Love, joy, and the warm feeling of pulling together to get through tough times donft cost a thing. But gifts do cost money. So, what’s a poor family to do?

When Christmas season rolled around again, I told my mother that the only thing I wanted was a pogo stick (弹簧单高跷). However, my mother told me they were too expensive and that we simply couldn’t afford one.

On a Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks before Christmas, my mom and dad told me we needed to go to Sears to pay our credit card bill. While my mother and I were at the counter paying the bill, my dad said, “I’ll be right back— I need to see something in the tool department.” A little later, my dad came back with a long box. I remember wondering at that very moment if it was a pogo stick in that box.

When we arrived back at home, my dad put the box in the garage. While my parents were busy with their chores, I quietly walked out to the garage and found the box. I was so excited and I knew that as soon as I opened that magical box my bright, shiny pogo stick would appear. No such luck! Inside the box was a silly old broom. And so Christmas morning was both great and disappointing. I got some nice gifts but I didn’t get the present that I really wanted.

After all the wrapping paper was cleaned up my dad said he needed to tend to something in the garage. When he came back in, he was carrying a beautiful pogo stick. I couldn’t believe it! My parents probably got quite a laugh from the trick they played on me.

Although we didn’t have much money, my parents gave me the most important gift of all: lots of love. My dad worked hard to provide for us and my mother knew how to stretch a dollar. That was over 60 years ago and I still think about those wonderful Christmas memories every year during the holiday season. My parents were the best and I will never forget all the joy they brought into my life.

The start of the U.S. Atlantic hurricane season is just over two weeks away and forecasters are expecting particularly high activity this year. With warmer than usual conditions expected in the North Atlantic this summer, meteorologists (气象学者) have predicted that the season could produce eight or more hurricanes.

While forecasters cannot predict how many hurricanes — if any — will make landfall, the potential for dangerous storms to strike the southern and eastern coasts brings an additional problem for authorities(专家) already struggling with the COVID-19.

Experts say that the COVID-19 is affecting the capabilities of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other organizations involved in responding to natural disasters.

Retired U-S. Army Lieutenant General Jeffrey Talley, who now leads global efforts on disaster management at IBM's Center for the Business of Government, said that with FEMA and other authorities engaged with responding to the COVID-19, resources will be limited if a hurricane strikes.

“When we look at a disaster.I think of it in terms of how we prepare for, respond to and recover from those types of events,” Talley said “Right now we’re in the middle of the response of COVID-19. None of us are really sure how long it's going to last and how the response to disasters is going to be different, say, two months from now, six months from now, so on and so forth,” he said.

According to Talley, the COVID-19 could complicate the response to a hurricane by interrupting the flow of emergency supplies to areas where they are urgently needed at key moments.

Social distancing and stay-at-home orders will also force authorities along the south and east coast to rethink how they manage people who must leave their homes in the event of a disaster. While many states are already lifting some lockdown restrictions, social distancing will still be important for many months to come.

In the digital age, we rely on technology such as social media in trying to build interesting and varied lives. Social networking sites like Facebook are designed and promoted to make us believe enthusiastically that they are able to open up new experiences for us. There are constant notifications (通知）and updates， urging us to check-in to find out what is new.

But if we do not use the technology wisely, we can end up becoming overly attached and trapped in a cycle of social media FOMO, a sign of deeper unhappiness. FOMO, or fear of missing out，is a fear that exciting or interesting events are happening somewhere else and that we are not able to take part.

People who experience high levels of FOMO have been found to be more likely to give in to urges to write and check text messages while driving, as well as to use Facebook more often directly after waking, while going to sleep and during meals.

When it comes to lasting happiness, it is best not to give in to FOMO, but rather to deal with the cycle of desires that fuel it. Hard as it is, we are better off working toward facing the fearful reality that we cannot experience everything we might like than to get caught in a cycle of checking behaviors that only cause anxiety.

If we have become used to using social media as part of our attempts at living interesting lives, we must admit that it is not easy to change our approach. But change is almost always worthwhile in the long run.

The fact that FOMO is so common in our digital age is a sign that there is something wrong with the way we are pursuing happiness and that we are not as happy as we might think we are. It should warn us that, in our eagerness to use digital technology to try to make ourselves happier, we may unintentionally be bringing on exactly the opposite result.

Being a good team player is an essential skill, especially at work and school. Then how to be a good team player?

Show you're reliable by doing everything you say you will. Your actions will reflect on everyone in your group, so do your best to always follow through.     11    

Make sure you do an equal share of the work. No one likes a teammate who barely contributes to the project.     12     Not only will your group mates appreciate your work ethic (行为准则)，it will show your supervisor(主管）or instructor that you’re a good team player.

    13     Always say what you mean，but use a loyal tone. Similarly，don’t waste people’s time by hiding the truth or being indirect about how you really feel.

Speak up when you have ideas.     14     Sharing your thoughts shows that you have more to offer and are thinking outside the box. Even if your ideas aren't right for the project, they might lead to future improvements on a different project.

    15     This is another way to show that you're a good team member. Step up to lead a project, knock out a backlog of unfinished tasks, or complete a side project. Then, complete the extra work as quickly as possible.