【推荐1】My old professor’s death sentence came in the summer of 1994. Doctors guessed he had two years left. Morrie knew it was less. But he had made a big decision, one he began to construct the day he came out of the doctor’s office with a sword hanging over his head. He would make death his final project. Since everyone was going to die, he could be of great value, right? He could be researched. Morrie would walk that final bridge between life and death, and record the trip.

The last class of my old professor’s life had only one student. I was the student. The class met on Tuesdays. The subject was “The Meaning of life”. It was taught from experience. No grades were given, but there were oral exams each week. You were expected to respond to questions, and you were expected to raise questions of your own. You were also required to perform physical tasks now and then, such as lifting the professor’s head to a comfortable spot on the pillow or placing his glasses on the bridge of his nose. Kissing him goodbye earned you extra credits. No books were required, yet many topics were covered, including love, work, community, family, aging, forgiveness, and finally, death.

I look back sometimes at the person I was before I rediscovered my old professor. I want to talk to that person. I want to tell him to be more open, to pay attention when your loved ones are speaking, as if it were the last time you might hear them. None of us can undo what we’ve done, or relive a life already recorded. But if Morrie taught me anything at all, it was this: there is no such thing as “too late” in life. He was changing until the day he said goodbye.

【推荐3】Smiling can infect everyone and light up our day. Well, it was at the market at 5 pm — the worst time of day to shop. I had to pick up a few essentials after work: cream for coffee, eggs for breakfast and Advil for my headache.

I’d been rushing all day doing jobs for people. I did not want to be shopping, to say the least. But I told myself it was my last stop before going home to put my feet up.

So I scored (得到) a parking place, grabbed a bag from the trunk and found a shopping cart.

The market wasn’t as crowded as I had expected. I grabbed a package of linguini (意粉) and some pesto.

That’s when I saw her. She was sitting in a shopping cart. She looked to be maybe 9 months old. Short blond curls, blue eyes. A white lace dress and shiny black shoes.

I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Then I did what I always do with children: I gave her my best smile. I may have looked a bit mad, but it came from my heart.

That is a habit I formed long ago when I became a mother. It started with my first child, in that unforgettable, life-changing moment.

At times my smile would fade to a look of fear or worry, but it never left my face for long. It always came back, even through tears.

I’ve learned that everyone needs a smile sometimes, young and old, friends and strangers, even strangers at the market in a rush to get home.

She took her time deciding just what to make of my smile. But finally, she lit up.

I laughed and waved goodbye. And she blew me a kiss.

That put a smile on my face and I got a smile in return from every shopper I passed.

I was still smiling when I got home and realized I’d forgotten to get Advil. Luckily, I didn’t need it. My headache was gone.

Somehow, in that simple exchange of smiles, this weary (使人厌烦的) old world became a better place. Want to change the world? Try smiling. Someone will smile back at you. I guarantee it.

If you’re lucky, maybe they’ll even blow you a kiss and make your headache go away.

【推荐2】Your child is unique, but what all children have in common is natural curiosity(好奇心)and an ability to learn they are born with. Our brains are active all the time, and a baby’s brain is the busiest of all. Research has shown that babies begin to understand language about twice as fast as they actually speak it. By showing children other languages at an early age, you are giving them the opportunity to make use of their natural ability to hear and recognize (辨认)between the sounds of other languages, and their ability to make sense of what they are hearing.

Communication is something that children do to help them achieve something else, and they are unaware of the large amount of learning taking place. They take everything in through their senses, making connection between what they hear, see, smell, taste and touch. As long as we provide the right conditions, their learning and development will take place in a natural way.

In your child’s early years, the emotional environment is just as important as the physical environment. Children learn when they feel safe, happy, valued and listened to. This is central to any learning experience   in child’s early years, including learning an additional language. Your child has a trial (试验)-and-error approach to its development, and making mistakes is a valuable part of   the learning process. When children learn an additional language at an early age, they get the benefits of experimenting with that language as a natural part of their development. Their progress isn’t prevented by a fear of getting it wrong, a nd very young children are simply working their way towards getting it right.

The long-term benefits of learning another language go beyond being able to communicate with others. Studies suggest that children learning an additional language tend to score better on standardized tests because learning languages develops listening, observation, problem-solving and critical (批判性的)thinking skills. These are skills that are of life-long benefit, both personally and professionally. Encouraging in children a love of language at an early age prepares them well for school and for life.

【推荐3】After entering high school, you must wonder how to study well. Here are some good skills for you.

Go to class.

If you want to do well at school, going to class is the first step in studying well. If you miss classes, you will miss what the teacher thinks is important; as a result, you’ll miss what is the most likely to end up on the test.     1    

Take good notes.

Try not to write down everything.     2     Write down unfamiliar terms. After class, review your notes as soon as possible. You can fill in details that you missed and review the material while it is still fresh on your mind.

    3    

If you are struggling in class, talk to your teacher. He or she may be able to give you more help or tutor you before or after class. Most teachers have little sympathy(同情)for students who just become worried about failing during the last few weeks of the grading period.

Take part in class discussions.

In order to learn more in class, it is helpful to take part in class discussions. Asking questions and having eye contact with your teachers and classmates can increase your participation and your focus during the class discussion.     4     This helps you make your point clear in class.

Form study groups.

    5     Make sure that everyone is familiar with the material because you do not want to spend time re-teaching material to people who do not understand it. Be careful! Sometimes group sessions(会话)can become chatting sessions.

【推荐2】A pen has always been an important tool when we are taking exams. However, in the digital age, this traditional tool may become a thing of the past. Cambridge University in Britain is considering ending 800 years of written exams and allowing students to use laptops or iPads to take exams instead. The move comes after Cambridge teachers complained (抱怨) that students' handwriting is becoming too hard to recognize. The fall in writing clearly depends on laptops in lessons and elsewhere.

As a result, more and more students with poor handwriting are being forced to return to university during the summer holidays to read their answers aloud to their teachers. However, some criticized (批评) the move, fearing the handwritten word would become a lost art.

Tracey Trussell, a handwriting expert, asked Cambridge to ''make sure that students continue to write by hand, particularly in lessons''. She told The Telegraph that writing by hand could help students improve their memory and understand lessons better.

The move also draws the attention of Harvard professor Eric Mazur. He believes that the rise of mobile internet use means that we live in an age in which we don't need to remember anything.

So he encourages students to bring their laptops and mobile phones into exams. With them, students can ''look up whatever they want, whenever they want'' and be tested on their productive skills, rather than the ability of memory.