I'm a 34-year-old man, married, lived in a nice house, and have a successful career as an educational consultant. But my life was not always so great. I had a learning disability from an early age. I went to a special school where I got plenty of extra help. Still, I suffered the rest of my school days in public schools.

       My life improved remarkably when I discovered art. The art world gave me a chance to express myself without words. I went to a workshop and gradually got good at making things with clay(黏土). Here I learned my first important lesson: disabled as I was in language. I could still be smart and well express myself with clay. And my confidence came along.

I got my next lesson from rock climbing. It was a fun thing but I was scared from the start. I soon noticed it wasn't a talent thing; it was practice. So I did it more. After about five years of climbing, I found myself in Yosemite Valley on a big wall. I learned that if you fall in love with something and do it all the time, you will get better at it.

       Later I decided to apply my previous experience to learning how to read and write. Every day I practiced reading and writing, which I used to avoid as much as possible. After two hard years, I was literate.

       Having gone through the long process with art, rock climbing, and reading and writing, now I've got to a point in my life where I know I am smart enough to dive into an area that is totally unknown, hard, but interesting.

    Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So start off to travel around the world and to experience a lot.

    Enjoy much freedom.

    You will enjoy a much greater sense of freedom when no one is able to tell you what to do{#blank#}1{#/blank#}You decide where you want to go,what you want to do and how long you want to stay.

    Taste delicious food.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Do you like eating Chinese,Thai or Indian food?You will enjoy the food even more when you eat it from the place it originates（起源）.For foodies（吃货）,delicious food in different places on the journey is what attracts them most.

    Meet new people.

    You will have the chance to meet new people when you travel.Some are interesting,some boring,and some totally crazy.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Chances are that it will be worth listening to.Perhaps you will meet someone you can make friends with and get a life-long friendship.

    Appreciate beautiful nature.

    Instead of looking out your office window to see a hundred skyscrapers staring back at you,you will get the chance to see the world in all its natural beauty.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}You can walk throw the jungles of the Amazon.You can see most scenery with your own eyes instead of looking at a still image in a book.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}You might already be book-smart.But add street smart to your life and then there's no stopping you.Travelling teaches you many of life's lessons.You will gain pearls（珍殊）of wisdom along your journey,which will surely enables you to lead a smarter life.

A.You are the boss.

B.Live a colorful life.

C.Become street-smart.

D.Everyone has a story to tell.

E.You can see the deserts of Africa.

F.You will discover how simple life can be.

G.You will taste food from all corners of the world.

    Stephen Covey's book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is very popular among business people who want to improve their careers.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}For example,Covey's principles can be used to improve relationships between parents and children or to improve the way you manage your time.

    Covey begins by discussing habits and effectiveness,and why they are both important to success.According to Covey,for an action,such as listening to others,to become a habit,you must know what to do and why you should do it.However,you also must want to do.On the other hand,effectiveness means having a balance between success and a good relationship with the people around you.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}However,if the company does not respect its workers,the profits will eventually decline.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}The first three habits focus on personal growth.The next three habits are about how to get along with others.The seventh habit shows how to achieve physical,emotional and mental health.

    Covey includes exercises to help you analyse your life.He challenges you to identify what you want to contribute to society in your lifetime.He does this by asking you to think about what people to say about you after you die{#blank#}4{#/blank#}For example,if you want your children to say that you were always willing to spend time with them, then you will spend more time with them and less time at work{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A.It has the potential to really improve your life.

B.In this way,you can challenge yourself to make your dreams and ambitions come true.

C.However,its principles can be applied to any area of life.

D.In order to be successful,you must have habits that make you able to deal effectively with others and your own personal life.

E.For example,a company might focus completely on making a profit.

F.Your answer to this question will help you make better decisions about how to spend your time.

G.Covey also introduces the seven habits of highly effective people.

    Hobbies let you explore interests outside your work. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} There are plenty of options available to you. How can you choose the hobby that suits you from these options? Here are some tips.

    Look at what interests you. And examine what takes up your spare time, when you have it. Do you enjoy reading books? Maybe you want to try your hand at writing them. Do you like a cool beer at the end of the day? Maybe your hobby could be trying to make beer at home. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Think about what you value most. What qualities do you think important? Do you value wisdom or courage? Do you admire artistic expression? {#blank#}3{#/blank#} For instance, maybe you could volunteer at a library as a hobby because you value education, or maybe you could take up painting because you admire people who can express themselves with art.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Certain hobbies require certain skill sets. If you don't have much patience, then maybe hand sewing isn't something you'd enjoy. However, if you love building things, maybe you should consider a hobby like building furniture.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Ask your friends and family what you seem to talk about the most. Now, think about what it is about that subject that you enjoy so much and determine how it can be turned into a hobby.

A. Help others to choose a hobby.

B. Examine your skills and personality.

C. Turn what you already love into a hobby.

D. Decide whether you're interested in one thing.

E. Think about the topics you go on endlessly about.

F. They let you be creative and try all kinds of new things.

G. Let those qualities guide you when you're choosing a hobby.

    When was the last time you read a book or a magazine article? Do your everyday reading habits centre around updates on the Internet? In case you are one of innumerable individuals who don't make a habit of reading consistently（持续的）you may be passing up a great opportunity: Reading has a remarkable number of advantages and only a couple of advantages of reading are recorded below.

    Everything you read fills your head with new bits of information and you never know when it might be useful to you. The more knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to overcome any challenge you'll ever face. Additionally, here's a bit of food for thought: Should you ever find yourself in terrible circumstances, remember that although you might lose everything else—your job, your possessions, your money, even your health—knowledge can never be taken from you.

    At the same time, the more you read, the more words you gain exposure to, and they'll surely make their way into your everyday vocabulary. Being able to express your ideas clearly in words is of great help in any profession and knowing that you can speak to higher-ranking people with self-confidence can be a great encouragement to your self-esteem（自尊）. It could even aid in your career as those who are well-read, well-spoken, and knowledgeable on a variety of topics tend to get promotions more quickly (and more often) than those with smaller vocabularies and lack of awareness of literature, scientific advances, and global events. Reading books is also vital for learning new languages, as non-native speakers gain exposure to words used in context, which will improve their own speaking and writing fluency.

    When you read a book, you have to remember a lot of characters, their backgrounds, ambitions, history as well as a variety of plots that weave their way through every story. That's a fair bit to remember, but brains are wonderful things and can remember these things with relative ease. Amazingly enough, whenever you remember something new, new synapses（神经元的突触）are formed and existing ones are strengthened. How cool that is!

    No matter how much stress you have at work, in your personal relationships, or countless other issues faced in daily life, it all just slips away（溜走）when you lose yourself in a great story. A well-written novel can transport you to other realms（领域）while an interesting article will distract you and keep you in the present moment, letting tensions drain away and allowing you to relax.