Do you have a tidy desk or an untidy desk at home? Do you want to keep your desk clean and tidy for a long time? A tidy desk helps you find things easily and do things well. It is also helpful for your study. Doing these can help you with it.

First, only put things you need on your desk. For old books, you can put them in the bookcase. Get a box for small things you don’t need every day, you can put your pens and pencils in a pencil box.

Second, don’t put food or drinks on your desk, because they can make your desk dirty. Go to the kitchen (厨房) when you want to eat.

Third, put important (重要的) things next to you. Then it is easy for you to get them. If you have a drawer (抽屉) under your desk, you can put things there every day.

Fourth, clean your desk every day. If you do it every day, you can have a new day with a tidy room the next morning.

If you do the things, you can have a tidy and clean desk. Why not have a try now?

【推荐2】Everyone needs friends. There is an old saying, “Friends are God’s way of taking care of us.” The American writer Sally says finding friendship is just like planting a tree. You plant the seed and look after it to make it grow.     1    

First,     2     What makes a good friend? It is not because a person has money or a good look. A good friend should be kind and patient. For example, if you have a bad day, a good friend should listen to your complaints (抱怨) and try his or her best to help you.     3     You should be more outgoing and often talk and share your feelings with them.

Second, things cannot always be happy.     4     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.

Finally,     5     Tell him or her how you are feeling, say what your friend has done wrong, and explain (解释) why you did this or that.

Remember that friendship is the most important thing in your life.

【推荐1】Qingming Festival is a traditional Chinese festival for family to pay respect (尊敬) to their ancestors (祖先). People visit their ancestors’ grave sites and offer food, drinks and flowers. There are some Chinese poems showing Chinese history and culture through ancient expressions. Here we look at one of the classic poems in the history of Chinese literature:

A drizzling rain falls like tears on the Mourning Day;

The mourner’s heart is going to break on his way.

Where can a wineshop be found to drown his sad hours?

A cowherd points to a cot amid apricot flowers.

In China, around the time of Qingming Festival, there is more rain. The poet is traveling far away from home on these rainy days. The rain and lonely walks lead to the separation of the soul (灵魂) and body, which adds a sad feeling to this poem. The writer, Du Mu describes a rainy scene in a village in the first two lines. Then in the last two lines, the poet wants to find a place to take a rest, drink some wine (酒) and get away from the sad feeling. Where can I find a good tavern? In the last line, a cowherd points to a direction (方向), which describes two people looking far ahead on the rainy day.

In this poem, Du Mu presents a village with apricot flowers around as the direction of the tavern. He doesn’t describe its feature on a rainy day but leaves it to the readers’ imagination.

Qingming is not only a sad festival, but can also be a happy time for people to enjoy the spring and get closer to nature in an outing. Trees are green and flowers are blooming, so it’s a good time to be outside.

【推荐3】Green is more than just a color. It also means taking special steps to protect the environment. How to decide whether a product is green? Here is what we may keep in mind.

The materials of a product are usually our first focus. Green products are made of more natural materials which are free from harmful chemicals, so they can be good for our physical health.

Packaging is important. We’d better choose glass, metal and paper packaging, as these can be reused or more easily recycled. We can also look for less packaging or even choose unbagged products whenever possible.

Location (地点) matters. Think about how much energy was used to get it. To us, try to choose local products. When it comes to food, it is a good idea to order directly from local farmer, shop at markets and buy fruits in season.

Look into what the company tells us about their product. It’s easy to say that a product is “green” or “all natural”, but the words may be too good to be true. So, much of the information about a product should be taken with a grain of salt.

Better than buying is choosing to leave an unnecessary product in the store. It sends a message to the producer, keeps money in our pockets, reduces waste and keeps the planet healthy.