The Secrets of Happiness

    1    Money and success alone do not bring lasting(长久的)happiness. Happiness depends on ourselves. In other words, we make our own happiness. Here are a few suggestions to help you be happier.

    2     Too often, we spend so much time thinking about the future—-for example, getting into college or getting a good job—that we fail to enjoy the present(现在).You should enjoy life’s simple pleasures, such as reading a good book, listening to your favorite music, or spending time with close friends.     3    

Another secret to leading a happy life is to be active, and have hobbies where you forget your problems. Many people experience this dancing, or playing a sport, such as skating or soccer.     4    

Finally, many people find happiness in helping others. According to studies, people feel good when they volunteer their time to help others.     5    You can help a friend with his or her lessons, go shopping to buy food for your family members, or simply help out around the house by washing the dishes.

【推荐2】If you wish to become a better reader, here are four important things to remember about reading rate:

● Knowing why you are reading or what you are reading to find out will often help you to know whether to read fast or slowly.

● Some things should be read slowly throughout. Examples are directions for making or doing something, arithmetic problems, science and history books, which are full of important information. You must read such things slowly to remember each important step and understand each important ideas.

● Some things should be read quickly throughout. Examples are simple stories meant for enjoyment, news letters from friends, pieces of news from local, or home-town, papers, telling what is happening to friends and neighbors.

● In some of your reading, you must change your speed from fast to slow and slow to fast, as you go along. You will need to read certain pages quickly and then slow down and do more careful reading when you come to important ideas which must be remembered.

Being outgoing is good for your life. Those who are more outgoing like to meet lots of people and have more fun in life. In fact,     1     Even(甚至) shy people can be outgoing.

You can start becoming outgoing with your best friend or a group of friends. But the real challenge(挑战) comes       2     Smile more, and usually they will return your smile. In this way,     3     Start a talk. Just a simple ＂Hello＂ or ＂How is it going＂ is a good start. If you want to make interesting talks, you should read news in newspapers and prepare(准备) your views, or surf the Internet for new information and       4    .

    5     This is also the most important step(步). Go to a park, beach, club, party or any other place that you think can be fun, and you may make new friends there.

In recent years, some schools have begun to introduce meditation, or mindfulness training, into their classrooms. During mindfulness training, students may be asked to sit quietly and observe their own thoughts and feelings to avoid being controlled by them. Mindfulness training can help students overcome anxiety (焦虑), control their behavior, and improve their ability to pay attention in class. Students are expected to learn how to meditate in order to reduce stress and do better in their schoolwork.

Among schools that already teach meditation, the results have been positive. In one study, teachers reported that after five weeks of mindfulness practice, their students were more focused. They also participated more fully in class. A middle school in San Francisco reported that a student meditation program led to higher attendance rates and better grades. Another study suggested that meditation helped students perform better on tests by improving their working memory and reducing their anxiety.

Many supporters believe that meditation training programs can also help students overcome stress. For example, Headstand is a mindfulness education program designed to help students overcome anxiety. A study concluded that ninety-eight percent of participating students felt less stressed after they completed the Headstand program. In another study, researchers in New Haven, Connecticut, followed students who participated in meditation and yoga classes three times a week. They found that after each class, participants had lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone (激素), in their bodies.

Despite the positive results seen so far, critics also point out that much of the current research is not rigorous(严谨的) enough. Associate Professor Tamar Mendelson agrees that research on meditation in children is still in its early stages. However, even she insists that she has seen the positive impact of meditation on children. Others express worries that meditation is not a valuable use of class time. But many disagree. Denise Pope, a professor from the Stanford University, says, “This is something teachers can do immediately. You get a lot of bang for your buck and anyone who is against it isn’t thinking clearly.” Indeed, additional studies will surely strengthen our understanding of the benefits of mindfulness.

Although still in its early stages, research shows that meditation can help students learn to deal with anxiety and stress. As an added bonus, students of mindfulness training also report better concentration and gains in their academic performances. Therefore, meditation should be a part of every student’s school day. Participating in “stillness” can be just as productive as other school-related activities.

【推荐1】Buying Is Doing?

How important is shopping to you? How much time do you spend buying things? And how much time do you spend organizing these things in your home? In the future, how much time will you spend in movie theaters, at amusement parks, at shopping malls, or at convenience stores? When you add it all up, you will robably see you spend a lot of your life consuming (消费) things. Consuming products is not necessarily bad. However, if we spend too much time doing it, we should look at it carefully.

Imagine that you have a week off from school. You don't have to go to class. However, in this week, you cannot spend any money—no shopping, no movies, no eating out. How would you spend your time? What things would bring you happiness? Perhaps you would take a walk with your best friend. Perhaps you would help a child read. Or you might spend time with your family.

When we look back, it is likely that non-consuming experiences like these will be our most important memories. Why? Non-consuming activities are active, not passive. They don't come in a package. You make the experience yourself. For example, each person who reads to a child will have a different experience. The experience changes with the reader, the child, and the book. Similarly，when you have a conversation with a friend, you are actively creating an experience. The conversation that you have with your friend cannot be experienced or recreated by anyone else. However, if you watch a movie with a friend, you will each have a packaged experience. It requires no action and little interaction between the two of you.

The environment we live in encourages us to have packaged experiences. We feel that we must consume because we believe that buying is doing. However, we can start a personal revolution(变革) against consumerism. How? By consuming less. We can ask ourselves what experiences bring us the greatest satisfaction. Then we can organize our lives so that we have more of those kinds of experiences.

【推荐3】Boys and girls, we will play a game this afternoon. The game will start(开始) at 3：30 pm on the playground. You should be there on time. Here are the things you need to prepare(准备) and the game rules.

The things you need to prepare:

A big bag for each team(每队).

Five things of the same color. Toys, fruit, models, balls and rulers are all OK, but no liquid like water or milk. Different teams have different colors.

The game rules:

Each team has two students.

Give the bag to one student on each team.

Put the five things of the same color on the playground.

The two students on each team stand back to back with their arms(手臂)linked(挽). They need to pick up all the things of their team’s color from the playground. The first team to put all of the things in the bag wins.(胜利)

【推荐1】Today there are more than 6 million people on the earth. By the year 2050 there may be 12.5 billion. This means we need more food.

One way to produce more food is by growing stronger plants. For thousands of years, farmers have made plants better. Every season, they pick the best plants for the next season. It works very lowly. Since 1983, scientists have been able to change plants more quickly by changing their genetic material (遗传物质). Foods from plants grown in this way are called genetically modified foods (转基因食品), or GM foods.

By changing the genetic material of a plant, it is possible to make new plants. They make plants which are strong against plant diseases. They can also help in our diseases: a kind of rice is being prepared, for example, which stops people from becoming blind.

Rich countries produce GM foods because they are easy to grow and bring in more money. Poor countries are interested in them because they help produce more food. GM plants are not natural. No one knows how good or bad they are. Making GM foods is only one way of feeding people in 2050. There are strong feelings against them, because they are unnatural. They may feed people, then hurt them or their children later. But, both rich and poor countries are very interested in their use, and they are not going to go away. In 2050 we may think differently about them.

【推荐3】Is It Better to Read Books or Listen to Them?

We often think how fast we learn something depends on how smart we are. If your brain is taking in material quickly, you’re clever; if not, well, that doesn’t say great things about your IQ. But science shows context (上下文) and technique (技术) actually play a big role in how fast we learn, and even small changes – like the way you use to read – can make a big difference.

Audio (音频的) books have plenty of advantages: you can enjoy them anywhere, even in the car, and not printing books saves trees. Poor readers also often find them more interesting. But according to the latest research, if your goal isn’t to pass the time in traffic, but instead to learn something difficult, you should choose a physical book.

In a recent opinion piece in the New York Times, psychology (心理学) professor Daniel T.Willingham mentioned a 2010 study where 48 students either read or listened to an article about child psychology. Although the students spent the same amount of time with their material and did about the same number of distracting (分散注意力) activities while they absorbed the information, they scored very differently on a 10-item quiz later. Generally, the readers scored 81 percent but while the listeners scored 59 percent. Why does listening vs reading material have such a great effect on learning?

Willingham explains that first, most of us read more slowly than we listen (especially when pausing and rereading), and when you’re trying to absorb new information, slower seems to be better. “About 10 to 15 percent of eye movements during reading are actually regressive – meaning the eyes are going back and re-checking,” he explains to TIME. “This happens very quickly…”

Second, books offer visual cues (可视线索) that help our brains organize and understand new information. Things like chapter breaks, subheadings, and lists help us in making sense of the material and understanding how it fits together. You lose all that when you go the audio way.

The bottom line is simple: Don’t feel shame about passing your time in traffic with an audio book. However, be aware of audio’s limitations when it comes to studying, and seriously consider choosing good old-fashioned reading instead.