【推荐1】How to choose a college major?

For you to be able to choose a college major that makes sense for you, you first need to figure out what you want out of a college major. For some people, knowing they will almost always be able to find a job throughout their lives is most important. For others, being able to pursue a particular intellectual interest is the critical factor. Most people are motivated by some combination of factors that they weigh in balance. These factors will guide you towards the answer to the question, " What college major is right for me?"     1    

Your Interests

Your interests are an important part of picking a major. If you really dislike what you are studying, you will be miserable.     2    . So it is essential that you are actually interested in what you are studying.

    3    

You should also consider what you're good at when you think about how to choose your major.

This doesn't mean that you should definitely major in whatever you are best at in high school. For one thing, you will probably discover new talents in college as you take courses in areas that weren't available to you in high school. For another thing, the thing that you' re "best" at is not necessarily what matches best with all your other priorities and goals.

Your Future Career

    4     . For some majors, it's fairly clear what sort of job the degree will lead to. A degree in teaching will lead to teaching, a degree in nursing to nursing, and so on. For others, it's less clear.

    5    . Thus, in terms of a future career, don't just think of what job title you will be qualified for, because those things shift all the time. Think about the skills you will learn in your major, and how much those skills are in demand.

To sum up, we need to take various factors into consideration when choosing a major.

【推荐2】How to live a happy life? The following suggestions may be of great help to you.

Keep positive.     1     Optimists have a 35% less chance of having a heart attack or stroke, are more likely to eat a healthy diet and exercise regularly, have stronger immune systems and even live longer. If you face a challenge or obstacle, you’re more likely to see it as a temporary or even optimistic thing, allowing you to learn and grow.

Start volunteering.     2     It can reduce the risk of cognitive (认知的) disorder. It can even help us live longer. Even if you have a little time to offer, just the act of giving has been shown to improve your health, possibly by temporarily reducing your sense of pain.

Be grateful. Counting our blessings protects us against anxiety and depression and boosts optimism. One of the best ways to make thankfulness a part of your life is to keep a journal.     3     Keeping gratitude and recording your good deeds may help you live happily.

    4     People who are more socially connected to family, friends and community are happier. They’re physically healthier, and they live longer than people who are less connected. High-conflict marriages, without much affection, turn out to be very bad for health, perhaps worse than getting divorced.     5    

【推荐3】Have you ever wondered why you're not as happy as you'd like to be? Based on my own personal experience and the happiness facts published by Harvard University, I've summarized the following habits that will make you happy!

Laugh often. Laughter is the most powerful medicine to anger or depression. Research has shown that the simple act of smiling can increase your feeling of happiness.     1    Try to find humor and laughter in life's everyday struggles.

Keep your agreement. Our self-respect is built on the agreements we've made with ourselves and with others. And high self-respect has a direct relationship with happiness.     2    

Do your best and then let go. Everyone has limitations, and things don't always turn out to be what we'd like them to be—despite our efforts. So always give your best, and then let go.     3    When you've done your best, you'll have no regrets.

Give back.     4    According to Harvard, when people do good, their brains become active in the very same reward center that is stimulated when they experience other rewards. So it's not a surprise that people who care more about others are happier than those who care less about others.

These happiness habits have proven to be true in my own life. During those periods when I focus on developing the habits listed above, I do feel happier and more fulfilled-like now. Happiness is not an accident.     5    

【推荐2】In an effort to keep a little poetry in my life long after National Poetry Month passed, I decide to read at least one poem a day after scanning the newspaper over breakfast. Thanks to the free online poetry-in-your-inbox services, it’s been an easy resolution（解决办法）to keep.

Poem-a-Day was started during National Poetry Month in 2016, and it focuses on new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.

Ted Kooser offers a similar service through his American Life in Poetry Series, though it’s a weekly, rather than a daily. Kooser briefly introduces each week’s poem, offering a little bit of information about the selection, the writer, and books where readers can turn to if they want more work from the featured poet.

Reading at least one poem a day has been like an intellectual vitamin, giving me a small dose（剂量）of literature even on busy days when I can’t get to the novels and non-fiction on my desk beside the bed. Another benefit has been connecting with a lot of talented poets I wouldn’t otherwise know about. Poetry being what it is, even the best talents in the style can work in relative obscurity（朦胧）. Maybe the biggest benefit of reading a poem every morning has been the chance to see the familiar in new ways.

Last April, I wondered if I could remind myself to read a poem each morning. Now, deep in summer, I wonder if I could ever do without it.

【推荐1】Music tends to get stuck in our heads. Sometimes a tune(曲调)stays on our thoughts and then plays, and replays, which seems never to end. This interesting phenomenon, commonly called “earworm”, becomes a subject explored by scientists. Earworms can run around our heads from several minutes to numerous hours. As the melody(旋律)repeats, it becomes stuck in our mind. Even though our ears do not hear the tune, our brain continues to play it.

Earworms often take the form of song pieces rather than entire songs, and the song is usually a familiar one. Researchers are uncertain why some songs are more likely to get stuck in our heads than others, but everyone has their own tunes. Often those songs have a simple, pleasant melody and charming, repetitive lyrics(歌词), such as popular commercial jingles and slightly annoying radio hits. Recent or repeated exposure to a song or even a small part of a song can also cause earworms, as can word associations, such as a phrase similar to the lyrics of a song.

How people deal with their earworms depends on how they feel about them. Those with positive feelings about their stuck songs prefer to just “let them be” while those with negative feelings turn to more behavioral responses, such as singing, talking, or even praying. They are also looking at whether everyday activities help, like going for a run or doing a crossword. For them, getting an unwanted tune out of their head is a relief. But of course the song that cures you might just end up being the next one that gets stuck.

【推荐2】Each year on December 10, the Alfred Nobel Foundation (诺贝尔基金) presents six prizes. These prizes are named after Alfred Nobel, the man who invented dynamite (火药). It was Mr. Nobel’s idea to create the prizes. During his life, Mr. Nobel made a lot of money from his invention. He put his money in a bank, and the money earned more money through interest (利息) from the bank. The money grew to be a very large amount.

Mr. Nobel decided to use his money to help scientists, artists, and people who worked to help others around the world. He created the Nobel Prizes to do this.

The prizes set up by Mr. Noble include physics, medicine, chemistry, literature, and peace. These five Nobel Prizes were first given out in 1901. Later, the Central Bank of Sweden(瑞典) made the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic (经济) Science in1968 to celebrate the bank’s 300^th year of business. All of the prizes are handed out in Stockholm (斯德哥尔摩) except for the Peace Prize, which is presented in Oslo (奥斯陆).

Each person who receives a Nobel Prize is given a cash prize, a medal, and a special paper which explains the prize the person won. The amount of money that each person receive is calculated from the interest earned from all of Me Nobel’s money which is still in the bank. This interest is divided equally between the five prize winners in physics, medicine, chemistry, literature, and peace. The Central Bank of Sweden then pays an equal amount to the winner of the prize in economics.

【推荐3】Psychologists tell us our self-image defines what we believe we can and cannot do. Each of us over the years has built up belief about ourselves. Unconsciously, our pictures of who we are have been formed by past experiences. Our successes and failures, what others have told us and what we think people believe about us all help form impressions of what we think we are. Because self-image is so important in our growth, it is important to examine our concepts of self in order to reach our full potential.

Changing our self-image is possible. Some psychologists suggest we begin to change our self-image by mentally picturing ourselves performing well at some task. Since we presently react to things based on our present images, it’s suggested that we replace those with better ones. In many experiments, people were asked to sit quietly for a few minutes each day and imagine themselves doing well. For instance, subjects would sit and imagine themselves throwing darts at a bull’s-eye on a target. Over a period of weeks, their dart game improved. This has been done with people who wanted to play chess better, throw a ball more accurately, increase their salesmanship or musical talents, and improve many other skills. In most cases, remarkable improvement is made.

The point of changing self-image is not to develop an image of ourselves that is not real. To try to become something we really aren’t is just as wrong as living the unrealistic, inferior image we may have. The aim is to find the real self, to bring our mental images of ourselves in line with our true potential. However, it is generally accepted among psychologists that most of us fail to do justice to ourselves. We’re usually better than we think we are.

Another important part of changing self-image is to not think about past mistakes. Don’t let failures do harm. Our errors or humiliation over mistakes are necessary steps in learning. It is all right to make mistakes. But when they have taught us what we did wrong, we should forget them and not dwell on them. Sometimes we keep remembering our failures or mistakes and feel guilty or embarrassed about them. We let them take over, and then we develop a fear.

It is important to have realistic expectations of ourselves. Some of our dissatisfaction might come from expecting too much of ourselves. If we demand constant perfection in everything we do, we can be disappointed and our poor self-image will continue. If our goal is to reach perfection, we are doomed from the start.