Tips for Cooking on a Tight Schedule

     From my experience，there are three main reasons why people don't cook more often：ability，money and time.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Money is a topic I'll save for another day.So today I want to give you some wisdom about how to make the most of the time you spend in the kitchen.Here are three tips for great cooking on a tight schedule：

     1．Think ahead.The moments when I think cooking is a pain are when I'm already hungry and there is nothing ready to eat.So think ahead of the coming week.When will you have time to cook? Do you have the right materials already？{#blank#}2{#/blank#}      

     2．Make your time worth it.When you do find time to cook a meal，make the most of it and save yourself time later on.Are you making one loaf of bread？{#blank#}3{#/blank#} It takes around the same amount of time to make more of something.So save yourself the effort for a future meal.

     3．{#blank#}4{#/blank#} This may surprise you，but one of the best tools for making cooking worth your time is experimentation.It gives you the chance to hit upon new ideas and recipes that can work well with your appetite and schedule.The more you learn and the more you try，the more ability you have to take control of your food and your schedule.

     Hopefully that gives you a good start.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} And don't let a busy schedule discourage you from making some great changes in the way you eat and live!

A．Try new things.

B．Ability is easily improved.

C．Make three or four instead.

D．Understand your food better.

E．Cooking is a burden for many people.

F．Let cooking and living simply be a joy rather than a burden.

G．A little time planning ahead can save a lot of work later on.

Ways to create calm in your daily life

    Most of us need some space for calm in our lives. A few simple minutes can create much needed moments of calm.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}You can use these small skills to create calm in your busy schedule.

    Go walking. Walking is perfect and you can do it well anywhere. Simply walking and taking in the view is stress reducing.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} It makes room for new ideas to develop.

    Appreciate nature when we think of nature we think of getting into the countryside or forests, and that is great if you can.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Actually, nature is everywhere. Find a park or a small patch(小块地)of green, or just stick your head out of the window! You have many ways to appreciate nature.

    Listen to music. Many people listen to music to calm themselves down. Music actually lifts us out of ourselves. It can also draw our attention from boring and tiring things{#blank#}4{#/blank#}.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Certain activities like yoga and tai chi need quiet focus. They are perfect for active calming. They are good for the body, mind and spirit.

    Try out some of these ways and you'll soon be practicing “moments of calm”.

A. Do some activities.

B. But what if you are in the city?

C. Notice the animals around you.

D. It is a time to get stressful thoughts out of your head.

E. Music is a way to express the way that they are feeling.

F. With enjoyable music even work can be “music to your ear”.

G. You don't have to find a mountain to sit on, or empty your mind of all thoughts for hours.

    Something happens to many children when they are out of school over the summer months. It is called the “summer slide.” This may sound like a ride at a water park. But it's not. Summer slide is when children forget much of what they learned during the latest school year.

    To fight the effects of summer slide, teachers often give students homework over the summer. Many parents may send children to all kinds of camps or find other activities to keep them learning. Some even try to build up their children's strengths by getting them into extra tutoring.

    However, experts say keeping children busy all the time is not good for them. The result is often a tired child with an overcrowded schedule. This keeps a child's brain active constantly—learning, gathering information and preparing for the next event. And this may have the opposite effect the parents are not hoping for.

    What should parents do instead? Nothing. According to Lea Waters, a psychologist specializing in positive psychology and positive education, slowing down actually helps children become the best they can be. Machines need to be reset, while kids need to goof off（偷懒）. She says that goofing off really allows kids to have some downtime, when they're not focused on a specific task but are free to do something that they're interested in doing and that they can do more automatically and get enjoyment from, like shooting baskets or listening to the music.

    She also adds that goofing off does not mean the brain isn't working. It just goes into this default network mode（默认网络模式）and uses that time to process all the information it had during the day, to integrate（整合）new information. It makes a kind of decision about what information to put into memory and what to get rid of, which in fact helps to improve memory.

    Everyone wants to perform well at school. Add these tips to your life and you should be on your way to being a top student!

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}I cannot stress how important it is to pay attention to what your teacher is teaching you. Take part in class discussions if you have something worth adding. Pay attention during class, especially during lectures.

    Taking notes is important. You don't need to write down every single word your teacher says but write down what he or she writes on the board, or any special fact you think you might need for a test.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}In this way, it will help you learn more effectively by actually thinking about what you are writing.

    Don't skip school. You will be missing some knowledge. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}However, you will have more work. Also, try not to be late for class. It's most likely that your teacher won't appreciate it and you will get yourself behind.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}If you have an “I don't care about school or this class” attitude, then teachers will be less willing to help you with problems or offer you extra credit(学分). The same goes for lazy attitude. Have a respectful attitude to the teacher and other students. Try not to laugh when other students make mistakes.

    Always ask questions. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}If you don't understand, ask someone. Read your textbook and notes, and then if that fails, seek help. Ask a teacher, friend, classmate, parent, etc. Get a tutor(家教) if you need one.

A. Be prepared.

B. Write in your own words.

C. Pay attention to everything the teacher says.

D. Staying organized will be helpful.

E. There is no shame in needing some help.

F. It is true that you could make up the work.

G. Keep a good attitude towards things.

    No one likes to fail. Whether it's at work, at home, or in another area of your life, failure is painful and it can also be costly in terms of time, money, or both.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} If you never suffer a failure, then you're probably not pushing yourself to your full potential. The following are some tips on how to pick yourself up after you've failed.

    Remember that other people fail too. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} They'll tell you about that great new contract(合同) they signed, not the deal that failed eventually though they worked on it for months. But failure is normal, and lots of people fail time and time again before meeting with success.

Remind yourself of your past successes. Failing doesn't mean that you're worthless, or that you'll never achieve the things you want.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Maybe you had high marks last term, or you lost weight, or you learned to play a musical instrument. You might want to write down a list of successes—things that you've accomplished over the past few years, whether big or small. If you ever lack confidence, you can go back and read over that list.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Your past successes are important, but so are your past failures. You've made mistakes before, and you've survived them. Perhaps you did badly in an exam, or lost your temper and had to apologize. It's not fun to think about the times when things went wrong, but by acknowledging your failures, you can remind yourself that today is no different. Just as you recovered in the past, you can recover from your recent failure too.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Whatever goes wrong, you're probably facing some sort of decision. Don't rush into making a hasty decision, but do look for a forward path. That might require some deep thinking.

A. Make a decision.

B. Limit the damage caused.

C. Remind yourself of your past failures.

D. However, failure is a normal part of life.

E. Get some advice and support from others.

F. Most people don't talk openly about their failures.

G. Think of all the times in the past when you've succeeded.

Ways to Fight and Overcome Laziness

    You read productivity tips, you've used a million to­do list apps, and you promise yourself every month that you're going to start being productive, but it never happens. Here's how to break the cycle when you feel like your problem is just laziness.

    Simple things first: It's important to get started with the task you're willing to perform in order to fight laziness. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Doing so will help you to break your inner resistance.

    Step­by­step: {#blank#}2{#/blank#} And it will keep us motivated to perform these tasks one after the other in a relaxed manner. Once you have completed one sub­task you can tell yourself that you're on a roll and that you will soon have finished the next sub­tasks as well.

    Remove distractions: Whatever it is that distracts you (TV, the Internet, etc.), remove it! {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Make sure that once you have started with one of your tasks, you will not get distracted from it by any means.

    Reward yourself: Every time you manage to overcome laziness and successfully complete a task you should reward yourself, as this will give you positive feeling about making efforts to get things done. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Little reward for small efforts and vice versa (反之亦然).

    Don't give up: It's one thing to find your motivation. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Rather than letting difficulties demotivate you, see them for what they are and refuse to be beaten by them. You're not alone and staying focused on working through challenges is one of the best ways to fight them.

A. Turn off distractions and focus on your goals.

B. Just make sure to adapt the reward to the efforts you made.

C. A list of weekly goals will help you stay focused and motivated.

D. A method that helps you do so is to start with the simple things first.

E. Occasional rewards will sweeten the tasks and help keep you on track.

F. But it's quite something else to keep it going when running into difficult problems.

G. Breaking down tasks into smaller tasks helps us to reduce the pressure of deadlines.