【推荐1】I remember that every Saturday night Mama would sit down by the kitchen table and count out the money Papa had brought home in the little envelope.

“For the rent（房租）.” Mama would say, counting out the big silver pieces.

“For the food.” Another pile of coins.

My sister Christine, my brother Nets and me would watch with worry. At last, Papa would ask, “Is that all?” Mama would nod, look up and smile. “Good. We do not have to go to the Bank in the city.” We were all so proud of Mama’s Bank Account（账户）. It gave us such a safe feeling. No one else we knew had money in a big bank downtown.

I remember when the Jensens were put out because they didn’t have money to pay for their rent. We children watched the big strange men carry out the furniture, paying no attention to the tears of Mrs. Jensens. “Might this, could this, happen to us?” I asked my parents.

“We have a Bank Account.” Mama comforted （安慰） me calmly, and suddenly I would feel safe. Whatever happened, we always knew we still had the Bank to depend upon.

That was twenty years ago. Last year, I sold my first story. When the check（支票） came, I rushed over to Mama’s and put it on her lap. “For you,” I said, “to put in your Bank Account.” I noticed for the first time how old Mama and Papa looked. Papa seemed shorter, and Mama’s hair was silver now.

Mama fingered the check and looked at Papa. “Good,” she said, and her eyes were pleased.

“Tomorrow,” I told Mama, “you must take it to the Bank.” “You will go with me, Katrin? But…” Mama stopped for a moment and looked at me.

“There is no account,” she continued. “In all my life, I’ve never been inside a bank.”

And when I didn’t-couldn’t-answer, Mama said seriously. “It is not good for little ones to be afraid-to not feel safe.”

【推荐3】Mrs. Smith is Jim’s mother. She loves her family very much. She often goes to the store. She often buys food, fruit and clothes for her family. Now many clothes are on sale at Fashion Clothes Store. They are at very good prices. Mrs. Smith comes to the store and she wants to buy some clothes for her family. There they have sweaters in all colors for $15 each, and sports shoes for only $18. Mrs. Smith likes the red sweater and she buys one for herself. She buys a pair of sports shoes for her son. The great T-shirts in the store are just $16! She buys a white one for Mr. Smith. The socks, in all colors, are $2 each. She buys the socks in many colors for her family.

【推荐1】I’m Alice and I’m a reporter. Today I talk with three students. And I ask them some questions about meals. Let’s see what they think of school meals.

Jack, a ten-year-old boy, says, “I don’t like our school meals at all, because the food is terrible and the drinks are too expensive.” Mary, a shy girl in a red dress, says, “I don’t eat school meals. But I would like to eat them because my brother says they are nice.” Tom, a little boy with glasses, says “My school doesn’t have school meals, so we have to eat sandwiches. I would like to eat school meals, but I don’t want to see potatoes in the school meals. I would like to eat hamburgers and French fries.”

【推荐2】It’s 14: 00. The house is quiet (安静的). “Tom?” Mom says. No one (没人) answers. Mom comes to Tom’s room. He is not on the bed. But his model car is on the bed. “Where is Tom?” Mom thinks.Then she comes to his grandparents’ room. Tom likes to play with Grandpa’s radio. But he is not there.

Mom looks for (寻找) Tom everywhere, but she can’t find him. Mom is worried. She wants to call Dad. So she comes to the living room (客厅) to get the phone.

“What’s that under the sofa?” Oh, it’s Paul, Tom’s dog. It loves sleeping (睡觉) there. But what’s next to (挨着) Paul? It’s Tom.

【推荐2】A farmer lost an expensive gold watch in the barn(谷仓) on the farm. He looked for it everywhere but couldn’t find it. So he put a notice on the gate of the farm: Whoever finds the gold watch will get 100 dollars from me. People tried their best to look for the watch in order to get the money. However, the barn was too large and the straw(草) in the barn was too thick. It was getting dark and they were still unable to find it, so they gave up the 100 dollars one by one.

But only a small boy still kept on looking for it. He had nothing to eat the whole day. To solve the family problem, he hoped to find the gold watch and let parents, brothers and sisters have a full meal.

The night was already getting late, the boy was also tired. He was lying in the straw to have a rest when he heard a strange “tick-tick”. He held his breath at once, listened carefully, and followed the sound. He found the watch and got the 100 dollars.

Like the gold watch in the barn, success(成功) is around us in our lives. Only when we keep on looking for it, we can find it.

【推荐1】In China, it’s a tradition for people to wait until the second day in the second month of the lunar (阴历的) year to cut their hair because people believe getting a hair cut on this day will bring them good luck. And traditional stories say that doing this in the first lunar month will cause your mother’s brothers to die.

Although it’s not true, some people still believe it. So, after a month’s wait, people usually flock to cut their hair on Dragon Head-Raising Day (龙抬头) ——the second day of the second lunar month.

Dragon Head-Raising Day falls on Feb 24 this year. It is an important traditional Chinese holiday. Ancient people believed that after this day, there would be more rainy days because the rain-bringing Dragon King would wake up from his winter sleep. So that day is the start of spring farming. Then goes a well-known saying, “On the second day of the second month, the dragon lifts his head.”

Besides cutting their hair, there are also other ways to celebrate this holiday. For example, people eat food with “dragon names”. People call noodles dragon’s beard (龙须). Dumplings are dragon’s ears (龙耳) and spring rolls (春卷) are dragon’s scales (龙鳞). Sewing (缝补) is something that you can’t do, because the needles (针) might bring bad luck by hurting the dragon’s eyes.

【推荐2】Trump smoked heavily. He got lung cancer when he was sixty years old. He only had six months to live. His chance for recovery was 1 in 500. He lived in Baldwin Street, in New Zealand，a very special street in the world. What he did with cancer was also special.

He could see the worry, depression and anger in his life. He wondered. “If illness can be caused by negativity(消极性), can wellness be created by positivity？”

He decided to make an experiment of himself. Laughing was one of the most positive activities he knew. He watched all the funny movies he could find. He read funny stories. He enjoyed talk shows and cross talks. He asked his friends to call him whenever they said, heard or did something funny. And he also told jokes to his friends and his family. He even built a club called “Laugh and life”．

At first, his pain was so great that he could not sleep. Then, he found laughing for 10 minutes could relieve the pain(减轻疼痛) for several hours so he could sleep.

He fully recovered from his illness and lived another 20 happy and healthy years in the end. He thought his success was because of the love of his family and friends, and laughing.

So, if you like laughing, do it as often as you can in your life. If you don't like laughing, then take your medicine—laugh anyway.

【推荐3】Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy (富有的) and wise (明智的).

This is an old English saying. It means that we should go to bed early at night and get up early in the morning. If we do, we shall be healthy. We shall also be rich and clever.

Is this true? Perhaps it is. The body must have enough sleep. Children of your age need ten hours’ sleep every night. If you go to bed late, you can’t have enough sleep. Then you can’t think carefully and your homework will be wrong. You will not be wise and you may not become rich!

Some people go to bed late at night and get up late in the morning. This is not good for them.

We should sleep at night when it is dark. The dark helps us sleep well. When the daylight comes. we should get up. This is the time for exercise. If the body is not used, it will become weak. Exercise keeps it strong.

Exercise helps the blood (血液) to move around inside the body. Blood takes nutrition (营养) to all parts of our bodies. The brains (大脑) in our heads also need blood. We think with our brains. If we keep our bodies healthy, take exercise, and we can think better!

Our bodies also need air to work well. Without air we will die. Get up early in the morning and we can have plenty of clean, fresh air. That will keep us healthy and happy.