This is a photo of a similar car I own. It's a photo of a Skoda Fabia, I drive one too. A young guy also got out of a similar car as I was getting close to mine. I laughed and was prepared to leave. The young guy continued to have a conversation with me.

    He asked me how I found the car. It turned out that it was his first day to drive the car and it was new and it was a gift from his parents and he'd just passed his driving test today! What a coincidence (巧合)!

    Well, this was a special moment for Nicholas. Who gets a new car the day they learn to drive and then drives into a garage and has a talk with a woman who's driving the same model of car? Yes, beautiful synchronicity (同步性) in full view.

    I wanted to make this moment special for Nicholas, and I wanted to gift him something. Thinking on my feet, I thought I'd buy him a lottery ticket (彩票) but it wasn't special enough.

    I got into my car and removed my Guardian Angel key ring which I had attached to my front mirror. It was there to keep me safe. My birthday is on Guardian Angel's Day too, so this is very special to me. I gave it to Nicholas and he was happy to receive it. Nicholas gave me a big hug.

    Nicholas was not an overconfident guy. He also told me his mum was only out of hospital and now he'd be able to help her get about.

I'll order myself another Guardian Angel key ring for my car for fear that my Guardian Angel will not be protecting me without the key ring. As for Nicholas, well, I wish he and his passengers a lifetime of safe driving.

    We offer five kinds of courses. Each course has been designed to help students according to their needs.

    Course 1：General English

    General English is designed to develop students' basic communication skills in speaking and pronunciation，reading，listening，writing，grammar and vocabulary. Tuesday to Friday：9：00 am to 11：00 am，$288 per week.

    Course 2：Academic English

    Academic English is for students who want to take the IELTS exam or for those who need to use English in a professional area. Monday to Friday：4：00 pm to 5：00 pm，$320 per week.

    Course 3：High School ESL

    Why not make the most of your time studying in Australia with the help from TIES？We have High School ESL classes each week specifically designed for international students. Tuesday to Friday：8：00 am to 11：00 am，$25 per hour.

    Course 4：Night Classes

    Do you want to improve your English and get the best possible results in your GRE test？We have two night classes each week designed to meet your needs. Tuesday and Thursday evenings：8：30 pm to 10：30 pm. $60 per day.

    Course 5：One on One

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    This is not a diet. It's a simple way to lose weight. You don't have to give up the food you love or join a gym. You just follow some habits thin people have. Keep them, and you'll become thin.

    Wake-up

    When you wake up in the morning, sit up slowly without using your hands. With legs straight out, lean forward(前俯) until you feel sore(酸痛的) in your back. It will use up 10 calories.

    Start with soup

    Order a clear soup, and have it before the main food. In this way, you'll feel fuller, so you'll eat less when the main food comes.

    An apple or more a day

    Apples are full of fiber(纤维) and water, so your stomach will want less. Studies show that people who eat at least three apples or pears a day may lose weight.

    Talk it up

    Every time you use the cell phone, stand up and walk around. Heavy people sit on average two and a half hours more each day than thin people. This skill is very important as standing up and walking around will burn up 50 or more calories. Use these skills, and you will have a big weight loss.

    Bill Bowerman was a track coach. He wanted to help athletes run faster. So he had learned how to make running shoes. He had also started a shoe company with a friend. It was 1971. Running shoes at the time were heavy. They had spikes (鞋钉) on the sole (鞋底). The spikes tore up the track and slowed down runners.

    To make a lighter shoe, Bill tried the skins of fish. To make a better sole, he wanted to replace the spikes. Bill dug through his wife Barbara's jewelry box. He hoped to find a piece of jewelry with an interesting pattern. He would then copy the pattern onto the new soles. Nothing worked. Bill was defeated.

    Then, one Sunday morning, Barbara made Bill waffles (华夫饼) for breakfast. Bill watched her cook.

    He studied the criss-cross pattern on a waffle iron.

    Inspiration struck. The pattern on the waffle iron was just what Bill was looking for. The squares were flatter and wider than sharp spikes. The pattern would help the shoes hold any surface without tearing into it.

When Barbara left the house, Bill ran to his lab. He took the liquid chemicals that, when mixed, would harden into the sole of a shoe. He poured the mixture into the waffle iron—and the Waffle Trainer was born.

Bill's company put the Waffle Trainer on market in 1974. It was a huge hit. Maybe you've heard of that company—it's called Nike. And today it's worth around $100 billion.

It was the waffle iron that had changed the course of Bill's life—and helped turn Nike into a well-known name. Today, the waffle iron is kept at Nike headquarters. It serves as a reminder that if we keep trying, we can find a solution to even the most difficult problems. And those solutions can come from unlikely places, even the breakfast table.

    American high school students are terrible writers, and one education reform group thinks it has an answer: robots. Or, more accurately, robot-readers—computers programmed to scan students' essays and spit out a grade.

    Mark Shermis, professor of the College of Education at the University of Akron, is helping to hold a contest, set up by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (WFHF), which promises $ 100,000 in prize money to programmers who write the best automated grading software. "If you're a high school teacher and you give a writing task, you're walking home with 150 essays," Shermis said. "You're going to need some help."

    Automated essay grading was first proposed in the 1960s, but computers back then were not up to the task. In the late 1990s, as technology improved, several textbooks and testing companies jumped into the field. Today, computers are used to grade essays on South Dakota's student writing assessments and a handful of other exams, including the TOEFL test of English fluency, taken by foreign students.

    The Hewlett contest aims to show that computers can grade as well as English teachers—only much more quickly and without all that depressing red ink. "Automated essay scoring is objective," Shermis said. "And it can be done immediately. If students finish an essay at 10 pm, they will get a result at 10: 01 pm."

    Take, for instance, the Intelligent Essay Assessor, a web-based tool marketed by Pearson Education, Inc. Within seconds, it can analyze an essay for spelling, grammar, organization, and help students to make revisions. The program scans for key words and analyzes semantic (语义的) patterns, and Pearson claims that it can understand the meaning of text much the same as a human reader.

Your Path to Emotional Maturity(成熟)

Emotions play a critical part in our lives and are contagious(传染) unless you know how to actually control them. In order to grow and thrive(茁壮成长), you must learn to be emotionally intelligent. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. 

Focus Your Efforts On Self-evolution

Just like you, it is completely normal for everyone else to have their own be-liefs and opinions. Keeping that in mind, it's better to understand that you can-not change others, no matter how hard you try. Even if you try changing others, you could be hurting yourself in the process. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. 

Try Using"I"Statements

{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. Use"I"statements like"I feel miserable and heartbroken"instead of"You make me feel miserable and heartbroken. "This approach conveys your e-motions effectively without aggression, showcasing emotional maturity. 

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}

People sometimes interact with us as if we are mind readers, especially in re-lationships. Your partner may expect you to understand their desires, which can be challenging. Just as you aren't a mind reader, others aren't either. You need to communicate your needs to other people, and they need to do the same with you. Share your needs with your loved ones and observe the positive changes. 

Avoid Negative People

You are known by the company you keep, and this is always true. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. If surrounded by negative people that only bring others down, then you will always feel miserable. In order to be emotionally intelligent, you must have a good and supporting company by your side. Steer clear of people who emotionally manipulate others. 

Whenever you feel something like that, cut ties with them immediately. 

A. Communicate Your Needs

B. Always Prioritize(优先考虑) Self-care

C. If surrounded by happy and motivated people, you will always be happy

D. When upset, express your feelings openly but in a non-aggressive manner

E. The strategy in this stressful situation is to focus on others instead of yours

F. Taking full responsibility for your actions is how you become emotionally mature

G. To enhance emotional maturity and happiness, self-change is the best course of action