1 . The Secret to Happiness

A new report makes it clear that when it comes to the life satisfaction of UK citizens, the ball is in the government’s court. For some time, sensible people have been arguing that governments need to focus less on economic growth and more on the wellbeing of citizens. Be careful what you wish for.

In response to this demand, the UK government begins to gather data on people’s self-reported happiness and life satisfaction. Little practical good has come from this so far, but a new report by George Bangham for the Resolution Foundation is one of the best attempts to make useful sense of the data. He concludes: “The best prospects for policymakers targeting future increases in national wellbeing lie in raising job quality, raising incomes, particularly at the lower end, and policies to improve security in the housing market.”

The happiness of pensioners is not just a function of their age, but of policy. On average, 70-year-old boomers today are the most affluent retirees in history, often owning their own homes and in receipt of generous pensions. People of 70 are not going to be as content in 30 or 40 years’ time if they are unable to retire, don’t own their homes and have small incomes.

However, there is one respect in which teens and recent retirees are remarkably similar. Compared to other age groups, they tend to inhabit a sweet spot of having high degrees of freedom. The typical 16-year-old has new freedoms without ever having had any serious responsibilities. The typical 70-year-old, having experienced a lifetime of work and family duties, has a very different kind of freedom, one born from relief.

Besides, it should not surprise us to find that people tend to be happier when they have fewer worries. But this, too, has important political implications. If the government is really interested in raising overall national happiness, it has to make sure as many citizens as possible feel secure in their health, their housing and their incomes. Different states’ records in achieving this is one important reason why Nordic countries repeatedly score highly in international life satisfaction surveys and North America underperforms relative to its GDP. Whichever way you look at it, there is no escaping the conclusion that increasing wellbeing across society requires joined-up, long-term policy efforts. This is exactly what the Resolution Foundation recommends.

2 . A fresh and gentle wind on your face, soft sand under your feet and blue waters as far as the eye can see. Is there any other Olympic sport that is played in such pleasant conditions as beach volleyball？

“I’ve gone to a lot of beautiful places, and met a lot of beautiful people. That wouldn’t have happened if I had been playing another sport.” said Randy Stoklos, America’s most famous beach volleyball player.

The sport began as a four-a-side game on beaches in Southern California in the 1920s. The first recorded two-man game took place there in 1930, and the first tournament (锦标赛) was held in Los Angeles 18 years later. The winners were awarded a case of Pepsi. In the 1950s, women started playing and the sport soon spread to Europe and South America. Yet at that time, beach volleyball was more an entertainment show than a sport, with beauty contests included. The Association of Volleyball Professionals was founded in 1983 and beach volleyball developed into a fast, athletic sport. Its world-wide popularity won beach volleyball a place at the 1996 Olympics in Atalanta, where 24 male teams and 16 female teams took part. At present, the US and Brazil are the best in the world at beach volleyball.

The game came to China in the early 1990s and there have been national tournaments since 1994. It became an official event at the Eighth National Games in 1997. China’s You Wenhui and Wang Lu finished ninth in the women’s beach volleyball world championships in Brazil.

3 . Planning to get away? Think passport first

If you’re planning to get away from it all this year, you should think passport first. Checking you have a valid passport before you book your trip takes minutes but could save you the trouble and cost of not being able to go.

Renewing (更新) your passport before it runs out

You can renew your passport up to 9 months before it can no longer be legally used. So take the time now and save the tears later.

Applying for a passport for the first time

Our eligibility (资格) checks mean that it takes at least one week to issue (颁发) a passport. So make sure you don’t leave it to the last minute, and apply in plenty of time.

Help with your application is just around the corner

Selected Post Office branches and Worldchoice travel agents offer a Check and Send service that helps you with your application. It’s convenient and you should receive your passport within 2 weeks.

If you need to apply for or renew a passport, you can either:

Pick up a Passport Application Form at Selected Post Office branches and Worldchoice travel agents.

Or call the Application Form Request line on 0901 4700 100 or visit www.passport.gov.uk

If your need is urgent, call 0870 521 0410 for an appointment at one of our offices. We can’t guarantee to see customers without an appointment.

5 . Love your parents

Even if you think that your parents are mean-spirited at times, loving your parents is a normal and fulfilling （满意的）part of life. You love them for the fact that they created you, raised you, and are in part a source of who you are. Here are some ways to love your parents.

    1     A gentle "good morning" and "I love you" will warm a coldest heart. Remember that they brought you into this world. Without your parents, you might sill wander at an unknown corner in an unknown world.

Respect them more and cherish（珍惜）these moments. You can use these moments to learn from them when you're off on your own. It's OK to get angry but angry actions don't help you or your parents. Act calmly, cool off, journal about your feelings, or talk to a friend.     2    

Obey their requests. It will make your attitude better and earn you more respect from them. It may seem like you are going through hell when you don't get what you want or you have to clean. However, you had better remember they keep a roof over your head when it's cold, raining, snowing, or too hot. Understand that parents are human beings and make mistakes.     3     Since you can forgive your friends, why not forgive your parents?

Keep company with them. Do things with your parents like watching TV, or go somewhere with them.       4     Listen to their old stories and learn from them. You will find they are your teachers in this way or another.

Some people simply may not be able to love their parents. .    5     Look for help if you are being abused violently. Parents do not have a right to harm you.

9 . When asked why he or she wears clothes, some people will probably answer “to keep warm and to cover my body”. These are the basic reasons why clothes are worn, but people also want to look attractive and appear successful to others.

If people only wore clothes for warmth and to cover their bodies, most clothes would be simple and cheap. In most Western countries, however, clothes are sometimes very expensive. The main reason for this is not the cost of the cloth or the cost of making the clothes. The clothes are expensive because of fashion.

Successful businessmen, for example, often wear very expensive suits, shirts and ties. Sometimes they pay thousands of dollars for a suit and hundreds of dollars for a tie. It’s just a suit and a tie but they pay these prices because of the famous name of the designer. A suit costing much less would be just as warm and would cover the wearer’s body just as well.

Fashion is always changing, which means those who want to be fashionable have to buy new clothes every few months, even if last month's clothes have only been worn once or twice. Some people have wardrobes full of clothes that have hardly been worn but are no longer in fashion. Being fashionable, therefore, can be a very expensive pastime!

As some of these actors could not sing well enough, they had to rely on other musicians help them. So during the broadcasts they just pretend to sing. Anyhow their performances were humorously enough to be copied by other groups. They were so popular that their fan formed clubs in order to get more familiar with him. Each week on TV, the Monkees would play and sing songs writing by other musicians. However, after a year or so on which they became more serious about their work, the Monkees started to play and sing their own songs like the real band. Then they produced their own records and were started touring and playing their own music. It was in 1970 when the band broke up.