【推荐2】In choosing a friend, one should be very careful.   A good friend can help you study. You can have fun together and make each other happy. Sometimes you will meet fairweather friends. They will be with you as long as you have money or luck, but when you are down, they will run away. How do I know when I have found a good friend? I look for certain qualities(品质) of character, especially understanding, honesty and reliability(可靠).

Above all else, I look for understanding in a friend. A good friend tries to understand how the other is feeling. He is not quick to judge. Instead, he tries to learn from others. He puts himself in the other person' s place, and he tries to think of ways to be helpful. He is also a good listener.

At the same time, however, a good friend is honest. He does not look for faults(过错) in others.   He notices their good points. In short, a friend will try to understand me and accept me.

Another quality of a friend is reliability. I can always depend on a good friend. If he tells me he will meet me somewhere at a certain time, I can be sure that he will be there. If I need a favor, he will do his best to help me. If I am in trouble, he will not run away from me.

There is a fourth quality that makes a friend special. A special friend is someone with whom we can have fun. We should enjoy our lives, and we would enjoy our friendship. That is why I especially like friends who are fun to be with. A good friend likes the same things I like. We share experience and learn from each other.   A good friend has a good sense of humor(幽默), too. He likes to laugh with me. That is how we share in the joy of being friends. And I know that he is looking for the same quality in me.

When I meet someone who is reliable, honest, and understanding, I know I've found a friend!

【推荐3】An unpleasant smell floated into my nose as the bowl of fried stinky tofu（臭豆腐） settled onto my grandmother’s dinner table. I immediately sat back. The smell ruined my appetite, and I pushed the dish away.

“It’s supposed to stink. Just give it a try!” my grandmother said.

Holding my breath, I unwillingly took a bite. To my surprise, the tofu beneath the fried skin was warm, soft, and mouthwatering. Since then, whenever I visited my grandmother’s house, I would rush to the kitchen for the stinky tofu with excitement. Thus, stinky tofu became more than a household tradition. It became my favorite dish.

Along with the stinky tofu, I would meet my Uncle Chan on every visit. As an immature boy, I never understood my uncle’s condition of Down syndrome（唐氏综合征）.

He was an unfriendly and terrible creature in my eyes. He constantly walked around the house, talking to himself. Whenever he was within view, I would run away in fear.

However, one day, my view of my uncle suddenly changed. I was just getting out of my bed when I heard soft steps approaching. It was my uncle. My muscles froze. He slowly sat next to me and touched my face gently, as a mother would stroke （抚摸）a baby.

A wide smile emerged from his blank expression. How beautiful his smile was! I could not help but smile back. My fear disappeared gradually, and my muscles relaxed. For the first time, I could see softness and warmth in his eyes.

My uncle very much resembles stinky tofu. Stinky tofu smells unpleasant on the outside,   yet   feels   warm   and   soft   in   the   inside.   Like   stinky   tofu,   my   uncle’s   Down syndrome made me keep my distance at first. Yet, I learned that deep inside, he is harmless and has a loving nature.

Some people tend to look down upon disabled people and regard them as unfit for a regular life. As I was able to see through the outer surface of the tofu, these people are unable to see through the surface of prejudice（偏见）. As a result, they judge the disabled with one glance.

The outside and inside of the stinky tofu exist as two extremely different worlds. Perhaps that is what makes it such a tasty dish. Not only is it delicious, stinky tofu offers a valuable lesson: never judge people at first glance, for true beauty comes from the inside.

【推荐1】Body image is a person’s opinions and feelings about his or her own body and physical appearance.     1     You appreciate your body for its capabilities and accept ifs imperfections. So, what can you do to develop a positive body image? Here are some ideas.

Recognize your strengths. Different body types are good for different things. What does your body do well? Maybe your speed, strength, or coordination makes you better than others at a certain sport. That may be basketball, table tennis, mountain biking, dancing, or even running. Or perhaps you have non-sports skills, like drawing, painting, singing, playing musical instrument, writing or acting.    2    

Exercise regularly. Exercise can help you look good and feel good about yourself. Good physiques (体型) don’t just happen.     3     A healthy habit can be as simple as exercising 20 minutes to one hour three days a week. Working out can also lift your spirits.

    4    Practicing good habits—regular showering; taking care of your teeth, hair, and skin; wearing clean clothes, and so on—can help you build a positive body image.

Be yourself. Your body is just one part of who you are.     5     So try not to let small imperfections take over.

【推荐2】Humor: An Essential Life Skill

Mark Twain said, “Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations slip away, and a sunny spirit takes their place.” He’s certainly not wrong. Humor may very well be the great thing.    1    

Having a good sense of humor is possibly one of the best things you can do for your physical fitness.    2    Besides, it can improve your cardiovascular (心血管的) health.

    3    Study has shown that individuals who score highly in humor have higher self-respect, greater self-competence, and perform better in social interaction. They tend to get along well with others and are more often associated with better overall health.

Albert Einstein owed his brilliant mind to having a child-like sense of humor.    4    Researchers in Austria discovered that those who have a sense of humor have higher verbal (言语的) and nonverbal intelligence than their less humorous peers, because it takes both cognitive (认知的) and emotional abilities to process and produce humor.

The benefits of humor are so great that universities like Stanford are offering business courses on humor in the workplace.    5    Students will be taught how to “better achieve business goals and develop stronger bonds”. It doesn’t stop there, though. Researchers believe humor has the power to actually “make change in the world”.

【推荐3】During my high school years, the most important thing was what I was wearing to the Friday night dance and who I was taking. Although college was talked about, it was the least of my worries.

When I was graduating eighth grade and starting high school, my older brother was graduating twelfth grade and going onto college. For my graduation, he gave me a card in which he wrote, “Enjoy your four years…, they go by fast.” I remember not believe him then, but looking back…, he was right. Those four years shaped who I was as a person, pushed me to my limit and encouraged me to become an adult.

However, I was so completely absorbed in my junior and senior years of high school, that when someone spoke of college I brushed it off. I wasn't ready to leave my comfort zone of having all of my closest friends together and knowing what every single day was going to be like . Studying was something I did only AFTER I nailed my half-time dance performance. I knew my parents wanted me to go to college, so I told them I would go to commuity college (社区学院)and I didn’t worry about my SAT（美国大学入学考试）scores.

When my senior year passed and everyone graduated and went off to their own college ,I started to wish I had done the same. My friends were living away, meeting new people, discovering new places, and I was living at home and driving to and from class every day. It seemed exactly like high school. I hated it! I thought college was supposed to be different! Why didn’t I take more time to research colleges and do the same? I ended up loving college and wishing I had four years to enjoy the campus(大学校园)atmosphere instead of two.

My advice to anyone thinking about attending college is to think about it very seriously and look into all of your choices well ahead of time. Now I have graduate and I am working full time and I would do anything to go back to my high school days for a second chance!

【推荐1】Do you want to live another 100 years or more? Some experts say that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last tens of years beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life span.

“I think we are knocking at the door of immortality(永生),” said Michael Zey, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. “I think by 2075 we will see it and that’s a conservative estimate(保守的估计).”

At the conference in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in using genes as well as nanotechnology(纳米技术) make it likely that humans will live in the future beyond what was possible in the past. “There is a great effort so that people can live from 120 to 180 years,” he said. “Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could live to 200 or 300 or 500 years.”

However, many scientists who specialize in aging are doubtful about it and say the human body is just not designed to last past about 120 years. Even with healthier lifestyles and less disease, they say failure of the brain and organs will finally lead all humans to death.

Scientists also differ on what kind of life the super aged might live. “It remains to be seen if you pass 120, you know; could you be healthy enough to have good quality of life?” said Leonard Poon, director of the University of Georgia Gerontology Centre. “At present people who could get to that point are not in good health at all.”

【推荐2】One of the most important things in the world is friendship. In order to have friends, you have to be a friend. But how can you be a good friend at school?

Listen—Listen when they are talking. Don't say anything unless they ask you a question. Sometimes it's not necessary for you to have anything to say; they just need someone to talk to about their feelings.

Help them—If your friends are ever in need of something, be there to help them. You should try to consider them first, but you needn't do everything they want you to do. Try to take an extra pencil or pen with you to classes in case they forget one. Have a little extra money in your pocket because they may forget something they need.

________—Try to make plans with your friends. Go shopping, go for ice cream, have a party, go to a movie and so on. Take time to know each other even better by doing something you both enjoy. By planning things together, you can both have a good time. And you'll remember these things when you're all old!

【推荐3】I never planned to be a teacher. I was headed for a law school, for a real career. Teaching was something to “get out of my system”. I would teach a couple of years and then go to get a real job. After the first couple of years, I promised myself I would leave if I didn’t love my job any more. Twenty-nine years later, that day still has not come.

So, why do I stay? I stay because I laugh and learn every day. The children are funny, insightful, and honest. If my shoes don’t match my outfit, they tell me. If my argument that Invisible Man is an important twentieth century classic doesn’t convince them, they tell me.

I stay because every single day is different. Some days, my lessons are great, and I have classes of students who are engaged in reading, writing and thinking. Some days, my lessons fall flat, and I realize that I need to start from the beginning - even after 29 years.

I stay because I love to see the children realize that they have learned something; I love to see the children write well; I love the feeling of reading a well-argued essay, and I love smiling as I write a final “Awesome job!” on a paper on which a student has worked hard.

I stay because what I’ve learned in 29 years is that I do have a “real” job - the most real job there is. It’s the one that leads to other jobs, that helps to create good thinkers who go on to be productive in our society, and that supports our community as it grows and times change. My job is among the ones that matter most.