Advice for High School Students

    As a person who is graduating from high school very soon, I have some suggestions for students in high school or students who are soon going to be high school students. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} I am sure others can benefit from reading them and will not make similar mistakes like me.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Do not value first impression highly. Don't dismiss a person or an idea too early just because you immediately get a bad impression. You will miss many opportunities because of that. Although something seems bad at the first impression, it does not mean it is bad all the time. Try to give everything a fair chance.

    Don't try to please everybody. There is no way you can please everybody or get everybody to agree with you. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} It is a huge waste of time.

    Have respect for authority. No matter how much you may dislike them, just remember that teachers and parents care about you and they are only doing their jobs. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Don't argue with them and just obey them.

    Realize a high school is not the real world. The real world isn't a closed environment. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} What is rewarded in high school such as popularity and agreement is different from what is rewarded in the real world. If high school isn't working out for you, you may find yourself better at handling the real world.

A. Do not be too quick to judge.

B. So just learn to say the word “No” a lot.

C. Listen to their advice and consider it carefully.

D. Many of these are based on regrets that I have.

E. Bad habits are hard to break and remain with you for a long time.

F. Don't spend any effort trying to please others who will never like you.

G. It is a free society where people accept responsibility for their actions.

    Sweet or salty? What kind of tastes do you like? If like me, you have a sweet tooth and you probably can't resist eating cakes, biscuits or chocolate and will sweeten your tea or coffee with spoonfuls of sugar-delicious! But the taste makes it very easy to ignore the warnings that too much of the white stuff（东西）is bad for our health.

    Consuming sugar is an addiction-the more we eat, the more we want. Today's processed food, like ready meals, is related to the stuff and many fizzy（起泡的）drinks contain seven teaspoons of sugar in just one can. In the UK, statistics show that sugar consumption is at its highest level in history and the government is trying to get the food industry to cut the amount of sugar in popular products like chocolate bars by 20% by 2020.

    Of course, sugary food tastes nice, it can help lift our mood, and a part in it can refresh us. But there are dangers too :a high-sugar diet is linked to putting on weight, and being overweight can increase the risk of getting type 2 diabetes（糖尿病）. With these warning signs, I have considered changing my diet by replacing sugary snacks with fruit and salty biscuits-but that's boring!

I'm not alone. BBC journalist Radhika Shanghani, has gone one step further. Encouraged by some well-knowns and nutritionists promoting a 'zero tolerance' approach to sugar, she gave it up altogether, thinking it would make her healthier. Initially she says, “My first fortnight involves mood swings. I have disturbing headaches and feel permanently hung-over.” These symptoms disappeared but she still found food shopping hard as she was stressing about buying the right things.

    Her experiment wasn't a success. She eventually sought advice from Susan Jebb, professor of diet and population health at Oxford University who said: “Lots of people enjoy sugar and gain pleasure from it, so one has to find a balance between enjoyment and eating the right amount.”

    Before I studied psychology, I used to think that people would laugh when funny things occurred. While I was right about that, I discovered there are lots of other psychological factors that make people laugh other than the funny part of a joke. When someone laughs at a joke, there will usually be more than one reason that makes him laugh—and the more reasons there are, the more powerful the joke will be.

    I was attending a stand-up comedy show in Egypt, and when the man started to make fun of pedestrians crossing streets, everyone laughed their hearts out. The main reason those people strongly laughed was that almost all of them felt angry towards pedestrians who crossed streets carelessly. The joke wasn't only funny, it also made the audience feel that they were right about being angry at those pedestrians. That is, people were laughing both because of the funny joke and because of the happiness experienced as a result of the psychological support they got.

    The better a joke makes a person feel, and the more it includes other psychological factors, the more the person will like it. For example, if you envy one of your friends, and someone tells a joke that is funny and, at the same time, makes your friend seem stupid, then you will probably laugh at it louder than if you weren't jealous of him.

    In short, we don't laugh only when we hear something funny; we also laugh when we experience some kind of happiness that results from the other psychological factors involved in the joke. I strongly discourage making fun of anyone or belittling someone to make someone else laugh. All I want to explain is that if your joke supports a person's emotions, he will certainly like it a lot.

    Farah was sitting in the kitchen going over the party list with her mother. The exams were over and Farah wanted to invite her friends for a party.

    "Farah, aren't you going to invite Hafsa?" her mother asked. Hafsa had been her best friend since childhood.

    "Mother, you know I am now a part of Purple Girls Club and we have some rules about people we can be friends with," Farah answered.

    "Really? And what are the rules?" her mother asked.

    "Well, only very pretty girls can be part of our group. And Hafsa is so...you know...dark."

    "I cannot believe it," her mother said angrily.

    As Farah left the kitchen, her father called her from the living room. Farah went to her father and paled when she saw the exam report in his hands. "Farah, what has happened to your grades? You have failed in Mathematics," her father said. Farah had no answer. The truth was that the activities of Purple Girls Club left her with very little time for studies. "Farah, it says that you can take part in supplementary exams(补考). If your grades don't improve then, I'll cancel(取消) your trip to Spain." Farah went to her room and called Gina, the leader of Purple Girls Club, "Gina, can you help me to complete my notes before the exams?" Gina laughed. "Exams? Who cares about exams?"

    One by one, she called her friends in the club but no one seemed to care or wanted to help. Farah knew Hafsa would help her. Farah also knew Hafsa had been hurt by her, but Hafsa said, "If you need any help, just let me know. We can study together till your exams." Next Monday, as two friends entered the school together, Gina called out. "Farah, you know our rules. You cannot be friends with those who do not belong to our club."

    "Gina, I have a new rule about friendship," Farah replied.

    Jim Denevan is an amazing artist whose work is admired by all, but owned by none — that's because all of Jim's art is created on an unusual canvas(画布)— the soft sand. He sometimes spends days working on a piece, only to see it washed away by the sea or a storm and that is just the way he likes it.

    Denevan discovered his artistic talents about ten years ago, when he was wandering aimlessly on the beach with a stick. He ended up drawing a 12-foot-long fish. Since then, Jim has traveled over 1,800 miles while creating over 600 pieces of sand art.

    Over the years, his drawings have become bigger, but the tools he uses haven't changed — All he needs is a stick, a garden rake (耙子)and most importantly, his lively imagination!

    Just like any good artist, Jim is quite particular about the "quality" of his canvas, sometimes walking for miles, looking for perfect sand. His latest piece of work, which is also the world's largest freelance (自由职业的)drawing, was created in the desert sand of Nevada. It took Jim three trips, eight days and over 100 miles of walking to create this 3-mile work of art. It took the storm just one night to destroy it! However, Jim says he actually enjoys watching the waves or rain, wash his paintings away.

    Jim's art has become very popular over the years and was even the topic of a documentary named "Sandman" in 2015. Jim Denevan is not just about art in the sand — he is also an excellent chef and founder of an organization called "Outstanding in the Field", whose mottois to celebrate food at its source. Accordingly, group dining events are held outdoors on farms, with the diners being treated to a delicious meal. The events, which are held in different farms throughout America, are always sold out the minute the schedule is announced.

Coolest Bookstores in the World

    Where did you buy your last book? Chances are that you bought it on the Internet. But if you did, you missed the remarkable experience of browsing in a real bookstore. These days bookstores offer lots of great books and plenty more.

    Eslite Dunnan Store

    Time magazine once named Eslite Dunnan Store in Taiwan province, China "Asia's best bookstore". One visit to the store tells you why. The store, spread across five floors, offers a combination of restaurants, music and over 200,000 books. With its comfortable reading spots, visitors sometimes say it's like a library. Others have called it the "7-Eleven of bookstores" because it's open 24 hours a day.

    Book Garden

    The world's biggest bookstore is Tehran, Iran's Book Garden with 700,000 square feet of space. In addition to restaurants and a theater, the Book Garden features a park on the roof. Visitors can pick up one of 1,000 free books to read while enjoying the fresh air and sunshine from the Book Garden's rooftop park.

    Saraiva Bookstore

    Rio de Janeiro's Saraiva Bookstore might be the world's most colorful bookstore. The visible upper level is lined with books arranged by their colors. This rainbow effect provides a color welcoming for shoppers as they arrive. A rainbow path also leads young readers into the children's section.

    Liberia Acqua Alta

    Venice, Italy, is a city surrounded with water. Its books are displayed in all things related to water such as boats, bathtubs to protect them when the shop floods during high tide. It overlooks one of Venice's many canals, and the smell of old books fills the air.