Don't you just love ice skating every winter?I am sure that since winter is approaching,your skates are set to come out,just waiting to be used.Impress your friends with your new trick on how to ice-skate backwards with the help of these tips.

Stand Straight

    The first thing that you need to do is,stand straight.If you feel that you are falling backwards,just put your chin up and slightly bend your knees.

Confidence is What You Need

    The most important step while learning how to skate backwards,is having enough confidence in what you are doing.How can you achieve this?By practice.Just practice rolling backwards down a gentle slope everyday or just by pushing off from a wall or something of that sort.But before you do that,make sure that the place where you are practicing is free from any kind of debris（碎片）because otherwise,you could land up in the hospital due to some accident.While going backwards,just get used to the feeling of moving backwards.One of the important ice skating tips and techniques is that if you feel that you are losing your balance,then scissor（做剪式运动）your skates.Keep practicing this till you are confident about it.

Maintain Speed

    Confident now?Great!Now the next step is to maintain your speed.While rolling in a straight line with one skate, with the other try sculling（划桨）,that is,keep pushing yourself backwards with an outwards stroke（滑动）.Make sure that you put most of your weight on the skate which is moving straight and not the one with which you are sculling.Now,try the same thing using the other foot.Again keep doing this till you are confident enough.

Increase Your Speed Now

    Once you are confident that you can scull with either foot,the next thing that you have to do is increase your speed.Try some of your own tricks now.Scull with either foot or with both at the same time. 

Scull and Be Aware

    While you keep one foot straight,keep sculling with the other.You can do that with both feet at the same time. Concentrate on what you are doing but don't get so absorbed,that you don't see where you are going.If you are not watching your back,you might bang（碰撞）against something or someone.

    Last year I ruined my summer vacation by bringing along a modern convenience that was too convenient for my own good: the iPad. Instead of looking at nature, I checked my email. Instead of paddling a small boat, I followed my Twitter feed (推特简讯). Instead of reading great novels, I stuck to reading four newspapers each morning. I was behaving as if I were still in the office. My body was on vacation but my head wasn't.

    So this year I made up my mind to try something different: withdrawal (退出) from the Internet. I knew it wouldn't be easy, since I'm bad at self-control. But I was determined. I started by giving the iPad to my wife.

    The cellphone signal at our house was worse than in the past, making my attempts at cheating an experience in frustration (沮丧). I was trapped, forced to go through with my plan. Largely cut off from e-mail, Twitter and my favorite newspaper websites, I had few ways to connect to the world except for radio and how much radio can one listen to, really? I had to do what I had planned to all along: read books.

    This experience has had a happy ending. With determination and the strong support of my wife, I won in my vacation struggle against the Internet, realizing finally that it was I, not the iPad, that was the problem.I knew I had won when we passed a Starbucks and my wife asked if I wanted to stop to use the Wi-Fi. “ I don't need it,” I said.  

    However, as we return to post -vacation life, a harder test begins: Can I continue when I'm back at work? There are times when the need to know what's being said right now is great. And I have no intention of giving up my convenience completely. But I hope to resist the temptation (诱惑) to check my e-mail every five minutes, which leads to checking my Twitter feed and a website or two.

    I think a vacation is supposed to help you reset your brain to become more productive. Here I hope this one worked.

    Getting older is a natural part of life. Changes as you get older are usually gradual. Certain physical changes are common. How fast your body can burn calories slows over time, which means that your body needs less food energy than before.

    How much and how well you sleep will likely change. Most people start needing reading glasses around forty, and many have some hearing loss later in life. Starting in your fifties, bone aging increase. How you feel as you get older depends on many things, including what health problems run in your family and the choices you make.

    If your family members have diseases or chronic (慢性的) health problems like high blood pressure, then you may have a greater chance of having those problems yourself. But it doesn't mean you will definitely have the same problems. Actually, the lifestyle choices you make can help reduce your chances of getting illness that run in your family. And even if you do get a family illness, choosing to be physically active, to eat healthy foods, and to learn how to deal with stress can keep the illness from destroying your ability to enjoy your golden years.

    What do you need to do to feel your best as you age? One of the most important things you can do for your health at any age is to be physically active. Physical activity keeps your body strong, and it helps with how you feel. People who stay active are less likely to get depressed.

    Your mental and emotional health is also important. Protect or improve your emotional health by staying in touch with friends, family, and the community. People who feel connected to others are more likely to feel happy than those who do not.

    It was the men's skating finals of the Winter Olympics when I was 16. Someday I'd be in the Olympics. In fact, it was my dream.

    That night I lay on our living room floor excitedly watching the battle between the Brians: American Brian Boitano facing Brian Orser in Canada. Both of them had been world champions. Both of them deserved to win. Naturally I was for Brian Boitano, a northern Californian like me. We had skated on the same ice. I held my breath in amazement. Boitano performed successfully. The gold medal! I jumped in the air when his score went up.

    But what happened next is what I'll never forget. Brian Boitano sat in front of the camera with his coach, surrounded by a group of journalist. He was talking about his career and his medal, talking to the whole world. A terrible sinking feeling went through me. I could never be in the Olympics, I thought…I could not talk in public like that. Just the idea of a press conference terrified me.

    I loved skating partly because I didn't have to talk. I could express myself with my jump sand dances better. I didn't have to stand up and give a speech like some teachers expected. I could feel the blood rush to my face if I thought a teacher was going to call me. I stared at my shoes. I was sure I'd make a fool of myself.

    The next day I was at the rink (溜冰场) as usual. I was practising a combination of jumps that had once seemed impossible. I worked very hard the next few years—on the ice and especially off. After journalists talked to me and although my heart pounded every time I spoke to them, I got to know them. They became familiar faces. And they got to know me. So when my big moment came four years after Brian's, I was ready.

    Sometimes I think my biggest accomplishment was not winning the gold but talking to the press afterwards. When you do the thing you fear most, you put an end to fear.

    Fear can stop you dead in your tracks. Fear can kill a dream. What are you afraid of? What scares you more than anything else? This year, walk right up to it and conquer it, step by step.

Welcome to your future life!

    You get up in the morning and look into the mirror. Your face is firm and young-looking. In 2035, medical technology is better than ever. Many people at your age could live to be 150, so at 40, you're not old at all. And your parents just had an anti-aging(抗衰老的) treatment. Now, all three of you look the same age!

    You say to your shirt, "Turn red." It changes from blue to red. In 2035, "smart clothes" contain particles(粒子) much smaller than the cells in your body. The particles can be programmed to change clothes' color or pattern.

    You walk into the kitchen. You pick up the milk, but a voice says," You shouldn't drink that!" Your fridge has read the chip (芯片) that contains information about the milk, and it Knows the milk is old. In 2035, every article of food in the grocery store has such a chip.

    It's time to go to work. In 2035, cars drive themselves. Just tell your "smart car" where to go. On the way, you can call a friend using your jacket sleeve. Such "smart technology" is all around you.

    So will all these things come true? "For new technology to succeed," says scientist Andrew Zolli," it has to be so much better that it replaces what we have already." The Internet is one example what will be the next.

    When I was 8 years old, I decided to run away from home after a quarrel with my mother. With my suitcase(行李箱) packed and some sandwiches in a bag, I started for the front door.

    My mom asked where I was going. “I'm leaving home,” I said.

    “What's that you're carrying?” she asked.

    “Some clothes and food,” I replied.

    “If you want to run away, that's all right,” she said. “But you came into this home without anything and you can leave the same way.”

    I threw my suitcase and sandwiches on the floor and started for the door again.

    “Wait a minute,” Mom said. “You didn't have any clothes on when you arrived, and I want them back.”

    This infuriated me. I tore my clothes off — shoes, socks, underwear and all — and shouted, “Can I go now?”

    “Yes,” my mom answered, “but once you close that door, don't expect to come back.”

    I was so angry that I shut the door forcefully and stepped out of my home. Then I noticed down the street two neighbor girls walking toward our house. I was so shy that I saw the big spruce (云杉) tree in our yard and jumped under the low-hanging branches (树枝). A pile of dried-up brown needles (针状物) were beneath the tree, and you can't imagine the pain those sharp needles caused to my body.

    After I was sure the girls had passed by, I ran to the front door and knocked at it loudly.

    “It's Billy! Let me in!”

    The voice behind the door answered, “Billy doesn't live here anymore. He ran away from home.”

    Looking behind me to see if anyone else was coming down the street, I said, “Mom! I'm sorry. I'm still your son. Let me in!”

    The door opened and Mom's smiling face appeared. “Did you change your mind about running away?” she asked.

    “What's for supper?” I smiled back.