【推荐1】I was sitting in school

when I heard the news.

“Your baby brother is born,

and wants to see you!”

Dad got me from school

and to the hospital without wait.

Hurrying on our journey,

he almost forgot the way!

My brother’s hands were tiny,

and wrinkly soft, like a prune.

After he smiles at me,

Mom said, “He’ll come home soon!”

Everyone “oohing” and “aahing”,

they say “He is so sweet.

And one day he’ll walk around

on those little baby feet!”

One thing my father did when I was young still remains fresh in my memory today.

My father was a carpenter, and he often helped others build houses. Every time he finished building a house, he would pick up the broken bricks and tiles that others didn’t need, either one or two. Sometimes, when walking on the road and seeing bricks or stones on the side of the road, he would pick them up and put them in a basket to take them home. Over time, a mess of bricks appeared in our yard. I can’t figure out the usefulness of the things. I just felt that the small courtyard was left with no room for playing.

Until one day my father started to use these things to build a square room in a corner of the yard. Then my father drove the pigs and sheep that were raised in the open into the small house, and the yard was clean. Our house became the only one with a pig house in the yard in my village.

At that time, I just thought my father was great, and he built a house by himself. Because my family was so poor that it was almost a problem to eat, but my father did not give up, picking up bricks day after day, and finally one day he had enough bricks to build the house in his heart.

In the following days, the spirit of this thing has been inspiring me. When I do something, I usually ask myself two questions: One is what the goal of doing this thing is and the other is how much effort is needed to make this thing happen. After that, I must have enough patience, because I can’t pick up enough bricks in a day.

【推荐1】iPad is a line of tablet(平板电脑) computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple. The first iPad was released(发布) on April 3, 2010; the most recent iPad models are released on March 31, 2016. As of January 2015, there have been over 250 million iPads sold. iPad has been the second most popular tablet computer since 2013.

An iPad can shoot video, take photos, play music, and can be used to surf Internet or send e-mails. Other functions(功能)—games, social networking, etc. – can be enabled by apps. As of October 2013, the App Store has more than 475,000 apps by Apple and third parties.

The iPad has several uses in the classroom, and has been praised as a valuable tool for homeschooling. Soon after the iPad was released, it was reported that 81% of the top book apps were for children. The iPad has also been an important tool to help children with autism learn how to communicate more easily.

In the healthcare field, iPads have been used to help doctors manage their work better. For example, a healthcare service company has developed a business app, which can make doctors’ work more efficiently. The manager says, “Doctors won’t walk around a hospital with a laptop. With an iPad, it’s perfect to walk around the hospital with as long as they have the information they need.”

【推荐2】Hi, I’m Brian. This is the photo of my family. My grandfather is with glasses. He has little hair. The one standing next to him is my uncle. He is wearing a cap. My grandmother has gray hair. She is a kind woman. She is holding my younger brother. He has short curly hair. The woman standing behind me is my mom. She has straight brown hair. There is a little girl sitting on the table. Her name is Cathy. She is my sister. She is wearing a green T-shirt and a pair of green socks. It’s her favorite color. Which one is my father? Well, he is wearing glasses, too. He is in brown shorts and brown shoes. His name is Sam. Now, do you know where he is?

【推荐3】Last week Lu visited Edinburgh. He stayed with my grandmother. He said it was a strange visit. “I don’t understand, but I frightened your grandmother a lot. When I arrived, I gave her a purse from Suzhou. She looked in it and asked me to take it back. Then I saw a red spider on the table so I killed it for her and she seemed very unhappy. Do English people like spiders?”

“Later we went shopping. Someone was painting a shop front, so there was a ladder (梯子). Grandmother stopped me walking under it and said I must walk around it. I liked the shops and bought a smart umbrella for my father and some new shoes for myself. When we got back, I put the shoes on the table and opened the umbrella to wonder if it was all right. Your grandmother came in and screamed!”

“Then I broke a small mirror in the bathroom. Your grandmother’s face went white. I felt very sorry. When I left I gave your grandmother some flowers. She counted and there were 13. She didn’t like it. I think she was happy I was going.”

I explained to Lu, “My grandmother follows the old customs in western countries. You must not give someone an empty purse or they will have no money. You must not kill a “wealth spider” or the same will happen. It is very unlucky to walk under a ladder and to put new shoes on the table. An open umbrella in a house means someone will die. Breaking a mirror brings seven years’ bad luck, and 13 is also a very unlucky number. You were really making my grandmother very afraid.”