Have you ever noticed how terrible weather seems to drag your spirits down?{#blank#}1{#/blank#}But there are various things you can do to keep your spirits up until spring.

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    A snowy, icy, cold, or rainy world can be beautiful and often has sounds and smells of its own. If you're an artist, or photographer, winter provides a great deal of inspiration and different colors to work with. Even if you don't feel that creative, simply watching a winter scene from the comfort of your home can be a pleasant way to relax and enjoy the peace.

    Take part in winter activities.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} If you're a beginner to these snow sports, try learning in areas where you won't be worried about more experienced people crowding you out. Local parks are ideal starting points to encourage you to get out and give new winter sports a go.

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    Winter comes with the shortest days and lowest light of the year. Go out if you can. If you can't, or if you're so far from the equator as to have little or no daylight, use bright lights and perhaps light or white walls.

    Stay active.

    As much as possible, get yourself outside. Take at least a short walk. If the weather does not permit, move around inside. Walk up and down your stairs if you have them{#blank#}5{#/blank#} It also regulates such things as sleep and diet. Move around at least a bit each day.

A. Go out.

B. Brighten up.

C. Find things to enjoy about winter.

D. Enjoy skiing, sledding, or ice-skating.

E. There's nothing you can do about the weather.

F. Making snowmen is a fun activity for both kids and adults.

G. Exercise gets your body temperature up and your blood flowing.

    Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they are meant to be there.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} They teach you a lesson, or help you figure out who you are or who you want to become.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}They may be a roommate, a neighbor, a professor, a friend, a lover, or even a complete stranger. Sometimes things happen to you that may seem horrible at first, but later you will find that without those difficulties you would have never realized your potential. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}It would be safe and comfortable, but dull and completely pointless.

    The people you meet who affect your life, help to create who you are and who you become. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}In fact, they are sometimes the most important ones.

    If someone loves you, give love back to them not only because they love you, but also because they are teaching you to love and how to open your heart and eyes to things.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}They have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to whom you open your heart to.

    Make every day count. Appreciate every moment.

A． They serve some sort of purpose.

B． Learn a lesson in life each day that you live.

C． Even the bad experiences can be learned from.

D． You never know who these people may be.

E． If someone hurts you, or breaks your heart, forgive them.

F． Without these small tests, life would be like a smooth road to nowhere.

G． If you don't believe in yourself, it will be hard for others to believe in you.

    Training for a marathon (马拉松) requires careful preparation and steady, gradual increases in the length of the runs. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}, buy the best-fitting running shoes you can find. No one can say which brand will work best for you or feel best on your feet, so you have to rely on your experience and on the feel of each pair as you shop. When you have found shoes that seem right, walk in them for a few days to double-check the fit. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. As always, you should stretch (伸展) at least ten minutes before each run to prevent injuries.

    During the first week, do not think about distance, but run five minutes longer each day. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, it is wise to take a day off to rest. But during the next week, set a goal of at least a mile and a half per run. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. After two weeks, start timing yourself. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. Depending on the kind of race you plan to enter, you can set up a timetable for the remaining weeks before the race.

A. After six days

B. For a good marathon runner

C. Before you begin your training

D. With each day, increase the distance by a half mile

E. If they still feel good, you can begin running in them

F. Time spent for preparation raises the quality of training

G. Now you are ready to figure out a goal of improving distance and time

Are You a Prisoner of Perfection?

    Do you struggle for a goal that is beyond your reach?{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Are you setting yourself up for failure and shame when you can't achieve the unachievable? Understanding what drives perfectionism is the first step toward releasing this self-created anchor that keeps us stuck.

    Shame and fear are often the hidden drivers of perfectionism. We believe that if we can fashion a perfectly polished personality, flash our intelligence, and perfect our humour, then no one can hurt us with criticism and we'll win respect and approval.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Politicians who display a desperate need to be right and refuse to acknowledge mistakes or uncertainty are often driven by a secret shame. They fear that showing vulnerability(弱点) will expose them to the accusation that they're weak. They stick to a desire to be right, perfect, and polished, even when it's obvious that the emperor has no clothes.

    Perfectionism keeps us leaning toward the future. We're constantly evaluating ourselves in order to do better.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}However, if we can't relax and enjoy lighter moments, then we become prisoners of our perfectionism. We get painfully self-conscious and take ourselves too seriously. Sadly, we deprive(剥夺) ourselves of the simple pleasure of enjoying the moment and being ourselves.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}We realize that failing at any enterprise doesn't mean that we are a failure. Without failures, we'll never learn from our mistakes; we'll never move forward in our lives. Those who succeed have made countless mistakes. The important thing is to learn from our error, forgive ourselves and move on.

    Being human, perfection is impossible.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Releasing ourselves from the desire to protect our image, we're freed to sail gracefully through our successes and failures—and enjoy our precious life.

A. Do you hold an idealized vision that is impossible to realize?

B. A cure to perfectionism is to make room for our human shortcomings.

C. Do you fear that others will be horrified by what you judge about yourself?

D. The addiction to staying perfect protects us from any sign of being imperfect.

E. There's nothing wrong with wanting to do our best and self-correcting along the way.

F. People who are addicted to perfection are often isolated, even if they seem outgoing and popular.

G. By accepting ourselves as we are and doing our best, we begin to rid the shame that drives perfectionism.

    You are changing. The universe around you is changing. Just because something was right for you in the past doesn't mean it still is. You realize there are deliberate(微妙的)changes you need to make to keep up with the changes happening around you and within you. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Be yourself and fully control your life. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} You are in full control of your life so long as you claim it and own it. Because if you want to change, if you want to let go and move on with your life, you're the only person who can make it happen.

    Distance yourself for a while. Sometimes you need to take several steps back in order to become aware of a situation. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Why? Because you can return to where you started and see things with a new set of eyes.

    Focus only on what can be changed. Realize that not everything in life is meant to be adjusted or perfectly understood. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} And if you can't change something you don't like, change the way you think about it.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} To let go is to be thankful for the experiences that made you laugh, made you cry, and helped you learn and grow. It's the acceptance of everything you have, everything you once had, and the possibilities that lie ahead.

A. Accept the truth and be thankful.

B. No one else is responsible for you.

C. It happens to you slowly as you grow.

D. Be faithful to what you always believe.

E. Focus carefully on what you can change.

F. Better take a break and explore something else for a while.

G. If you feel awkward, let's look at some ways to design the latter.

    A rocket problem that forces astronauts to evacuate (撤退) may appear to be a plot straight out of a Hollywood movie. However, that is exactly what happened to Russian astronaut Alexey Ovchinin and American astronaut Nick Hague. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    The event happened shortly after the Soyuz rocket and its Soyuz MS-to space capsule (联盟号太空舱) carrying the astronauts took off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    The takeoff went off smoothly, but just 119 seconds later, officials from Russia's space agency informed NASA the booster (助推器) had failed to separate from the capsule. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Instead, they were ordered to evacuate by separating the capsule and returning to Earth in what is known as a ballistic descent mode (弹道下降模式). The sharp drop is similar to free-falling from the skies and subjects astronauts to high levels of g-force.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} They appeared to be in excellent condition when they crash-landed about 20 kilometers east of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, just 34 minutes after they stopped the task. Upon arrival, they were quickly found by the rescue team from Baikonur Cosmodrome and taken to the hospital for a quick check-up to ensure they had not suffered any injuries during their rough ride back to Earth.

    It will take a few weeks for experts to determine what caused the problem of the usually reliable Soyuz rocket. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Hague, who was on his way to the space station for the first time later joked, "I imagined that my first trip to outer space was going to be a memorable one. I didn't expect it to be quite this memorable."

A. To their sadness, this event became a nightmare for their future space journey.

B. The two scientists were on their way to carry out a six-month task at the International Space Station.

C. Surprisingly, the harrowing event has not stopped Hague's and Ovchinin's wish to go to space.

D. Thus, the astronauts didn't head to the International Space Station.

E. And luckily, they became the main characters of the movie about space exploration.

F. Fortunately, the "movie" had a happy ending with both scientists returning to Earth safely.

G. Fortunately, Hgue and Ovchinin had been well-trained for such emergencies.