Once, when I was a teenager, my father and I were standing in line to buy tickets for the circus. Finally, there was only one family between us and the ticket counter.

     This family made a big impression on me. There were eight children, all probably under the age of twelve. You could tell they didn't have a lot of money.

     Their clothes were not expensive, but they were clean. The children were well-behaved, all of them standing in line, two-by-two behind their parents, holding hands. They were excitedly talking about the clowns, elephants, and other acts they would see that night with their brothers or sisters in a low voice.

One could sense they had never been to the circus before. It promised to be highlight of their young lives. The father and mother were at the head of the pack, standing proud as could be. The mother was holding her husband's hand, looking up at him as if to say, "You are my knight in shining armor."

He was smiling and responding in pride, looking back at her as if to say, "You got that right." The ticket lady asked the father how many tickets he wanted. He proudly responded, "Please let me buy eight children's tickets and two adult tickets so I can take my family to the circus."

The ticket lady gave the price. The man's wife let go of his hand, her head dropped, and his lips began to shake. The father leaned a little closer and asked, "How much did you say?"

     The ticket lady again quoted the price. The man didn't have enough money.

     How was he supposed to turn and tell his eight children that he didn't have enough money to take them to the circus?

     Actually we were not wealthy in any sense. So I understand how the kids would feel. I felt sorry for them.

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Seeing what was going on, my dad put his hand in his pocket, pulled out a $20 bill and dropped it on the ground.

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That day my father and I went back to our car and drove home without any tickets.

    Walk Out of the Comfort Zone and Try New Things

    For most high school students, free periods are useless. From what I have seen, few do homework, instead many are on their phones and talking, making it impossible for those who actually want to do work to complete any. As a senior next year, I think extra periods should be used to take optional subjects.

Our school offers many classes. Now is the time to experiment in different fields of study. We will never know if we are interested or talented in a subject if we don't try it.

    In my 8th grade, I was told that I had to take an art class as a graduation requirement; so in the 9th grade I took Studio and Art. One of the projects was to build a clay pot, but I built mine incorrectly, so it broke in the kiln (窑). I found out that I have no artistic ability at all, and now I know for sure that I do not want to be an artist. However, the class was one of my favorites that year. I was able to try new activities and test my ability.

    Walk out of our comfort zone and try new things! College is when we should focus on a specific major, but high school is when we have to figure it out.

    Half of all college students change their major at some point. By doing that hundreds of dollars are wasted on classes that they would have never needed to take. So use our extra periods to find out what we want to do in college. The classes we choose can impact us in future. Taking optional subjects will enrich our mind. It will also show colleges we are diverse students.

    Youth sport has the potential to accomplish three important objectives in children's development. First, sport programs can provide youth with opportunities to be physically active, which can lead to improved physical health. Second, youth sport programs have long been considered important to youth's psychosocial development, providing opportunities to learn important life skills such as cooperation, discipline, leadership, and self-control. Third, youth sport programs are critical for the learning of motor skills; these motor skills serve as a foundation for future national sport stars and recreational adult sport participants. When coachers develop activities for youth practices and when sport organizations design youth-sport programs, they must consider the implication of deliberate play and deliberate practice.

Research from Telama （2006） states that regular participation in deliberate play or deliberate practice activities during childhood and youth （ages nine to eighteen） increases the likelihood of participation in sports during adulthood by six times for both males and females. Côté （2002） defines deliberate play activities in sport as those designed to maximize enjoyment. These activities are regulated by flexible rules adapted from standardized sport rules and are set up by the children or by an involved adult. Children typically change rules to find a point where their game is similar to the actual sport but still allows for play at their level. For example, children may change soccer and basketball rules to suit their needs and environment （e.g. in the street. on a playing field or in someone's backyard）. When involved in deliberate play activities, children are less concerned with the outcome of their outcome of their behavior. （whether they win or lose） than with the behavior. （having fun）.

    On the other hand, Ericsson （1993） suggests that the most effective learning occurs through involvement in highly structured activities defined as deliberate practice. Deliberate practice activities require effort, produce no immediate rewards, and are motivated by the goal of improving performance rather than the goal of enjoyment. When individuals are involved in deliberate play, they experiment with different combinations of behaviors, but not necessarily in the most effective way to improve performance. In contrast, when individuals are involved in deliberate practice, they exhibit behavior. focused on improving performance by the most effective means available. For example, the backhand skills in tennis could be learned and improved over time by playing matches or by creating fun practice situations. However, players could more effectively improve their backhand performance by practicing drills that might be considered less enjoyable. Although drills are used in most effective means available practice might not be the most enjoyable, they might be the most relevant to improving performance.

    （Note: Answer the questions or complete the statements in NO MORE THAN TEN WORDS）

    Six days a week, up and down the red hills of northeast Georgia, my grandfather brought the mail to the folks there. At age 68, he retired from the post office, but he never stopped serving the community.

    On his 80th birthday, I sent him a letter, noting the things we all should be thankful for — good health, good friends and good outcomes. By most measurements he was a happy man. Then I suggested it was time for him to slow down. At long last, in a comfortable home, with a generous pension, he should learn to take things easy.

     “Thank you for your nice words,” he wrote in his letter back, “and I know what you meant, but slowing down scares me. Life isn't having it made; it's getting it made.”

     “The finest and happiest years of our lives were not when all the debts were paid, and all difficult experiences had passed, and we had settled into a comfortable home. No. I go back years ago, when we lived in a three-room house, when we got up before daylight and worked till after dark to make ends meet. I rarely had more than four hours of sleep. But what I still can't figure out is why I never got tired, never felt better in my life. I guess the answer is, we were fighting for survival, protecting and providing for those we loved. What matters are not the great moments, but the partial victories, the waiting, and even the defeats. It's the journey, not the arrival, that counts.”

    The letter ended with a personal request: “Boy, on my next birthday, just tell me to wake up and get going, because I will have one less year to do things — and there are ten million things waiting to be done.”

    Christina Rossetti, an English poet, once said: “Does the road wind uphill all the way? Yes, to the very end.” Today, at 96, my grandfather is still on that long road, climbing.

    As our family are getting ready for the annual holiday of Thanksgiving, which is probably the most important holiday in the U.S because it's celebrated by people of all faiths. I think back to a cold November day more than twenty years ago. It was a day when my husband and I, married just about three months, got stuck on I -89 in Vermont when our car broke down.

    We had just visited my husband's parents in Vermont, and with a huge turkey they gave us slowly thawing (解冻）in the trunk of our old car, we were heading back to our apartment in Boston to celebrate our first Thanksgiving together. Our car broke down half an hour after we got on the highway. And it was raining. Back to then, not everyone had a cell phone, and in those days if you broke down along a lonely stretch of a highway far from the nearest emergency call box in cold November rain, it wasn't fun.

    Fortutiously for us, a van with a bunch of people coming back from a ski trip stopped andasked if we needed help. They gave us a ride to the nearest gas station, from where we could phone my father-in-law and asked him for help. My father-in-law arranged for :he car to be towed (拖引), and drove us all the way to Boston that day.

    So as we sit down to dinner and think of all the things we can be thankful for tonight, I want to say “thank you” to the strangers on I -89 some twenty years ago for giving a young couple a ride when their car with a frozen turkey in the trunk broke down.

    Never underestimate the difference you can make to the lives of others by one small act of kindness. Step forward, reach out and help. This week, reach to someone that might need a lift.

    When you're sitting at your computer, do you work all day without a break? Or do you allow yourself to become distracted (分心）now and again ... to open a few extra tabs, check social media, read a bit of news, keep up with the latest fashion trends, and maybe catch up on some celebrity gossip.

    Stop! You're 'cyberloafing'. This word is a combination of cyber which means 'related to computers', and 'loafing', which means ' relaxing in a lazy way ' .We do it, and we do it a lot. A study from the University of Texas suggests we are guilty of this form of procrastination (拖延）for 14% of our working day. On a Friday afternoon, I expect it's more than that.

    I'll admit to losing myself in cyberloafing. In fact, I've already done it in the course of writing this story. Okay, more than once. It can damage your productivity and even your career because according to the University of Texas research, each time a worker gets distracted by the Internet, it takes an average of 23 minutes to get back to work.

    More than that, cyberloafing has a dark side, according to a report published in The Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace. It argues that cyberloafing is connected to several negative personality qualities. People who cyberloaf are more likely to be selfish and tricky.

    Why do we do it? For some, it's most likely an escape from what they're supposed to be doing. Others might get a feeling of satisfaction from finding a great deal online.

    When you have the whole world of the Internet at your fingertips, it's hard to resist.

    How do we solve this problem? If you can truly ask yourself why you are cyberloafing, then that can help identify the base problem. And if that sounds like too much hard work, you could just switch off the Internet for a couple of hours!

    So, in the meantime, let me just close those extra tabs.