Dear Sir,

    I would like to recommend Liu Hua for this year's Youth Service Award.

    Liu Hua is a clever girl. She is very good at drawing and she often teaches children how to draw after school.

    Liu Hua is kind and friendly. She comes to our community center every day. She does a lot of things for the center. Sometimes she comes to the center at the weekends to teach English. All the members of the community center like her very much.

    Last month, Liu Hua broke her arm while playing tennis, but she did not stop coming to the center. She said that she felt happy to help others.

    Many members think that Liu Hua should get an award for her hard work. We look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Xiao Hong

A Recommendation {#blank#}1{#/blank#} 

    Kevin loves to read mystery books. He likes to try to solve the mystery himself before he gets to the end. He also likes solving problems. Kevin can usually solve any mystery or problem.

    One day Kevin's mom was trying to find her glasses. Without her glasses, she could not drive. This was a problem because she was going to drive Kevin to his friend's house. It was also a mystery. Kevin really wanted to solve it.

    "Where do you last remember seeing your glasses?" he asked his mom.

    "I had them on while I was watching the news this morning," she said.

    "Where were you watching the news?" asked Kevin.

    His mom thought for a minute, and then she answered that she was in the living room.

She remembered sitting in her favorite chair and taking off her glasses when the news ended. She thought she put her glasses on the table, but they weren't there.

    Kevin had his mom describe everything she remembered doing during the day. She mentioned watching the news, making breakfast, working in her home office and then gardening. It was after gardening that she started looking for her glasses.

    After hearing about his mom's day, Kevin began to take action. He looked under her favorite chair, in the kitchen, in her office and around the garden. He didn't find her glasses.

    Kevin doesn't give up easily, so he looked in each place again and he looked even harder. It was on his second go around of the kitchen that he thought to open the cabinets (储藏柜). He found his mom's glasses in the drawer (抽屉).

    "Thank you, Kevin," said his mom. "I wouldn't be able to see anything without you."

    Typing(打字) is one of the most important and basic work skills of the 21st century. Because mobile phones are now so popular, there is a new kind of typing-thumbing. Thumbing means people use one or more thumbs(拇指) to touch the keys.

    Most people can type between 20 and 35 words a minute. Some typists, however, can work very quickly, at more than 110 words a minute. And people's left hand usually does 56 percent of the typing.

    The most common international English keyboard is QWERTY. People name it after the first letters on the top left side of the keyboard. It is more than 140 years old. Other keyboards include QWERTZ (in Central Europe) and AZERTY (used by most French speakers in Europe). Countries with non-Roman alphabets(字母系统), such as, Arabia, Russia or Japan, have their own keyboards.

    People practise the sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" to make their typing better. That's because it uses every letter of the English alphabet.

    Thumbing and typing can hurt you. RSI (repetitive strain injury) is the name of a medical condition you get if you type too much. However, most people do not understand what RSI is or how serious it can be. Anyone who uses a computer a lot is at risk and should know about RSI.

    The summer holiday is coming. What a perfect chance to plan a trip! How about backpacking (背包旅行)? Maybe you're too young to do it. But it doesn't matter. Follow me and you'll learn about an interesting way to travel.

    Have you ever noticed foreigners with big bags on their backs? They wear jeans and T-shirts, and have guidebooks or maps in their hands. They look curious (好奇的) about everything they see. They enjoy themselves without a tour group. That's right! They are backpackers.

    Backpacking is a popular way for Westerners to travel outside of their country. It's cheap so that people can travel more and see more places. Most backpackers are young people because backpacking needs a strong body, courage and freedom.

    Backpackers usually do some homework before setting out. They search for information about their destination (目的地) country: food, fun places to visit, hostels (青年旅舍) and things to buy. They are sure they know how to change planes or where to get the train.

    Backpacking is a freer way to travel. You can change your destination whenever you want. It also allows travelers to explore and see more. And you can decide how long to stay there. If you go with a tour group, there may be a lot of rules and you may not be free to do things as you like.

    Zhuge Liang lived during the Three Kingdoms period. He was famous for his talent and loyalty (忠诚).

    When Zhuge Liang was young, he lived the life of a farmer in Nanyang. Liu Bei visited him three times. Finally, Zhuge Liang promised to do his best to help Liu Bei. A few years later, they built the state of Shu.

    After the death of Liu Bei, his son Liu Shan became the emperor of Shu. Zhuge Liang helped him rule the state. He was the prime minister, but he took care of everything, no matter how small it is. ⑶Because of his hard work, the state became much stronger than before.

    At that time, the state of Wei was an enemy of Shu. Zhuge Liang led the army to fight Wei many times. Before he left, ⑷Zhuge Liang wrote a letter to the emperor. At the end of the letter, he said, "I will give myself to the people and the country until the last day of my life." The war between Shu and Wei lasted for a long time. Finally, Zhuge Liang became sick and died.

It tells us …

   ⑸Zhuge Liang spent all his time working for his people and country. A great man like him will always be remembered.

    How do people find their inner talent (潜力)? British author Kenneth Robinson talked about this at TED. He told the story of Gillian Lynne, a dancer and a choreographer (编舞者) who has worked on many famous musicals (音乐剧).

    Gillian Lynne never did well in school as a child. She couldn't sit for long and often found herself moving restlessly (不安地). Her mother was really worried about her. She took Lynne to a doctor and told the doctor the problems Lynne was having in school. Then, the doctor said to Lynne, "I need to speak to your mother first. Wait here."

    As they left the room, the doctor turned on the radio. He then said to Lynne's mother, "Just stand and watch her." Later they found Lynne start dancing to the music on the radio.

    The doctor then turned to Lynne's mother and said, "Mrs. Lynne, your daughter isn't sick. She's a dancer. Take her to a dance school."

    So the mother did. Lynne found there were many people like her in the new dance school. They all had to move their bodies to think. Lynne later went to the Royal Ballet School (皇家芭蕾学校) one of the world's greatest dance schools, and became a great dancer, she worked on some of the most successful musicals in history, such as Cats and Phantom of the Opera (《歌剧魅影》). It is hard to believe that years ago, somebody else would just put her on medication (药物治疗) and tell her to calm down.