How to SurviveExam Stress

        Exam time is one of the most stressful in school, whether it is highschool, college or graduate school. Even the best students feel the pressure. The first sign of a problem while preparing for an exam isworry.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} If we can get rid of worries, or at leastcontrol them, then we're in a much better position to do well on our tests. Take the following steps to survive examstress and increase your overall performance as a result.

{#blank#}2{#/blank#} What causes you anxiety when you are studying? Too much noise? Then move to a quieter place.Delayed work? Catch up with your studies a couple nights before. That way youcan save the final night before the exam to review and get a good night ofsleep.

        The second way to deal with worry is to replace thoughts. Suppose you wake up at three in the morning and you're worried about an exam.What do you do?{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Doing something productive might allow you tosleep better when you finally do go back to bed.

        Another way tore place negative thoughts is to do something physically active. Work out. Takea quick walk or a nice run.{#blank#}4{#/blank#} For example, I might worry about the examhaving surprise questions that I'm not prepared to answer. But I can put thosethoughts aside by reminding myself that I've taken many exams and I've handledsurprise questions before.

        The third option is to treat the symptoms. Keepthings in perspective. Think of one final exam that causes you the mostanxiety. Now think of the worst thing that could happen. If you've prepared,then likely the worst grade you could get is a C. And, if you've been applying what we've been talking about, then you'll likely do no worse than a B. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} .

A. How bad is thatreally?

B. The first is to delete the causes.

C. Another idea isto think positive thoughts.

D. How aboutgetting up and studying for an hour?

F. What we should do is to thinkpositively and get rid of it.

G. So we are supposed to make our effortto improve our surroundings.

Open Letter to an Editor

I had an interesting conversation with a reporter recently — one who works for you. In fact, he's one of your best reporters. He wants to leave.

    Your reporter gave me a copy of his resume(简历) and photocopies of six stories that he wrote for you. The headlines showed you played them proudly. With great enthusiasm, he talked about how he finds issues(问题), approaches them, and writes about them, which tells me he is one of your best. I'm sure you would hate to lose him. Surprisingly, your reporter is not unhappy. In fact, he told me he really likes his job. He has a great assignment (分工), and said you run a great paper. It would be easy for you to keep him, he said. He knows that the paper values him. He appreciates the responsibility you've given him, takes ownership of his profession, and enjoys his freedom.

    So why is he looking for a way out?

    He talked to me because he wants his editors to demand so much more of him. He wants to be pushed, challenged, coached to new heights.

    The reporter believes that good stories spring from good questions, but his editors usually ask how long the story will be, when it will be in, where it can play, and what the budget is.

    He longs for conversations with an editor who will help him turn his good ideas into great ones. He wants someone to get excited about what he's doing and to help him turn his story idea upside down and inside out, exploring the best ways to report it. He wants to be more valuable for your paper. That's what you want for him, too, isn't it?

    So your reporter has set me thinking.

Our best hope in keeping our best reporters, copy editors, photographers, artists — everyone — is to work harder to make sure they get the help they are demanding to reach their potential. If we can't do it, they'll find someone who can.

    It is quite reasonable to blame traffic jams, the cost of gas and the great speed of modern life, but manners on the road are becoming horrible. Everybody knows that the nicest men would become fierce tigers behind the wheel. It is all right to have a tiger in a cage, but to have one in the driver's seat is another matter altogether.

    Road politeness is not only good manners, but good sense too. It takes the most cool-headed drivers great patience to give up the desire to beat back when forced to face rude driving. On the other hand, a little politeness goes a long way towards reducing the possibility of quarrelling and fighting. A friendly nod or a wave of thanks in answer to an act of politeness helps to create an atmosphere of good will and calm so necessary in modern traffic condition. But such behaviors of politeness are by no means enough. Many drivers nowadays don't even seem able to recognize politeness when they see it.

    However, misplaced politeness can also be dangerous. Typical examples are the driver who waves a child crossing the street at a wrong place into the path of oncoming cars that may be not able to stop in time. The same goes for encouraging old ladies to cross the road wherever and whenever they want to. It always amazes me that the highways are not covered with the dead bodies of these grannies (奶奶).

    An experienced driver, whose manners are faultless, told me it would help if drivers learnt to correctly join in traffic stream without causing total blockages that give rise to unpleasant feelings. Unfortunately, modern drivers can't even learn to drive. Years ago, experts warned us that the fast increase of the car ownership would demand more give-and-take from all road users. It is high time for all of us to take this message to heart.

    According to the International Ecotourism Society, eco-travel is "responsible travel to natural areas that protects the environment, maintains the well-beings and involves education". Eco-travel is on the rise, as more and more people become conscious about their carbon footprint.

    Expert from Boundless Journeys, Matt Holmes, who works-on travel experiences towards conserving areas said, "As scientists and non-scientists learn more about how we human beings are impacting the planet, I think more people want to do what they can while still exploring the world. Our guests are definitely interested in that aspect of our journeys. Travelers can farm their own food in Italy, managing their use of water and using solar or wind power. They can also visit n family-run camp that cares for retired logging elephants in Myanmar, know a park entry fee goes to a conservation organization in Costa Rica, employ and train members of the local community or partner with a protection group. There are lots of options for seeking out greener holiday."

    Most people believe that eco-travel is expensive and it is true. Matt explained "Anti-poaching patrols (巡逻) need to be paid, solar energy equipment costs a lot to install, building with environmentally friendly, materials is more expensive and so on. The extra cost is necessary, as you're paying to minimize your footprint and protect the places you visit, which is exactly what eco-travel is about. The financial success and sustainability (可持续性) of an eco- focused operation doesn't come from thin air." The industry is trying to make eco-travel affordable and make it accessible to the common people.

    Reading books and looking at pictures is great, but nothing facilitates (促进) learning like travel, especially for teenagers. Not only do they get to see a world beyond their neighborhood, they also get to experience it, feel it, taste it, hear it and better understand the world around them.

    After nearly four decades in the classroom and traveling the world, Phyllis Duvall Bailey knew this perhaps better than anyone else.

    Becoming involved in the work in AKA Sorority Inc in US, she worked to educate children about the United Nations. There was no doubt in Bailey's mind that the lessons would mean so much more if the students could see things for themselves.

    Starting in 2015, Bailey, 82, set out to take her students to the UN Headquarters in New York City to give them a "Window Seat to the World", and thus transformed them into global citizens.

    Indeed, it is a great opportunity to give students national and international exposure. Since Bailey saw the students as future leaders, she was desperate to expose them to the UN, its mission, its agendas (议程) and its supporting organizations.

    She decided to give $10, 000 of her own money to pay for the late June trip, enough to take 10 students aged 14-17 on a four-night stay in New York. There, they had guided tours of the UN Headquarters and the New York City Harbor (海港).

    It was Quenyaun Payne's first trip to the city and Taylor Sappington's second. Payne, 17, is a senior at Mceachem High School in the state of Georgia, US. Sappington, 15, is a junior at Therrell High School in Atlanta, Georgia, US. Both said their visit to the UN was inspiring.

    "I like not only how countries are working together but they're focused on common goals like global warming and keeping peace," Sappington said.

Payne commented, "The trip was amazing. I'm so thankful Mrs. Bailey made it possible."

    Actually, there are a lot of people grateful for the retired teacher's effort. The United Nations Association of Atlanta recently gave Bailey its Humanitarian Award, and the United Nations Association of the US-awarded her with the National Education Award.

    But Bailey wasn't looking for recognition or even gratitude. Over those four days in New York, she'd already felt it and seen it in the eyes of those 10 teenagers, Payne and Sappington included, who made the trip.

    "It has been a real joy to get to see and watch their reaction to new experiences," she said.

When I was three, my parents took me to have an operation in India, which stopped my eyesight from deteriorating(恶化). Several years later we moved to Pakistan, where I received 12 operations within one year and went completely blind. Later, I realized that the doctors used me as an experiment.

I met my husband when he came over from India to study. I wanted to go to India to marry him, but it was almost impossible to emigrate. I made a crazy plan to cross the borders of several countries to get to India. I was arrested in the first country I escaped to. Back in Pakistan, I lost my job and was asked to sign a "never-to-escape" promise. Instead, when I got home, I made a cup of coffee and decided to make a formal application for emigration. The chance was slim, and people who applied to go to India found it hard to find a job in Pakistan while they were waiting. In the end, my husband managed to smooth the way for my emigration. We got married and had children. But after nine years, he died of brain cancer. I was helpless for a while, and then I learned to face reality optimistically. He taught us happiness came from inside us.

Six years ago, I brought home a dog called Moritz from the seeing-eye dog centre. He was short with long ears. No one liked him because of his pathetic(可怜的)appearance. We were almost always together. Moritz could not leave me for even one minute. Now when I walk down the street, not like before, people will come up and say, "What a good seeing-eye dog! ", and have a little chat with me as a normal creature.

I'm now working for the Association of the Blind and I have many good friends, and a special friend in Hamburg. It is a wonderful feeling to speak freely with someone I can't see, to trust one another.