Speaking to Develop Self-confidence

Overcoming stage fright

    Most people are nervous about public speaking. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} If you know that your topic is interesting, and that your material is well organized, you have already reduced a major worry.

Facial expressions

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} During your speech try to change your facial expressions to convey the emotions that you feel. Throughout your speech you need to use expressive facial expressions.

Eye contact

    When you speak, you should look your audience straight in the eye. The idea is to give the impression that you are talking to each individual in your audience. If you have a large audience, try to look at people in the middle of the room, then slowly look to the right side of the room, then to the left side, then back to the center of the room. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} This will give the audience the idea that you are not interested in your topic or in them.

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    Enthusiasm is being lively and showing your own personal concern for your subject and your audience. If you are truly interested in your topic, your delivery is certain to be enthusiastic and lively.

Varying speaking rate

    Your words should not be too fast or too slow. If you speak too slowly you will bore your audience. If you speak too rapidly you will be difficult to understand. Adapt your rate to the content of your speech. For example, if you are explaining complex information, slow down. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. If you are nervous , take a few steps to your right or left while speaking.

B. Smiling before you start your speech shows that you are not nervous.

C. The best way to cope with nervousness is to be really well prepared.

D. If you are happy or enthusiastic, you should speed up.

E. Don't look at the floor, the ceiling or out the window.

F. Speaking with enthusiasm

G. Inspiring your audience

    In modem times, many teenagers have idols of their own who are always some stars on TV on the Internet, etc. These stars always think that a slimmer figure may be perfect for themselves. However, does size really matter? Are teenage fans trying hard to become like their idols? Do famous stars really have the power to influence people especially teenagers?

    For the longest time, many parents blame (责备) teen idols for influencing the way their kids act. Have you noticed how teens idolize the stars these days? Even, their personal affairs are being followed by kids these days. Take for example the case of Lindsay Lohan or Mary Kate Ashley, They are definitely famous teen stars. However, since they are trying to project an image to satisfy a lot of people in show business their health and body suffer. Many kids are aware of this problem. But they are easily influenced by these stars to exercise and eat less.

    It is a fact that the media and especially famous teen stars can influence people powerfully. But teenagers are easily influenced because teenage years are the period when our personality and identity developments take place. Teens watching TV shows and reading magazines are easily pulled into the dieting and harmful eating habits because the media have some ways to pull these acts. They use thin models and stars to endorse (宣传) products or to star in an up-and-coming shows or movies. With fierce competition, stars are forced to eat less and do extreme exercise routines to get the roles or offers that come their way.

    Living in today's time and generation is a bit disturbing to a lot of parents. Media, especially as well as the stars, have a very powerful influence to drive teenagers to good or bad. It's good that we can control ourselves to avoid bad things from happening. If not, parents should really be aware and guide their teens to determine what's in and what's out.

    With the development of science and technology, people find it increasingly difficult to keep pace with the most fashionable smart phones in the world, especially when smart phones are connected with robots. If any robot can take over the world, it's RoBohon. He has all the information you put in your smart phone and can read human feelings. So everyone probably wants to own the cutest smart robot phone.

    RoBohon is very useful. He can project photographs and films, tell you he loves you if he senses you are crying and do everything your smart phone can do.

    RoBohon was created by Japanese electronics company SHARP. The robot phone, with a 2-inch screen fitted into its back, stands 20cm tall and weighs 390 grams. Most surprisingly, he can walk on his own legs around your home and act as a super cute personal assistant. He can even dance. He reads your text messages, announces phone calls, dries your tears and wakes you up. He can even recognize your face and call your name when you enter the room. He will be always at your side keeping you company and providing you with great comfort.

    RoBohon can also serve as an alarm clock. The robot can be a wonderful partner in a small conversation. Though he is expensive, more than double the price of iPhone, who wouldn't want a small personal assistant?

    Having a great collection of books at home doesn't really mean that you are a person who loves reading. It may be got from your father or your father's father, and it can just impress people around you with the fact that you are a person of culture.

    From my point of view, reading is very important in our daily life. For example, reading is a way of gaining knowledge in different areas. It can help us have a great imagination, and it makes things easier when it comes to making compositions on different themes. It gives you the possibility to speak about science, even if you don't work in this field. You can express your opinions about a political event because you have read something about that.

    Secondly, reading gives us the possibility to enter the world of imagination. We can imagine what life will be like in the future. Sometimes, we compare ourselves with the people in the stories we read and they can give us some clues to solve the problems and tell us what to do in certain situations. Books are based on real life. Even if writers are considered to be somehow different from common people, they often face the same problems as we all do.

    In short, I would like to say that literature is the perfect way of enriching our culture, expressing correctly, having a rich vocabulary, being able to understand different fields and really being considered to be a learned person.

    Loud cheers and applause broke out at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab on Monday, November 25, 2018, as the unmanned lander, called Insight, touched down on Mars, after nearly seven years from design to launch to landing.

    The great arrival of the spacecraft­designed to listen for quakes and shakes as a way to discover the Red Planet's inner secrets, how it formed billions of years ago and, how other planets like Earth took shape­marked the eighth successful landing on Mars in Nasa's history.

    Minutes after InSight landed on the surface of Mars, the first image was sent back, showing a wide flat area as seen through a dirty camera.

    The touchdown came after a nearly seven-month, 300 million-mile travel from Earth to Mars, during which the InSight spacecraft had to slow down from a speed of more than 12,000 mph. The spacecraft's heat shelter helped the lander survive temperatures as high as 2,700℉.

    Each step along the way was watched nervously at JPL, with updates delayed by the eight-minute light travel time between Earth and Mars. Mission controllers hugged each other with joy when the signals were received. "We are proud of everything that has gone on today," they told us reporters.

    The first picture of the surface of Mars was sent back to Earth by one of the MarCO nanosatellites (马可纳米卫星) that accompanied InSight during its travel to Mars. The dust from the landing made the view unclear. Pictures from it were expected to be clearer once the dust settled and the lens cover (镜头盖) was removed.

    Hours later, InSight's batteries were charging as expected. The InSight team also passed on another picture, taken by a different camera that's fixed on the lander's robotic arm. The view is clearer, showing the robotic arm and the seismometer, which is used to discover the actual movement of the ground.

Fifteen-year-old Sansa has been writing for eight years and has been working on a book for the past four. Feeling stuck and unable to write, she started searching for writing groups in Los Angeles, looking for guidance. When she found WriteGirl, she was inspired.

Keren Taylor started WriteGirl in 2001 as a way to help teen girls who did not have access to creative writing programs. "Teen girls are incredibly vulnerable(脆弱的) and invisible," Taylor said. "They really need to be lifted up and inspired."

At WriteGirl, 400 women writers volunteer to mentor(指导) 700 teenagers a year. Every girl who has gone through the mentorship program has gone to college and several have pursued careers as professional writers. Through the program, girls dive into poetry, fiction, songwriting, play and so on, learning techniques from professional women writers. This leads to well-rounded training and sets WriteGirl apart from other organizations.

A typical exercise at WriteGirl is mic and rant, a 30-second session before writing for each girl. As a vehicle for teens to get their ideas out, it empowers girls to explore anything meaningful to them. "Not the flowery language, or rather, complicated expressions that sound skillful, but more of the natural, this is what I'm thinking and what I'm feeling." Taylor said.

Sansa's mentor Danyella Wilder is attracted by the long-term nature of mentoring at WriteGirl. Wilder wishes she had a program like this herself when she was 15. "To just have an organization where people are spending their time just to tell you, ‘Hey, good job,' or ‘That was amazing.' You're at the age where you need to hear that."