【推荐1】THE THIRD MONTH OF THE SCHOOL YEAR has now arrived. Have you noticed that when we talk about numbers, we naturally think of the number three?

In some ways, “three” is a number that has magical powers. You might have found that this number is all around us. Everything has a beginning, a middle, and an end. For example, we eat three meals a day. Traffic lights all over the world use three colors: red, yellow, and green. And there is the rule of three. It is an age-old writing skill. According to this rule, things can always become more satisfying to readers if they come in threes. Have you ever noticed how powerful ads use the rule of three to improve their marketing? Just do it. I’m loving it. Coke is it. These famous slogans(标语) are all three words long.

But what is it about the number three that makes it so magical? Well, it is because our brains enjoy thinking in patterns(规律). If there are no patterns, our brains will create them. And three is the smallest number needed to form a pattern. An audience member will usually only remember three things from a speech. Do you want something in your speech to keep in your audience’s minds? Put it forward to them in groups of three.

If we properly use the rule of three in our daily lives, we can make many things easier. For example, many people like to add lots of tasks to their to-do lists. Experts, however, suggest they should just make three tasks. These top three tasks should be hard enough to be challenging while still being achievable. And the next time you are making New Year’s resolutions, consider listing only three things to work on. The longer your list is, the less likely you are to keep it!

【推荐2】In our lives we are always playing games, because life itself is a game. Games are important for us to get knowledge and take decisions.

Games teach us to learn good or bad things. We can use the good things that the game teaches us in our lives. The bad things could do harm to our lives. Be careful with these bad things. Games can teach us bad or good things at the same time; in this case we need to separate very carefully what is bad from what is good to improve our lives.

Games teach us about history, economics (经济) and so on. Some games come with history knowledge and help us to learn very quickly about history. Economics is very important in our lives and games teach us about how the economics work.

Games can help us a lot when we make our own decisions. Because of games, we can do quickly, sure and right. We can make decisions very quickly after we practice games. Also we are sure about our decisions because when we play games we need to be very sure what we are doing. Decisions will be right because when we are playing games we learn to be right in our steps.

Playing games teaches me a lot in my life. I am able to talk about anything because I learn a lot of things from games.

The British Museum is one of the biggest museums in the world. Inside, you feel smaller than usual because there are so many things to see.

The story of the British Museum goes hack about three hundred years to one unusual man, Sir Hans Sloane, a doctor. The doctor collected books, drawings, clothes, money, animals, flowers and other things from all over the world. The doctor wanted everything to stay together when he died, so that people could come and have a look. He bequeathed his collections to King George II for the country. So the British Museum began. King George II gave away his library, and the museum started to grow.

The British Museum opened in 1759, six years after Sir Huns Sloane died. At first the museum was only open three days a week and only ten people could enter for an hour. There wasn't much time to see things. Visitors had to run through the rooms.

By about 1800, things began to get better. Wonderful statues which were three thousand years old arrived from Egypt. King George IV sold all his books to the museum secretly. A hundred years ago not only old books but also new ones arrived at the museum, and more people came to read them. Since then many famous men have written and studied there. And the library of the museum is growing bigger and bigger. There are four kilometers of new shelves and about two million visitors every year.

【推荐1】According to research, more than 130 billion pounds of uneaten food goes to waste in Laura’s country each year. That is about 30% of the yearly food supply. It is a sad fact, especially when you consider how many families and homeless people are in hunger.

When Laura saw her school dining hall throw away food that was not eaten at all every day, she came up with an idea. She started a project to help her school dining hall to give away uneaten food to homeless shelters (庇护所) in her community. In the past three years, the same project has spread to other schools and some fast food restaurants throughout the city. The project is called Feed & Find, and has already fed thousands of people in her city.

How does it work? Through an app, Feed & Find matches local homeless shelters with school dining halls and restaurants that have uneaten food to provide. When dining halls or restaurants have uneaten food left, they can use the app to share the information about the food. A truck driver working for the project is then sent to pick it up and take it to a shelter.

Pretty coo1, right? It’s not surprising that people in other cities have got in touch with Laura, hoping that she could help develop similar projects for their communities.

Some people, however, have concerns about the safety of the uneaten food. They think such food may not be clean enough. Still, this project is a clever way to help solve the problem of food waste and it helps those in need.

【推荐2】China, which has Four Great Inventions in ancient times, has again showed its ability to change the world with its “new four great inventions”. The four new ways of life are the most popular among young foreigners who study and work in China.

Electronic payment

“My wallet is no longer in use. I can buy and eat whatever I want with a tap of fingertip on my phone.” said Lin Jinlong, a student from Cambodia（柬埔察）in China. “Even pancake sellers are using Alipay mobile payment.”

Online shopping

“I can order food online at home. This is super convenient. If I am at home in Cambodia, I have to go outdoors.” China is innovating（创新）and no longer copying Western ideas. China has the largest mobile phone use in the world. This makes online shopping much easier.

Shared bicycles

Shared bikes bring cycling back to people’s lives and make public transport more popular. The bikes themselves aren’t new, but China has made the world surprised with the operating model（运营模式）of bike-sharing.

High-speed railways

Lin talked about his experience of traveling by Chinese high-speed train from Beijing to Tianjin. The journey takes only half an hour, while in Cambodia, which has only two railways, such a journey may take up to three hours.

【推荐3】No one knows when the first kite was made. The first record of a kite was more than 2,000 years ago in China. Han Xin, the leader of an army, wanted to bring down a king. He decided to dig a tunnel into the king’s palace. He flew a kite over the wall of the palace to make sure the length of its string. In this way, he could determine how long the tunnel should be. His men in the tunnel took the kite string with them. When they reached the end of the string, they knew to dig up.

Kites have been flown in Japan for hundreds of years. In the 1700s, kites were flown in autumn to give thanks for a good harvest. They were also flown to send good wishes to couples who had their first son. Today in Japan, kites are often flown as part of a celebration, such as the beginning of a new year. And kite festivals are held each year in many parts of the country.

Kites have been used for scientific purposes in the western world. In 1752, Benjamin Franklin tied a key to a kite and flew it in a storm to find out that lightening was a form of electricity. In the 1890s, Lawrence Hargrave invented the box kite to test ideas about flight. From 1898 until 1933, the United States Weather Bureau(气象局) used box kites to collect weather data. The Wright brothers also experimented(试验) with kites, and what they learned helped them make the first airplane flight in 1903.