Please Don't Be Afraid To Travel On Your Own

    You want to travel. You make an unclear plan. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} But either way, you're leaving in six months time. You start doing research every single night.

    Of course, as this will be your first ‘real' travel experience, you naturally prefer to travel with other people. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} But the first friend you ask, perhaps your closest friend, turns you down and so you move on to the next friend. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} The third friend, the fourth friend and even that guy that you don't really like say no as well.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}You hope that one of your friends will change their mind and decide to join you. Maybe you decide to forget about your trip altogether, fully believing that you can only travel so far away from home with a friend or travel companion (同伴) by your side.

    Don't give up just yet. Here's my advice to you. You may be on your own when you board that flight to Bangkok or Mexico City, but believe me, once you arrive, you'll never actually be alone. That's how travel works. Unless you stare at the ground and never talk to anyone, you're going to meet people when you travel, lots and lots of people from all over the world. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. Don't give it up.

B. Maybe you'll fly to Thailand or to Mexico.

C. Meeting new people is one of the worst things to do.

D. But they too, tell you they have no interest to join you at all.

E. They will be interested in meeting and hanging out with you.

F. So you start asking your friends to join you in your journey.

G. Maybe you decide to put off your trip for another six months.

    No one is sure how many Americans belong to reading groups called book clubs. Yet{#blank#}1{#/blank#} (publisher) and bookstores report that more and more people throughout the United States are joining{#blank#}2{#/blank#} (they).

    Most of the clubs work the same way. Members read the same book at the same time. Then they meet to talk about the book. Members may be friends or people{#blank#}3{#/blank#} live near each other. Some Americans belong to reading groups on{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Internet. These groups include people around the world who communicate about books they read. They send electronic mails instead of gathering{#blank#}5{#/blank#} (discuss) books.

    Most reading groups study books by{#blank#}6{#/blank#} (variety) writers. However, some groups read the work of a single writer,{#blank#}7{#/blank#} (usual) one that has been famous for a while. Other groups may{#blank#}8{#/blank#} (name) for an important person in the work of the writer,{#blank#}9{#/blank#} a Sherlock Holmes Club. Members of these book clubs often are experts about their{#blank#}10{#/blank#} (choose) reading materials. One member of a Holmes reading group, for example, can identify almost every person in every Sherlock Holmes story.

    There is a story about a man who lost his legs and left arm in an accident. After the accident, only a finger and thumb on his right hand remained.

    He was a brilliant, creative, and educated man. He had gained a lot of experience while traveling around the world, so he became very depressed after his accident. He was afraid that he would spend the rest of his life suffering and would no longer be able to spend his life in a meaningful way. Then, he realized that he still had partial function of his right hand and could still write even though it was very difficult. An idea occurred to him. "Why not write to other people who need encouragement?"

    He wrote to the prison ministry about sending letters to the prisoners. The prison minister replied, "Writing to the prisoners is acceptable, but your letters will not be answered."

    Filled with excitement, the man knew he could write his letters. He began sending one-way messages of God's love, hope, strength, and encouragement. He wrote twice a week, testing his strength and ability to the limit. He poured his heart and soul into his words and shared his experience, sense of humor, optimism, and faith.

    It was difficult to write those letters, especially without hope of a reply. One day he received a letter from the prison ministry. It was a short note from the officer who monitored and checked the prison mail.

    The letter said, "Please write on the best paper you can afford. Your letters are passed from cell to cell until they literally fall to pieces!"

    No matter what circumstances life may present, we all have unique experiences, abilities, and God-given talents. We can discover ways to reach others who desperately need messages of encouragement and strength.

    Brazil, the largest country in South America, is famous for the Amazon rainforest and soccer. But on the hottest days, people travel there for another reason – the Carnival. Full of excitement and fun, the Carnival is held annually in February or March. This year, the celebration runs from March 2^nd to 9^th.

    It is a wild festival of food, music and dance. The word "Carnival" comes from the Portuguese "Carne Vale", which means "farewell to meat". In the early 1600s, the Portuguese brought European traditions to Brazil. Then they started their own carnival with dances and music, which were inspired by black people brought there by the slave trade.

    With its beautiful floats (花车), attractive clothes and happy people, the Samba Parade is the most fantastic event of the Carnival. The Sambadrome is a special stadium for the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro with 80,000 seats where people can sit and enjoy the festival. Samba is said to be the soul of Rio. "This is where the passion for samba lies – the atmosphere is electric as even the oldest men and women sing and dance to the music," travel guidebook Lonely Planet noted.

    Top samba schools stand out in the main parade, with fantastic parades of floats and thousands of dancers. The parade goes on until dawn. The schools base their performances on certain themes from Brazilian history or on social and environmental problems, such as that of the Amazon rainforest.

    Besides fun street parties, colorful costumes and energetic music, Carnival also offers plenty of tasty street food, such as Quindim – a dessert made of egg yolks and sugar.

Overall, it is traditionally a time to go a bit crazy with eating, dancing and dressing up.

    Imagine this: You're at the movies seeing the latest box-office hit. The leading actor chases down the film's bad guy before winning over the beautiful leading lady. What does he do next? He sucks on a cigarette.

    What's wrong with this picture? Doesn't the beautiful woman see her hero's yellow teeth? Doesn't she smell his smoky breath? And wouldn't the good guy have trouble chasing, since smoking causes a person to cough?

    But you don't see any of that when someone smokes cigarettes in the movies. And there is a lot of smoking in movies. Actors light up in more than 50 percent of youth-rated (G, PG, PG-13) movies, according to the American Legacy Foundation, which aims to put an end to smoking among young people. That means that Hollywood is showing 14 billion images of smoking to young people every year.

    All that exposure to on-screen smoking can influence teens to smoke. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) argues that 44 percent of teens who begin smoking do so because they've seen smoking in movies. The CDC reports that teens are two to three times more likely to start smoking after seeing repeated smoking scenes in movies than teens who are lightly exposed to smoking in movies.

    Several organizations are working to remove smoking in youth-rated movies. And adults are not the only ones who care about this issue. Many teens are actively involved. Livia Clandorf, 16, of Chatham, New York, is a member of Reality Check, an organization that educates teens about what it considers to be the manipulative(巧妙处理的) practices of tobacco companies. Livia participated in an event called a "movie stomp(跺脚)". Reality Check rents out a movie theater and screens a youth-rated film that shows smoking, they stomp their feet and show disapproval by shouting “boo”.

Going to concerts and live performances is a lot of fun. As a teen, you'll want to prepare for the event far in advance in order to ensure that your concert experience is enjoyable.

Check to make sure that the concert venue(场所) is for all ages.

Some venues, particularly those that serve alcohol, will only allow entry for guests who are over 21 years old. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} If you buy a ticket and get turned away at the door, you likely will not get your money back.

Ask your parents for permission.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#} Have a conversation with your parents to figure out how you will travel to and from the concert, and talk about ground rules for staying safe at the event.

Find a friend to go with.

For your safety, it's best not to attend concerts alone. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} If you're having trouble finding company, consider posting on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to see if other people in your social network are interested.

Buy tickets.

If the concert is for a popular band, figure out exactly when the tickets go on sale. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Ticketmaster. com sells tickets for bigger shows, but if you're going to a smaller show, look online at the venue's website for information on how to buy tickets.

Research venue policies and regulations.

Find the venue's web page to get a sense of what to expect, and to avoid any problem on the day of the concert. You should know how early the doors will open. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}