How to Have a Good Teen Life

    As a teenager, you'll be starting high school, making new friends, and most likely dating.{#blank#}1{#/blank#} Then you can remember good things from the past when you are an adult. You will be an adult soon enough, but you will experience many different changes on the way!

    Have a healthy social life. A healthy social life is the key to enjoying your life in spite of the stress of school. Shop with friends and enjoy buying clothes. Go to a theme park or take a few trips. Try to make at least two best friends. Go to pleasure ground, bowling, or teen clubs and such places.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Have hobbies at home. Sew, read, play computer games, draw, or do yoga.{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Get a Facebook account, but try not to get addicted to it. Make videos with your friends and post them on YouTube. Check online to see the hottest new music and the coolest new artists and songs of your type of choice. You don't have to be a fan of pop music only; if you like to listen to some nice relaxing smooth jazz or Bob Marley, go ahead. Be a fan of your favorite sports team.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Always turn in your homework on time and do well in tests. Education is the most important thing in your life. Doing poorly, not trying, or dropping out of school can hurt your future in a significant way. If you are getting bad grades because you are struggling with something, get help.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Be creative. Show off your talents. Write music, write stories and poems, create cool drawings, learn how to create web pages and computer programs, create your own clothes, cook, bake, work on a car, play an instrument, etc.

A. Think on your own.

B. Study hard at school.

C. Find whatever you enjoy doing and do it.

D. Make the best of it by taking the advice below.

E. But you have to work hard and learn from your mistakes.

F. This is the best way to communicate with other people around your age.

G. But if you are lazy, it can affect your college opportunities in the future.

    Venice Carnival is one of Italy's most fascinating yearly events. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} A confusion of color, historical costumes, mysterious masks, and a week of live concerts, street parties and entertainment attract millions of tourists each year. Here's everything you need to know before you go.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Traditionally held around Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, at the start of Lent (40 days before Easter), Venice Carnival ( Carnevale del Veneto ) celebrations can last up to two weeks. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} However, the biggest events, including the official parades and masked balls, are held over the final weekend.

    What to Do?

    Join one of the parades or street parties, and taste traditional Carnival foods such as frittelle, a traditional dessert made only during the festivities. Carnival is the ideal time to experience Venetian culture and traditions. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}You can also take part in a mask-making workshop, tour Venice's cicchetti bars for a bite to eat, sail up and down the Grand Canal on a romantic Venice boat ride, or attend an evening Carnival concert or dinner theater performance.

Things to Know

    St. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco) is the center of Carnival celebrations with daily parades, performances and other activities. Most Carnival events, except for the masked balls and gala dinners, are free to attend.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} So prepare for cold weather and possible rain, with an average high of 46℉(8℃) in February.

A. When to Go

B. Where to Stay

C. Carnival falls during winter in Venice.

D. Most visitors choose to arrive on the final weekend.

E. It is also one of the oldest festivals celebrated in the city.

F. There's a busy schedule of both free and ticketed events throughout the time.

G. Get into the carnival spirit by buying or renting a traditional costume or Venetian mask.

    Now let's discuss something about people's habits.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Some of them are good ones, but some of them may be bad ones. Can you remember any of the bad habits you used to have when you were very young? {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Of course, you do not do that anymore, but you can surely remember your mother's efforts to train you. The good habits you now have in such matters as personal cleanliness were part of this early training.

    We may not suck our thumbs any more, but as we get older we get other bad habits. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Anyone who has tried to give up smoking knows this very well! {#blank#}4{#/blank#} In babyhood, it's thumbsucking, In childhood, it's nail-biting. In our teens, it's smoking, {#blank#}5{#/blank#} And if anyone tells you that he has no bad habits, you can be sure that he must have the worst habit of all. Isn't that true?

A. We can't give them up easily, either.

B Each period brings its own problems.

C. Generally speaking, a boy likes biting nails.

D. Everyone has his or her own habits.

E. We benefit from our friends, kind help.

F. In middle-age, it's over-eating, and so on.

G. Perhaps, as a baby, you used to suck your thumb (拇指).

    Much of the work in today's world is accomplished (完成) in teams. Most people believe the best way to build a great team is to gather a group of the most talented individuals. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Companies spend millions hiring top business people. Is their money well spent?

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#} They focused on football, basketball and baseball. The results are mixed. For football and basketball, adding talented players to a team proves a good method, but only up to the point where 70% of the players are top talent; above that level, the team's performance begins to decline. Interestingly, this trend isn't evident in baseball, where additional individual talent keeps improving the team's performance.

    To explain this phenomenon, the researchers explored the degree to which a good performance by a team requires its members to coordinate (协调) their actions. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} In baseball, the performance of individual players is less dependent on teammates. They conclude that when task interdependence is high, team performance will suffer when there is too much talent, while individual talent will have positive effects on team performance when task interdependence is lower. If a basketball star is, for example, trying to gain a high personal point total, he may take a shot himself when it would be better to pass the ball to a teammate, affecting the team's performance. Young children learning to play team sports are often told, "There is no I in TEAM." {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Another possibility is that when there is a lot of talent on a team, some players may make less effort. Just as in a game of tug-of-war (拔河比赛), whenever a person is added, everyone else pulls the rope with less force.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. An A-team may require a balance-not just a players, but a few generous B players as well.

    For many people, bicycling is not just a convenient way of getting around town but also an exciting sport. Serious cyclists often arrange to take part in races.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Each racer leaves the starting line at a different time and heads hard for the finish line. The cyclist who covers the distance in the shortest amount of time wins the race. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}, because the bicycles are spread out and are not likely to run into each other.

    Another kind of race is more difficult. A few city blocks are closed for competition. Then all the racers line up in a tight pack and begin racing at the same time. They cover many laps, going around and around the city blocks.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}. It also requires skillful handling of the bicycle as it runs at full speed around other bicycles. The racer who completes all the laps first is the winner.

    Road races are usually the longest cycling contests.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. The race course may be a straight stretch of road or a long series of roads across the country. The prize goes to the first person who crosses the finish line.

    Between races cyclists stay in condition by doing exercise that builds their strength so that they can keep riding for long periods of time. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}, they often join bicycling groups and become licensed racers. So they can enter professional races. Just keep practicing. Any cyclist could become a star.

A. One kind of race is the time trial

B. The race requires more than speed

C. As cyclists become more experienced

D. A time trial is a very safe race for beginners

E. Most people will seize possible chances to get around town

F. Racers have to cover anywhere from 35 miles to almost 3,000 miles

G. When cyclists still need to build themselves up for those special races

    What should you think about in trying to find your career? You are probably better at some school subjects than others. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} A boy who is good at mathematics can use that in an engineering career. A girl who spells well and likes English may be good at office work. So it is important to do well at school. On the other hand, you may not have any specially strong or weak subjects but your records show a general good result. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Knowledge of history is not required for most jobs but if history is one of your good subjects you will have learned to remember facts and details. This is an ability that can be useful in many jobs.

    Your school may have taught you skills, such as typing or technical drawing, which you can use in your work. You may be good at metal work or cooking and look for a job where you can improve these skills.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} You may have learned how to get to work on time and get on with older workers. You may have learned to give correct change in a shop, for example. Just as important, you may become interested in a certain industry or career you see from the inside in a part-time job.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} You may be all thumbs when you deal with tools; perhaps you are a poor speller or cannot add up a column of figures. It is better to face any weaknesses than to pretend they do not exist. Your school record, for instance, may not be too good, yet it is an important part of your background. You should not feel sorry for it. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. This does not have direct value for future job hunting.

B. These may show strengths that you can use in your work.

C. Facing your weak points is also part of knowing yourself.

D. Having a part-time job is a good way to find out your weak points.

E. Instead, you should recognize that you will have a chance of a fresh start at work.

F. Although not all subjects can be used directly in a job, they may have indirect value.

G. If you have had a part-time job on Saturdays or in the summer, think what you gained from it.