【推荐1】There is a lot of salt on the Earth, and it mixes very well with water.

There is some salt in all water. Water on the land runs into lakes and rivers. The water from most lakes goes into rivers. There rivers run into the seas and oceans. They carry a little salt with them. Some of the ocean water moves into the air and clouds. It evaporates. Salt cannot evaporate. It stays in the ocean.

The water in the oceans has more salt than water in rivers. Ocean water has about 3.5% salt. Some seas have more salt than others.

Some lakes do not have a river to carry the water and salt away. Some of the water evaporates, but the salt cannot. These lakes are very salty. There are two famous lakes like this. They are the Dead Sea in the Middle East and the Great Salt Lake in the state of Utah in the United States. They are much saltier than the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

【推荐2】As Chinese New Year is around the corner, some foreign readers share their tips on how to spend the festival here in China.

	Avoid travelling during the holidays. It is one golden rule that I have followed for years, especially during Spring Festival as the traffic is heavy. Also, the weather here is much colder than that of my hometown Sydney, Australia.
	Enjoy the dinner on New Year’s Eve with Chinese families. The Chinese food is delicious. But it’s not the reason I always spend Spring Festival with a Chinese family. In fact, I like that mainly because I can learn more about Chinese culture. The Chinese people are friendly and I really thank them for their accompany （陪伴） when my family are thousands of miles away from me.
	Watch the Spring Festival gala （春晚）. Many people in Singapore understand Chinese, but I don’t. However, the show is never boring. I am quite fascinated by it. The CCTV Spring Festival Gala is one of the most amazing TV shows from an artistic point of view.
	Set off fireworks （烟花）. I really love to watch them because they remind me of happy time when my father set off fireworks for me on Thanksgiving Days. Although the big bangs often make me scared and I’ve never set off fireworks myself, they really make me feel so excited and happy! I’ve never seen so many fireworks in my life!

【推荐3】Do you like history? Some students do not like it. They think history is about meaningless dates, events and names which are not related to (与……有关) their everyday lives.

There is a different way of looking at history. The Historical Society of Chicago, for example, runs a lot of interesting projects. One is the Teen Council’s community-based oral history project. The Teen Council was made up of 15 teenagers from all over the Chicago area. The members of the Teen Council were interested in finding out what teenagers were like and how their lives changed during the 20th century. They took filed trips around the city and interviewed (采访) all kinds of people.

After doing a lot of interviews with people, the members realized that behind the ordinary faces of common people are often amazing stories of their lives that form “history”. They also came to understand that teenagers at different periods in history have always used music, fashion, dance and language to express themselves, just like teenagers today.

The Teen Council’s work was made into an exhibition (展览) at the Chicago City Museum and it can be seen at their website. In the website, you can read the self-introduction pages of the Council members. Also on their web page, the Council members describe the interviewees who impressed them. For example, Claire describes how she felt moved when she interviewed Sammy Skobel, who was blind and had to face a lot of problems in his high school and in looking for jobs. The Teen Council wrote summaries of their findings and categorized them into work, school, home and play. They used their strengths and worked together to make their project successful.

Are you interested in trying a similar oral history project and finding out how the people in your community spent their teenage days? The website explains how you can plan and set up an interview, and how you can write down interviews and write reports. It also includes an interview with a famous Chicago-born TV presenter as an example of how interviews can help us experience history through the stories of eyewitnesses (见证人).

History is not something that has nothing to do with you. In fact, your grandparents made history, your parents made history and you are creating history right now.