【推荐1】My name is Jim. Sally is my sister. She is 21 years old. She works in an office. She likes to help other people.

My sister likes animals very much. In her free time, she often helps the cute animals with her friends. They often go to a club（俱乐部）named Animal Home to help the animals. There are forty dogs ad thirty cats in the Animal Home.

My sister goes to the club every Sunday. She gives the animals food and plays with them. She is very happy to help the animals. Sometimes she is not happy because the animals can’t get enough（足够的）help. She wants more（更多的）people to help them.

【推荐2】A Sweeter Apple

A father and his daughter were flying a kite in the park. The young daughter was a little bit tired, so they took a break on the bench. When the daughter saw an old man selling apples, she asked her father to buy her some apples. Her father didn’t bring much money with him, but it was enough to buy two apples. So he did, and gave both of them to his daughter, smiling.

His daughter held one apple in her right hand. Then the father asked her if she could share one of the apples with him. When the girl heard this, she quickly took a bite from one apple. And before her father could speak, she also took a bite from the second apple. The father was surprised. He wanted to know why his daughter acted in such a greedy(贪婪的) way. He was lost in thought. Perhaps he was just thinking too much. His daughter was too young to understand sharing and giving. A smile disappeared from his face.

Suddenly, his daughter held up the apple in her left hand and said, “Daddy, take this one! It is much juicier and sweeter.” Her father didn’t know what to say. He felt bad about making the judgment(判断) so fast about a small child. So he smiled again, knowing why his daughter quickly took a bite from each apple.

Don’t judge anything or draw a conclusion(结论) too quickly. Always spend some more time in understanding things better.

【推荐2】When he was nine years old, an American boy called Milo Cress had a question: How many plastic（塑料）straws do Americans use every day?

He soon learned there wasn’t a simple answer. The boy tried to find it out himself. Through lots of facts, Cress found out that Americans used about 500,000,000 straws every day. He couldn’t believe it. In hopes of cutting down plastic waste（浪费）, he set up the Be Straw Free Project in 2011.

Cress started the project in his hometown—Burlington, Vermont. He asked a restaurant to stop offering a straw with every drink. It was easy. But it would save much money. And by doing that, the restaurant would cut down on its straw use by 50%.

For the next few years, Cress tried to share his project across the United States. More and more restaurants agreed to join. They stopped giving the customer（顾客）a straw unless he or she asked for one. In July, 2018, Seattle became the first American city to stop using plastic straws in restaurants.

After his project became popular, he spoke to tens of thousands of students around the world. He hopes more people will say no to plastic straws. “Caring about straws is one small step to make our life better,” Cress says, “and it makes me feel that I, as a teenager, could make a difference, too.”

【推荐3】Everyone has their hard times throughout their lives. I also had such a hard time. My spoken English used to be a big challenge for me - both in my study and in my life. Though I could get good grades in English exams, I didn't dare(敢) to communicate with others in English.

Our school organized (组织) a Sino-foreign exchange activity last year. When I saw my classmates speak English well and chat cheerfully with those foreign students on the stage, I envied them at that moment because I also wanted to make friends with foreigners. Outside the school, I was in a similar predicament (困境). While I was traveling abroad, I was upset when some friendly English-speaking locals tried to talk with me.

In order to change all of this, I made up my mind to improve my spoken English. I changed my attitude (态度) towards my flaw (缺陷). As Charlie Chaplin, one of the most famous comedians ever, once said, "You have to believe in yourself. That's the secret of success.” No one can complete something without confidence. So I set out to take an active part in different kinds of English activities and bring myself to give speeches in front of all my classmates. Chances only prefer the prepared mind. Through a whole year of efforts, I’ve made great progress in my spoken English and I'm no longer afraid of speaking English in public. Never say never! If I can make the impossible possible, so can you. Face difficulties with courage and overcome them, and you will finally achieve success.

【推荐1】Joe, a 75-year-old man, lived very happily and had a beautiful family. He had four grandchildren, and they all visited him during their holidays.

Before they came to visit, Joe was preparing his home for the kids: cleaning the house and buying their favorite foods. But while he was working, he lost his favorite watch.

The watch was a gift from his deceased (已故的) wife when their first child was born. Joe loved the watch very much. He was very upset.

When his grandchildren came, they promised him they would find the watch.

One granddaughter asked, “Grandpa, do you remember when you saw the watch last before it went missing?”

Joe replied, “I guess when I was cleaning the barn!”

The children searched for more than two hours but could not find it.

One grandson went to search the barn again, and Joe asked why he was going there. The little boy asked the others not to follow him and to keep silent.

He was there for about 15 minutes and then rushed to his grandfather. He found the watch!

Joe was surprised and asked how he was able to find it. The little boy replied, “I sat there without making a noise, and the barn was so silent. After a few minutes, I heard the ‘tick, tick’ sound and found the watch.”

Joe hugged him and thanked the little boy.

This shows the power of silence. If we stay cool, we are better able to find a solution!

【推荐2】A group of university graduates visited their old professor. During their visit, the conversation turned to work. The graduates were complaining about their problems and stress in work and in life. After offering coffee to his guests, the professor went to the kitchen and came back with a coffee pot and a tray (托盘), crowded with many different cups: porcelain (陶瓷), glass, plastic and crystal (水晶).

Some cups were simple, other ones expensive. The professor asked them to pick out their cups first. When the graduates picked out their favorite cups. The professor explained, “Notice how all the beautiful cups were picked out and the simple and cheap ones were left.”

“Wanting only the best things for yourself is the source of your problems and stress. You need to understand that the cup doesn’t make the coffee better. Actually, all that you wanted was the coffee not the cup. But you consciously (有意识地) chose the best cups, and then looked to see what cups others picked.”

“Life is the coffee. Your job, money, position in society...they are the cups. The type of cup doesn’t determine the quality of life. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cups, we forget to enjoy the taste of coffee. The happiest people are not those who have the best things, but those who enjoy life and make the most of what they have.”

Hearing this, the graduates were speechless. They had learned another important life lesson from their old professor—that true happiness means enjoying life and not worrying about unimportant things.

【推荐3】There was a young man who was in trouble. He went bankrupt(破产) and his wife went away from him. From then on, failure was all that he had seen. Struggling(斗争) with this, he went into the forest alone. There, he met an old man who had lived there for a long time. He shared his story with the old man and asked, “Can you give me one good reason not to give up?”

“Look,” the old man said. “Do you see that fern (蕨类植物) and bamboo there?”

“Yes,” the man answered.

“When I planted the fern and bamboo seeds, I watered them carefully. Within a few days, the fern quickly grew from the land,” the old man went on.

“However, I watered the bamboo seed for years, it still didn’t sprout. But I didn’t give up and continued looking after it. In the fifth year, a small sprout came out of the land. Within six months, the tree grew a hundred feet tall.”

“The little bamboo tree had been growing underground in the past four years, developing a root strong enough for its ground growth(生长) in the fifth year. If it hadn’t done this, it would not be so strong. So you know, all the time you were struggling, you were actually growing strong roots,” the old man said. Finally, the man thanked the old man deeply. Then he left the forest with the hope for life.