as hard as you think. Even shy people can be outgoing.

You can start becoming outgoing with your best friend or a group of friends. But the real challenge(挑战)comes when you meet strange people or new friends.

Smile more, and usually they will return your smile. In this way, you may have some talks. Start a talk. Just a smile "Hello" or "How is it going" is a good start. If you want to make interesting talks, you should read news in newspapers and prepare(准备) your views, or surf the Internet for new information and then keep that in mind.

The easier way to become more outgoing is to go out. This is also the most important step(步). Go to a park, beach, club, party or any other place that you think can be fun, and you may make new friends there.