Five Ways to Control Your Anxiety

    How can you find some enjoyment and keep your anxiety in control? Try the following five steps for a less anxious you.

    Stop comparing yourself to others. When you compare your life to others', you are giving up your power. People have success or failures at different points in their lives. You might think others have better lives, but you don't have the full story. Next time you begin to compare yourself to someone else, tell yourself this, “I only compare me to me.” {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Be grateful. Gratitude is the secret to a happier, less anxious you. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} When you practice gratitude, you start training your brain to pay attention to all the wonderful things about your life and doing so improves your mood little by little.

    Forget perfect. Going after perfection sets you up to feel defeated. Accept that you will have days that are far from perfect and learn to laugh at the funny things that go wrong at the wrong time. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} 

    Move your body. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} I'm sure you'll feel better--especially if you exercise regularly. Doing exercise will give you a sense of achievement that you can use to deal with other difficulties in your life.

    Connection with other people. If you struggle with anxiety, you may not feel like putting yourself into social situations, but isolating(使孤立)yourself socially is the worst thing you can do. Connecting with others can help you realize everyone has struggles and that people are there for you.

   {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Connection can help you improve your mood.

A. Life is so much more enjoyable when you expect less of it.

B. Make sure you aren't going around trying to please everyone.

C. It is scientifically proved that exercise can improve your mood.

D. See a friend, call a family member or just smile at strangers passing by.

E. Pen and paper can provide you with a special place to express your feelings.

F. When you take time to enjoy all the good things, you can't help but feel good.

G. Only by competing with yourself to be a better you can you get where you want to be.

    Ebola is a dangerous virus that can cause people to get very sick and even die. The virus is causing the biggest problems in western Africa, where it has spread quickly.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}But it can get worse and cause life-threatening symptoms (症状), such as bleeding and trouble breathing.

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    Ebola does not spread like colds or the flu because it does not float through the air. Ebola also doesn't spread through food or water, like some other viruses. Instead, Ebola spreads when someone touches the body fluids(液体) of a sick person.

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    An outbreak is when many people are getting sick with the same illness around the same time. You may have heard of a flu outbreak, which is when lots of people get sick from the same types of flu virus. When an outbreak happens because of a virus, more people could get sick because there is a lot of that virus around.

    Where did Ebola come from?

Scientists aren't sure how the first person gets Ebola at the start. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Tropical animals in Africa believed to carry the virus include great apes, chimpanzees, gorillas, monkeys, fruit bats, porcupines, and forest antelopes.

    What do kids need to do about Ebola?

    Ebola is making many people sick in Africa, but no matter where you live, it's always a good idea to wash your hands well and often. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. What is an outbreak?

B. How do people catch Ebola?

C. Why do I need to wash my hands?

D. It's very important that infected people get treatment right away.

E. Ebola symptoms can start with fever and headache, kind of like the flu.

F. But they think that people may pick up the virus by touching or eating infected animals.

G. Keeping hands clean can help protect you from common illnesses like colds and the flu.

    Body language is extremely important when it comes to making good first impressions.It's always helpful to know what body cues show you in a positive light,especially during interviews or networking when you're meeting someone for the first time.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Keep these tips in mind when you're interacting with another person.

    Smile slowly.If you're too quick to come to a smile,your expression may not look genuine.Real smiles happen gradually,but remember not to do it too slowly because it can also look creepy.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}When you're nervous or excited,your voice may come out in a higher pitch.Take a deep breath and lower your pitch,because a deeper voice is considered to have more authority and confidence.In fact,even dogs respond better to deeper voices when you are trying to give them a command.

    Make eye contact.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Don't go overboard and gaze without breaking eye contact,because that can make people feel uncomfortable.Spend the majority of the time making eye contact,but remember to briefly take breaks.

    Lean.Move your body slightly forward toward the person you're talking to{#blank#}5{#/blank#}However,if you want to show that you're relaxed,lean back a little bit.Don't overdo the leaning or it may either look like you have no idea of what personal space is if you lean forward too much or make you look uninterested and uppity if you lean too far back.

A. Have good posture.

B. Speak in a deeper voice.

C. This reflects interest.

D. Do your best to imitate a natural smile by practicing in the mirror.

E. t can make a difference and even make you more likeable.

F. When talking to someone, making eye contact shows interest and also confidence.

G. It can make you look less professional and less confident and enthusiastic.

    Did you make financial decisions last New Year's Eve? Did they fall by the wayside? If so, you are not alone.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    Make a smart budget

    Did you plan to make a budget and fail to do so? This is a perfect time to start, as you are heading into the new year. You may be able to stop yourself from overspending if you realize how overextended you are. If you've taken no other financial steps this year, start by setting a realistic budget.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}.

    Control your spending

    Even if you had a budget, were you able to stick to it?{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Use it as a psychological advantage－you have less to spend so you need to shop harder for bargains and research prices. Impulse buying (即兴购买) will be less likely to attract you and your spending should be more focused as a result.

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    You had a savings goal, didn't you? If you didn't have a specific goal, it may be why your savings effort failed. Set a smaller savings goal now, and use that to build a larger savings goal for the upcoming year. Make sure that you equate（使等同）your savings with a specific goal.

    Reduce your debt

    Debt reduction is an important goal, especially in the case of high-interest debt such as credit cards. It's easy to get into an unrecoverable increase of debt if you have no plan to keep debt in check. It is a longer-term goal, but one you need to start right away.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}. That may be a tall task, which is all the more reason to start immediately.

A. Increase your savings

B. Have a clear goal for your debt

C. You will go on with your new decisions

D. Most other financial improvements will follow

E. Start small by setting a spending budget for your shopping

F. But this year, you can make some progress on your financial goals

G. Attack the debt with the highest interest rate, and control your spending

    People who experience face blindness can have a hard time in their social life. They have trouble remembering or recognizing faces. The term 'face blindness' isn't exactly accurate though. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} They just can't put all the parts together into one coherent image that they remember and recognize when they see it again, which is why proper name for face blindness is prosopagnosia, or literally "not knowing the face".

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} These clues include the way they sound (their voice or accent), the way they look (body size, shape or height), the way they smell, their clothing, their hair(style, colour or length) and obvious features on their face(beards, piercings heavy eyebrow, glasses).

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Because they're not always unique to one person and they can change. This is why face blindness can cause so much stress.

    If you don't experience face blindness, you've probably never given much thought to your ability to recognize familiar people or how important that is to your social interactions and feelings of safety. But imagine if you didn't know whether the person approaching you is a friend or a stranger. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Or imagine not being able to find the teacher when you need to use the toilet, because your teacher wears glasses and none of the adults in the room are wearing glasses today. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A.These are important ways to remember someone's face.

B.Do you say hello or just keep on walking?

C.Those with face blindness have to use other clues to recognize people.

D.It's easy to see the effect this would have on your social skills and confidence.

E.These are much less effective ways to recognize someone.

F.There are tests you can take to get an idea about your face-recognizing abilities.

G.They actually can see faces.

Make Your Fitness Resolutions Stick

    Last year, the most common New Year's resolution was fitness-related. A study showed that roughly 50 million Americans pledged (发誓) to increase activity and lose weight. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}, success was hard to achieve. Two months later, only 37 percent of people in their 20s and 16 percent over age 50 had kept to their new fitness habit.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, the benefits of such a change are clear. There is no question that exercise plays a role in the prevention and treatment of many diseases. Weekly exercise routines have been shown to reduce rates of depression and anxiety, lessen risk of heart attack and stroke, and reduce the prevalence of diabetes.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. It's suggested that 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity exercise like swimming, of 75 minutes per week of intense exercise, like jogging, should be the minimum amount of exercise needed to achieve maximum medical benefits.

    Often the best way to increase your exercise is to incorporate (融合) movement into your everyday life. On average, urban citizens who walk by walk, bike or public transportation are fitter than suburban citizens who drive to work. Besides, taking the stairs instead of the elevator also helps. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    Whether you resolve to work out at your local gym three times a week, take 10, 000 steps a day or give your dog an extra walk every day, what matters most was not your commitment to exercise but you sticking to it. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

A. While they have good intentions

B. Although behavior change is tough

C. However hard they try to make a change

D. There is always one type of exercise that you are fond of

E. So commit to something you love and keep to your fitness habit

F. They are good ways to increase the amount of your movement every day

G. The best form of exercise is the type that someone will consistently perform