【推荐1】After breakfast Martha went to visit her mother for the day. Mary felt lonely in the house without her so she went outside into the bright sunshine. She ran round and round the fountain and soon she started to feel better. Ben Weather staff was in the vegetable garden. He didn’t look cross that day so she went to speak to him.

“The spring’s coming.” he said to her. “Can you see those green points in the earth?”

Mary looked.

“What are they?” she asked.

“They’re spring flowers.” Then the robin appeared and sat on the ground near them.

“Is spring coming in the secret garden, too?” Mary asked Ben.

“Ask the robin,” said Ben, “He’s the only one who knows.” And he went back to work.

The robin was hopping around on the ground. Mary was watching him when she saw something in the earth. She picked it up. It was an old key.

Mary looked at the key for a long time. Then she put it in her pocket and walked back to her room.

The next morning Martha was there as usual. She told Mary about her day at her mother’s house.

She brought a skipping rope as a present to Mary. Mary was not good at skipping at first. But she tried and tried and soon she didn’t want to stop.

The sun was shining and the sky was blue. Mary skipped and counted and counted and skipped around the big garden. She decided to skip along her favourite path outside the walled gardens. It was very long and she had to stop before she arrived at the end of it because she was tired.

Then she saw the robin sitting on a long branch of the ivy on the wall. He chirped. Mary went up to him.

“You showed me the key yesterday,” she said. “Can you show me the door today?”

The robin flew to the top of the wall. Suddenly the wind blew the long branch of ivy to one side. Mary held it in her hand because she could see something under it — a door!

Mary took the old key out of her pocket and put it in the lock of the door. It worked. She was inside the secret garden!

(Taken from The Secret Garden.)

【推荐2】The next day they set off again very early. They walk a few miles and then come to a big ditch (壕沟). It’s very wide. There are a lot of rocks (岩石)in the ditch.

“How can we cross the ditch?” Dorothy asks her friends.

“We can’t fly over it,” the Scarecrow says. “And we can’t jump over it. So we must stay here.”

The Lion looks at the ditch and says, “I can jump over it.”

“Can you?" the Scarecrow says. “That’s good! You can take us across on your back, one by one.”

“Who wants to go first?” the Lion says. He’s a little afraid first but he wants to help his friends.

“Me!” the Scarecrow says and he gets on the Lion’s back. The Lion jumps across the ditch easily. Then he jumps back and takes Dorothy and Toto. Finally he takes the Tin Woodman across the ditch.

The Lion is tired after his five big jumps.

“Let’s have a rest before we start walking again,” he says.

Later in the afternoon they come to a wide river. They can see a beautiful country on the other side of it. There are green fields and a lot of flowers. They can also see the yellow brick (砖) road.

——-from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Mike gets a soccer ball from his parents. He goes to the playground (操场) with it.

“The ball looks good. Can I play with it?” a boy called Paul asks.

“No, it’s mine and only I can play with it!” Mike says.

“I have a model plane. You can play with it,” Paul says.

Mike likes to play with model planes, but he doesn’t like Paul to have his ball. So he says, “No, your model plane is boring.”

Paul goes to a girl. She has a rope (跳绳). They play with the model plane and the rope and they have fun.

Mike wants to play with them, too. “What can I do?” he thinks.

Finally, Mike goes to Paul and the girl. “Can I play with you? I can share (分享) my soccer ball with you.”

“Great!” they say.

The three have great fun that day.

【推荐2】Everyone needs friends. There is an old saying, “Friends are God’s way of taking care of us.” But how do you find real friendship and keep it?

The American writer Sally Seamans tells young students some smart ways to find friends. Sally says finding friendship is just like planting a tree. You plant the seed (种子) and take care of it to make it grow. First, you should choose a friend. What makes a good friend? It is not because a person has money or good looks. A good friend should be kind and patient (有耐心的). For example, if you have a bad day, a good friend should listen to your complaints(抱怨) and do his or her best to help you. To make a friend, you cannot be too shy. You should make each other happy and share your lives. But things cannot always be happy. Even the best friends have fights (争吵). What should you do when you have a fight with your friend? You have to talk to him or her. When there is no one around, have an honest talk. If he or she doesn’t want to talk, you could write a letter.

There are three steps to being friends again:

Tell him or her how you are feeling, say what your friend has done wrong, and explain why you did this or that. Remember that friendship is the most important thing in your life.

【推荐3】Mary is bored (无聊的). It is winter holiday, and she is out of ideas of things to do.

“I wish it would snow.” she says. When Mary waits for snow, she draws pictures. She plays games. She reads books. One book she reads gives her a big idea.

She calls three friends and says, “Come to my house today at 2:00!”

Mary gets colour pencils and some pieces of paper. She also gets her CD player. Then she makes her game. She gets ten cards and writes a direction (指示) on each one.

DING DONG.

Mary puts the cards in a box just as her friends ring the doorbell. “Ready to play Talent Show?”

Marcus pulls the first card from the box. “Dance to a song,” he reads. The friends laugh and cheer as Marcus dances.

All the afternoon the friends play the game. They dance, sing, draw pictures and tell stories.

The friends are having so much fun. They don’t see that it is snowing outside.