【推荐1】Laziness is a state of mind. If you're determined to make a fresh start, but something always pulls you back, that something could be you. We choose our behaviors, even the lazy ones.     1    

Admit that you are lazy.

Much like any recovery program, the first step is admitting there is a problem.     2     However,you don't have to experience any public humiliation. You can keep this to yourself. Nobody has to know that you're even thinking about it, let alone trying to change your lazy habits.

Stop delegating.

Lazy people like to delegate(委派)a lot.     3     You really want that pizza for dinner? Walk your feet to your car and go pick it up! Nowadays convenience has become a great selling point in the US because of laziness.

    4    

Who is that? That is the person who is solely (唯一的)responsible for your successes and failures in life. Wave. Get acquainted. When you start taking responsibility for yourself and stop blaming others, you can begin to attack laziness at its core.

Make a plan.

Write out the things about you that are lazy, in every category of your life—health, diet, work, home, family. Evaluate just how much life you are wasting by being lazy. Notice how many things you are missing out.     5     Make a priority list.

【推荐2】I am a good mother of three children. I have tried never to let my profession stand in the way of being a good parent.

I no longer consider myself the center of the universe. I show up. I listen. I try to laugh. I am a good friend to my husband. I have tried to make marriage vows (誓言) mean what they say. I am a good friend to my friends, and they to me. Without them, there would be nothing to say to you today.

So here’s what I want to tell you today: Get a life — a real life, not a desire of the next promotion (提升), the bigger paycheck, or the larger house. Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure (空闲), it is work. Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter. And realize that life is the best thing and that you have no business taking it for granted.

It’s so easy to waste our lives, our days, our hours, and our minutes. It’s so easy to exist instead of to live. I learned to live many years ago. Something really, really bad happened to me, something that changed my life in some ways that, if I had my choice, it would never have been changed at all. And what I learned from it is what, today, seems to be the hardest lesson of all.

I learned to love the journey, not the destination (目的地). I learned to look at all the good in the world and try to give some of it back because I believed in it, completely and totally. And I tried to do that, in part, by telling others what I had learned.

By telling them this: Read in the backyard with the sun on your face. Learn to be happy. And think of life as a deadly illness, because if you do, you will live it with joy and passion as it ought to be lived.

【推荐3】During the holidays or festivals, most of us get time away from work or university and we all intend to put this time off to good use, but it's not always easy. To help, we've had come up with a few ways to keep up with your courses, as well as the festive activities and celebrations.

    1     When you're in holiday mode, it's easy to lose track of the hours and days. To avoid this, try to plan your schedule beforehand. Mark certain days, or hours, as learning hours and set reminders on your phone or. in your diary so that you can stick to them.     2     This is very important when you want to combine work and pleasure during the holidays.

Think of a goal. What do you want to achieve at the end of the holiday period?     3     You can write your goal out nice and big on a note or a piece of paper and stick it. somewhere you can see it, so you're reminded of what you're working towards.

Take it step by step. A key thing to remember over the holidays is that you can learn something in a few short bursts.     4     If sitting down for a solid hour of learning isn't working for you, just try 10 minutes at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Don't forget to reward yourself. If you're still struggling to keep going with your learning, try making sure you have rewards for when you complete some learning. For instance, if you finish one third of today's lesson, you can have a cup of hot chocolate.     5    

【推荐1】Smokejumpers

Every year, wildfires destroy millions of hectares of forest. Homes are damaged, and thousands of people die. Smokejumpers are helping to stop this.

What is a smokejumper?

Smokejumpers are a special type of firefighter. They jump from planes into areas that are difficult to reach by car or on foot, like the middle of a mountain forest. They race to put out fires as fast as they can.

What do smokejumpers do?

At a fire site, smokejumpers first examine the land and decide how to fight the fire. Their main goal is to stop a fire from spreading. Using basic equipment such as shovels and axes, smokejumpers clear land of burnable material like plants and other dry material. They carry water with them too, but only a limited amount.

Who can be a smokejumper?

Although the majority of smokejumpers are men, more women are joining. Most important are your height and weight. Smokejumpers employed in the U.S., for example, must be 120 to 200 pounds (54 to 91 kilograms), so they don’t get hurt when they land, or get blown by strong winds. Smokejumpers must also be capable of surviving in the wildness.

The work is dangerous, and the hours are long. But for these firefighters, smokejumping isn’t just an occupation. They love being able to jump out of planes, fight fires, and live in the forest. As 28-year-old smokejumper Bob Smith says, “This is the best job for tough guys.”

【推荐3】As a child, Danielle Belleny’s love for nature led her to wildlife biology. Growing up, Danielle Belleny was always outdoors, picking up insects and investigating the animal world on her own. She hadn’t yet heard of wildlife biology, but that’s what she was learning about. She wanted to be a vet, a person who can treat sick or injured animals, at first. She said, “I always knew I wanted to work with animals, and as a kid, that was the only job I knew where I could do that.” But when Belleny was in college, her dad advised her to learn wildlife biology instead of veterinary(兽医学).

Later, Belleny started working on research projects. One project involved placing trackers on a bird called the northern bobwhite. For another, she spent time feeding goats, as a way to protect a grass habitat for endangered box turtles without hurting them.

Belleny’s current job at Plateau Land and Wildlife Management lets her split her time between the indoors and outdoors. It also lets her work with people. “In the mornings, I’m usually out the door before sunrise,” she says. She observes birds, keeping track of different species. And she searches for signs of what other animals in the area are doing. Around lunchtime, she’ll return home and write up a report. In the afternoon, she leaves for another site visit. She advises people on how to protect the wildlife that lives on their farm. Her work takes her all around Texas.

Outside of work, young Belleny has been bird-watching for seven years. Her first book This Is a Book for People Who Love Birds was published in May, 2022. Now she’s working on a children’s book about birding, which is scheduled to come out in spring 2024. Belleny has some advice for young people thinking about careers. “Try everything you’re interested in through books and libraries. If you’re into wildlife biology, go to a library and find some field guides. After learning much information, you can do research work more easily”.