Tips on how to save money

    It's important for you teenagers to know how to save money. You know that the money you save can be for rainy days and be used to pay through your college education. If you think it's a difficult task and don't know how to do it, please do as the following.

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    My dad always tells me that if one doesn't respect money, it will never respect you. Hence, it's important that you keep a record of your daily expenses. Make it a habit to write down all that you have spent. And when you find out the total expenses at the end of the month, you will realize what you have spent more money in doing.  {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Open a savings account.

    Opening a savings account is a better way to save money. You can set a goal; say (for example), the money is for a new notebook or for college, and then save, until you have enough money to buy a notebook or until you go to college. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Do not carry much cash.

    Do you have the habit of not leaving a store without buying anything? The only way to stop that is carrying less money around with you. Go to the store with the minimum amount of money, which will not even help you buy a drink. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Save the changes.

    Save the changes that you get back. If you have gone to a shop to buy something and get back some changes, then do not spend them.  {#blank#}5{#/blank#}And you'll be surprised at the huge amount of money after days.

    Follow these tips above, and thus you can save a lot of money. And surely, they'll help you to be more responsible in your life.

How to Find Yourself

    Do you often feel lost？Do you think you are living somebody else's life? If yes, discover ways to find yourself by going through the following article.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} If you are thinking, “how to find yourself when you are lost?”, then the first thing to do is to have a rest from everything—work, personal life and all worldly things. Give time to yourself to think why you seem lost. Is it because of over work? Is it because you are not leading a life that you want to? Or is it because you are not satisfied with the people or things around you? Try to find answers to these questions to determine the cause behind your restlessness.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} For once, instead of being the way others want you to be, be yourself. Look within and find yourself in you. Think about the things that you would want to do if you didn't have any family obligations or any money issues. Think about the kind of relationship you would want to be in, the place that you would like to stay in, the kind of lifestyle you would like to lead, if you didn't have the society or people around you, judging all the time. If you really want to know how to find inner peace, then think, what you would want others to describe you as—an honest person? Or adventurous? Or loving, or realistic? Once you look within, you will know the answer and then try to be exactly that.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}  Thinking deeply about the past, the time or situations when you were the happiest, is another way to find yourself .Think what you were doing or with whom you were, when you were the happiest. This will help you to identify things that you want to do in life that make you happy and also certain people whose company you enjoy.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Knowing yourself and determining what you to do with your life will not come to you in a day or two. Discovering oneself is an ongoing process and it can take months or sometimes even years to truly find yourself. So, it's important that you maintain a written record of all your feelings and thoughts, which you can go through at a later stage. Pour all your emotions and feelings about life in it and who knows may be one day going through it, you will find yourself.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}  Once you have discovered what you want to do with your life, make a move for change and self improvement. Even if it means taking up small things such as dancing or painting, go ahead and do it. If you want a career change, plan and take steps so that it can take place smoothly. If you are stuck in a bad relationship and find yourself unable to mend it, break away. At the beginning, you may find yourself slightly unbalanced, but with time everything will be fine.

    It is very important for you to truly find yourself, before it is too late. If you do not find yourself now, you will spend your life with somebody you do not even know, i.e. yourself.

                                                                  Five Ways to Improve Communication Skills

    Communication is one of the most important skills we can ever learn. It affects everything that we do —whether we're communicating at work to meet deadlines and achieve results, or communicating with friends, family and partners to build strong relationships. Thus communication is very important. Here are five ways to improve your communication skills.

{#blank#}1{#/blank#} This reflects a real lack of respect. By interrupting someone, what you're basically saying is "I don't care what you're saying—what I have to say is more important".

    Don't finish other people's sentences.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Wrong. Research has shown by doing this you are dis-empowering (剥夺权利) the other person because you are taking control of the conversation, so bite your tongue!

Paraphrase.

If you want to show that you have really understood someone, then paraphrasing (解释) is a great tool{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Here's an example: "So Barney, what I'm hearing is that results are the number one objective for you right now and we need to find some fast solutions for you?"

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Focus on active listening instead of passive listening. The difference is that active listening means you engage with and respond to the other person based on what he/she has said, while passive listening is simply the act of listening with no response.

    Maintain eye contact.

    By looking at the other person in the eyes, you are proving that you're interested in what he/she is saving.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. All you do is repeat back to someone what he/she has just said, before you comment yourself.

B. You don't see them interrupting others or leaving off mid conversation.

C. Listen actively.

D. This also keeps you focused (集中) and less distracted (分散).

E. Talk actively.

F. I used to do this a lot thinking I was helpfully finishing people's sentences for them.

G. Never interrupt people.

    Sometimes we can get so caught up in the stress and worry of our personal lives that our minds become too confused to operate effectively.This is especially dangerous in a test-taking situation.After hours of reading and studying,our brains can lock up in a state of overload.

    In a stressful situation it's often a must to clear your mind completely to allow your brain to refresh itself and recalibrate all of its functions.But when you're tense,clearing your mind isn't so easy!Try this relaxation technique if you think your brain has seized up from information overload.

    ⒈Set aside at least five minutes for quiet "clearing" time.If you're at school,see if you can put your head down somewhere or find an empty room or quiet space.If necessary,set a watch (or phone) alarm or ask a friend to tap you on the shoulder at a designated time.

    ⒉Think of a time or place that puts you into a complete state of peace.This place will vary from person to person.Have you ever sat on the beach watching the waves come in and realized you've "zoned out" fora while?This is the sort of experience you're looking for.Other experiences that make us zone out could be: Sitting in the dark and staring at Christmas tree lights—remember how peaceful that feels?

    ⒊Cover your eyes and go to your "place".If you are at school preparing for a test before class,you may simply rest your elbows on the desk and put your hands over your eyes.For some people,it may not be a good idea to put your head down.(You might fall asleep!)

    Don't let any thoughts creep into your head.As soon as you start to think about a test problem,clear away the thought and concentrate on your peaceful place.

    ⒋Snap out of it!Remember,this is not nap time.The point here is to refresh your brain.After five or ten minutes of clearing time,take a brisk walk or take a drink of water to re-energize your mind and body.Stay relaxed and resist the urge to think about the things that are stressing you out or clogging your brain.Don't let your brain go back to freeze-out.

    Now go on with your test or study session refreshed and ready!

Life on a Ship

    We three children were very excited when we walked up the gangway (舷梯) of the British flagship China Star and saw officers, crew and staff rushing around. A Chinese housekeeper led the way and helped Uncle Jean and Aunt Reine with our luggage. Victor, Claudine and I lagged behind. The housekeeper was tall and thin and towered over everyone. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} As we followed him down a narrow corridor towards our cabins, Victor whispered to me, "One thing about having no hair at all on your head, you always look neat!"

    Though I was still feeling nervous and tongue-tied because it had only been three days since Aunt Reine took me out of St. Joseph's, I laughed out loud. That was the effect Victor had on people. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} "Boys to the right and girls to the left," said Uncle Jean. Our two cabins were directly opposite each other. Inside, everything was neat, bare and clean. While Aunt Reine, Claudine and I were unpacking, there was a knock on the door.

    Victor stood there, wearing a bright-red and orange life-jacket. "Why are you wearing that?" Claudine protested. "Our ship hasn't even sailed yet!" "In case the China Star starts going down. Then you'll really be sorry you're not wearing one yourself. Here! Let me show you something!" {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Our cabin was below deck. Outside we could see nothing but deep dark water.

    Claudine became alarmed. "Mama, how often does a ship sink?" she asked. Before Aunt Reine had time to reply, Victor quipped with a straight face, "Only once!" Aunt Reine and I could not help laughing in spite of ourselves. But then Victor did something my brothers would never have done. He took off his life-jacket, slipped it on his sister and showed her how to adjust the straps. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} At night, our housekeeper brought in a tiny roll-out bed because there were three of us.

A. Once Victor hid in a lifeboat for half an hour while we searched everywhere.

B. His head was completely hairless, and he was obviously unsteady.

C. He and Claudine made me feel at ease as soon as I met them.

D. There were only two narrow twin beds in our cabin, each covered with dark blue sheets.

E. He parted the curtain and looked out of the round window of the ship.

F. He jumped out as we passed below him, scaring and delighting us at the same time.

    Parents often say that they don't mind what their children do in life just as long as they are happy. Happiness and pleasure are almost universally seen as among the most precious human goods.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Philosopher Jeremy Bentham believed that all sources of pleasure are of equal quality, but John Stuart Mill disagreed. Mill argued for a difference between higher and lower pleasure.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}Lower pleasure, in contrast, requires mere (仅仅的；纯粹的) senses.

    The entire debate assumes a clear divide between the physical and the mental.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}What will it mean for our ideas about pleasure?

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Food is usually considered to be the lower pleasure. All animals eat, using the senses of smell and taste. It doesn't require any complex cognition (认知) to conclude that something is delicious. However, these people failed to appreciate something that the French food writer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin captured. That is, "Animals feed; man eats; only the man of intellect(才智) knows how to eat."

    Eating shows that the difference between higher pleasure and lower pleasure is not what you enjoy but how you enjoy it.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}Preparing it using the powers of reflection and attention turns it into a higher pleasure.

A. The dining table is a good place to start.

B. Wolfing down your food is a lower kind of pleasure.

C. What's the real difference between high and low pleasure?

D. What happens if the physical and the mental cannot be separated?

E. All philosophers believed that cookery could never be a form of art.

F. Higher pleasure depends on human abilities such as self-awareness or language use.

G. However, disagreements will be caused about whether some forms of pleasure are better than others.