When I was in sixth grade, I joined the band program to learn to play the clarinet (单簧管). The beginning of the year had gone 1. But as most students progressed, I seemed to fall behind. One day, when my teacher told us to play in front of the other students, I was filled with fear. I knew I would 2. When I began to play, my rhythms (节奏) were good, but my tone was another 3. "Did you practice your lesson?" the teacher barked at me. I felt so 4 and my world came 5 down in an instant.
From then on, I hated playing the clarinet and I kept getting 6. With the day of the new performance approaching, I grew increasingly upset. In a moment of 7, I asked for sick leave. It was so relieving and such a(n) 8 way out.
The avoidance of my lessons continued until my mum asked me about it. "I want to quit. " My tears started 9. "If you really want to quit, why are you crying?" asked mum. She 10 and I realized I wanted to stay in band and, by not facing my fears, I had created a black hole that would be difficult to 11 out of. I made a 12 not to hide from my fears and to stand up to even the worst of them, so a 13 could be achieved.
The next day I met with my band teacher and told her I was having a problem and couldn't 14 why. She asked me gently to play for her. I tried, but only an unpleasant sound came out. She didn't 15 at me and handed me a new reed (簧片). I put it in place and tried again. To my great 16 I could play well. My problem was solved and my fear was 17 a lot that year.
18 I'm glad that I overcame my fear. Fear can 19 everything in a person's life. Hiding from those very fears only creates a hole, which makes a person stay 20 inside. After facing up to a fear, one may find life easier and much more enjoyable.
Getting into college is a big step for high school graduates, and it comes with a lot of changes. For most students, it's the first time they're living away from home and managing their own life. Not surprisingly, adapting to this new lifestyle can be challenging. The following four tips will make high school graduates better prepared for college life.
Goal setting
When setting goals, whether they're academic, career, or personal, re-member they should be attainable but not too easy, so that you really have to push yourself to achieve them, and feel rewarded when you do. Writing down your goals and breaking down each huge, long-term goal into smaller more practical ones can help make it feel more real, and writing out a plan for achieving it can give you a roadmap to success.
Interpersonal skills
At college, you will interact with fellow students, professors, librarians, and many others. Strong interpersonal skills will help you build relationships during this time, and get more out of them. If you feel that your interpersonal skills need some work, practice asking thoughtful questions and listening closely, develop your understanding by putting yourself in someone else's shoes, and enhance your self-confidence.
Studying
With fewer in-class hours and more on-your-own learning, you're required to really digest learning material rather than simply memorize facts. To be successful in college you'll need to learn how to integrate large amounts of information obtained through reading, do research, and write papers. Organization is the key, so if you are not someone who is naturally organized, set up your study schedule.
Budgeting
Managing money is a critical life skill, and for many, it is at college that they develop it for the first time. Start by estimating your financial balance. Then give high priority to the expenses on basic needs and determine how much money to set aside every month to cover those costs. Don't forget about savings…and the fun stuff(movies, dinners out), too.
I'm an 18-year-old pre-medical student, tall nd good-looking, with two short story books and quite a number of essays my credit. Why am I singing such praises of myself? Just to explain that he attainment of self-pride comes from a great deal of self-love, and to attain it, one must first learn to accept oneself as one is. That was where my struggle began.
Born and raised in Africa，I had always taken my African origin as burden. My self-dislike was further fueled when my family had to relocate to Norway, where I attended a high school. Compared to all the white girls around me, with their golden hair and delicate lips, I ,a black girl, had curly hair and full, red lips. My nose often had a thin sheet of sweat on it, whatever the weather was. I just wanted to bury myself in my shell crying "I'm so different!"
What also contributed to my self-dislike was my occasional stuttering (口吃), which had weakened my self-confidence. It always stood between me and any fine opportunity. I'd taken it as an excuse to avoid any public speaking sessions, and unknowingly let it rule over me.
Fortunately, as I grew older, there came a turning point. One day a white girl caught my eye on the school bus when she suddenly turned back. To my astonishment, she had a thin sheet of sweat on her nose too, and it was in November! "Wow," I whispered to myself, "this isn't a genetic(遗传的) disorder after all. It's perfectly normal. " Days later, my life took an-other twist(转折). Searching the internet for stuttering cures, I accidentally learned that such famous people as Isaac Newton and Winston Churchill also stuttered. I was greatly relieved and then an idea suddenly hit me—if I'm smart, I shouldn't allow my stuttering to stand between me and my success.
Another boost to my self-confidence came days later as I was watching the news about Oprah Winfrey, the famous talkshow host and writer—she's black too! Whenever I think of her story and my former dislike of my color, I'm practically filled with shame.
Today, I've grown to accept what I am with pride; it simply gives me feeling of uniqueness. The idea of self-love has taken on a whole new meaning for me: there's always something fantastic about us, and what w need to do is learn to appreciate it.
Is it true that our brain alone is responsible fo human cognition(认知)? What about our body? Is it possible for thought and behavior to originate from somewhere other than our brain? Psychologists who study Embodied Cognition(EC) ask similar questions. The EC theory suggests our body is also responsible for thinking or problem-solving. More precisely, the mind shapes the body and the body shapes the mind in equal measure.
If you think about it for a moment, it makes total sense. When you smell something good or hear amusing sounds, certain emotions are awakened. Think about how newborns use their senses to understand the world around them. They don't have emotions so much as needs—they don't feel sad, they're just hungry and need food. Even unborn babies can feel their mothers' heartbeats and this has a calming effect. In the real world，they cry when they're cold and then get hugged. That way, they start to as-sociate being warm with being loved.
Understandably, theorists have been arguing for years and still disagree on whether the brain is the nerve centre that operates the rest of the body. Older Western philosophers and mainstream language researchers believe this is fact, while EC theorises that the brain and body are working together as an organic supercomputer, processing everything and forming your reactions.
Further studies have backed up the mind-body interaction. In one ex-periment, test subjects(实验对象) were asked to judge people after being handed a hot or a cold drink. They all made warm evaluations when their fingertips perceived warmth rather than coolness. And it works the other way too; in another study, subjects' fingertip temperatures were measured after being"included" in or "rejected" from a group task. Those who were included felt physically warmer.
For further proof, we can look at the metaphors(比喻说法) that we use without even thinking. A kind and sympathetic person is frequently referred to as one with a soft heart and someone who is very strong and calm in difficult situations is often described as solid as a rock. And this kind of metaphorical use is common across languages.
Now that you have the knowledge of mind-body interaction, why not use it? If you're having a bad day,a warm cup of tea will give you a flash of pleasure. If you know you're physically cold, warm up before making any interpersonal decisions.
Ralph Emerson once said that the purpose of life is not to be happy, but to be useful, to be loving, to make some difference in he world. While we appreciate such words of wisdom, we rarely try to follow them in our lives.
Most people prefer to live a good life themselves, ignoring their responsibilities for the world. This narrow perception of a good life may provide short-term benefits, but is sure to lead to long-term harm and suffering. A good life based on comfort and luxury may eventually lead to more pain be-cause we spoil our health and even our character, principles, ideals, and relationships.
What then, is the secret of a good life? A good life is a process, not a state of being : a direction, not a destination. We have to earn a good life by first serving others without any expectation in return because their happiness is the very source of our own happiness. More importantly, we must know ourselves inside out. Only when we examine ourselves deeply can we discover our abilities and recognize our limitations, and then work accordingly to create a better world.
The first requirement for a good life is having a loving heart. When we do certain right things merely as a duty, we find our job so tiresome that we'll soon burn out. However, when we do that same job out of love, we not only enjoy what we do, but also do it with an effortless feeling.
However, love alone is insufficient to lead a good life. Love sometimes blinds us to the reality. Consequently, our good intentions may not lead to good results. To achieve desired outcome, those who want to do good to others also need to equip themselves with accurate world knowledge. False knowledge is more dangerous than ignorance. If love is the engine of a car knowledge is the steering wheel(方向盘). If the engine lacks power, th car can't move; if the driver loses control of the steering, a road accident probably occurs. Only with love in heart and the right knowledge in mind can we lead a good life.
With love and knowledge, we go all out to create a better world by doing good to others. When we see the impact of our good work on the world we give meaning to our life and earn lasting joy and happiness.
It was a dark and stormy night. The ferocious wind shook the windows wildly, as though someone outside were beating on the glass. It was also New Year's Eve. We were having our annual party and had a house full of people just starting to celebrate.
Suddenly, we heard loud explosions. Looking outside and up into the hills, we saw sparks(火花) flying from electrical transformers(变压器). One area after another went dark up in those hills. Then there was the loudest explosion of them all and our house went dark too. I tried to find every candle we had and lit them. The candles made everything look lovely. But we had problems. We had fifteen people standing around and we still had to cook dinner. How would we do that without electricity?
The barbecue! Why not cook on the barbecue? We men went outside, some holding flashlights and others cooking. We did a wonderful job. The women stayed inside and got the salads ready. Everything was delicious. There were still a few hours to go before the beginning of the new year, so we all sat around the dining room table and sang up until a few minutes before midnight. We couldn't watch the ball drop in Times Square on television but that wouldn't stop us from celebrating. I stood on a chair and, with the help of someone's watch to tell us the time, we all counted down and I dropped a tennis ball! We all screamed Happy New Year. We didn't need electricity for that!
Nowadays, we still get together with the same group to celebrate the New Year and we still talk about that special night. I don't think we have ever laughed so much as we did on that New Year's Eve.
