Writing journals has been one of the most helpful things I've ever done. Through writing journals I've not only learned a lot about myself, but also removed a lot of obsessive (烦恼的) thoughts, by writing them down and considering them.

   Journals give you a place to write down your honest thoughts without being afraid of what people will think of you. There are some ideas for writing journals:

     Draw pictures

    Write poetry or short stories

    Goals: daily and long-term

    Respond to a magazine article that you are interested in

     Write about obsessive thoughts and try to find what's causing them

     A list of things you are proud of (It can always increase your confidence when you need it)

     Make a pro/con (赞成/反对) list when you're trying to make a decision: most of the time the decision will start to be clearer afterwards

   The best way to start is to decide where you want to write your journal. (Though it's called the journal, it doesn't mean you can only do it in a “journal”) . If you like the traditional style of journals, then use a notebook, blank paper or graph paper, whichever you like best. If you prefer to go digital, start a blog. You can make the blog public or private, and it's a good way to keep track of articles or pictures you find online. (You can link to them.)

   Even if you feel there's nothing for you to write about at first, you might be surprised to find that once you start, you can't stop.

    When you need to see a doctor, surely you will want to see a good one. But there is one important thing you may never have thought about: Has your doctor rested enough?

    Doctors in our country often have to work 34 hours or longer without sleep. Most of them work 104 hours a week, and some even 150. (There are only 168 hours a week!) One report said that a doctor who works such long hours cannot think more clearly than a drunk driver. Another found that doctors who sleep 5.8 fewer hours than the week before might make 22% more serious mistakes. Surely no one wants to get in a car that is driven by a drunk driver. So, how safe would you feel when you are under the care of a tired doctor?

    Sadly this problem has been around for a long time. There are no laws about it yet and hospital bosses don't look like they care either. And that is why we doctors are asking you to join us on the street this Sunday. Fight together with us on the street so we can fight better for your life in the hospital.

Time: 1 p. m. July 15            Place: City Hospital Square

    The Poetry Foundation, recently named American poet Jack Prelutsky as the nation's first children's poet laureate (桂冠诗人). The group created the award as a way to increase children's love of poetry.

    As children's poet laureate, Jack Prelutsky will give two public readings in the next two years. He will also advise the Poetry Foundation about children's literature and take part in projects concerning children and poetry.

    Jack Prelutsky has been writing poetry for children for over forty years. He has written more than thirty five books of poems. His first book was called A Gopher in the Garden. It was published in 1967. His latest is called Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant and Other Poems.

    Jack Prelutsky is well known for creating new words by combining two words to create a new kind of creature. For example, he combined "radish" with "shark" to get "radishark". "Lion" and "broccoli" became "broccolion". He also created "umbrellaphant"， a mixture of the words "umbrella" and "elephant".

    Jack Prelutsky says that children like his poems because he writes about things they care about. Poetry researchers say that Jack Prelutsky's poems recognize children's feelings. An example of this is the poem My Sister Is a Werewolf which is about how it feels to be different.

    Jack Prelutsky also writes poems about American holidays. His poem It's Halloween is a very famous one about the holiday celebrated at the end of October.

    I live in the center of the city and there is a largeparking lot full of parking spots nearby. Rain is a rare occurrence in LA,so cars easilycollect pollutants and dust. Together with my friends,I decided it shouldbe a kind gesture to surprise the owners with a car wash.So we bought carwashing supplies and brought out all the bath towels we could find.With all the suppliesin hand, wewere able to convince another roommate to help out as well and we beganwatering down the cars.

    Every once in a while, someone would come by and asked usseemingly stupid men, "Who told you to wash the cars?" or, even better, "who paid you to wash their cars?" Weexplained we just wanted to do something kind. But our response was often me with aneven more confused look.

    As the afternoon went on, some other friends that came byunderstood our goal of the spontaneous event and started helping out with someof the duties. Firstone friend then two, and by the time we had cleaned the entire lot,we had an entire carwashing crew with independent individually assigned tasks and duties.

    I wasn't cleaning cars to be able to afford a new phone.I was cleaning carssimply because I wanted to offer the car owners kindness.There was noequipment to weigh our value created. We couldn't measure our success indollars earned over the time spent washing cars when we could have been earningtwice as much at work.

    I now realize, first hand, that there is a special energy createdwhen you choose to think bigger than yourself and act in service of others andmaybe, likeme, you'llfind it's actually the greatest gift you' you'll ever get.

Flying High

    Barrington Irving made his historic flight and founded an educational non-profit-making organization. His message for kids: "The only thing that separates you from scientists is determination, hard work and a strong liking for what you want to achieve." The secret, he believes, is having a dream in the first place, and that starts with learning experiences that inspire kids to build careers.

    The moment of inspiration for Irving came at the age of 15 in his parents' bookstore. One customer, a professional pilot, asked Irving if he'd thought about becoming a pilot. "I told him I didn't think I was smart enough; but the next day he took me to the cockpit (驾驶舱) of the commercial airplane he flew, and just like that I was hooked."

    To follow his dream, Irving turned down a football scholarship to the University of Florida. He washed airplanes to earn money for a flight school and increased his flying skills by practising at home on a $40 flight simulator (模拟) video game. Then another dream took hold: flying alone around the world. He faced more than 50 rejections for sponsorship before convincing some companies to donate aircraft components. He took off with no weather radar, no de-icing system, and just $30 in his pocket. "I like to do things people say I can't do."

    After 97 days, 26 stops and dozens of thunderstorms, he touched down to a cheering crowd in Miami. "It was seeing so many young people watching and listening that pushed me into giving back with my knowledge and experience." Irving has been doing it ever since. He set up his non-profit-making organization, Experience Aviation (航空), aiming to increase the numbers of youth in aviation and science-related careers. Kids attend programmes dealing with hands-on robotics projects and flight simulator challenges.

    "We want to create chances for students to accomplish something amazing," he notes. Perhaps Irving's most powerful educational tool is the example his own life provides. After landing his record-breaking flight at age 23, he said, "Everyone told me I was too young, that I didn't have enough experience, strength, or knowledge. They told me it would take forever and I'd never come home. Well… guess what?"

    Let children learn to judge their own work. A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time; if corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between the language he uses and the language those around him use. Bit by bit, he makes the necessary changes to make his language like other people's. In the same way, children learn to do all the other things without being taught to walk, run, climb, whistle, ride a bicycle…They compare their own performances with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes. But in school we never give a child a chance to find out his mistakes and correct them for himself. We do it all for him. We act as if we thought that he would never notice a mistake. If it is a matter in mathematics or science, give him the answer book. Let him correct his own papers. Why should we teachers waste time in such routine(日常的) work? Our job should be to help the child when he tells us that he can't find the way to get the right answer. Let the children learn what all educated persons must some day learn, how to measure their own understanding, how to know what he does not know.