4 . Laugh at yourself. Learning to laugh at yourself is one of the biggest differences between happy people and sad people. If you can turn hard moments, mistakes, and shortcomings as chances for a good laugh at yourself, those things will affect you less.

Laughing at yourself helps to tell the differences between “who you are” and “what you do”. Everyone possibly makes a mistake sometimes, and it doesn’t have to define (定义）you as a person. Laughing at yourself communicates to both you and the people around you that it’s okay.

Don’t worry about the sound of your laugh. Everyone’s laugh is different. If yours is polite and comes from your heart, you don’t need to worry about having an “ugly” laugh. There’s no such thing.

If you’re worried about laughing and often worried what people will think of you, it’s hard to really have fun. If you’re with the kind of people who make fun of someone for laughing, find new friends.

Take your time. Even a busy person should learn to spare time for himself and spend time just staying alone. Doing these will help you relax and keep you calm (平静）and ready to laugh.

Make sure you do something you enjoy each day. Relax by playing a record and smiling to yourself, having your favorite drink. Keep control of your mood.

Try to add 15 minutes to your day where you can do something like watching a comedy TV play or looking at humorous photos online. Try to put this in your timetable right after the most stressful part of your day if you can.

5 . What are you holding in your hand while you are taking the examination? Right. A pen.

Though it is small, the pen has changed the history, improved the trade of countries, recorded events, carried news, and done far more work for human beings than all other tools.

Progress without it would have been almost impossible. The invention of the wheels, the introduction of steam engine (蒸汽机)，the use of electricity, all these have changed the lives of millions of people, but the pen has done more. It has taken away mountains, and it has prepared the way for all progress and development of the society.

In the past, the pen did all the work if you wanted to keep any writing for some time. The lawyers took up their pens and wrote the law of the country from the days when papyrus (纸莎草纸) was first used. The most famous letters in the world were written with a pen. It was with a pen that the greatest thinkers of all time wrote down their thoughts.

The pen is very utilitarian. We cannot sign (签署）a bill or write a letter or buy a house without our pen. An agreement is worthless till our name is written with a pen. The writers encourage the world with it. The students take their exams with it as well.

Our coming into the world is recorded with a pen. Before we have been at school, our name is written on the name list with a pen. We cannot be married till we have signed. A pen records the important events in our life.

Let us remember that we hold in our hand the most powerful instrument which man owns. The pen is a magic tool. Whenever you use it, enjoy it.

7 . Many expressions that we use in American English come from novels. Today we will look at some of them from Lewis Carroll’s famous novel Alice in Wonderland in detail.

The story is about a young girl falling down a rabbit hole. When she finally lands, she finds herself in a strange world and meets some strange characters.

The first character Alice meets is the White Rabbit, who runs past her and says some strange words. Alice chases him, and that is where her adventures begin. As she runs after the rabbit, she falls down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. The expression to fall down the rabbit hole can mean to enter an unexpected situation. However, usually we use this expression to mean we get interested in something to the point of distraction (分神). It often happens by accident and is about something not that meaningful.

Later in the story, Alice meets the March Hare and the Hatter at a crazy tea party. Hares have long been thought to behave excitedly in March, which is their mating (交配) season. Scientifically, this may not be true. But to be mad as a March hare means that someone is totally mad, or crazy. The expression to be mad as a hatter also means to be completely crazy and is more common. But don’t tell the March Hare. He must be green with envy!

8 . Waste can be seen everywhere in the school. Some students ask for more food than they can eat and others often forget to turn off the lights when they leave the classroom. They say they can afford these things. But I don’t agree with them.

Waste can bring a lot of problems. Although China is rich in some resources, we are short of others, for example, fresh water. It is reported that we will have no coal(煤) or oil(油) to use in 100 years. So if we go on wasting our resources, what can we use in the future and where can we move? Think about it. I think we should say no to the students who waste things every day. Everybody should stop wasting as soon as possible.

In our everyday life, we can do many things to prevent waste from happening, for example, turn off the water taps when we finish washing, turn off the lights when we leave the classroom, try not to order more food than we need, and so on. Little by little, everything will be changed. Waste can be stopped one day, if we do our best.

9 . Chinese handwriting(书法)is a special art to Asian culture. Brush handwriting is much loved around the world. Wang Xizhi is very famous for his handwriting. He made a great difference to Kaishu.

China has a colorful culture. It is connected with Chinese ancient stories. Chinese folk music has a long history. One of the classics, Shijing, included some folk songs in 15 different areas from the West Zhou to Spring and Autumn Dynasty. Traditional Chinese musical instruments include guqin, guzheng, pipa, erhu, xiao and so on.

Chinese painting is one of the oldest traditional Chinese painting forms in the world. Most of the Chinese paintings in ancient China were done on paper or silk. Traditional Chinese painting includes mountains and water, figures(人物), flowers and birds. The highest form of Chinese painting is mountains and water.

Weiqi, called “yi” in ancient China, is a smart board game between two players with a history for over 3,000 years. The game can be treated as the beginning of all ancient chess games. It was introduced to Korea about 2,000 years ago and was popular among the higher classes(阶级).

10 . You may know about “junk food” like French fries. But do you know about “junk sleep”?

Recently, a British survey found that electronic products in teenagers’ bedrooms are having a bad influence on their sleep.

The survey was done among 1,000 British kids from 12 to 16. It found that fifty percent of them got just 4 to 7 hours’ sleep every day. But doctors say they need 8 to 9 hours.

Almost a quarter of the kids said they fell asleep more than once a week while watching TV, listening to music or using electronic products.

“This is very worrying,” said Dr Chris Idzikowski, a British professor. “We call it ‘junk sleep’. It means you don’t get enough sleep and the quality of the sleep is bad, too. If you don’t get a good rest, you can’t perform well in school the next day.”

The survey found that quite a few of the kids felt tired each day, with girls between 13 to 16 feeling the worst. Nearly all teenagers have a phone, an MP5 or a TV in their bedrooms. And lots of them have all the three.