谈论严肃话题（Talking about Something Seriously）
美文欣赏
The Creative Way
Because of the rule which requires us to use standard envelopes, there is a problem about to do with the used ones. After thinking for a long time, I have a few suggestions for dealing with old envelopes.
First of all, use them as memos(备忘录). Sometimes we have to ask somebody to take a message for us. We could write the name and address on the envelope as a reminder.
Secondly, we can use them as “little boxes”. That is, we could use them to hold little things, such as tickets and receipts. In this way, they would be organizers for little things, which are easy to misplace.
Thirdly, use them as special photo albums. According to some friends, photos placed in plastic photo albums easily become damp. If we put the photos in envelopes, we could avoid the problem.
The fourth use of the old envelopes is to use them for preparing rough drafts. If we cut them open and spread them out, they provide a large writing surface.
Of course there are many other ways to use them. In a word, all of the above are only my suggestions. So long as we use our heads, we can be creative and find many ways to deal with our old things.

看了题目，到几乎读完全文，作者似乎再也未提及old envelopes与 creative有什么关系，但读到最后一句，我们才会顿悟：原来要具有创造性（to be creative）其实就这么简单——So long as we use our heads! 这正是作者的高明之处：于简单之中显真理！
本文开题简朴、称述条理清楚、结论水到渠成，文笔简单易懂。学习时还应注意到其句子的多样化（划线部分）。
推荐背诵文段

常用表达法
1.五个基本环节
Starting
Giving ideas
Developing
Arguing
Coming to a conclusion
1）起笔（Starting）
（1）称述事实式
The fact that blind people can see things using other parts of their bodies apart from their eyes may help us to understand our feeling about colour. (Color and Feelings)
（2）设问式
Right is right. Right? But is left wrong? (Is Left Wrong?)
2）提出观点（Giving ideas）
（1）借助常识：
It is known to all that smoking is harmful to our health. (The Ways of Being Healthy)
（2）直抒己见：
I think it is useful to build a new dam across the river. (Making Full Use of Our Water)
We also believe that doing exercises every day will do us a lot of good. ((The Ways of Being Healthy)
（3）巧用成语：
“Where there is a will, there is a way.” It is the same in learning English. (How to Learn English Well)
“Like father, like son.” So what you do today will be done again tomorrow by your children. (A Letter to Parents)
3）强化论点（Developing）
（1）First…,Second…,Third…Finally…（2）Firstly…,Secondly…,Thirdly…Finally…（3）First of all…,Then…,Next…,At last…（4）Furthermore…;Besides…;Moreover…（5）What’s more,…;At the same time,…; What is worse,…
4）提出反驳（Arguing）
（1）but, yet, still; however; although…
（2） on the other hand…;on the contrary…;
in spite of…;even though…;At the same time…
（3） 60 percent of the students think…and about 10 percent, giving no idea, while the rest of the students are strongly against the suggestion.