Writing A Letter To Your Future Self

    Just imagine writing a letter to your future self 5 years from now, then opening it at that exact moment to see how much of it has come true. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    As you read the letter in the future, you can assess how many things agree with your expectations in the past. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Often times, the goals we set and our goal achievement process are affected by a lot of changes along the way. The letter lets you recognize how your current idea differs from the past.

    In addition to that, at the very moment you are writing the letter, your thoughts are stored right there in those words. When you open the letter in the future, you as your future self gets to compare how you used to be in the past with how you are now.  {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. It's very interesting to do so.

    Take out a pen and paper right now and start writing your letter to your future self. Set a time period to write to. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Then start writing. Think about the type of person you will be, your place in life, what you will have realized then, and so on.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Put it in a safe space where no one can find it. When you open this sometime in the near future, you might gain additional insights(了解) about yourself and your journey in the past few years.

    Today we eat on the go, at our desks and even in front of computers. We eat takeout, delivered and packaged meals, {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    “Over the past three decades, people have started eating out more than ever before and purchasing more prepared foods at the grocery store, which tend to contain more fat, salt and sugar than their home-made foods,” noted US healthy living website SparkPeople.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} It encourages us to value the time we spend preparing, sharing and consuming food, as a recent USA Today article put it. It all started in 1986 with the efforts of Slow Food's founding father, Italian activist Carlo Petrini, who wanted to bring back food varieties and flavors that had gone dark in the face of industrialization. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Now, his idea is almost the mainstream.

    Starting at the table, the movement promotes an unhurried way of life founded on the idea that everyone has a right to cooking pleasure, and that everyone must also take responsibility to “protect the heritage (遗产) of food, tradition and culture that make this celebration of the senses possible”, wrote The Phnom Penh Post.

    “{#blank#}4{#/blank#} It means turning down the speed at which we eat and increasing the amount of time we spend dining together with other people,” Althea Zanecosky, spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, told The Huffington Post.“ {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Dinner table conversations keep families together,” noted the Belgian non-profit organization Greenfudge.

Parents Model Healthy Eating

    It should come as no surprise that the more stressed parents are at work, the greater the burden on their family is{#blank#}1{#/blank#} After all, the more time parents spend working, the less time and energy they have to plan and prepare healthful meals.

    For years, most studies have focused on the role of working mothers while fathers were ignored. They didn't look at the family as a whole{#blank#}2{#/blank#} adds a new wrinkle（褶皱）to the relationship between work stress and family nutrition.

    Mom's work related stress is still a central factor in low well families eat because they typically do most of the food shopping and cooking{#blank#}3{#/blank#} The study found that when mom or dad experience high levels of work related stress, their families are eating one-and-a-half fewer family meals per week, and the parents themselves report eating fewer fruits and vegetables, more fast food, and are less likely to eat breakfast regularly.

    It's worth nothing that the study looked mainly at low income families who belonged to ethnic（民族的）or minority groups{#blank#}4{#/blank#} But the implications are wide ranging.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Teaching kids, especially teenagers, to help with grocery shopping and to cook actual meals, instead of just putting a frozen pizza in the microwave, could be an important piece of the puzzle in helping families improves their eating habits.

A. And the role of fathers in particular

B. But dad's work related stress has a large impact, too.

C. Yet, the kids' stress may influence the families' nutrition, too.

D. So the findings don't necessarily apply directly to other types of families.

E. When it comes to family nutrition, the entire family plays a role even kids.

F. It's also probably not a surprise that this can negatively affect a family's nutrition.

G. It is parents who give their kids a good model to develop a good eating habit.

注意：每个空格只填一个单词。

    Social media is all about connecting with others. But a new study suggests that too much social media leads to disconnection and loneliness—basically the opposite of what we are led to believe.

    The study, Social Media Use and Perceived Social Isolation Among Young Adults in the U.S, which was published on March 6, 2017 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, found that heavy use of platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram was associated with feelings of social isolation (孤独) among young adults.

    Study co-author Brian Primack and his team from the Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health at the University of Pittsburgh surveyed 1,787 U.S. adults aged 19 to 32 and asked them about their usage of 11 social media platforms (outside of work). They also asked participants questions related to social isolation, such as how often they felt left out. The participants who reported spending the most time on social media—over two hours a day—had twice the possibility of social isolation than those who said they spent a half-hour per day or less on the same sites. Additionally, people who visited social media platforms most frequently (58 visits per week or more) had more than three times the possibility of perceived social isolation than those who visited them fewer than nine times per week.

    According to Tom Kersting, psychotherapist and author of Disconnected, the key to understanding these results lies in our understanding of "connections." "Humans are social-emotional beings, meaning that it is in our DNA to be connected, face-to-face, with other humans," he told Reader's Digest. "Although people think being on social media all the time makes them 'connected' to others, they are actually 'disconnected,' because the more time one spends behind a screen, the less time one spends face-to-face."

    "Part of the issue of loneliness is that the majority of people who use social media aren't just posting, they are also viewing," Kersting continued. "They are spending a lot of time looking at everyone else's posts, where they are, where they are going and what they are doing. Then everyone else's 'perfect' life experiences cause them to have feelings of being left out, of being lonely."

    So what's the answer? It's simple, says Kersting—although it does involve a significant amount of will power. "To solve this, what you should do is resist the temptation (诱惑) to look at everyone else's life. Just focus on your own life, where you're going, what you are grateful for, and what you want to accomplish in this world. Then go out and do it and stop wasting so much time comparing."

    Tip 1： {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Many entrepreneurs agree that creating short-term and long-term goals is the key to success. Write down your goals for the next year or more. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} But by writing them down， you will already be in a better position to achieve them.

    Tip 2：Find your passion quickly but cheaply.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Take part in a variety of activities to discover what you love， such as a free concert，a free class or just a cheap movie； meanwhile， try not to spend too much money in the process.

    Tip 3：Be a master at social media.

    Becoming an expert at social media may be the most important thing to better your entrepreneurial dreams. Using social media，you'll reach a global audience. By growing and managing your online presence， you will enlarge the influence of your brand. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Such additions to your daily life are lifestyle changes that will improve your chances of success. They may seem insignificant now， but when you're success, you'll appreciate the role they played. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Looking back，you'll be proud of your smart choices.

A. Create manageable goals.

B. Write down short-term goals.

C. And success is likely to follow.

D. Social media is essential to entrepreneurship.

E. It is important to learn what gets you excited.

F. It may take some time to tick off all the points on your list.

G. You'll be glad you took the time to win the game properly.

    Daily overuse of media and technology has a bad effect on the health of all children and teenagers by making them more open to anxiety, and more at risk of future health problems.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Many newer apps automatically show where the users are when they're used. This can tell anyone out there exactly where to find the person using the app.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}They are also upset about their kids spending time on Facebook accounts instead of getting down to their homework assignments, and are afraid of what can come out of their online connections.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} One way is to make a “social media agreement” with your kids—a real contract they can sign. In it, they can agree to protect their own privacy, consider their reputation, and not give out personal information.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    In turn, parents agree to respect teens' privacy while making an effort to be part of the social media world. Parents also can help kids spend less time on the computer by putting limits on media use.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Avoid laptops and smartphones in bedrooms, and set some rules on the use of technology. And don't forget that setting a good example through your own virtual behavior can go a long way toward helping your kids use social media safely.

A. Trust their children more.

B. Keep computers in public areas in the house.

C. It's important to be aware of what your kids are doing online.

D. Besides, they promise never to use technology to hurt anyone else.

E. Spending too much time on social media can make kids feel upset, too.

F. Kids also can face the possibility of meeting the wrong person lace to face.

G. Parents often say that kids would rather be online than hang around with them.