【推荐1】Just a few days after his 18th birthday, Beijing 2022 gold medal winner Su Yiming received a surprise gift—a letter from Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China.

In the letter, Xi expressed his congratulations to Su and other sportsmen in ice and snow sports for their great achievements at the Beijing Winter Olympics, hoping what they had achieved would encourage young Chinese to aim high.

When Su first stepped onto a snowboard at the age of four, a future as a world-class sportsman seemed to be “a dream too big” for him. Little did he know that he would not only compete for his country but also take home gold. With the great excitement of winning an Olympic gold medal still fresh in his mind, Su wrote a letter to the president, telling him how lucky he felt to have made his dream come true.

Su still remembers what Xi wrote in the reply, “The new era is the time for young people to realize their dreams? ”

“I have always kept those words in my mind, ” Su said.“When I made up my mind to be a professional snowboarder, I know there is a big gap between my performance and that of the top sportsmen in the world. But I have been working hard to realize my dream. Now my story shows the fact that hard work will pay off,” Su said.

Su believes the sky is the limit. “Find the thing you love, believe in yourself and do your very best. Finally, your dream will come true.”

Now Su has his strong wish to win all the competitions in his sporting field.

【推荐2】There was a young painter who made a living by painting portrait (肖像). One day, a rich man asked him to paint a portrait and promised to pay him 10, 000 dollars.

After a week, the rich man came to take the painting, but he was not pleased with it. He told the young painter, “I will only pay 3, 000 dollars for this painting. ”

The young painter was angry. He argued with the rich man, hoping the man would keep his word.

The rich man thought, “The man in the painting is me. If I don’t buy it, no one else will.” So he said, “I will ask you the question last time, will you sell it to me for 3, 000 dollars?” The young painter said seriously, “No. This is a shame for me! I would prefer not to sell it rather than be humiliated (羞辱) by you. Someday, you will pay 20 times the cost for breaking your promise. ”

After that, the painter worked hard day and night. Finally, he became well-known in the art world.

The rich man forgot about the artist and his words. But one day, some friends told him, “There is a painting with the price of 200, 000 dollars and the man in the painting looks exactly like you. It has a name of Thief (贼). ”

Then, the rich man remembered the artist. He quickly went to say sorry and paid 200, 000 dollars to buy the portrait. The painter made the rich man lower his head in the end.

When we are ill, we usually go to a doctor. Doctors may give us some medicine to take.     1     But sometimes the doctor’s medicine doesn’t work. Thomas Smith was in hospital, but he wasn’t getting well.     2     The “doctor” was his own sense of humor(幽默感). He saw funny films and read funny books. Something wonderful happened. Laughing took away his pain(疼痛). He could sleep well.     3     His doctor thought so, too.

Another man, Simon Beck, was also ill, and he had a really sore back. The doctor couldn’t stop it, so the man began to draw a picture.     4     He imagined it to be a real dog. And it was hurting him. Then he tried to make friends with it. One year later, his pain went away!

    5     However, more and more people are getting well in this way. So visit the “doctor” inside your mind, and keep happy and well!

【推荐2】When your dream is to become a footballer and play for Barcelona team, nothing should get in your way—even if you have no feet.

An 11-year-old schoolboy Gabriel Muniz, who was born without feet, will fly from his home in Brazil to take part in the Spanish club’s summer training camp. Although he is disabled, Muniz is one of the top players at the school and captain of his gym class. He can run, pass and strike the ball as well as any of his able-bodied teammates. He spends all his spare time on the football pitch.

His best friend Lucas Santos spoke about his abilities on a video for The Sun, “He is skillful, he goes after it, he is fearless and he knows how to organize plays. He also makes good passes.” Mum Sandra was thrilled that her son would achieve his dreams. She said, "He started walking before he was one. We would go after him, expecting him to keep falling, but he never fell. "Muniz’s gym teacher added, "He is challenging the social standard. When he arrived there, no one believed in him." But he showed to everyone that he could play as well as any other boy. So he was invited to go to Spain to show his talent.

The Spanish La Liga soccer club has offered to fly Muniz to Spain in September, where he’ll be able to show off his fancy “footwork” and meet his idol, Barca soccer player Lionel Messi.

Muniz wears a prosthetic (假体的) ankle and foot to help him get around in rainy weather. He knows that his disability means he’ll never be able to play for a professional football team and so Muniz is hoping that football will one day become a Paralympics (残奥会的) sport.

【推荐3】Sam hates doing chores. But he has to do many chores. For example, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays he takes out the rubbish. And on weekends he always washes his father’s car. He also cleans his own room once a week. Sometimes he even has to look after his little sister and brother.

Kumar is Sam’s friend. Doing chores in Kumar’s family is very different. In the house only the girls do chores. His sisters make all the beds and clean all the rooms too, even his bedroom. His mother always cooks the meals, and his sisters help her to go shopping, and cook the food. They work hard at home and do all the chores with their mother. So when Kumar talks to his friend Sam about chores, he feels very lucky.

One day, Sam had an idea. He asked Kumar, “Could I borrow your sisters?” He wanted them to help him clean his room, but Kumar’s sisters didn’t agree. Instead, they asked Sam to teach their brother how to do chores, so Kumar could make his own bed.

Sam and Kumar are very good at science. They are going to be scientists after university. They want to make a robot to do the chores. Then everyone—mothers and fathers, sons and daughters will be happy!

【推荐1】During all this time I never stopped thinking about escape (逃跑). When I traveled across to the other side of the island, I could see the other islands, and I said to myself, "Perhaps I can get there with a boat. Perhaps I can get back to England one day."

So I decided to make myself a boat. I cut down a big tree, and then began to make a long hole in it. It was hard work, but about six months later, I had a very fine canoe (独木舟). Next, I had to get it down to the sea. How silly I was! Why didn't I think before I began work? Of course, the canoe was too heavy. I couldn't move it! I pulled and pushed and tried everything, but it didn't move. I was very unhappy for a long                    time after that.

That happened in my fourth year on the island. In my sixth year I did make myself a smaller canoe, but I did not try to escape in it. The boat was too small for a long journey, and I did not want to die at sea. The island was my home now, not my prison, and I was just happy to be alive. A year or two later, I made myself a second canoe on the other side of the island. I also built myself a second house there, and so I had two homes.

My life was still busy from morning to night. There were always things to do or to make. I learnt to make new clothes for myself from the skins of dead animals. They looked very strange, it is true, but they kept me dry in the rain.

I kept food and tools at both my houses, and also wild goats (山羊). There were many goats on the island, and I made fields with high fences to keep them in. They learnt to take food from me, and soon I had goats' milk to drink every day. I also worked hard in my corn (玉米) fields. And so many years went by.

【推荐2】Trouble in the Cloakroom

“I hate them! I really hate them!”, shouted Tom angrily.

Tara and Ziggy looked at their friend. They couldn’t believe it. He was really angry!

“Arjun is OK now,” said Tara, trying to calm Tom down.

The three friends were in the park after school. They were talking about their friend Arjun. Arjun was the youngest in the class and today two bullies (霸凌者) pushed him against a locker and hurt him. Arjun fell and cut his head. Now he has five stitches (划痕) in his forehead.

Heston High School was a nice, peaceful place until Brian and Mark arrived a few months ago. Brian and Mark were bullies and their favourite trouble place was the school cloakroom (卫生间). That morning they hurt Arjun, maybe because he was smaller and younger than everyone else in the class.

The teachers knew that there were some bullying incidents (事件) at school. But most kids didn’t want to report the incidents. So bullying at Heston High wasn’t an official problem.

“Brian and Mark must pay!” repeated Tom. He was walking around in circles and hitting the palm of his left hand with his right fist.

“Can’t you see? You’re behaving like the bullies,” Tara said sadly. Ziggy looked at Tara. He knew Tom very well. Tom wasn’t usually violent (暴力的). In fact, he usually solved problems in a polite way. Tara hated bullies and she didn’t like Tom being so angry. Tom hated bullies, too. It made him afraid.

“No. I’m not like Brian and Mark,” replied Tom. “And I’m going to stop them,” he said.

“Bullying is not cool,” said Ziggy, waving his arms like he was dancing.

“We have to tell someone about this,” said Tara. “Arjun was hurt.”

During the incident, Arjun cut his head. When the bullies saw the blood (血), they ran away quickly. Arjun called for help and a teacher came and took him straight to the hospital. But Arjun didn’t tell the teacher about the bullies. When the head teacher asked him what happened, he just said, “I fell and cut my head.”

Adapted from The Anti-Bully Squad