【推荐1】It was Mother’s Day, but the young mother was a little unhappy. Because she was 800 miles away from her parents. In the morning she phoned her mother to wish her a happy mother’s Day. And her mother told her about the beautiful lilacs（丁香）in the garden.

Later that day, when she told her husband about the lilacs, he said. “I know where we can find all that you want. Get the children and come on.” So they went, driving down the country roads. There on a small hill, they saw a lot of beautiful purple lilacs. The young woman ran quickly to enjoy the flowers. Carefully, she picked a few here and a few there. On their way home there was a smile on her face. When they were passing a nursing home（养老院）, the young woman saw an old granny sitting in a chair. She had no children with her. They stopped the car and the young woman walked to the old woman, put the flowers in her hands, and smiled at her. The old granny thanked her again and again. She smiled happily, too.

When the young mother came back to her car, her children asked her, “Who is that old granny? Why did you give flowers to her?” “I don’t know her.” Their mother said, “But it’s Mother’s Day, and she has no children. I have all of you, and I still have my mother. Just think how much those flowers meant to her.”

【推荐2】Anna has a daughter. Her name is Linda. Tomorrow（明天）is Linda’s birthday. Anna wants to have a party for her daughter. So she goes to the store. She wants to buy some food. And she wants to buy some clothes for Linda. Linda’s favorite color is purple, so she buys a purple skirt and two purple sweaters. They look very nice. She thinks Linda will（会）love them very much.

Anna meets her friend Alice in the store. Alice has a daughter, too. Her birthday is on December 12th, too. Their birthdays are on the same day. So Anna asks Alice to take her daughter to her home tomorrow so they can have dinner together（一起）. They will have a good time!

【推荐3】Nick is my pen pal. He is 12 years old. He is from Canada. He lives in Ottawa. He speaks English and French. His favourite subject is Science. He likes Chinese, too. And he says he can speak a little Chinese, but he can’t write in Chinese. He doesn’t like Physics. He thinks it’s too difficult.

Nick likes sports, too. He likes swimming best. He goes swimming on weekends with his father. He says he can swim very well.

Nick has a big family. There are his grandparents, his parents and his brothers and sisters.

He has two brothers and two sisters. They are Bob, Tim, Jane and Susan. They are happy!

【推荐1】If you have no special plans for your free time, why not spend your time helping others? Don’t listen to people who say that young people today often think only of themselves. It is not true at all. More and more young people in the United States volunteer to spend their school holidays working for others. And they don’t do it for money. Here are some of their stories.

Alice Hamiton, 17

I’m going to help the Forest Centre build new hiking paths (徒步小道) in the mountains. It sounds terrific (可怕的). I’ll spend the whole summer living in a tent (帐篷) and breathing the clean mountain air. I’m going to sleep under the stars. It will be nice, and I’ll be able to do something good at the same time!

Jason Moore, 18

This summer, I’m going to volunteer with Special House Program. They build good, low-cost (廉价) houses and sell them to families that are not very rich. They’ll teach me what to do, so I’ll help people and also have a chance to learn how to build houses.

Trish Anderson, 16

I’m going to teach kids who have troubles in reading. I’ll work for a program called Reading For Life. Every day, I’m going to help kids choose and read books that they like. I want to be a teacher, and I love children and reading, so this is going to be a great experience for me.

【推荐3】Li Ning from China:

I want to be a movie director (导演). And I want to make some exciting movies. Maybe you can see my movies many years later.

Vic from Singapore:

I want to be an actor because I love acting. I enjoy it, and I always perform with the DVD on. I take acting lessons three times a week.

Eliza from the United States:

When I grow up, I want to be a dentist because I am very interested in it. But I need to save enough money to get the education.

Rebecca from the United Kingdom:

I am going to be a professional (专业的) computer programmer working on the computer, and I know the job can help me make a lot of money for my family, We are going to live in a big house with my pets-a cat and a dog.

【推荐1】It was a Friday morning and a young man finally decided to ask his boss for a raise. Before leaving for work, he told his wife what he was going to do. All day long, he felt nervous. Finally, in the late afternoon, he talked to his boss, and to his happiness, the boss agreed to the raise.

The husband arrived home happily, and was surprised to see a beautiful table set with their best chair and lit candles. The food on the table smelt great. He thought that someone from his office had called his wife and told her about the good news.

Finding his wife in the kitchen, he shared his good news with her as soon as he could. They hugged each other and danced around the room before sitting down to have the wonderful meal. Next to his plate, he found a note that read, “Congratulations, darling! I know you’d get the raise! This dinner is to show you how much I love you.”

Later, on his way to the kitchen to help his wife serve the dessert, he saw another card that had fallen from her pocket. He picked it up and read, “Don’t worry about not getting the raise! You should get it anyway! This dinner is to show how much I love you!”

【推荐2】One day, in an English class the students are having their lessons. Their teacher, a young woman is very happy. She sings some nice songs with them and then she goes to the blackboard and writes “SMILES” on it.

“This is the longest （最长的）word in English.” she says.

A girl stands up and says, “It has only six letters. How can it be the longest word in English?” The teacher smiles and says, “Oh, look. There is a mile （英里）between the first letter and the sixth one.” Haha, that’s very interesting, isn’t it?

【推荐3】When I got up this morning. I was so surprised to find a new watch on my desk. I couldn’t help crying.

I lost my old watch last Monday. It was a present from my father for my thirteenth birthday. I still don’t know where or how I lost it. I felt really sad when I couldn’t find the watch. I stayed at school to look for it until it was very late.

When I came home, no one was there. At nine o’clock, Mom called and told me that Dad was hit by a car on his way to look for me. He was sent to the hospital.

I went to the hospital that night and told Dad I was sorry. I also told him I lost my watch, but he did not get angry.

Dad’s left leg was badly hurt, and he stayed in the hospital for several days. He just came back home yesterday, and this morning I found the new watch.

Thank you, Dad, for loving me so much.