Tom and Mike are good friends. They are good to kids. They want to find summer jobs. One day Tom tells Mike that Beidaihe Kids Summer Camp needs help with sports, music and computers. They are both very glad to hear this.

    Tom can play basketball and volleyball, and he can swim, too. Mike can play the violin, the drums and the guitar, and he also likes soccer. Tom and Mike like computers very much. Can they join the Summer Camp?

Have you ever wondered what an American high school is really like? This article will describe a typical (典型的) high school and its students.

A typical American high school has several large buildings and enough space for about 1,500 students. Every student is given a locker. When students first arrive at school, they go straight to their lockers to put away or get their textbooks and to hang up their outdoor clothes. As American textbooks are expensive, students would rather loan (租借) than buy them. Students must pay back if they lost any of them.

American students have different types of school transport. They usually take a yellow school bus or walk to school if they live close enough. Sometimes their parents drive them to school.

When they turn 16 years of age, most take a free driving class at school for one term. If students' exam passing grades in the class and also pass their state driver's exam, they can begin driving themselves to school.

Each day, students take six or seven classes. They must take science, math, English and social studies. They can choose art, homemaking, fashion design and other classes. In some schools students are required to take one or more of the following special classes: health education, physical education or foreign language studies. Students move to different classrooms for each subject. This is because cache teacher has their own classroom. There is a five-minute break between classes, to give the students the time to hurry to their next class.

The regular school day usually ends early in the afternoon. After school more than half of the students take part in after-school activities. These activities include sports, specially football, basketball, baseball and soccer or clubs, such as yearbook, speech, school newspaper, photograph or student government.

Title: {#blank#}1{#/blank#} in an American High School

Confidence is something everyone needs.  Sometimes you may question your level of confidence and wish it to be higher.  Your confidence level makes a difference to what you can achieve. So keeping a high level of confidence is important to you. You can do as follows.

Renew your mind

What you receive decides your mind, so try something new. Read a new book or magazine or listen to a radio you haven't listened to before. In this way, you can challenge your opinions, open a new world and enrich your knowledge.

Also, spend a period of time being on your own and just think about your life sometimes. Keep yourself away from others and enjoy the power of silence.

Choose your friends wisely

Choose people you admire as your friends. It can be helpful to have those friends in your circle. Learn the way they face new challenges and communicate with them more. Keep away from those who always give up.

Let go of the past

Forgive(原谅) people who hurt you in the past. Write a letter to yourself to record your feelings in detail. If there are people who you need to say sorry to, go and do it right away.

Push yourself out of comfort zones

It's easy for us to make excuses for something. Maybe you think it's out of your comfort zone or too difficult. Remember that you can do it. It will help you discover something new about yourself, such as new hobbies or skills.

When Helen Keller was nineteen months old, a brief illness made her both deaf and blind. With such limitations, how could Keller ever be expected to find happiness?

Because happiness has been considered a personal concept, it is difficult to define（定义）. Many people throughout history have tried. Greek scientist and philosopher Aristotle wrote, "Happiness depends upon ourselves," which is not a definition but an observation that individuals are responsible for their own happiness. Roman statesman and philosopher Lucius Seneca wrote of a particular quality of happiness, saying, "True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future."

Is there a scientific basis（基础）for happiness? Researcher suggests happiness is a matter of perspective: "Truly happy individuals construe life events and daily situations in ways that seem to maintain their happiness, while unhappy individuals construe（理解）experiences in ways that seem to reinforce unhappiness". Basically, this means the way you choose to remember events and situations affects your happiness.

Some research concludes happiness is made up of three parts: pleasure, engagement and meaning. Pleasure involves things that give physical and emotional joy, such as playing a sport or seeing beautiful art. Engagement involves positive interactions（互动）with other people, such as studying or working with people whose company you enjoy. Meaning relates to feeling that your work is useful and important to others.

Even with scientific rationalization（合理化）, questions remain. For example, are younger people happier than older people? In fact, the opposite seems to be true. This may be because younger people tend to experience higher levels of negative emotions, such as anxiety and anger. The young also have less control over their lives because they lack both independence and the ability to make many of their own decisions.

Perhaps the most important question is whether you can change how happy you are. Studies of identical twins suggest that genetics forms about half of your happiness level. Your quality of life influences about 10 percent of your happiness. That means about 40 percent of your happiness is determined by your choices and actions.

From this explanation we can see that one way you can make yourself happier is to set goals. Keller had a definition of happiness in keeping with this idea. She felt happiness did not come from simply trying to satisfy your own desires but rather by contributing your time and skills to improve the world in some way.

Even if you are unable to achieve a goal that makes the world better in some small way, simply trying will likely give your life meaning and, at the same time, happiness.

Welcome to the Chinese Traditional Artwork Website

Today, we are going to make a simple cake. Here are the materials (材料) and ways. Let's have a try!

Materials

□ 1 cup of white sugar

□ 1/2 cup of butter

□ 2 eggs

□ 2 spoons of vanilla extract (香草香精)

□ 1 and 1/2 cups of flour (面粉)

□ 1 and 3/4 spoons of baking powder (发酵粉)

□ 1/2 cup of milk

Ways

◆First, you should preheat (预热) your oven (烤箱). Then you should cover a pan (平底锅) with oil and flour.

◆You should mix up the sugar and butter in a medium bowl. Then you can add the eggs, one  at a time. Next, you can add the vanilla extract, flour and baking powder to it and mix well. Finally, you should add the milk. Then pour it into the prepared pan.

◆Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the oven. If you want to make cupcakes, you can bake for 20 to 25 minutes.