I’m busy these days. I need these things—a notebook, a bag, a jacket, a watch, an English book and my ID card. Can you bring them to me?

I think you can find them. Some notebooks are in the bookcase. I need the black one. My bag is in the green box under my chair. You can find two bags in the box—a red one and a black one. The black one is your father’s. The red one is mine. My jackets are in the brown wardrobe (衣柜). I need the white one. And you can see my ID card in the wardrobe, too. The English book is in my desk. I lost my watch. Can you bring your brother Leilei’s to me? His watch is on his bed. If you can’t find it, ask your father for help.

mom

【推荐2】Mel found a wallet on her way back home. She picked it up and looked inside. Five hundred dollars! Mel thought about the bike she wanted. She had asked her mum for one, which would cost 460 dollars, but her mum said they had no money. Mel looked around, no one had seen her with the wallet. She put it into her school bag and ran home fast.

When she got home, she put the wallet in her treasure box. However, there was one problem—how could she tell her parents about it? Then Mel remembered the prize of the science competition was five hundred dollars. She would tell her parents she had won it.

The next day, Mel rushed home from school. She was just about to tell her mother the good news when her mother said. “I have enough money left over this week for a treat. I’ve bought some strawberries. You can have one.” Mel’s news darted (猛冲) back inside her, like a moth (蛾子) into a dark corner. What would happen if her mother lost her wallet and someone kept it? They might not have any food for weeks! Mel ran to her room. She opened the treasure box and took the wallet to her mother.

“I found this.” she said, “It has five hundred dollars in it.”

“Wow!” said her mother, “Five hundred dollars!”

She looked inside the wallet. “It could be Mrs. Maka’s,” she said. “We’ll have to take it to her right now.”

Mrs. Maka was very pleased to get her wallet back. “This money is to get my eyes fixed, or I will go blind.” she said. She gave twenty dollars to Mel, but Mel refused.

After that, Mel and Mrs. Maka became good friends. Mel helped Mrs. Maka make a garden and Mrs. Maka showed Mel how to make clay pots (陶罐). One day, Mrs. Maka said, “Mel, my clay pot won a prize-1,000 dollars and a red bike! I can’t ride a bike. Would you like it?”

【推荐3】My name in Judy. I have two aunts and two uncles.

【推荐3】The Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Lijiang, Yunnan is famous not only because lots of students there go to universities, but also because it is the first girls’ public high school that doesn’t charge students any money in our country—it’s free to everyone in it.

Nothing would have happened without Zhang Guimei, head teacher of Huaping Senior High School for Girls. The 64-year-old woman has been fighting against the unfair things girls face in the mountain for a long time.

In 2001, Zhang noticed that many girls from poor families had few chances of getting education. Then the idea of starting a free school for girls came into her mind. To raise money, between 2002 and 2007, Zhang spent the summer and winter vacations on the streets asking people to give away money to her school. However, she only collected about 10,000 yuan.

Later, a reporter reported her story. At last she got one million yuan from the government, and the Huaping Senior High School for Girls was opened in September, 2008.

There were many difficulties at first, but Zhang Guimei didn’t give up. “I want my students to go to good universities.” she said. So far, over 1,600 girls have left school and got higher education at universities. These came at the cost of Zhang’s health.

When asked why she tried to help those in the mountain, Zhang said, “Education for women can influence three generations (代).”

【推荐1】People often ask me for suggestions about how to learn English. As for it, everyone is different. I’ll share some of my experience. I once took a school year English course in Wuhan University, but I mostly learned English on my own.

One thing I can tell you is that, once you’ve started learning, you should try to think in English as much as you can. If you see something when you’re riding your bike or walking down the street, just think about “How would I say them in English?” At first, it might be with simple words or phrases but later you should think about longer phrases and sentences. Now I’m in America, and for most of the time, I would think in English and speak it directly. It’s amazing how much this helps.

For several years after I started learning, I was often afraid of talking with others in English because I didn’t want to make mistakes. Finally I got it over. And while traveling In America, I’d try to hang out with friends who couldn’t speak Chinese, so that I’d have no choice but to speak English. And I also decide that if I said something stupid and other people laughed at me, then so be it. After that my English started improving much more quickly.

Besides, it maybe a good idea to ask your American friends to look at the way you’re writing and give you some suggestions for improvement.

【推荐2】Duke Ellington is known as one of the most important composers of his time, and his work has been enjoyed for more than 80 years by music lovers all over the world. During his lifetime Ellington turned musical sounds into many compositions, mostly in the style known as jazz.

The Early Years

Duke Ellington was born in 1899 in Washington D.C. It wasn’t until Ellington was a teenager that his interest in music grew. He taught himself to play the piano by listening to local piano players. Sometime around 1916 Ellington began playing the piano at high school parties. Ellington realized that he enjoyed entertaining people with his music. He soon became a very popular musician playing at parties and other events in the Washington area. Young adults seemed especially to love the modern pieces he composed.

Success in New York

In 1923, when Ellington was almost 24 years old, he joined The Washingtonians, a five-piece group of musicians in Washington, and became the group’s leader in early 1924. In 1927 Ellington and his orchestra (管弦乐队) won an engagement (雇佣期) at Harlem’s famous Cotton Club. For the next three years, his orchestra played at the Cotton Club nearly every night.

The Influence of the Cotton Club

Working at the Cotton Club encouraged Ellington’s creativity. Since the shows changed every six months, he was challenged by the need to develop new material. He had to compose lots of music for the Cotton Club shows.

By 1928 the club began to cover the shows live on the radio. From the live shows, Ellington and his orchestra gained a national reputation (名声).

On the Road

As Ellington’s popularity increased, he realized that his orchestra could do well on concert tours. They left the Cotton Club in 1931 and toured America and Europe almost continually for the next 43 years. During his trip, Ellington made recordings and continued to compose music.

Duke Ellington played the piano, composed music, and led his famous orchestra for more than 50 years, until his death in 1974. Music lovers all over the world agree that his music will be enjoyed for many years to come.

【推荐3】The relationship (关系) between teachers and students is an important part of school life. An Indian movie called Hichki tells the story of a teacher who helps some bad students and makes them better people. It is popular with lots of students now.

In Hichki, the main character is Naina Mathur. She has an illness (疾病) that makes her hiccup (打嗝) often. With her hard work, she gets her dream job as a teacher. But she has to teach a class of rebellious students. They laugh at Mathur in her first class.

However, Mathur doesn’t get angry (生气) with them. She tries her best to help every student. When they cause (引起、导致) a small explosion (爆炸) and the school asks them to leave, Mathur still help them a lot. Little by little(渐渐地), Mathur wins the students’ hearts. Under her care, the students start to study harder and become better and better.

From the story, we know that a good teacher doesn’t simply pass on(传递) knowledge (知识), but shows students how to be a good person. It also shows us that anyone can be successful, even if they have some kind of illness.

【推荐1】The two boys, Tom and Huck, were very frightened because they worried about being found by Injun Joe and his friend. Through the hole in the floor, the two boys upstairs saw the men eat and talk. Then the men were tired and fell asleep. Tom and Huck lay there for a very long time. Finally, the two men woke up and lifted up a stone in the ground and took out some money they had stolen. Then Injun Joe lifted up another stone and found a box.

“What’s this?” Injun Joe asked.

The two men pulled the box out of the ground and opened it. The two boys, Tom and Huck, could see there was much money in it. They were very excited.

“There’s thousands of dollars in the box!” said his friend.

“It must have been left here by Murrel,” said Injun Joe.

“What will we do with it?”

“We’ll take it to my hideout(隐匿处).”

“Number one or number two?”

“Number two, under the cross.”

Then Injun Joe and his friend saw some tools in the corner and decided to go upstairs. But the stairs broke when Injun Joe stood on them! So the two men left the house and went towards the river. Tom went home as quickly as he could.

The next day, the two boys remembered the “Number two”, thinking this must be the number of the room in the hotel. They got all the keys they could find anywhere. But Tom discovered the door was not locked. He opened it!

(Adapted from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer)

【推荐2】A Special Picnic

My mom told me a story that was about the school picnic. At that time, schools didn’t have a field day. The biggest day for them was School Picnic Day. School Picnic Day was usually held on the last day of school in June. On that day, kids played simple games. No one cared who won or who lost. Before the school picnic, parents always packed picnic baskets for the kids. They filled them with a lot of good food.

There was a poor family. They had no picnic lunch that year. When my mom noticed this, she tried to help them.

Just then, the teacher said there was going to be one final race before lunch. It was the sack race, in which two people got inside a sack and hopped (双脚跳) as fast as they could to the finish line. The winner would receive a special lunch basket.

My mom wanted to enter this race. She waited until she saw Mary, the eldest sister of the poor family, stand up. She asked Mary if she could be her partner, and Mary agreed. My mom went out of her way to make Mary win. Later, Mary came and thanked my mom for being her partner. She said that her brothers and sisters really enjoyed the picnic lunch. For Mom, it was the best school picnic in the whole world.

【推荐3】A little girl heard her parents talking about her brother. He was very sick and they had no money. Only a very expensive operation could save him.

“Only a miracle（奇迹）can save him now,” said her father. The little girl pulled her money and counted it carefully.

She hurried to a drugstore with the money.

“What do you want?” asked the salesman. “I want to buy a miracle.” “Pardon?” said the salesman.

“My brother Andrew has something bad growing inside his head and my daddy says only a miracle can save him. So how much does a miracle cost?” “We don’t sell a miracle here, Child. I’m sorry,” the salesman said with a smile.

“Listen, if it isn’t enough, I can try and get some more. Just tell me how much it costs.”

A well-dressed man heard it and asked, “What kind of miracle does your brother need?”

“I don’t know,” she answered. “He’s really sick and Mum says he needs an operation. But my daddy can’t pay for it, so I have brought all my money.”

“How much do you have?” asked the man. “$1.11, but I can try and get some more,” she answered.

“Well, what luck,” smiled the man. He took up the girl’s hand and said, “Take me to where you live. Let’s see if I have the kind of miracle you need.”

That well-dressed man was Dr Carlton Armstrong, a famous doctor. The operation was successful and it wasn’t long before Andrew was home again.