【推荐1】The term “staycation” means vacations that you take at home or near your home rather than traveling to another place. It is is closely connected with less pollution, saving money and not contributing to the overwhelming disorder that takes place in some of the world's most touristic areas.

The concept of staycation was born at the time of the 2008 market ______ in the United States.

Because of it, many households were forced to ______ their expenses and consequently limit   their vacation budget. The shortage of money to travel abroad is at the origin of why many people started to (re) discover their most ______ surroundings

At the same time, awareness of the ______ impacts of tourism, especially on what concerns   the impacts of transportation, started to increase too. And so did the perception that some of the main cities (abroad) are increasingly overloaded with people-- with places such as Barcelona, Venice, or the Seychelles planning on ______ a tourist cap.

Staycation appears like a great solution for the ______ above mentioned. It is a great way of spending joyful vacations while helping one's ______ and the environment. ______, staying     close to home eliminates the budget for accommodation and transport.

Apart from the financial ______ gained by leaving behind expensive plane tickets or by not booking hotel rooms that aren't cheap, staycation also has the benefit of keeping harmful ______ in the ground. Cars, boats, and planes are not (or are less) used; ______, other means   of transport such as public transport, bicycles, electric scooters or just walking are favored.

This allows people's carbon footprints not to ______ as much as they would if long distances   had been traveled.

A staycation is a form of alternative tourism that is fully in line with the slow tourism trend. Slow tourism invites you to live in the ______ moment. It encourages you to take your time, discover nearby landscapes, reconnect and spend more time outdoors in nature with the people you enjoy, There are no fully-booked days, and there is no ______ to go from one activity to another just to stay busy all the time.

Given the multiple ______ of local tourism, you no longer have a reason to be embarrassed at the coffee machine at work when you are asked where you are going on vacation this year.

【推荐3】You can actually catch a good mood or a bad mood from your friends, according to a recent study in the journal Royal Society Open Science.But that shouldn't stop you from____with pals who are down in the dumps,say the study authors:____,the effect isn't large enough to push you into depression.

The new study adds to a growing body of research suggesting that happiness and sadness-as well as lifestyle and behavioral factors like smoking,drinking,obesity,fitness habits and even the ability to concentrate-can____across social networks, both online and in real life.But while many____studies have only looked at friendship data at one point in time, this is one of the few that measured social and mood changes over time.

The new research involved groups of junior-high and high-school students who took part in___ screenings(筛查） and answered questions about their best friends, many of whom were also enrolled in the study. In total,2,194 students were included in the____,which used a mathematical model to look for connections among friend networks.

Overall,kids whose friends suffered from bad moods were more____to report bad moods themselves- and they were less likely to have improved when they were screened again six months to a year later. When people had more happy friends,____,their moods were more likely to improve over time.

Some symptoms related to depression-like helplessness,tiredness and loss of interest-also seemed to follow this____,which scientists call “social contagion.”But this isn't something that people need to ___,says lead author Robert Eyre,a doctoral student at the University of Warwick. Rather, it's likely just a “____empathetic response that we're all familiar with, and something we recognize by common sense,"he says. In other words,when a friend is going through a rough patch, it makes sense that you'll feel some of their ___,and it's certainly not a reason to stay away.

The study also found that having friends who were clinically depressed did not __     participants' risk of becoming depressed themselves. “Your friends do not put you at risk of illness," says Eyre,"so a good course of action is simply to____them."To boost both of your moods, he suggests doing things together that you both ___-and taking other friends along to further spread those good feelings,too.”

【推荐2】When I was three years old, my parents discovered I was totally deaf. After consulting with many doctors, they made a decision about my ________. Instead of sending me to a private school for the deaf, they decided to send me to a_______one.

From the first day there, the other kids________ me and called me names________my hearing aid and the way I talked. I experienced great________because, in addition to the problems of “fitting in” with the other students, I also struggled with my ______. I seemed to spend every spare moment doing homework just so I could ______. The teachers didn’t know what to do with me.

Because of my hearing disability, I was constantly_________everyone, “What did he/she say?” But I ______ that everyone would soon grow tired of repeating everything back to me. Since fitting in was so_______to me, every time people around me laughed or smiled, I did the same even though I________had no idea what was going on. On the surface, I was_______, but in reality, my self-esteem（自尊） was quite low. Mrs. Jordan, my 5th grade teacher, _______ all of that with a simple three-word phrase. One morning, she asked the class a question. I read her lips and _________raised my hand. I couldn’t________it –for once I knew the________. But, when she called on me, I was ______. I took a deep breath and nervously answered Mrs. Jordan’s question.

I’ll never forget what________next. With sparkling eyes and a wide smile she cried, “That’s right, Stephen!”

For the first time in my young life, I was an instant star. My heart burst with pride.   I sat a little taller in my chair. My_54____soared（猛增）as never before. From that day forward, my________and speech improved greatly and my popularity among my classmates increased.

【推荐1】I log onto a computer at the doctor’s office to say I have arrived and then wait until a voice calls me into the examination room. There, a robotic nurse ________ me onto the scales and then takes my blood pressure. Some time later, in steps the doctor, who is also a robot. He notes down my ________ and gives me a(n) ________. I pay for my visit using a credit card and return home without having met another human being. This is my nightmarish vision of the future, which hasn’t happened ________ yet.

I should say I really do like many aspects of ________. I am a big fan of air conditioning in summer and heaters in winter. But I am writing this because I don’t want machines to ________.

When I call my dentist’s office and actually get a human being on the line, I am ________. And when I see the introduction of yet more self-service checkout stations at the grocery store, I feel like ________, “When it comes to cashiers, make mine a(n) ________, please!”

After all, human cashiers sometimes ________ you a store coupon for items you are buying.

Even more than that, real-life cashiers often take an interest in particularly cute children, which can ________ young mothers’ day. A cashier may also show compassion for an elderly person ________ to get that last penny out of his purse.

Machines can be ________ and cost-effective and they often get the job done just fine. ________ they lack an element so important to everyday life.

Call it the spirit, the soul or the heart. It is ________ no machine will ever have. It is human being that encourages us to smile at others, which may be what they need at that moment.

【推荐2】Growing up in the 1960s, I was taught from an early age to send a handwritten thank­you note expressing ______ for kindness. My mother used to buy me a box of paper and ______ me in the art and value of saying “thank you”. She _____ to be right.

A study showed that it took less than 5 minutes to write the thank­you notes. Just 5 minutes to make another person feel overjoyed! ______, in our “instant” world, the idea of getting an actual pen and writing an actual note seems to never come to mind. We tend to do what is ______ to us — a quick text or an email.

It is easy to use the excuse of being busy, but even very busy and ______ businessmen find time to ______ thank­you notes. For example, when Douglas Conant became CEO of Campbells, the company had ______ half of its market value and morale (士气) was at an all­time low. He ______ fixing that by doing some simple things that probably not _____ in any MBA class. For one thing, Conant wrote to every ______. He gained their confidence and naturally, turned the company around.

In his ten years as CEO, Conant wrote over 30,000 notes to employees. It’s _____ not to ask how he did it. ______, he had many other things to do _____ writing thank­you note. Conant made time for it because he knew the impact each one would have. An expression of ______ in this crazy world still makes a difference.

【推荐3】At time of crisis, we tend to turn inward. It seems like feeling better and ________ putting our own needs first. But science suggests that these self-care tendencies are ________. In fact, the best way to ________ your own self-care is to provide other-care.

Research shows that we get ________ from doing nice things for other people. The people who self-report being happiest ________ those in need — they donate (捐献) more of their time and money to charity and ________ acts of kindness. So why not improve your mental ________ by doing something good for another person? If you are working ________, stop driving your car and donate the money saved on gas to a charity. Or just check in with a friend who is ________.

But do be ________ to yourself as well. The season of new year’s resolutions can be a time when it is easy to beat yourself up. We________ ourselves by reflecting on how badly we have done in the past year. But research shows that severe self-criticism and unrealistic ________will make you give up before you even begin. A better________ for the new year is to extend yourself some kindness. It means _______ that you are human and you are doing the best you can in hard times.

The tips won’t make the ________ of the new year disappear, but these practices can boost your mood and give you a bit more happiness.