【推荐1】Long ago, Bluebird’s feathers were the color of dust. She did not like her ugly color. She was attracted by the color of the lake near her home. It was as blue as the sky after a storm. Bluebird wanted to be the color of that beautiful lake very much.

Flapping her wings one morning, Bluebird flew from her tree to the blue lake. Then she bathed in the water three times. After each bath, she sang, “Blue water. Still water. I went in. I am blue.” Bluebird repeated this every morning. On the third day, she came out of the lake with beautiful blue feathers.

Now Coyote was a trickster (骗子) —and hungry too. He stayed behind Bluebird’s tree for a long time every day and watched her go to the lake. He pretended (伪装) to be interested in everything she did. He wanted Bluebird for lunch, but he was afraid of the blue water. On the third morning, Coyote saw Bluebird come out of the lake with beautiful blue feathers. Impressed he sat next to Bluebird’s tree and waited for her. When she returned, he asked, “How did you get blue feathers? I want to be blue like the mountains too.” Bluebird didn’t believe Coyote, but she taught him how to bathe three times each morning and how to sing her song. Coyote did what she said, and after three days of bathing in the lake, his white fur turned deep blue.

Convinced (确信的) that blue fur was even more beautiful than blue feathers, Coyote forgot all about being hungry. He ran as fast as he could to the top of the hill. Standing on his back legs, he raised his front legs off the ground and howled. But Coyote slipped (滑到) and rolled down the hill. He couldn’t stop himself, and the dust and dirt covered his new blue fur. He rolled and rolled until he hit into Bluebird’s tree heavily. No matter how much he tried, foolish Coyote could not shake the dust from his fur. And so the fur of all coyotes has the dull color of dust to this very day.

Mr. Roberts divided our class into groups to make speeches. It was my turn. However, my hands shook so badly that I couldn’t read my notes. My voice b n e lower and lower. Mr. Roberts had to end my speech, even though I clearly didn’t finish.

“I know you’re shy, but you worked hard on this project,” Mr. Roberts said. “If I give you another chance tomorrow, do you think you can find your courage?” I nodded.

After arriving home, It old Mom what happened at school. Mom was s silent for a moment and then said, “Let me show you something.” In the bedroom, Mom showed me a book filled with pictures. In it, there was a blue ribbon that said “First Place” and a picture of herself when she was very young.

“I won it for public speaking. When I started in the speech team, I was shy, but I ended the year as the winner. It wasn’t easy at first—I wasn’t sure of myself at all. I worked hard, and I faced my fears. You just need to find your courage.”

Mom tied the blue ribbon onto my wrist (手). I imagined the scene (场面) where Mom tried her best to overcome (克服) her fears and pick up her courage to make a wonderful speech. I looked at it and decided to find my courage. In front of the mirror. I kept practicing from pronunciation to tones, even gestures, “Try harder,” I cheered myself up when I felt tired

The next day, I walked to the front of the classroom to give my speech again. Suddenly, courage found its way back the moment I noticed the blue ribbon. I took a deep breath and started my speech, “Dear classmates...” I found Mr. Roberts standing in the corner smiling at me and I smiled back. The whole class cheered for me. This time, I knew I found my courage.

Last month, my dad and mum went to Beijing on business together, so I was alone at home for a week. At first, it seemed exciting because I could do everything I wanted.

Every day, after finishing my homework. I read storybooks I like and didn’t read English vocabulary books.

But the happy time did not last long. On the fourth evening, the lights in my home went out suddenly. I couldn’t see anything and was very scared. Slowly I got used to the darkness and saw some light coming from the street lamps (灯). I know the electricity (电) in my home was off.

I decided to go outside to see what was happening. As I walked out, I fell over an object (物体) I put down earlier.

Standing outside, I knew the whole electrical system had broken down. I was scared and upset, so I quickly picked up the phone and wanted to call my parents in Beijing, but I thought I had grown up and should learn to solve some problems as a man. Thinking of this, I hung up (挂断). A second later, I picked up the phone again.

But this time I phoned up the electricity company. Half an hour later, everything returned to normal after the workers’ hard work.

When Dad and Mum came back, I told them everything that had happened that week except this event. I believe I have grown up and I will not depend on my parents as much as before.

A．

B．

C．

【推荐3】When we first moved here, we didn’t have a garden. Mike and I talked about making a large vegetable garden somewhere in our yard, but we couldn’t agree on where. Before we went ahead and dug up the grass, we spent some time thinking about where it would work best. At last, we chose an old sandbox（沙坑）in our front yard to become our garden.

We dreamed about a lively garden with lots of vegetables. We asked many people what we should do to turn this sandbox into a space, then plants can grow in it. And they gave us lots of ideas. My sister was the most knowledgeable, so we listened mostly to her. At first, Mike made a wood fence（栅栏）and I painted it with the kids. We chose a darker color because it would fit our light grey house.

Next, Mike dug 17 holes. Then we filled them with soil（土壤）. It was still too cold to plant anything, so for days I just stared out the window at these holes. To me, it looked much too untidy. I advised to fill those holes back and dig new ones. This time we ended up with 10. Much better.

Over the next few weeks, I worked on getting everything planted in my garden. I started by planting green onion. But I was too excited and planted it too early. Right away it was clear that it wasn’t going to survive. I had to give it up and try something else. Then my next door neighbor gave me red roses to put in my garden. A few days later we went to a greenhouse and came back not with green onion but peppers, tomatoes and so on. Clearly the vegetable and flower garden was slowly becoming our dream garden. Oh well!

I love the way it turned out. This garden will always remind me of my sister.