Less is more. This is why we say: reduce things by half instead of doubling them, relax instead of stressing, and slow down instead of speeding up. Apply these principles(原则) in your everyday life. You will then find yourself well along on your journey to simplification.

Separate Your Actions

    When you concentrate on one task, you find you have energy that you didn't even know you had. Just imagine: you have to carry two heavy pigs over 100 yards. If you carry two, it will take forever. But if you tie one pig in a place, pick up the other, gather all your strength and make a dash for the finish line, pause for a moment, run back and get the other one, and carry the second pig to the finish line, then you can be sure of success.

Say “No” Firmly

    If you have the feeling that 24 hours per day are not enough for all the things you need to do, then it's not because the day has too few hours, but because you have too many activities. The solution is equally simple: say no to accept so much work in your private life or your working life.

Allow Yourself to Be Weak

     “I can deal with stress” is regarded as a positive statement in the world of work. People who can deal with stress are given more and more to — until one day they break.

Pay careful attention to the signs that tell you that you are under more stress than you can deal with. If you become ill, or your work efficiency decreases, change your life goals. Say quite openly, “I can't manage that.”

Stop Expecting Everything to Be Perfect

     “If only I were slimmer, more beautiful, richer, more clever, then I would be happier.” This is a dream that makes a lot of people ill, and unhappy. Life is imperfect. Only those who accept this reality can lead a really full life.

    Of course there are activities in which errors are dangerous: driving a car; crossing the road. But life doesn't entirely have these things. In among them there is possibility that you may make small and large mistakes.

Escape Now and Then

    Successful people all have their own places where they can be left alone in order to work. Find out which places improve your creativity. For me it's the train. When I know that I'm going to be traveling for four hours without phone calls or people knocking on my door, I find my mind is free and I can read or write articles.

    Aristotle once wrote that “happiness is a state of activity”. In other words, whether you're seeking life-long satisfaction or a few moments of good cheer, you've got to move forward. We've interviewed the experts and found five steps to take toward a sunny mood（心情）：

    Over a 30-year period, University of Illinois researchers asked nearly 120, 000 people how income, education, political participation volunteer activities and close relationships affected their happiness. Reported Newsweek, s Sharon Begley on the findings, “The highest levels of happiness are found with the most stable and satisfying relationships. ”

    Singing aloud, talking to a stranger, raising your hand: all may increase a feeling of happiness, according to a study from Wake Forest University. Participants（参与者）followed the development of their moods for two weeks and reported feeling happier when they were more outgoing and less happy when reserved or withdrawn.

    The editors of forbes. Com gave $5 or $20 to 46 strangers by chance. Half the group was told to spend the money on themselves, while the other half was told to spend it on others. Those who'd shared the wealth felt much happier at the end of the day than those who'd spent it on themselves. There was no difference in happiness between those who spent $5 or $20, suggesting that it's not how much money you spend, but how you spend it, that inspires the spirit.

    Studies from the Positive Psychology Center showed that discouraged people who wrote down three good things that happened to them each day for six months reported an improved attitude.

    Drinking water really can help keep you cheerful. A small 2012 study from the University of Connecticut suggested that even slight dehydration（脱水） affected the moods of its female participants.

A Small-Town Christmas

    I worked lots of extra hours in my first Christmas season as a clerk for Dancer's, the department store in my small hometown of Wayland, Michigan.

    I'd started the job, which paid 85 cents an hour, that summer of 1966 after getting a work permit at age 15. Our neighbor Arnie Wilde was the manager, and I soon learned how to fit shoes, measure and cut cloth, and keep the shelves of shirts and underwear nice and neat.

    We closed at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve, and at 5:55 a local farmer came in to find gifts for his wife. Arnie told me this was a holiday habit of Mr. Johnson's, and that we'd do our best to take care of him.

    I knew Mr. Johnson, whose daughter was in my class and in the band, so I went to help him. We wandered through the sweaters, dresses and skirts, the pretty towels and practical flannel ( 法 兰绒) nightgowns. We talked about size and color and what I thought Mrs. Johnson would like.

    After nearly half an hour of mulling, Mr. Johnson decided on a flannel nightgown with pretty pink slippers to match and a piece of jewelry that I'd pointed out to him. I wrapped his gifts and completed the sale, and Arnie and I walked home for dinner.

    The next Christmas Eve, like clockwork, Mr. Johnson came in at 5:55. We went through the same process, taking lots of time again to choose and wrap gifts. Tired but happy, Arnie and I headed for home.

    By my third Christmas at Dancer's, I was an experienced salesclerk. Mrs. Johnson had come into the store in late summer to buy school clothes for the kids, and we chatted while I helped her shop. As she commented on pretty colors and the lovely way a dress was made, I made mental notes.

    When Mr. Johnson made his last-minute appearance on Christmas Eve, I was ready. I told him, “Mrs. Johnson was in not too long ago, and I noticed how much she liked this royal blue sweater and the plaid skirt that goes with it so beautifully.” She'd also told me that she really needed new boots, confiding that she was ashamed to walk into church with her old ones.

    I'd found some perfect boots in her size and had put them aside for Christmas Eve. Well, Mr. Johnson was impressed, and I think more than a little relieved. We had him out the door by 6:10 with everything wrapped in paper and ribbons!

    I worked for Arnie three more holiday seasons and was always there just before closing on Christmas Eve, when Mr. Johnson knew I had the answers he needed. The big stores in Grand Rapids had more merchandise and lovely Christmas fantasies in their windows, but it's only in a small town that neighbors take care of neighbors.

⑴Questions①to⑤. Judge if the following statements agree with the information given in the passage. Choose A  for  TRUE  if  the  statements agree with  it;  choose B  for  FALSE  if  the statements don't agree with it; choose C for NOT GIVEN if the information the statements carry is not mentioned anywhere in the passage.

⑵Questions⑥to⑨. Match the following words with their meanings in the passage. Note that there are four choices more than you need.

⑶Question⑩. Choose the best answer from A, B, C or D.

    Kids who are old enough to surf the Internet can get to know the world. But it can also bring problems. For example, some of the websites are not proper for kids, which can lead to kid's growth problems. That's why it's important to know what your kids see and hear on the Internet.

    When it comes to safety problems, it's wise to take advantage of online protection tools. They will control your kids' seeing and using adult material. Many Internet service-providers (ISPs) provide parent-control choices to prevent certain material from coming into a computer. You can also get software (软件) that keeps your child from certain sites based on a “bad site” list that your ISP creates. Besides, keep the computer in a common area, not in their own bedrooms, where you can keep a close eye on their activities.

    Discuss the dangers of talking with strangers online and remind your kids that people online don't always tell the truth. Tell your kids never to give strangers their personal information, such as the address, phone number, school name or location. Tell them never to exchange photos with strangers in the chat rooms online, which will put the families at risk. Tell them never to agree to meet anyone from a chat room in person. Tell them never to reply to a dangerous email, message, post or text. Give your kids some encouragement to let them tell you about any communication or conversation that is dangerous. Nothing can make sure that they'll be kept away from 100% of the risks on the Internet. So it's important for you to spend time online together to teach your kids proper online behavior and educate them about online risks so they can surf the Internet safely. Taking an active part in your kids' Internet activities will help ensure that they benefit from the wealth of valuable information it offers.

    If your child spend long hours online, especially at night, with people you don't know, you should take notice of your kids behavior. If your child suddenly turns off the computer when you walk into the room, ask why. Unwillingness to discuss online activities is another sign to watch for.

Some Steps for Breaking Through Your Comfort Zone

    A comfort zone is a self-­imposed boundary where a person will refuse to push past. Doing so usually fills him or her with nervousness and anxiety. So let's talk about breaking out of this comfort zone.

    Get information. To break through your comfort zone you need to first educate yourself. Your goal here is to find out about whatever skill you're pursuing. You'll talk to people who have done the same thing.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} And you'll check out articles on the Internet about this subject.

    Have a plan. After educating yourself it's important to create a plan of action. With this step you're going to write down a step ­by­ step blueprint for how you're going to break through your comfort zone.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Then you create a plan to get to each level. In this plan you need to create benchmarks. These are mini ­goals that put you one step close to pushing past your comfort zone.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} This is an important step because the people in your life will keep you on track. You want them to give you that "push" as you're pushing your boundaries. They will make it hard for you to quit because you know you'll look foolish if you did.

    Remain positive. There will be times when you experience a negative outcome, something that shakes your confidence and makes you feel scared. The trick is to not let anything prevent you from blasting past the point of comfort. Recognize that you will have negative outcomes.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Keep expanding your comfort zone{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Find stuff that you never imagined you would do. Like teaching a class on the subject that once filled you with fear. Or you could work on a related skill.

A. Look for new challenges.

B. You can't become an overnight success.

C. Have people around you know of your plan.

D. You start with the easiest thing to do.

E. It's a natural part of the process.

F. You won't have time to think about your fear.

G. You'll read books on the subject.

    A psychotherapist once taught me a little trick that helped me feel less angry at my partner and less sad about the failings of our relationship.

    She said, "Look at him and imagine him as a very little boy; that way, you separate yourself somewhat from the adult, and you are likely to understand and forgive him."

    It actually helped. I couldn't be as mad at or disappointed by a child as I could be with a grown man. So, at least on some occasions, we were both spared the heartache of an uncomfortable silence or a not-so-silent argument. And I sometimes still use versions of that trick whenever I feel frustrated or angry in other relationships or personal exchanges.

    But what if you could mentally change the form of the emotion itself? According to scientists at the University of Texas, maybe you can.

    Focusing specifically on sadness, the researchers asked two groups of study participants to write about a time in their lives when they felt very sad. They then asked one group to imagine sadness as a person, and write down a description of the person they imagined would be sadness. Not surprisingly, the participants described sadness in such ways as an older person with gray hair and sunken eyes or a young girl holding her head down as she slowly walked along.

    The researchers asked the other group of participants to write down a description of sadness with respect to its impact on their moods. When asked to rate their levels of sadness after completing their descriptions, the participants who wrote about the emotion itself and how it affects them reported higher levels of sadness than the group that anthropomorphized (人格化)sadness into a specific type of person with familiar human characteristics. The researchers suggest that by giving life to the emotion, participants can view sadness as something (or someone) separate and somewhat distant from themselves, helping them relieve their negative feelings.

    While it's okay to feel sad, many people behave in unconscious and sometimes self-destructive ways to distract or "save" themselves when they are consumed by negative emotions. So in the study authors wanted to know whether or not the group that reported feeling less sad would make smarter shopping decisions.

    They tested this by asking participants in both groups to first choose between a salad or a cheesecake dessert to go with the main dish they were having for lunch. The researchers also asked participants to choose between a computer loaded with features for productivity or a computer loaded with features for entertainment. Those study participants who had anthropomorphized their emotions were more likely to choose the salad and the productive computer than those who had simply written about their feelings.

    For obvious reasons, then, they say this technique is best for reduce negative emotions.