With busy life, it can be hard to find time to volunteer.However, volunteering brings you lots of benefits.The more you volunteer, the more benefits you will gain.Of course, volunteering does not have to involve a long-term commitment or take a huge amount of time out of your busy days.Giving in simple ways can not only help those in need but also improve your health all happiness.
One of the better-known benefits of volunteering is that it allows you to connect to your community, boast your social skills and make it a better place.Even helping out with the smallest tasks can make a real difference to the lives of people, animals and organizations in need.And volunteering is a two-way street: It can benefit you and your family as much as the others you choose to help.
Volunteering provides many benefits to both mental and physical health.Almost everyone has to fight against stress, anger and anxiety.The social contact aspect of helping and working with others can have a profound effect on your overall psychological well-being.Nothing relieves stress better than a meaningful connection to another person.Working with pest and other animal has also been shown to improve mood and reduce stress and anxiety.
Volunteering can also advance your career.If you are considering a new career, volunteering can help you get experience in your area of interest and meet people in the field.Even if you are not planning on changing careers, volunteering gives you the opportunity to practice important skills used in the workplace, such as teamwork, communication, problem solving, project planning, task management and organization.You might feel more comfortable stretching your wings at work once you have developed these skills in a volunteer position first.
We’ve all been there: in a lift, in line at the bank or on an airplane, surrounded by people who are, like us, deeply focused on their smartphones or, worse, struggling with the uncomfortable silence.
What’s the problem? It’s possible that we all have compromised conversational intelligence. It’s more likely that none of us start a conversation because it’s awkward and challenging, or we think it’s annoying and unnecessary. But the next time you find yourself among strangers, consider that small talk is worth the trouble. Experts say it’s an invaluable social practice that results in big benefits.
Dismissing small talk as unimportant is easy, but we can’t forget that deep relationships wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for casual conversation. Small talk is the grease(润滑剂) for social communication, says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast. “Almost every great love story and each big business deal begins with small talk”, he explains. “The key to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them.”
In a 2014 study, Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at UBC, invited people on their way into a coffee shop. One group was asked to seek out an interaction(互动) with its waiter; the other, to speak only when necessary. The results showed that those who chatted with their server reported significantly higher positive feelings and a better coffee shop experience. “It’s not that talking to the waiter is better than talking to your husband,” says Dunn. “But interactions with peripheral(边缘的) members of our social network matter for our well-being also.”
Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a significantly greater sense of belonging, a bond with others. Carducci believes developing such a sense of belonging starts with “Small talk is the basis of good manners,” he says.
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A light knock on the door brought me from my kitchen. Because we had just moved into the neighbourhood, I couldn’t imagine who it would be. Opening the door, an old man stood there, who was dressed in dirty clothing and wearing dirty rubber boots. His hand hung a plastic bag.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
“Would you like to buy some fresh garden vegetables?” His blue eyes were hopeful.
“Are they from your garden?” I looked inside his plastic bag and saw some carrots with soil.
“Yes,” His voice was soft. “And I can get some apples from a tree in my yard. Would you like some of those, too?”
My heart softened, and I wondered if he is badly in need of the bit of money. With a sigh, I said, “Please step inside and I’ll get my money.”
The next day, he knocked at our door again. This time, my little four-year-old daughter got there first. “Oh, hello. Would you like to come in for tea?" Without a second thought, the old man stepped inside and held out a broken basket with several bruised (擦伤的)apples. “From my tree,” he said, removing a worn cap. “You might like to make a pie. ”
The three of us sat at the kitchen table and drank our tea. It was obvious that my daughter liked hosting a visitor in her never-ending questions. “What is your name? Where do you live? Why are your clothes so dirty?”
The homeless-looking man laughed as he answered each question. His name was Mr. Locket and he lived around the corner. His wife had passed away several years before, and his children all lived far away. He was lonely. His need for company had sent him door to door selling fruit and vegetables. Ours was the only door opened to him that day.
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3.续写部分分为两段,每段的开头语已经为你写好；
4.续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
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When he finished the tea, he said he had to go home and promised to return the next day.
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Several years later, a small envelope was delivered to our home—a letter from the old mans daughter.
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4 . When a rather dirty, poorly-dressed person kneels at your feet and puts out his hands to beg for a few coins, do you hurry on, not knowing what to do, or do you feel sad and hurriedly hand over some money? What should our attitude to beggars be? There can't be no question that the world is full of terrible sad stories. It must be terrible to have no idea where our next meal is coming from. It seems cruel not to give some money to beggars.
Certainly, most of the world's great religions order us to be open-hearted and share what we have with those less fortunate than ourselves. But has the world changed? Maybe what was morally right in the old days, when one knew exactly who in the village had suffered misfortune and needed help, is no longer the best idea. Quite a few people will not give to beggars. Let us look at their arguments.
First, some believe that many city beggars dress up on purpose to look pitiable and actually make a good living from begging. Giving to beggars only encourages this sort of evils. Secondly, there is the worry that the money you give will be spent on beer, wine or drugs. Thirdly, there is the opinion that there is no real excuse for begging. One might be poor, but that is no reason for losing one's sense of pride and self-dependence.
Related to this is the opinion that the problem should be dealt with by the government rather than ordinary people. Some people think beggars should go to the local government department and receive help.
It is hard to come to a conclusion; there are various cases and we must deal with them differently. A few coins can save a life in some situations, and even if the money is wasted, that does not take away the moral goodness of the giver.
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“Stop the world, I want to get off!” This popular expression refers to a feeling of panic, or stress, that makes people want to stop whatever they are doing, try to relax, and become calm again. Stress is one of the most common causes of health problems in modern life. Too much stress results in physical, emotional, and mental health problems.
There are numerous physical effects of stress. Stress can affect the heart. It can increase the pulse rate, make the heart miss beats, and can cause high blood pressure. Stress can affect the respiratory(呼吸的) system. It can lead to asthma and cause a person to breathe too fast, resulting in a loss of important carbon dioxide. Stress can affect the stomach. It can cause stomachaches and problems of digesting food. These are only a few examples of the wide range of illnesses and symptoms resulting from stress.
Emotions are also easily affected by stress. People suffering from stress often feel anxious. They may have panic attacks and feel tired all the time. When people are under stress, they often overreact to little problems. For example, a normally gentle parent under a lot of stress at work may yell at a child for dropping a glass of juice. Stress can make people angry, moody, or nervous.
Long-term stress can lead to a variety of serious mental illnesses. Depression, an extreme feeling of sadness and hopelessness, can be the result of continued and increasing stress. Alcoholism and other addictions often develop as a result of overuse of alcohol or drugs to try to relieve stress. If stress is allowed to continue, then one’s mental health is put at risk.
It is obvious that stress is a serious problem. It attacks the body. It affects the emotions. Untreated, it may eventually result in mental illness. Stress has a great influence on the health, our feelings, and our minds. So, reduce stress: stop the world and rest for a while.
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The everyday signs of conscientiousness (认真尽责) ——being punctual, careful in doing work, self-disciplined, and scrupulous (一丝不苟的) in attending to responsibilities ——are typical characteristics of the model organizational citizen, the people who keep things running as they should. They follow the rules, help out, and are concerned about the people they work with. It’s the conscientious worker who helps newcomers or updates people who return after an absence, who never abuses sick leaves, who always gets things done on deadline.
Conscientiousness is a key to success in any field. In studies of job performance, outstanding effectiveness for almost all jobs, from semi-skilled labor to sales and management, depends on conscientiousness. It is particularly important for outstanding performance in jobs at the lower levels of an organization: the secretary whose message taking is perfect, the delivery truck driver who is always on time. Conscientiousness also offers a buffer (缓冲) against the threat of job loss in today’s constantly changing market, because employees with this quality are among the most valued.
But conscientiousness in the absence of social skills can lead to problems. Since conscientious people demand so much of themselves, they can hold other people to their own standards, and so be overly judgmental when others don’t show the same high levels of model behavior. Factory workers in Great Britain and the United States who were extremely conscientious, for example, tended to criticize co-workers even about failures that seemed unimportant to those they criticized, which damaged their relationships.
When conscientiousness takes the form of living up to expectations, it can discourage creativity. In creative professions like art or advertising, openness to wild ideas and spontaneity (自发性) are scarce and in demand. Success in such occupations calls for a balance, however; without enough conscientiousness to follow through, people become mere dreamers, with nothing to show for their imaginativeness.
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Jack, a clerk at the local bank, was wandering alone on the street. It was a cold, silent winter night. His mind was on his wife Linda, who had been in a car accident two months ago and was now lying in a hospital bed, waiting for more money for her operation. Jack had sold everything he had, and he had tried his best to borrow money from all the people and banks he could. But the real world is cruel.
A large amount of money was still needed. To Jack, it would mean a great deal of suffering to see his wife die without any help. “I have only one option left, ”Jack said to himself. Then he went to the bank, his workplace, again. For several days, he observed the bank and planned a theft.
The next day, he went to work as usual. Everything seemed normal: he joked with his workmates and helped his clients as he always did. But no one noticed that he had brought a bigger suitcase to work, instead of the small one he always carried. At 5:00 pm, the bank closed, and the clerks and the guards had all gone home. However, at that moment, Jack was in the bathroom, and the guards didn’t notice him, of course. When the noises coming from the street were replaced by silence and everything turned dark, Jack came out from the bathroom. He first cut the lines of the alarms and monitors with tools from his new suitcase.
He was all too familiar with the equipment since he had been working there for 8 years and had been studying the security system for the past 30 days. Using a special key and some other tools, he then easily opened the doors of the safes. The bank’s security system wasn’t very good, which allowed Jack to take a lot of money. Several minutes later, Jack left the bank with a heavy bag filled with money.
注意：
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4. 续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
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After Jack had been gone from the bank for a while, the alarms began to ring.__________________________
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But the most unlucky man was the manager of the bank, an old man._________________________________
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