High school plays a major role in shaping up your future and your whole development. Extracurricular (课外的) activities along with the studies can be very helpful. Make yourself take part in various activities and at the same time try to stand out in your studies. When you move out to college these efforts that you put in may count for a lot.

    High school is not just about books or classes. Schools always provide opportunities for students to socialize (社交). There are various group tasks designed which allow the students to learn to work together.

    High school is the right time for you to discover yourself and bring out some of your hidden talents. In your lessons, you may find that you are better at English than you were earlier or have grown an interest for Math. High school also provides many other opportunities for students to take part in. These help develop leadership skills and management skills at an early age, which in turn is a way of preparing students to manage and plan their careers (事业) better.

    Balancing all activities is an experience in time management. If you have taken up a part-time job along with your high school you would have to arrange your time for studies, and extracurricular activities. Such management can go a long way in teaching you to manage things better when you take up a job. Moreover, they help build your character. You would be better prepared for additional stress that you may feel sometimes.

    When at high school you should pick up your classes wisely. Depending upon what you like and your career plan you should choose suitable classes. Doing something that you hardly like may get you very low grades as well as lose valuable time. Take up interesting and challenging classes that would allow you to put in those extra efforts.

    People seem to have a natural need for friends and with good reason, friends increase your enjoyment of life and relieve feelings of loneliness. They even can help reduce stress and improve your health. Having good friends is especially helpful when you are going through any kind of hard time such as when you are experiencing anxiety, panic(恐慌) attacks, or depression.

    When you are with good friends, you feel good about yourself, and you are glad to be with them. A friends is someone who—

●you like, respect, and trust, and who likes, expects and trusts you, doesn't always understand you, but accepts and likes you as you are, even as you grow and change, allows you the space to change, grow, make decisions, and even make mistakes.

●listens to you and shares with you both the good times and the bad times.

●respects your need for secrets, so you can tell them anything.

●lets you freely express your feelings and emotions without judging, laughing at or criticizing you.

●accepts the limitations you have put on yourself and helps you to remove them.

    A person once said. "Friendship is a continuing source of bonding(连接),releasing, and creating in yourself and with the other person, there is an emotional bond between the two people."

    A good friend or supporter may or may not be the same age or the same sex as you, and may not have the same educational, cultural, or religious background, or share interests that are similar to yours. Friendships also have different depths(深度). Some are closer to the heart and some more superficial, but they're all useful and good.

    As we know, earthquakes can bring people much fear. There are some places that have few or no earthquakes. Most places in the world, however, have them regularly. Countries that have a lot of earthquakes are usually quite mountainous.

    The most talked about earthquake in the United States was in San Francisco in 1906. Over 700 people died in it. The strongest one in North America was in 1964. It happened in Alaska.

    Strong earthquakes are not always the ones that kill the most people. In 1755, one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded was felt in Portugal. Around 2,000 people died.

    In 1923, a very strong earthquake hit Tokyo, Yokohama area of Japan. A hundred and forty thousand people died. Most of them died in fires which followed the earthquake.

    One of the worst earthquakes ever was in China in 2008. It killed a large number of people. The worst earthquake ever reported was also in China, in which 400,000 people were killed or injured. This earthquake happened in 1556.

    Earthquakes worry people a lot. The reason is that we often do not know when they are coming. People cannot prepare for earthquakes.

    "Depend on yourself" is what nature says to everyone. Parents can help you. Teachers can help you. Others can help you. But all these only help you to help yourself.

    There have been many great men in history. But many of them were poor in childhood, and had no uncles, aunts or friends to help them. Schools were few and not very good. They could not depend on them for education. They saw how it was, and set to work with all their strength to know something. They worked their own way till they became well­known.

    One of the most famous teachers in England used to tell his pupils, "I can not make worthy men of you, but I can help you make men of yourselves."

    Some young men do not try their best to make themselves valuable to the human beings. They can never gain achievements unless they see their weak­points and change their courses. They are nothing now, and will be nothing as long as they live, unless they accept the advice of their parents and teachers, and depend on their own honest efforts.

Humans' overconsumption of resources is a leading contributor to global climate change, says University of Arizona researcher Sabrina Helm. Therefore, it's increasingly important to understand the choices consumers make and how those decisions affect the health of a planet with limited resources. In a new study, published in the journal Young Consumers, Helm and her colleagues explore how materialistic values influence pro-environmental behaviors in millennials, who are now the nation's most influential group of consumers.

The researchers focused on two main categories of pro-environmental behaviors: reduced consumption, which includes actions like repairing instead of replacing older items; and "green buying," or purchasing products designed to limit environmental impacts. The researchers also looked at how engaging in pro-environmental behaviors affects consumer well-being.

More materialistic participants, the researchers found, were unlikely to engage in reduced consumption. However, materialism did not seem to have an effect on their likelihood of practicing "green buying." That's probably because "green buying," unlike reduced consumption, still offers a way for materialists to fulfill their desire to get new items, Helm said.

Study participants who reported having fewer materialistic values were much more likely to engage in reduced consumption. Consuming less was, in turn, linked to higher personal well-being and lower psychological suffering. Green buying—which may have some positive environmental effects, although to a smaller degree than reduced consumption—was not found to improve consumer well-being, Helm said.

The take-home message for consumers: "The key is to reduce consumption and not just buy green stuff. Having less and buying less can actually make us more satisfied and happier," Helm said. "If you have a lot of stuff, you have a lot on your mind," she said. "For example, it requires maintenance and there's a lot of burdens of ownership, and if you relieve yourself of that burden of ownership, most people report feeling a lot better and freer."

Helm and her colleagues additionally looked at how materialism affects millennial consumers' proactive financial behaviors, such as budgeting and saving. Examining financial behaviors alongside pro-environmental behaviors provides a picture of how young adults proactively deal with resource limitations in two contexts: environmental and financial, Helm said.

As expected, Helm and her colleagues found that those who reported having more materialistic values engaged in fewer proactive financial behaviors than their less materialistic counterparts (对应的人). The researchers also found that, consistent with previous studies, proactive financial behaviors were associated with better personal well-being, life satisfaction and financial satisfaction, as well as lower psychological suffering.

Understanding how materialistic values impact consumer behaviors, and how those behaviors in turn affect personal and environmental well-being, is important, Helm said. However, she acknowledges that for many consumers, shifting behaviors to be more financially proactive and consume less will be challenging.

Clair Hughes initiated her quest for frugal methodologies to extricate herself from a £3,500 educational advance that had spiraled into a financial overhang. This economic strategist commenced an online odyssey in search of vouchers that would provide her with markdowns on her purchases. She divulged that the full value of an item seldom left her wallet, proclaiming, "Deductions are perpetually accessible; the key lies in meticulous organization. Initially, I anticipated an onerous endeavor, but I have now assimilated this lifestyle to the point where it has become second nature. I have effortlessly amassed savings exceeding £15,000."

In the year 2010, Ms. Hughes directed her attention towards fiscal conservation when she relocated to share a domicile with her significant other, Shane Byrne, an instructor within the telecommunications sector. Seeking counsel through digital means, she implemented a series of astute financial maneuvers, such as transferring her financial overdraft to an account that levied no interest. Subsequently, after a few years, she encountered an online collective of individuals devoted to the art of voucher accumulation and resolved to experiment with their practices.

She dedicated considerable time to navigating the digital expanse in pursuit of vouchers, meticulously printing each one to accompany her on her commercial forays. Over the passage of time, she has secured some remarkable bargains. On one occasion, a pair of luminaries valued at £140 were hers for the mere sum of £35.

Two years prior, Ms. Hughes expanded her repertoire of economic strategies by incorporating rebate applications that offer monetary restitution on a spectrum of items from alcoholic beverages to personal care products. Post each commercial venture, she uploads visual documentation of her financial transactions, which are subsequently scrutinized, and restitution is granted on certain acquisitions.

Among her other premier recommendations for financial prudence, Ms. Hughes advocates participation in remunerative online surveys, which have yielded her a substantial cache of vouchers. She remarked, "I have encountered accounts of individuals gathering forsaken receipts from shopping carts to seek overlooked discounts. The extent to which vouchers and rebate applications have been of service to me is astonishing. The community significantly enhances my financial endeavors. There is invariably an individual prepared to elucidate the operational intricacies."