【推荐2】Hello! My name is Tina Brown. I am from England. I am in China with my parents now. I am thirteen years old. I’m in PEP Middle School in Nanchang. I like reading (阅读) books. They are my good friends. My telephone number is 929­3155. Call me, maybe we can be good friends.

This is Peter Qin. He is thirteen, too. Peter and I are good friends. We are not in the same school, but we can meet after school. He often helps me with my Chinese. He likes playing sports. He can play basketball very well.

Ms. King is my Chinese teacher. She is nice. I often ring her at 390­7632 to ask for help. Gina is her daughter. She is a lovely girl. She is a book­lover, too. In her room, you can see her books everywhere—on her bed, on the desk and in the bookcase.

【推荐3】My name’s Tara. Friends are very important in everyone’s life because friends are always there when we need them. It’s great to have many friends, and I can’t think about my life without my friends.

My best friend is Vera. When I first met her, I was eight. She is one year older than me. Now she is in the same class with me, in the 8th grade. She is tall and quite thin. She has long curly blond hair and blue eyes. I am not so beautiful. I am tall enough but a little fat. Sometimes I wish I could be as beautiful as she is.

Vera and I like doing lots of things together and talking about different things. She always helps me with my math and I sometimes help her with her English and history. Once I had to do a report on science, but I didn’t understand what our teacher said. The next day I read it in front of our class. But the teacher told me that my report was wrong and all my classmates except (除……之外) Vera laughed at me. I felt terrible about myself. Vera was the only one who didn’t laugh at me. She tried to be nicer than anybody else and make me happy.

I am a shy person and sometimes I feel that people don’t understand me. Vera is friendly and everyone loves her. She is also smart and she can deal with (处理) everything. I am lucky to have a friend like her.

【推荐2】Many people say that they are working too many hours. They don’t have enough time to relax or to stay with their family.

Work hours are different from one country to another. In France, people spend about 1,646 hours a year at work. In Japan, however, people work about 2,159 hours a year.

Why do people work so many hours? Some people work extra hours because they want to make more money. However, many companies don’t pay overtime. Their workers don’t get more pay for more work. Some people think it’s their duty to work more hours. Some are afraid of losing their jobs if they don’t work more hours.

Many people say that their vacations are too short. In France, people get five weeks of paid vacation a year. In Germany, they get four to six weeks, and in the United States, two weeks. One study shows fewer than half of workers used all their vacation days. In Great Britain, there is a saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” If that is true, there must be a lot of dull people in the world.

【推荐3】Can dolphins talk? Maybe they can’t talk with words, but they can talk with sounds. They show their feelings (感情) with sounds.

Dolphins travel in a group. We call a group of fish a “school”. They don’t study, but they travel together. Dolphins are not fish, but they swim together in a school.

Dolphins talk to the other dolphins in the school. They give information. They tell when they are happy or sad or afraid. They say “Welcome” when a dolphin comes back to the school. They talk when they play.

They make a few sounds above water. They make many more sounds under water. People cannot hear these sounds because the sounds are very, very high. Scientists study the sounds of dolphins.

Sometimes people catch dolphins for a large aquarium (水族馆). People can watch dolphin shows. Dolphins are sad and lonely there because they don’t like to be away from their school.

There are many stories about dolphins. They help people. Sometimes they save somebody’s life. Dolphin meat is good, but people don’t like to kill them. They say that dolphins bring good luck. Many people believe this.

【推荐1】No matter where a video game is played, on a handheld device(装置), the Internet or the television, too much gaming is a bad thing. Playing too many video games is a problem for kids and there are many signs that show the negative(消极的) influences.

If young people are always thinking about when they can play a video game, that is a sign that they have lost themselves in it. If they give up other hobbies that they used to love, that is also a problem. Many kids who choose to spend all their free time playing video games will make up ways to play the game instead of communicating with others. Leaving sports teams or clubs, refusing to go outside to play with friends, and choosing to stay home from birthday parties are all signs that video games have taken over the child’s attention.

In addition to negative behaviours, there are health problems from playing too many video games. If video game players skip meals or lose sleep because they stayed up too late playing games, this can negatively influence their health. Sitting in front of a game for more than two hours a day instead of getting up and being active can result in childhood obesity(肥胖症). Moreover, backaches, headaches and strained(紧张的) eyes can be caused by playing too many video games.

【推荐3】Shyness is a kind of fear (恐惧). People who are shy always worry too much about what people think of them. They are also afraid of speaking in front of people. How can we overcome (战胜) shyness then?

Have a good posture (姿态).

Your posture says a lot about yourself. People with sloped (倾斜的) shoulders don’t think of themselves as important people. So stand up straight, keep your head up, and always make eye contact (接触). By practicing a good posture, you will feel much better.

Walk faster.

You can tell what a person is like by the way he walks. People who walk in a slow way and look at the ground while walking usually have no confidence in themselves, while people who believe in themselves walk faster. That is because they know clearly what important things to do, friends to meet, and places to go, etc. So walk a little faster, hold your head up, and look straight ahead.

Do some exercise.

Exercise can cheer you up. That will put you in a more positive (积极的) state of mind. By doing exercise, you will feel sure of yourself. Think about it. It is better to do some exercise than just watching TV all day.

Do things that make you feel good about yourself.

This can be anything that you really like doing. You can go to the cinema, listen to music, go traveling, or help someone out of a problem.