As teachers, we just love to encourage our students to try new things at a young age.     1     Learning new things at any age is important and it can help us become better.

Take myself as an example. I didn’t start playing ice hockey until my early 40s. My son is a huge sports fan and he often asked me to take him to watch games between the big teams.     2     After a few months, I decided to give it a try.

To be honest, it’s the hardest sport I’ve ever done. There was so much to learn. In addition to mastering skating skills, I also needed to learn how to pass and shoot. I saw a lot of players get on the ice and pick it up quickly and easily. But I was an exception (例外).     3     So I took a skating training course, then joined a hockey team and practiced hard in my free time. I finally mastered the skill though it took me a really long time.

    4     Being bad at hockey helps me to understand those students in my class who have difficulty in learning English. I’m not stupid—it just takes me longer to learn and practice a skill before I’m able to do it. Some students are like that too—they might need to hear an explanation (解释) 3 to 4 times or need a few more days of practice.

It’s good to learn new things, whether they come easily to you or with more difficulty. Maybe you didn’t use the past year to improve yourself or to learn a new skill—but that’s OK!     5    

    1    

Hopes, ambitions (抱负), dreams. How many of yours will you achieve? When you look back at your life in the future, will you have good memories of all the things that you did? Or will you regret all the things that you didn't do?

Of course, there's no easy road to success, but one thing is certain: success won't come if you don't do anything. So how do you do it? This four-step model will help you to make your dreams come true.

Step 1:     2    

What would you like to do? Write down all your ambitions. They may be very general, such as I would like to be fitter. I want to be famous or It would be nice to have more friends. Or they may be more specific, like I've always wanted to play a musical instrument.

Step 2:     3    

Now you need to do two things:

1. Choose one or two ambitions. If you try to do everything, you won't do anything.

2. Set a time limit (限定). This is very important, because you will have a goal and you will also know when you have reached it.

So, for example, I would like to be fitter. in Step 1 now becomes I will be fit enough to join a half-marathon race by the end of August.

Step 3:     4    

Now that you've made your choice, what are you actually going to do to achieve your goal? So, in our example, I will be fit enough to join a half-marathon race by the end of August. becomes I'm going to join a running club. or I'm going to go jogging three times a week.

Step 4:     5    

This is when you change your intentions (意图) into specific actions. Prepare to do something at a specific time. If you don't do this, your dreams and plans will just stay as dreams and plans. So now I'm going to join a running club. becomes I'm meeting the president of the Cheetahs Running Club on Monday evening at 5∶30.

Don't let your ambitions die. Follow this four-step plan and make your dream come true.

【推荐3】When I was a girl growing up, I cannot once ever remember either my mum or my grandma wasting food.

Anything we didn’t eat at one meal was leftovers (剩菜). I can remember my grandma making a huge pot of potatoes. We would all eat until we were full enough, but there were always about half of the potatoes left over. A few days later, Grandma would take those potatoes out of the fridge, boil some noodles, add some vegetables and mix them all together. And I also remember when I watched my mum fry bacon (煎培根) for us in the mornings, she would always take the oil carefully and pour it into a bottle. Then she would use it later to add flavor to so many other dishes. I was an adult before I realized that potatoes didn’t actually taste like bacon!

I learned their lessons well, and after I grew up, I tried to never waste food myself. I always planned the week’s meals ahead of time and only bought what was on my shopping list so that nothing went to waste. Every meal went into our stomachs and any leftovers were later eaten by myself, my boys, my husband or my dogs. To me, throwing food into the bin was just wrong.

However, when it comes to living, there are no leftovers. Life is just like a feast. Each moment that you don’t live is lost forever. Life cannot be saved or stored. Each day is a fresh beginning. Live each moment of your life to the fullest, then.

Can you tell me where the bathroom is?

你能告诉我厕所在哪里了吗？

TOILET, bathroom, restroom — English has many words for the little room we all have to go to every day.

Different countries often use different words.

In the US, you will get where you need to go if you ask where the “bathroom” is. If you’re in a shopping mall, you should ask for directions to the “restroom”.

People from the US also use the word “John”. It comes from the name of a 19th century British man. He invented the flush toilet.

In Britain, people often say “toilet” and “bathroom”. You sometimes see the words “Ladies” and “Gentlemen” above the doors to public toilets. But “Men” and “Women” are more common now in Britain.

Australians say “loo”. The word is also quite popular in the UK. Canadians use the word “can”, New Zealanders “bog” and South Africans “want to go to the bathroom”.

In China, Beijing now uses the word “toilet” rather than “WC”. All over the world now signs rather than words are used.

Where does the word toilet itself come from? Well, it’s from the French “toilette” — to wash yourself.