1 . Do you often compare yourself to other people? Whether it’s the number of goals you’ve scored at football or how many books you’ve read, it’s easy to compare yourself to someone else. It’s a natural behavior that helps humans learn from each other, live happily together and achieve more. However, it s not always helpful and you can find yourself fall in a comparison trap (陷阱). This is when you always measure yourself against others and base your feelings on how well they seem to be doing.

Comparison can make us feel good and bad about ourselves. “Comparing up” means seeing someone is better than you and using that to encourage yourself to aim higher and try harder. However, sometimes it can make you feel rubbish about yourself and undermine your confidence. “Comparing down” is when you see someone who seems like they’re not doing as well as you. This might make you feel you’re doing well, but it can also stop you wanting to improve.

How do you escape comparison trap? If your feelings depend on what other people are doing, always stay with cheerleaders. Notice how people make you feel and spend time with friends who celebrate your strengths rather than compare themselves to you. If you follow social media (媒体) accounts that make you feel you are failing in any way, unfollow them. Find ones that make you laugh or show you lovely places instead. Finally, pay attention to your own achievements and how you can improve. The best person you can compete with is yourself.

Let’s make positive, healthy comparisons. Instead of trying to be the best aim to be your best. This means you value your own achievements and not someone else’s. Celebrate progress instead of the final result. It doesn’t matter if someone is better or faster than you, it’s how hard you try that’s important. Set some goals and pay attention to your progress. Instead of saying “I can’t do it”, say “I can’t do it yet”.

2 . Are you emotional (情绪激动的)? Do you often have strong feelings? How do you deal with bad emotions?

We feel angry or unhappy about the things we did or did not achieve, about the things we cannot have, and many other things. It seems that everyone carries their own bad moods (情绪). But neither unhappiness nor anger can help us. Over time, they can be heavy weights on our shoulders.

These bad moods don’t do anything good for us at all. So you might ask yourself—is it possible to put down this heavy burden (负担) and give yourself a break? It is quite possible. Start by actually learning about your feelings. How do they get inside of us? Why do we carry them for so long instead of putting them down? Can we live without them?

By thinking about our bad moods, we can find healthy ways to deal with them. Unhealthy behaviors are not the way to do this. They provide no relaxation. Instead, there are better ways to deal with them. One of the best ways is forgiveness (原谅).

Forgiveness is a powerful tool. We should forgive ourselves first. We shouldn’t keep bad moods inside. We must also forgive others who have made us unhappy or angry. This is not always easy. But when we learn to forgive ourselves, it becomes easier to forgive others as well.

There is nothing good about carrying years of emotional burdens. By forgiving ourselves and others, we can abandon our burdens and feel better about ourselves. When you do this, you will start to feel a lot lighter. Years of heaviness will be magically lifted! You’ll start to feel like you have more energy and you’ll be much happier with your life.

3 . My friend, Robert, has a twin sister named Amanda. Though they get along well, there are some things about Amanda and her friends that puzzle Robert. He can’t understand how girls can talk for so long. For example, sometimes when he leaves home to play football, Amanda and her friend, Sharon, are sitting on the sofa, talking. When he comes back three and a half hours later, they’re still sitting on the sofa, continuing the same conversation on the same topic. One day Robert was so curious that he asked Amanda what they talked about, but she replied, “We’re best friends. We talk about almost everything—film stars, pop songs, recipes, everything!”

Boys and girls have different attitudes towards friendship. Friendships between girls are usually based on shared feelings and support, but friendships between boys are based on shared activities or interests. A boy is likely to be careful about sharing his feelings with his close friends. A girl’s closest friend, however, might be eager to tell her about something that has happened in her life.

Many studies worldwide show that girls have more friendships than boys. In fact, many teenage boys cannot name a single best friend. When asked, they hesitate before answering, “My best friend? I can’t think about that. I am busy with my homework, and I have so many different friends that it is hard to choose just one best friend.”

Girls who have been asked can usually answer the question without pausing, “A best friend? Of course. We have a lot to share with each other. We do a lot of things together such as talking and shopping.”

We have to realize: boys share activities, while girls share feelings. The qualities that boys and girls consider important in a friend seem to be the same, regardless of (无论) the basis of these friendships. The important thing to remember is that both of them are friendships. We all need friends in our lives.

5 . Usually, there are chairs and desks in every classroom, but a new study says, maybe students won’t need chairs anymore. One day they will use standing desks. A research (调查) team in the US made a study of primary school students. They find that if children use standing desks in class-rooms, they can finish their classwork better than those who sit. Another study is made in high school. It also shows the use of standing desks can improve (提高) students’ attention. Many studies show that standing desks can help students lose weight (减肥) and keep fit (健康的). Many teachers say using standing desks makes students listen more carefully and behave (表现) better. But a few teachers have their worries. It is not easy for them to see what every student is doing in class. Some students even walk around in the classroom. What’s more, the students are too tired by standing so long. Some parents also worry about it.

6 . Everyone has worries. How will you do if you have your worry? There is always something you can do to help yourself feel less worried. Sitting there worrying is no fun and it won’t solve your problems.

Children are worried about their grades in school. If you worry about grades, ask yourself these questions:

▲Why are grades important? What do grades mean to me?

▲How do I get ready for class? Do I go over my notes even when there isn’t a test?

▲Do I have a good place to do my homework?

▲Did I try different ways of studying?

If your worry is about a fight you had with your friend, you might write down all the things you could do—write a note to him or her, invite him or her to watch a basketball game, say sorry to him or her and so on. Once you have several things you could do, you can choose one thing that could get your friend back.

You can ask for help when you’re worried. You can find someone to talk to, such as your parents, friends, teachers, and so on.

7 . Do you know anything about the invention of the bar code (条形码)?

A small food store owner found it was difficult to keep records of the product information. In 1948, he contacted (联系) the Drexel Institute of Technology to solve this problem. Bernard Silver was interested in it and he began to look into it. Silver and his students realized their answer in the form of ultraviolet light (紫外线), ink and a scanner (扫描仪).

The system did work at first, but it’s very expensive and sometimes the system didn’t work well. If the invention was to become popular in grocery stores, the problems had to be solved. Finally, Silver solved them.

The patent (专利权) for the bar code system was asked by Silver and Woodland in 1949. But the patent was not given until 1952. Although this patent was given, the system was still not popular among store owners. In 1966, the system began moving its way into more grocery stores.

Logicon developed the Universal Grocery Products Identification Number (通用标识码) in 1970. Marsh’s superstore in lroy was the first store to set up this bar code reading system. It became very popular ever since, and now it’s obviously popular in all types of stores worldwide (在世界各地).

10 . Different countries have their own traditional foods and drinks. There are some kinds of drinks that are more and more popular. Tea is one of them. Tea is tasty and good for you. But what is tea? And why is it so popular?

All tea comes from tea leaves but tea is not always the same. There are many kinds of tea. You can drink black tea, green tea, white tea or fruit tea. Each kind of tea has a different taste and a different color.

The history of tea begins in Asia (亚洲) . In China, Korea and Japan, tea is still very important today. In Japan, it can take many hours to prepare and drink tea with your guests. In Malaysia, a popular drink at breakfast is teh tarik. It means “Pulled Tea” in English. Malaysians say it is good for you and tastes good with canai bread.

Travelers in Kuala Lumpur like watching the tea sellers make “pulled tea”. The tea sellers pour hot water on black tea. After five minutes, they add sugar and milk. Then they “pull” the tea—they pour the tea from one cup to another many times.

In many countries, you must have a special kettle (水壶) to make tea. People in different countries also like to add different things to their tea. For example, Russians use a special kettle called a samovar (茶炊). They like drinking tea with lemon (柠檬) . Sometimes, they also drink tea with some sugar or jam (果酱) .

In Turkey, tea comes in a Caydanlik. A Caydanlik has two kettles: one for the water and the other for the tea. Drink Turkish tea with some sugar please!

The Englishmen usually eat biscuits (饼干) with their tea. In Japan, they like …

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