1 . Seven-year-old Maggie Kuznia loves books, but she seems to love sharing the stories she reads even more. Qnce or twice a week, the little girl puts a few books in her backpack and gets ready to _______ the elderly at Good Samaritan Society.

Maggie’s mom, Tiffany Kuznia, works as the activity director at the retirement facility and often brings her daughter with her to _______. One day, as little Maggie was packing her bag, Tiffany Kuznia _______ her to bring her toys. Maggie quickly replied that she had _______ plans for the day. “I’m going to bring books and I’m going to read to the residents.” she _______.

With time, Maggie has become so beloved among the residents that she even has “_______” she reads to every week. She often visits each one for over an hour with her mom regularly checking in on her to make sure she isn’t overstaying her _______. Much to Maggie’s _______, the residents are more than happy to have her around for extended periods of time. The _______ usually leads to coloring books and doing puzzles with her elderly friends, who ________ Maggie a granddaughter of their own.

Maggie hopes to inspire other kids of her age to read to the elderly. ________ polishing her reading abilities and having a group of devoted ________, her senior friends are always ready to help her when she trips up on a ________ word. As for the residents, Maggie seems to ________ their day. “I think the intergenerational part is so good,” Patti Griggs, a resident Maggie has befriended, said. “Everybody likes to have the ________ of another person and be special to them.”

5 . Plastics have been found from the top of Mount Qomolangma to newly-formed beaches in Hawaii. The amount of plastic in our environment is shocking. What can we do about it? I’m inspired by Kate Nelson, who has lived without using single-use plastic for over ten years. Kate is also the founder of Sea the Mermaids, an organization focusing on stopping human-sourced ocean pollution through education and community action.

She recently wrote an inspiring and practical guidebook I Quit Plastics: and you can too, which is full of information and tips on how to cook, clean, shop, wear and live plastic-free. Upon first opening, you will see a recipe for Cashew Cheese that looks amazing! Not only does this book provide many delicious recipes, but also explores interesting problems about plastic pollution.

For example, Kate explores the problems about plastics and social justice, including plastic privilege(特权). She points out that wealthier countries, such as the USA, export their plastic waste to Southeast Asia, but many of these countries cannot process their own waste. In addition, most of the affordable food, though processed and unhealthy, is heavily packaged in plastic. People that live in “food deserts” in cities and depend on corner stores have no choice when it comes to avoiding plastics. Kate writes in the book, “Not everyone will have bulk (散装) food stores or farmers’ markets near where they live.”

Kate’s writing is easy to read without sounding preachy (说教的). Her explanations and reasoning are clear. From food to beauty to cleaning, Kate’s practical recipes and tips make it easy for everyone to reduce their chances of using single-use plastic. She develops effective strategies that others can easily adopt and offers clear steps to help people improve on the plastic quifting journey.

6 . Like reading? Interested in Chinese classical novels? Have a look at the following four books which are we known to most Chinese as Four Masterpieces.

The Water Margin

The Water Margin, also known as All Men Are Brothers in Pearl Buck’s translation, Shui Hu Zhuan in Chinese, is along chapter novel with the Song Jiang Uprising in the late Northern Song Dynasty as the main background and type of heroic legend. It is an immortal (不朽的) novel and has inspired many storytellers. The author of the novel is generally regarded as Shi Nai’an (1296~1371).

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the first full-length historical romance novel in China. Its author is Luo Guan zhong (about 1330~1400), a famous novelist in the late Yuan Dynasty and the early Ming Dynasty. Characters such as Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhuge Liang have become household names among the Chinese.

Journey to the West

Journey to the West is the first romantic chapter novel about gods and devils in ancient China. There are 100 copies of Journey to the Westin the existing Ming Publications without the author’s signature. Wu Yuxuan, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty, first proposed that the author of Journey to the West was Wu Cheng’en (1500~1582) of the Ming Dynasty.

The Dream of the Red Chamber

The Dream of the Red Chamber, also called The Story of the Stone, is said to be the greatest masterpiece of Chinese fiction. It is generally believed to be written by Cao Xueqin (about 1715~1763), a writer of the Qing Dynasty. With hundreds of persons and their stories, the story is very complex but also very interesting for its encyclopedic character(百科全书式的人物).

7 . I was out for an evening with a friend, getting the relief from pressure and catching up on our lives. We got around to the subject of books.

“When do you read?” my friend asked me. My mind took off on a fast journey through my bookshelves and piles of looks. I know some people make artsy towers and pyramids out of books, but I’m not that kind of woman. Mine are just…stacks (摞). Stacks on end tables, stacks on the floor.

When do I read? I read when I’m when I’m happy. I read when I’m bored. I read when I’m defeated. I read when I’m filled with anxiety. My self-medication for the thoughts is not exercise or alcohol, but Jane Austen. I absolutely must slow down the pace of my thoughts when living through a walk to the town Meryton in Pride and Prejudice. I read to visit places I’ll never see in real life. Thank you, Vikram Seth, for making me completely involved in 1950s India. Thank you, Khaled Hosseini, for giving me a chance to see 1970s high society of New York City, I’ll spend some time with Edith Wharton. I read when I’m recalling the good old days, Many of my favorite books of childhood are still my favorite books. I read when I get so addicted to an author that I want to read everything she has ever written, including her Christmas cards and grocery lists.

Of course, I didn’t say any of these things to my friend. I stared at her with a blank, foolish look.

“When do I read?” I repeated.

“Yes. When do you find time?” she asked.

“When? Evenings. Bedtime. Dinnertime, if I’m eating alone. Sunday afternoons. Moments stolen here and there. And now if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with Mr. Hemingway, ” I said.

8 . Four New Nature Travel Books

Discover the secret world of our trees with this book by bushcraft and survival expert Ray Mears, who takes us on a journey from the planting of the very first seedling in Britain a thousand years ago to the present day. The book looks to our ancestors to show how man’s hand is critical in shaping woodland. It’s structured around how we can “use” our woods, providing a root to explore some of Britain’s most remarkable trees.

A “slow travel” guide to one of Britain’s most beloved landscapes, this newly updated book remains the only stand-alone guide to the region. Written by Yorkshire resident, outdoors enthusiast and travel writer Mike Bagshaw, it takes in sandy beaches, woodlands and chalk grasslands. It has information on walking and cycle paths, as well as wildlife-watching areas. Whale-and dolphin-watching tours are also covered.

This rich photographic guide accompanies the new BBC documentary series of the same name, which sees Sir David Attenborough celebrate the wonders of British wildlife across a range of habitats. Written by natural history journalist Patrick Barkham and producer Alastair Fothergill, each chapter of the book focuses on a particular kind of wild space, from our wide variety of grasslands to our ocean shores, woodlands and remaining forests.

Explore the UK’s richest regions for wildlife with 100 walks chosen for their unique plants and animals. Written by Wales-based travel journalist Luke Waterson, with a foreword(前言)by Chris Packham, this new guide is published together with the current Springwatch BBC TV series and features walks that best reveal the diversity of British nature.

10 . I was a high school senior. One day, I skipped classes and walked into the ________. I spotted a book called The Treasure of Pleasant Valley written by Frank Yerby. Its name really ________ me, but I didn’t want others to know I was reading books because I was a troubled boy then. So I just ________ the book. After I had finished reading it, I took it back. When I ________ it, I saw another book ________ written by Frank Yerby. So I thought, maybe I’d read that, too. So I put it under my jacket and later I took it back. That semester, I ________ a total of four books by Frank Yerby.

Years later, I met Mrs. Grady, the teacher who had been the ________ . She told me she had seen me taking the first book. She said her first ________ had been “to go and tell the boy, you don’t have to steal a book”. You can ________ borrow them from the library and pay nothing. They’re ________ .” Then she realized I didn’t want anybody to ________ I was reading. So she decided that if I liked the book, she would ________another one for me to read.

And every time I took a ________ book out, she began to look for another. This wasn’t ________ because books were hard to get in those days. I was ________ to Mrs. Grady for getting me into the habit of enjoying reading so that I could eventually go to law school.