As I walked along the Edgware Road, I felt as though the world was closing in on me. All the sounds I take for granted, had gone. I had entered a world of silence. This unsettling experience occurred a few weeks ago when I agreed to go deaf for the day to support the work of the charity Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, for which I am an ambassador.

    When I managed to take a cab to the office of my manager, Gavin, I couldn't hear what the taxi driver was saying to me. Conversation was impossible. Then, when I reached the office, I had to ring the intercom five times as I couldn't hear a response.

    Everybody said I was shouting at them—I simply wasn't aware of how loudly I was speaking as I couldn't hear my own voice. Gavin kept telling me my phone was ringing, but I didn't realize. I was too busy trying to concentrate on reading his lips. And when he tried to tell me a code to put into my phone, I had to keep asking him to repeat it, more slowly. Eventually he lost his patience and snapped at me: “Just give me the phone!” I was shocked.

    People couldn't be bothered to repeat themselves, so they kept trying to do things for me that I was perfectly capable of doing myself. I felt I'd lost control.

    Being deaf for the day was extraordinarily tiring. I had to work so hard to “listen” with my eyes, get people's attention and use my other senses to make up for my lack of hearing. It was a huge, exhausting effort.

    Until that experience I didn't realize how much I took my own hearing for granted, or the sorts of emotions and experiences deaf people go through. If a deaf person asks you to repeat something, never think: “It doesn't matter.” It does matter.

    It does not have to be January 1^st to give yourself a chance to make the most out of your day. Every day is a new day and a fresh start to learn, grow, develop your strengths, free yourself from past regrets or hurts, and move forward older and wiser. Every day gives you chance to reinvent yourself. It is never too late to change things that are not working in your life.

    Each day is a new beginning and a piece of blank paper. How would you like to create your day? If you wake up in a negative mind, you are more likely to paint a dark picture throughout the day, and your picture will not show hope, happiness and joy.

    If you take each day to think actively, and have a positive intention for how you would like to create your day, how would your life different? What can daily positive intentions do for you? Every day you will give yourself the gift of an “attitude of gratitude”.

    Each day is a chance to look at things in a different way. You can experience each day in the beauty of the world—and the beauty of you who is in it! You find yourself changing from “I can't” to “I can”. With a focus on positive intentions, you feel you are full of power and more like a “winner” than a “loser”.

    You pay more attention to the present, and will be more likely to live fully in the present each moment of each day. After all, the past is a great place to visit, but you don't want to live there! So how about starting each day taking a moment to think of a positive intention for the day?

    It is common and usual to see people freak out when they face challenges in their life. We all pass in different life problems and challenges. No one is free of life problems. Only a dead man faces no problem. As long as you are alive, challenges are everywhere.

    How do you face problems and challenges in your life? Problems and challenges are the building blocks of your personality. They make you who you are. Besides, whether what happened in your life builds or destructs you depends on how you look at it. If you take your problems as troubles, they will be troubles and may cause destruction. If you take them as constructive tools, you are going to be built up on them.

    Problems are everywhere. No one can avoid them. And they are good too. They open up a different look and opportunity if you are willing to see. When you face troubles, do not frustrate or freak out. Just cool yourself to think in a different direction. Think in a positive way. Every problem has its own good as well as bad sides. Focus on the good one. Look at the bright side.  Besides, there is always a good person, perhaps your mom or dad, or one of your friends, right beside you who can turn everything into your best if you are willing to turn to them. No matter what happens, they will be there to help you. Trust them and they will never let you down. All you need to know is that you are loved wherever you are.

    Our mother earth is going through a very tough situation and we, the entire human race, are destroying our environment or unconsciously without even realizing its consequences. Now we have to act very smartly and plan something to sustain what we still have, getting all necessary support from nature to lead healthy lives.

    Gardening is always an excellent and environmentally friendly idea. If you can go for sustainable gardening, then it will be even more useful for all. Gardening is a favorite hobby for many. It is time to channelize your hobby towards a more meaningful motivation.

    When we do gardening we need to use different ingredients to grow plants. Some of them are natural resources like water, soil, sunshine, and many things like this. Using these resources smartly is a part of sustainable gardening. Some simple techniques include: use less water and organic things to grow plants; try to store rainwater so that you can use them for gardening; try using less energy to drive devices; avoid using plastics in any form while gardening; reuse the leaves from your garden to fertilize them. These are the basic sustainable measures. To do so we need to have proper knowledge about gardening and its requirements so that we can use proper resources without wasting any of them.

    In today's busy life we don't get much time to spend on our environment. Gardening gives us a chance to do so. We can also have some pesticide-free and fresh food if we grow them in our garden. This is the right time to do some good to protect our own environment and gardening is one of the easiest ways. Do you want to start gardening, but you're not sure how? Click here: http://www. Garden how to.come.

    One of the most important things in the world is friendship. In order to have friends, you have to be a friend. But how can you be a good friend at school?

    Listen — Listen when they are talking. Don't say anything unless they ask you a question. Sometimes it's not necessary for you to have anything to say; they just need someone to talk to about their feelings.

    Help them — If your friend is ever in need of something, be there to help them. You should try to put them first, but make sure you don't do everything they want you to do. Try to take an extra (额外的) pencil or pen with you to classes in case (以防) they forget one. Have a little extra money in your pocket in case they forget something they need.

    Be there for them — Try to make something for your friend to help make them feel better in hard times. Making cards and encouraging them are among the nicest things you can do for a friend. Marilyn Monroe, a famous U.S. actor, once said, "I often make mistakes. Sometimes I am out of control. But if you can't stay with me at my worst, you are sure not to deserve (值得) to be with me at my best." Always remember this! If you don't want to stay with your friends when they're in hard times, then you don't deserve to be with them when they're having a good time!

    ______—Try to make plans with your friends.  Go shopping, go for ice cream, have a party, go to a movie and so on. Take time to know each other even better by doing something you both enjoy. By planning things together, you both can have a good time. And you'll remember these things when you're all old!

    Research shows that some orchestral(管弦乐的) instruments are in a danger of dying out.YouGov research, asked by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) to find the most popular instruments among schoolchildren, has revealed the increasing popularity of the ukulele(尤克里里琴), with one in eight expressing a desire to learn, making it the highest ranked instrument behind the typical rock-band grouping of the guitar, piano, keyboards, drums and bass guitar.

    But younger generations' interest in"more complex instruments"is decreasing, with the three least popular being the French horn, the double bass and the trombone.

    James Williams, managing director of the RPO, believed the changes reflect the increasing pressure schools are under to provide music education, and went on to say that more needs to be done to interest secondary school students in the wider range of instruments. His concern was for the composition(构成) of future orchestras if the trend towards instruments like rock-band grouping were allowed to continue. But there may be yet another death, one that few would be quick to sorrow over：the recorder(竖笛).

    Cheap, convenient, easy to learn, and suitable for individual and group performances, the recorder was once the go-to instrument for children's early musical education.But in many schools it has been replaced by the ukulele, which, for teachers, offers many of the same benefits with none of the lasting damage to hearing. Plus, from a student's viewpoint: you can play Metallica on one.

    Not all hope is lost for the cream-colored, 10-pound Yamaha recorder with a long history, however. About 13% of girls and 4% boys surveyed by YouGov said they wanted to learn the recorder.Surprisingly high! Unlikely as it may be, these children's interest in the recorder must be encouraged.