When it comes to benefits of volunteering, a lot of people think it's all about the warm feelings after helping someone. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} For example, volunteering...

1）Teaches you new skills

    From helping make websites to teaching kids languages, to arranging events for charity, volunteering can really be almost anything.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} And through overcoming these you learn and start to master completely new skills.

2）Can be relevant work experience

    Something that seems to stop many is that experience often seems to be a prerequisite (必备条件) for some jobs.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} There's many a journalist that gets his or her start through volunteering for a college or university paper, and that's not at all the only profession this applies to.

3）Can be therapeutic (治疗的)

    One of my close friends has completely transformed since she started working for disabled kids.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} It allows you to see the world and other people from a whole different point of view, which in turn can make you grateful for what you already have and see your own personal value.

4）Helps you expand your network

    One of the great things for volunteering is that you meet a wide variety of people.  {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Sometimes it's very convenient to have a broad network.

A. Volunteering helps you grow as a person.

B. As it turns out, that's far from the only benefit.

C. Volunteering can actually help you get the experience you need.

D. Volunteering helps you look outside yourself and your problems.

E. It's a way to prove that you've not just been sitting and doing nothing.

F. That means when you get involved in voluntary work, you will face many challenges.

G. You're getting to know people involved in many different walks in life that you wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet otherwise.

    You should make thorough plans before you undertake a camping trip. Just follow these simple camping guidelines to make your trip safe and rewarding.

Selecting an appropriate tent

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} When determining the size of your tent, you should take into account the number of campers as well as the camping equipment necessary for your trip. There should be enough room in tihe tent for the camping equipment{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

Importance of food

    While camping, you will need enough food to give you enough energy for your outdoor work.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}You should use a two burner stove to do all your cooking. Insist on simplicity in cooking and use vegetables and ready-made food during your trip to minimize cooking time.

Adequate sleep

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Nights are generally cooler than the days so you need to have enough warm clothes to feel comfortable enough to sleep during the night. When buying a sleeping bag, check that you feel comfortable in it. Extra air mattresses (气垫) may be included in your camping equipment to make your bed more comfortable.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Bear these camping guidelines in mind and make sure you are fully prepared to enjoy your camping trip.

A. All campers should have adequate sleep during the night.

B. Thus you must have an efficient arrangement for food preparation.

C. The best camping trips are had by those people who prepare the best.

D. Take healthy and nourishing food with you to meet energy demands during your trip.

E .The comfort level in a tent determines the success of a camping trip.

F. The size is the most important thing you should carefully consider when choosing a tent.

G. It will destroy the mood of the entire camping trip if you don't have a good sleeping bag.

    How can I carry out a group project?

    Group projects can be so overwhelming (使人不知所措的), especially when people don't cooperate and follow through. “{#blank#}1{#/blank#}” To follow this wise advice from expert Julie Hochheiser IIkovich, simply break down that hug project into smaller jobs that can be tracked. Here's exactly how to do it:

    List it. The day the project is assigned, immediately identify the end goal.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}This should include everything from minor tasks to major ones.

    Schedule it.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}This should include meetings, tasks, and deadlines. Assign each person a color and highlight each task with those colors, so it's clear who is doing what.

    Track it. As a team, decide on a project manager who will keep everyone on track, and who you agree is allowed to call team members out if they're not hardworking. (Advice on how to choose:{#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    As stressful as group work is, it can actually be beneficial in the long run. At first, groups that work well together can achieve much more than individuals working on their own. And being part of a team will help you develop your interpersonal skills. Also, working with others will help identify your own strengths and weaknesses.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Give feedback on group processes to groups

B. Then list what needs to get done to accomplish it

C. Look for the person with the most organized desk!

D. A half-hour of planning saves a week of stress at the end!

E. Create a timetable for the project and put everything from the list on it.

F. This sense about yourself will be invaluable when you enter the workforce.

G. Group projects can help people develop new approaches to solving problems.

    More and more people in America are celebrating the Indian holiday Diwali. Diwali is Hindi for “row of lights.” It is the most important holiday in India.

    Many people around the world are beginning to celebrate it as well. The United States is one of the places where the festival is becoming more common. Diwali celebrations can now be found at American landmarks like Disney land in California and New York City's Times Square. They are also held in many parks and museums.

    Neeta Bhasin created the Times Square event. She said Indian immigrants (移民) have found great success in America. But, she said, many Americans still do not know much about India. So, she decided to act. "I felt it's about time that we should take India to mainstream America and show India's rich culture, heritage, arts and variety to the world, "she said, "And I couldn't find a better place than the center of the universe: Times Square."

    Bhasin came to the United States from India 40 years ago. She is president of ASB Communications, the marketing firm behind Diwali at Times Square. Tens of thousands of people attend the event, now in its fourth year.

    In India, Diwali is a five-day harvest festival held just before the Hindu New Year. The exact dates change from year to year but Diwali is always in the fall. Celebrations include lighting oil lamps or candles called diyas. The lights represent "a victory of knowledge over ignorance, light over darkness, good over evil."

    A Diwali celebration will light up Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim this year. Visitors can watch performances of traditional Indian dances and take part in a Bollywood dance party. The event is part of a Festival of Holidays program at the theme park to show cultural traditions from around the world.

Five steps to better handwriting

    Some kids love handwriting, but others hate when it's time to put their pen to paper. Maybe they are worried about their handwriting. Are you one of them? {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Here are five steps that really work!

    Get a great grasp

    Try this — hold your pencil at the top and try to write your name. Pretty hard? But when you hold your pencil the correct way, writing is much easier. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Hold it in place with your thumb, and your index (食指) and middle fingers.

    Let the lines be your guide

    Lined paper is your friend! Those lines can help you create letters that are the right size and proportion (均衡). {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Also be sure to fill up the lined space completely. Those capital letters should be from the bottom line to the top one.

    Slow down

    If your writing is hard to read, try slowing down a little. If you rush, it's hard to control where you stop and start your letters.

    Lower the pressure (压力)

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}That makes it harder to make the smooth lines. Try easing up and don't hold the pencil too tightly.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Lots of games require you to write or draw pictures. So even though it's not schoolwork, you're still using the skills you need to control your pen better.

A. Play games

B. Ask for more advice

C. So “a” should be half the height of a capital “A”.

D. You've been writing since you were a little kid.

E. Some kids press down really hard when they write.、

F. The good news is that just about everyone can improve their handwriting.

G. The best way to hold a pen or pencil is to let it rest next to the base of your thumb.

    Do you know that women's brains are smaller than men's? Normally the women's brain weighs 10% less than men's. Since research has shown that the bigger the brain, the cleverer the animal, men must be more intelligent than women. Right? Wrong. Men and women always score similarly on intelligence tests, despite the difference in brain size. Why? After years of study, researchers have concluded that it's what's inside that matters, not just the size of the brain. The brain is made up of "grey matter" and "white matter". While men have more of the white matter, the amount of "thinking" brain is almost the same in both men and women.

    It has been suggested that smaller brain appears to work faster, perhaps because the two sides of the brain are better connected in women. This means that little girls may learn to speak earlier, and that women can understand sorts of different information at the same time. When it comes to talking to the boss on the phone, cooking dinner and keeping an eye on the baby all at the same time, it's women who come out on top every time.

    There are other important differences between two sexes. As white matter is the key to spatial(空间的) tasks, men know better where things are in relation to other things. "A great footballer always knows where he is in relation to the other players, and he knows where to go," says one researcher. That may explain one of life's great mysteries: why men refuse to ask for directions … and women often need to!

    The differences begin when fetuses（胎儿）are about nine weeks old, which can be seen in the action of children when they are very young. A boy would try to climb a barrier before him or push it down while a girl would ask for help from others. These brain differences also explain the fact that more men take up jobs that require good spatial skills, while more women speech skills. It may all go back to our ancestors, among whom women needed speech skills to take care of their babies and men needed spatial skills to hunt, according to one research.