【推荐1】Let’s say you are taking a walk along the road and you happen to see one or two waste bottles lying on the grass beside the road. What would you do?

You may have different choices. Firstly, you can leave the bottles there as they are. It was not you who threw them away. Why should you do something about it? This is quite OK. Secondly, you can pick them up and throw them into a dustbin （垃圾箱）. By doing this, you have walked a step further to help make our home clean. This action is a better choice. Thirdly, you might want to pick them up and give them to an old man or woman who collects waste for a living. If this is your choice, you have walked even further. You’re not only thinking about doing something for the environment, you’re also developing yourself to be a person who would think of others and help them.

As for young kids, they may always have such a question: “When do I grow up? ”Yes! When does a child grow up? And how can a kid know he or she has grown up? These are interesting questions. As for us, fifteen-year-olds, who are finishing middle school, we’re no longer younger children. We should know whether or not we have grown up. When we start to have a sense of offering a helping hand for a cleaner city and greener world, and when we have a loving heart to think more of others than of ourselves and are ready to help them, we can say that we have grown up.

Remember: If we help others, others will help us. If we do our best for nature, nature will offer its best to us in return!

If you happen to see some bottles, what would you do? Maybe you can     1     to leave them there because it is not your fault. But by     2     them up and throwing them into the dustbin, you can help our home clean. You also can give them to the old people who collect waste to make a     3    . For children, if they know when to start to     4     build a cleaner city and greener world, or think more of others than of     5    , we can say that they have grown up.

Jeans are so common, and you may want to know its history and who invented them. Jeans were invented by a German named Levi Strauss. He went to the U.S. in 1847 and followed the Gold Rush to San Francisco. He carried many kinds of fabric（布料）to sell. Levi quickly became a successful businessman. The miners（矿工）in California had a problem with their pants. When they found gold or ore（矿石）, they carried it in their pockets. But the metal was heavy, and the pockets ripped（撕开）. In 1873, Jacob and Levi made the first jeans-tough pants. The miners loved them, and the jeans quickly became popular.

At the beginning, Levi’s jeans were work pants. Many workers wore them all the time. But a gentleman wouldn’t think of wearing jeans. Women didn’t wear pants at all. But this changed when Western movies became popular. All the cowboys were in jeans. People thought the cowboys looked cool. But jeans still weren’t proper（正派的）for places like schools and offices. Back in the U.S., fashions changed. Movie stars wore jeans in their films. Teenagers everywhere loved them. Some schools banned（禁止）jeans because of their “rebel”（叛逆）image. But casual clothing, including jeans, became popular for more and more occasions. Eventually, jeans were so common that it became okay for anyone to wear them. You can even find pictures of the president wearing jeans.

Today, all kinds of people around the world wear jeans. People wear them everywhere. Jeans are popular today for the same reasons they were popular when Levi Strauss first made them. They look good, they last long, and they are comfortable. That’s probably why you own a pair or two, or seven, yourself.

【推荐3】“Who needs a shopping mall if you have Taobao?” says Wang Lin, 28, a writer in Beijing.

Taobao, China’s largest online shopping site(网站), has become an important part of Wang Lin’s life. She spends lots of money on Taobao.

A growing number of Chinese Internet users like Wang have found the joy of online shopping. Most online shoppers are students or young workers. More women shop online than men. Clothing and home use products (产品) are the most popular online.

It was reported that more than 250 billion yuan was spent on online shopping last year, 80% through Taobao.

Taobao means “looking for treasure” in Chinese. People can find almost everything they need on Taobao, from clothes to books, from candies to DVD players.

You may question the security (安全) online shopping. Wang Lin said, “It is very safe and convenient (便利). Unless you receive the products from the sellers and are satisfied with them, the shop owner will not get the money. You can also get your money back if you want to return the product.”

Taobao: China’s     1     online shopping center

Why do many Chinese people refuse to cut their hair during the first month of the lunar year (阴历的)?

This is because people in China believe that getting a haircut during the first lunar month will cause their mothers brothers to die. Although it’s not true, some people still believe it. So, after waiting for a month, people usually can’t wait to cut their hair on Dragon Head-rising Day—the second day of the second lunar month. It is common to see people line up outside barber shops (理发店) on the day.

Dragon Head-Rising Day is an important traditional Chinese holiday. Ancient people believed that after this day, rainfall would increase because the rain-bringing Dragon King would wake up from his winter sleep. So that day is the start of spring and farming.

A well-known saying goes, “On the second day of the second month, the dragon lifts his head.”

Besides cutting their hair, people do other things to celebrate this holiday. For example, they eat food with “dragon names”. People call noodles dragon’s beard (龙须). Dumplings are dragons’ ears and spring rolls are dragons scales (龙鳞).

【推荐3】Qingming, meaning clear and bright, is one of the most important festivals in spring. It is also named Tomb-Sweeping Day. It comes in early April. On that day, people visit tombs to remember the dead (纪念死者). They always spend some time cleaning the tomb area. They usually plant some trees near the tombs and decorate them with fresh flowers. But it’s not just a day to remember the dead. It is also a good time to celebrate the coming of spring.

With the coming of spring, nature wakes up, dressing the world in green. Birds begin to build houses for their babies. In forests and fields, many animals have babies at this time of the year. The days begin to get longer and the weather gets warmer. In short, everything is new, clean and fresh. So Qingming is also a happy time for people to do sports outdoors, such as flying kites and hiking. This is why this festival has been very popular for thousands of years.

In most countries, people usually eat traditional food on special holidays. A special day in the United States is Thanksgiving. It is always on the fourth Thursday in November, and is a time to give thanks for food in the autumn. At this time, people also remember the first travelers from England who came to live in America about 400 years ago. These travelers had a long, hard winter, and many of them died. In the next autumn, they gave thanks for life and food in their new home. These days, most Americans still celebrate this idea of giving thanks by having a big meal at home with their family. The main dish of this meal is almost always turkey, a large bird.

Making a turkey dinner

Here is one way to make turkey for a Thanksgiving dinner.

First, mix together some bread pieces, onions, salt and pepper.

Next, fill the turkey with this bread mix.

Then, put the turkey in a hot oven and cook it for a few hours.

When it is ready, place the turkey on a large plate and cover it with gravy.

Finally, cut the turkey into thin pieces and eat the meat with vegetables like carrots and potatoes.