5 . Life is filled with regrets. Anyone around you will have no difficulty in telling his regrets. As we get older, we look back and wish that we have made better choices.     1    

Make better plans.

If you start to do something, you need to make a plan before doing it. The earlier, the better.

You will know what comes first and what comes last.     2     If changes happen, you can have more time to deal with them.

Live a more active life.

You can go around more often. More outdoor activities can keep you relaxed and active.     3     “Thank you” can bring a smile to someone’s face. Learn to say “sorry” and don’t be angry with others.

    4    

A friend may make your life and he or she can break your life as well. So you have to think twice when you choose a friend. Good friends will always give you better ideas. When you get into trouble, ask others for help. That little help may get you good results.

Never fear failure.

Everybody fails. Even the greatest person fails before he or she achieves success. We should not fear failure, because failure is not the end of the road.     5    

Life is good. We don’t have to live in our past, but we do hope that we can plan better, live better and work better when we have the chance to do so.

6 . Have you ever had someone tell you, “If you eat before bed, you're going to get fat”     1     But is eating late at night, specifically after 8 p.m., really going to make you gain weight?

One theory is that your metabolism(新陈代谢)slows down when you're asleep. With a slower metabolism, fewer calories are being burned. Thus the calories you eat right before bed would not be bumped off as much as they would be while you're awake. Although the science seems pretty sound, recent studies have shown that metabolism changes very little while you are asleep. The heart is still beating, lungs are still working, and the brain is still very active.     2     So while we are asleep, we are still burning calories.

    3     Carbohydrates(碳水化合物)are one of your body's main sources of energy. When they go unused, they are stored primarily as fat. However, the time of day that carbohydrates are consumed does not play a role as to how much of it is stored as fat.

Actually, weight gain is based on the amount of calories being consumed overall and the amount of calories used overall.     4     It has little to do with the time when you eat. So how come individuals have higher BMIs when they snack' at night? Although there is a relation between the two, it is simply a result of eating too many calories!

Snacks that individuals tend to eat during the night are usually high in sugar and calories, such as ice cream, candy, potato chips, and soft drinks. The time these snacks are consumed does not matter.    5    .

7 . Listening to music is considered a good thing for adults. Indeed it is. Scientific studies have proved it. Music has so many good effects on our body, mind and mood that this world will certainly not be a good place without music. Then, is music good for children? Some parents think so and let their children learn or listen to music. But some parents don't know the importance of music to children. Here are some reasons why music is important to children.

First, music is good for children’s intelligence. Studies have proved that children who learn music are likely to have higher intelligence than those who have no interest in or dislike music. This is because the brain gets stimulated (刺激) by the rhythm and tone of music.

Music also has soothing (抚慰的) effect on children and helps remove their stress. Today’s children are under a lot of stress from schoolwork. Being under too much stress impairs children’s health. Luckily，listening to music can help them feel better.

Music can improve children’s moods. Some children are sad by nature. They seem to be lost in their own thoughts and don’t take interest in their surroundings. In such cases，a method known as “music therapy” comes to their rescue. It changes their moods and places a new kind of spirit in them.

Music is also a universal language that children ought to learn. Our world has become a global village. People are getting more and more interested in other cultures and countries. Music can help them in understanding foreign cultures.

Now we can say that music is very important not only to adults but also to children. So children should be encouraged to learn music or listen to music.

9 . Living in a foreign culture can be exciting, but it can also be confusing(令人迷惑的). A group of Americans who taught English in other countries recently discussed their experiences. They found that miscommunication was always possible, even over something as simple as “yes” and “no”.

On her first day in Micronesia, an island in the Pacific, Lisa thought people weren’t paying any attention to her. The day was hot. She went into a store and asked, “Do you have cold drinks？” The woman there didn’t say anything. Lisa repeated the question. Still the woman said nothing. She later learned that the woman had answered her: She had raised her eyebrows(眉毛), which in Micronesia means “yes”.

Jan remembered an experience she had in Bulgaria, a country in Europe. She went to a restaurant that was famous for its cabbage. She asked the waiter, “Do you have cabbage today？” He nodded his head. Jan waited, but the cabbage never came. In that country, a nod means “no”.

Tom had a similar problem when he arrived in India. After explaining something in class, he asked his students if they understood. They answered with many different nods and shakes of the head. He thought some people had not understood, so he explained again. When he asked again, they did the same thing. He soon found out that his students did understand. In India, people nod and shake their heads in different ways depending on where they come from. You have to know where a person is from to understand whether they mean “yes” or “no”．