【推荐1】Once there was a smart and rich man. He bought a big, beautiful house with a large garden full of fruit trees. But not everyone was happy for him. There was a jealous (善嫉的) man who lived in a small, old house next door. He always tried to make the rich man’s life hard. He threw rubbish in his garden and did many other bad things.

One sunny day, the rich man woke up in a good mood. When he went outside, he saw a lot of rubbish under the apple trees in his garden. Instead of getting angry, he decided to clean it up. He cleaned his garden and moved all the rubbish away. Then, he took a basket and went to knock on his neighbor’s door.

The jealous neighbor heard the knock and thought, “I finally got him!” He opened the door, ready to argue with his rich neighbor. But to his surprise, the rich man handed him a basket of fresh apples, saying, “The one who has something good should share it with others. These are for you, my dear neighbor.”

Seeing that, the jealous neighbor’s face turned red and he couldn’t say a word.

【推荐2】A young and successful manager was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar（捷豹）. He was watching for kids rushing out between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something.

As his car passed a park, one child appeared, and a brick smashed（砸）into the Jaguar’s side door. He slammed on the brakes and drove the Jaguar back to the spot from where the brick had been thrown.

He jumped out of the car, grabbed some kid and pushed him up against a parked car, shouting, “What was that all about and who are you? What are you doing?” Building up a head of steam, he went on “That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?”

“Please, sir, please, I’m sorry. I didn’t know what else to do!” begged the young-ster.

“It’s my brother,” he said. “He rolled off the curb（路边）and fell out of his wheel-chair and I can’t lift him up.”

Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”

Moved beyond words, He lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be okay.

“Thank you, sir. And God bless you,” the grateful child said to him. The man then watched the little boy push his brother to the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long walk back to his Jnguar...a long, slow walk. He never did repair the side door. He kept the dent（凹痕）to remind him not to go through life so fast that some-one has to throw a brick at you to get your attention.

Life whispers in your soul and speaks to your heart. Sometimes,when you don’t have the time to listen...Life throws a brick at your head.

It’s your choice: Listen to the whispers of your soul or wait for the brick.

Amused by this, the boy tried to catch one of these incredible talking fish. But when he stuck his arm into the water it turned grey right up to the elbow. As this happened, a huge sadness entered into him, and he suddenly understood how sad the fish were feeling.

He quickly pulled his arm out of the water, and ran from that place. But the arm stayed grey, and the boy continued feeling sad. He tried so many times to cheer himself up, but nothing worked. That was, until he realized that if he were to make the Earth happy then that happiness would be, in turn, transmitted back to him, through the earth on his arm.

From then on, he set about looking after countryside. He cared for the plants, and he did what he could to keep the water from being polluted. He encouraged others to do the same. He was so successful that his arm started to recover its normal color. When the grey had disappeared completely, he started feeling happy again, and he decided to go and visit the fountain. When he was still some way from the fountain he could hear the fish singing happily.

【推荐1】What do you think the future will be like? Here are some answers from some students.

Mary: If we don’t take good care of the earth now, our children and grandchildren will be born into a world with much pollution (污染). There will be fewer trees and more buildings, because there will be more people.

Jack: I agree with Mary. Things will be worse (更糟). The weather in the future will be much hotter. Humans (人类) won’t be able to live on the earth. They will have to look for another planet to live on.

Linda: I think the life in the future will be better. Most people in the world will use “green cars” by 2020, so there will be less pollution and people will live to be 200 years old. As for (至于) space travel, I would say, we will visit Mars (火星) in about fifty years.

【推荐2】Lily Born is an 11-year-old girl from Chicago, America. When most 11-year-olds are watching Hunger Games, Lily is busy designing(设计) a special cup to help people with Parkinson’s disease(帕金森病).

Lily is the daughter of an inventor, and her grandfather has Parkinson’s disease. After Lily noticed that her grandfather spilled his drinks, she decided to make a special cup for him. Lily’s cup has three legs, so it’s harder to knock over than the common cup. She named it the Kangaroo Cup.

The design was not a success at first. The cup broke easily. However, with the help of her father, Lily worked with some older designers and manufacturers(厂商)to improve her design. Now Lily’s grandfather can use the Kangaroo Cup. This new Kangaroo Cup is made from plastic(塑料), and Lily’s grandfather can’t break it. The new cup can stand up on anywhere, even on the grass. It also has many colours, so it’s the perfect cup for picnics.

Lily gives some advice to boys and girls like her. “Don’t be afraid if you fail, because you’ll fail a lot before you get it right,” she said. “Also, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Your parents and teachers ca n help you with a lot of things. Most of the time they are happy to help you if it’s not anything really expensive.”

Jim wants to borrow a book from a new library. He comes into the library and sees some robots. Then Jim says to the robot, “Hey, give me the book.” But the robot doesn’t move.

“What’s wrong with the robot?” Jim asks Wang Lin.

Wang Lin says, “When you want to borrow the book from the robot, you must say ‘please’ first.”

So Jim says, “Please give the book to me, Mr. Robot.” Then the robot brings him the book. But Jim can’t take the book out of the robot’s hand.

Wang Lin says to Jim, “What should you say to the robot before you take the book?”

Jim’s face turns red. So he says, “Oh, thank you very much, Mr. Robot.” Then the robot gives the book to him.

【推荐2】Tom and his cousin took a boat trip. When they got on the boat, every passenger should answer the keeper a question. If the passenger answered “yes”, he or she got one gift, he or she got two gifts. Tom and his cousin saw all about this. Now it was their turn. The keeper came up to them and asked, “Are you a good sailor（水手）? Tom wanted to get two gifts, so he answered “no” loudly, and at the same time he said, “I have never been a sailor, how could I be a good sailor?” The keeper gave him two gifts. His cousin gave the same answer, so he got two gifts too.

The boat started off. The passengers began to open their gifts. Tom and his cousin did the same. They found that one of the two gifts was a small bottle of drinking water, the other was a seasick tablet （晕船药） . Tom had a look at a “yes” passenger’s gift. It was a nice chocolate. Tom shouted at the keeper, “We are never seasick. Why doyou give us seasick tablets?”