Joe is interested in getting exercise and competing (竞争) on a team. He reads about the events at the local pools and finds the perfect activity.

                                                                           Swimming Programs

     Summer Swim Team

     Join a Summer Swim Team and compete with other swimmers! The program is offered at eight different local pools for youths to 17 years old. The season runs June 21-August 21. Practices are daily (Monday through Friday) throughout the summer. Cost: $50.00.

     Junior Swim Instructor (少年游泳教练)

     Two weeks, 20 hours of instruction, two hours per day for children 11-14 years old. Pre-training for youths interested in becoming swim instructors ($45 per child).

     Junior Lifeguard (救生员)

     Two weeks, 30 hours of instruction, three hours per day for children 11-14 years old. Pre-training in lifeguarding, and customer (消费者) service ($45 per child).

     Junior Swim Instructor & Junior Lifeguard Training Dates

     Special Offer

     Anyone who takes part in both junior swim instructor and junior lifeguard programs at the same time need only spend $75 instead of $90 for 50 hours of training.

     Register(注册) Online

     You can now register online! Visit our website at http://www.example.com. You can choose an area of town, a specific local center, a program, or search for classes which can meet the needs of students of different ages. Just visit our website, and you're on your way!

    When asked about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, an absolute delight, which seems to get rarer the older we get.

For kids, happiness has a magical quality. Their delight at winning a race or getting a new bike is unreserved (毫无掩饰的).

    In the teenage years the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it's conditional on such things as excitement, love and popularity. I can still recall the excitement of being invited to dance with the most attractive boy at the school party.

    In adulthood the things that bring deep joy—love, marriage, birth—also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. For adults, happiness is complicated (复杂的).

    My definition of happiness is “the capacity for enjoyment”. The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It's easy to overlook the pleasure we get from the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please, and even good health.

    I experienced my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First I was overjoyed when I shut the last lunch-box and had the house to myself. Then I spent an uninterrupted morning writing, which I love. When the kids and my husband come home, I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.

    Psychologists tell us that to be happy we need a mix of enjoyable leisure time and satisfying work. I don't think that my grandmother, who raised 14 children, had much of either. She did have a network of close friends and family, and maybe this what satisfied her.

    We, however, with so many choices and such pressure to succeed in every area, have turned happiness into one more thing we've got to have. We're so self-conscious about our “right” to it that it's making us miserable. So we chase it and equal it with wealth and success, without noticing that the people who have those things aren't necessarily happier.

    Happiness isn't about what happens to—it's about how we see what happens to us. It's the skillful way of finding a positive for every negative. It's not wishing for what we don't have , but enjoying what we do possess.

    “This is your last chance,” warned Mrs Gillfeather. I broke out in a sweat and my hands started to shake. We both wanted to get to sleep, but before we could, I had to put a cannula(针管) in her arm.

    Before becoming a doctor I'd only a vague idea what a cannula was, coming from an hour spent with a plastic arm while at medical school. Once I became a doctor, however, I couldn't seem to get away from them.

    For those of you who are lucky enough to have never come into contact with one, they're tiny little tubes that are put into a vein(静脉)so that fluid or medicines can do directly into the blood. That's the theory. Unfortunately, the problem is that for them to work, you have to get them into the vein in the first place. This tends to be trickier than you'd imagine—and it's a job that tends to fall on the junior doctors.

    Mrs Gillfeather's veins were particularly elusive that evening. I'd been jabbing the needle in for at least 20 minutes.

    “Isn't there someone else who could do this?” she asked, for the fourth time. “Someone who knows what they're doing, perhaps,” she said under her breath, just loud enough for me to hear.

    Finally, I got it in. Mrs. Gillfeather and I both breathed a sigh of relief

    Just as I was about to leave the ward, the nurse called me over, “Max, there's another cannula to do on bed 16.”

    In England, we look forward to our birthdays for 364 days a year! We invite special people to celebrate it with us.

    The Presents

    Presents are opened as soon as the children are awake. They can't wait for the birthday cake later in the day!

    The Cards

    Friends and family send birthday cards. Sending birthday cards is a custom that began in England about 100 years ago.

    The Party

    The birthday child will have a party to which friends and family are invited. Visitors to the party bring presents for the birthday child. The children play games such as Musical Chairs and Pass the Parcel.

    The Cake

    The birthday cake is decorated on a theme(主题). A candle for each year is lit and placed on top and the child blows out the candles making a wish. We don't put objects inside the cake as shown on many websites.

    The Bumps

    It used to be traditional for the birthday child to have the bumps. Friends would hold the child by the child by the legs and under the arms and lift the child up and down bumping them gently on the ground. The number of bumps given is the age of the child plus one for extra good luck. As this can be dangerous, clapping is often done instead.

    The Sweets

    Some children do take sweets into school to share with their classmates on their birthdays.

    Most of us would be traveling for the rest of our lives if traveling abroad were not so expensive. But there is no need for you to cut down on the number of holidays you're having this year. Below are some of the cheapest places to travel to this year.

    Sri Lanka

    Great seafood, beautiful beaches, and amazing jungles await you in Sri Lanka. It is definitely one of the cheaper places to travel to as well. It will be possible for you to live in high-class hotels and resorts for as little as 70 dollars a night! If you don't want to spend that much money, you can find hostels, and smaller hotels for as little as 20 dollars a day. You can just spend the day exploring Anuradhapura or go adventuring in Habarana Lake as well!

    Hungary

    It might be surprising to see Hungary on the list of cheap places to travel to this year. It is located in the most expensive continent on the earth, after all. However, Hungary is the country where you get rooms for as little as 16 Euros, and beer for about 4 Euros each! This is definitely a bargain! You can get a travel card to use the public transport throughout the country, and save quite a few dollars on that as well. Spend a few nights in Budapest or head out to the northern hills where you can hike and swim in the clear lakes!

    Greece

    There was a time when Greece was unbelievably expensive, but due to its recent economic problems, Greece has become quite cheap to travel to. Price of accommodation and food is at an all-time low, so this might definitely be a great time for you to visit! There are some areas of the country that will be expensive like Santorini or Mykonos, but if you just want to explore local Greek culture, you can walk on the streets of Greece, or adventure across the smaller islands around like Kefalonia or Piraeus or Los!

    One of the United States' social problems is the breakdown of the two-parent family. Today, millions of American children grow up without fathers. Too often, these children lack the love and help they badly need and which they would ordinarily receive from not one but two parents. In the old days, American parents placed the needs of their children above their own. At present, however, nearly one half of all new marriages end in divorce(离婚), with often troubling results for their children. Worse, every year, thousands of teenage, unmarried Americans become mothers outside marriage. However, Chinese continue to value whole marriages. This is not to say that Chinese marriages are all perfect - they certainly are not, there are increasing more divorces in China - but the willingness of Chinese to set aside their own needs and stay together for the sake of the children is highly respected and worthy of study.

    Families are important to Americans. If one was to ask a group of Americans what is the dearest to them, the majority would say “family”. And yet, so many Americans spend much more time at work- that is, beyond the formal forty-hour work week - than they do with their own families. It seems to me that Chinese generally find a better balance between work and family needs than many Americans do. Average Chinese usually head home right after work，have meals together, and spend time with their family members. What's more, Chinese try to make more time for grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins than many Americans; in many cases, multigenerational families live together. Of course, like many facts of Chinese society, this is all changing; increasing numbers of “New Chinese” are working longer hours and spending less time with their families than ever before. Still, while Americans do value their loved ones, I think we have something to learn from the Chinese about finding the proper balance between work and family.