Sleep Struggle

     One in every five young people has a sleep problem, so you're not alone. Getting enough sleep has become as important as eating vegetables and exercising regularly. It's very important for your body.

     Most young people only get seven hours of sleep each night, when they actually need nine hours. And making up for lost sleep during the week by sleeping on weekends doesn't really work. In fact, sleeping late on weekends may actually do you more harm than good, if you have sleep problems.

     What happens if you don't get enough sleep? If your sleep problem continues for a few nights, you could suffer serious problems. Lack of sleep can affect learning and memory. Worse, if your sleep difficulties last a long time, that could lead to anxiety (焦虑). Therefore, you've got to have some healthy sleep habits. Below are some suggestions:

     •Go to bed at the same time—including weekends, if possible.

     •Wake up around the same time every morning. When you sleep late just one morning during the week, it may disturb your body clock. This will make it hard for you to sleep that night.

     •Do something relaxing before going to bed.

     •Exercise during the day. Don't exercise right before going to bed.

     •Avoid drinking. Alcohol (酒精) makes you excited. This prevents you from falling asleep or wakes you up during the night.

     •Don't smoke. Smoking is always bad for the body. Smoking before bedtime keeps you awake.

     If trying these tips over a couple of weeks does not help you, speak to your doctor. Do not take any medicine without first asking your doctor. Many of them have strong side effects.

    Don't you just love ice skating every winter?I am sure that since winter is approaching,your skates are set to come out,just waiting to be used.Impress your friends with your new trick on how to ice-skate backwards with the help of these tips.

Stand Straight

    The first thing that you need to do is,stand straight.If you feel that you are falling backwards,just put your chin up and slightly bend your knees.

Confidence is What You Need

    The most important step while learning how to skate backwards,is having enough confidence in what you are doing.How can you achieve this?By practice.Just practice rolling backwards down a gentle slope everyday or just by pushing off from a wall or something of that sort.But before you do that,make sure that the place where you are practicing is free from any kind of debris（碎片）because otherwise,you could land up in the hospital due to some accident.While going backwards,just get used to the feeling of moving backwards.One of the important ice skating tips and techniques is that if you feel that you are losing your balance,then scissor（做剪式运动）your skates.Keep practicing this till you are confident about it.

Maintain Speed

    Confident now?Great!Now the next step is to maintain your speed.While rolling in a straight line with one skate, with the other try sculling（划桨）,that is,keep pushing yourself backwards with an outwards stroke（滑动）.Make sure that you put most of your weight on the skate which is moving straight and not the one with which you are sculling.Now,try the same thing using the other foot.Again keep doing this till you are confident enough.

Increase Your Speed Now

    Once you are confident that you can scull with either foot,the next thing that you have to do is increase your speed.Try some of your own tricks now.Scull with either foot or with both at the same time. 

Scull and Be Aware

    While you keep one foot straight,keep sculling with the other.You can do that with both feet at the same time. Concentrate on what you are doing but don't get so absorbed,that you don't see where you are going.If you are not watching your back,you might bang（碰撞）against something or someone.

    November 11 is Veterans Day in the United States. A "veteran" is anyone who has served in the armed forces. The term "veteran" is not just for those who have served in wars. It describes anyone who has ever been in the army.

    On November11, people hold ceremonies(仪式) and parades(游行) to mark Veterans Day. Public officials take part in the events. Army bands play. And soldiers fire guns into the air to remember those who died in service to their country.

    The history of Veterans Day relates to World War I. Many people at the time called it "the war to end all wars." The United States entered the fighting in Europe in 1917. Over 13 million men and women were reported for duty in the army. World War I ended at 11 o'clock in the morning on November 11, 1918. The following year, President Woodrow Wilson signed an official statement to celebrate November 11th as Armistice Day in the United States. It would be a day to honor the men and women who had served in the U.S. armed forces during the war. In 1926, Congress made Armistice Day a national holiday.

    But new problems were on the way. Soon, everyone knew that World War I would not be the war to end all wars. In all, more than 4,000,000 Americans served in the armed forces during the first World War. And 16 million would serve during the second one.

    Armistice Day in 1945 was a special day in the United States. Germany had surrendered in May 1945 and Japan in August. Most men and women who had served in the war were home. So, instead of honoring just veterans of World War I, Americans also honored veterans of World War II. In 1954, Congress decided to change the name of Armistice Day. The holiday became Veterans Day.

    Located in the checkroom in Union Station as I am, I see everybody that comes up the stairs.

Harry came in a little over three years ago and waited for the passengers from the 9:05 train.

    I remember seeing Harry that first evening. He wasn't much more than a thin, anxious kid then and I knew he was meeting his girl and that they would be married twenty minutes after she arrived. The passengers came up and I had to get busy. I didn't look toward the stairs again until it was nearly time for the 9:18 train and I was very surprised to see that the young fellow was still there.

    She didn't come on the 9:18 either, nor on the 9:40, and when the passengers from the 10:02 had all arrived and left, Harry was looking pretty desperate. He showed me the telegram he'd received: ARRIVE THURSDAY. MEET ME STATION. LOVE YOU. MAY.

    Harry met every train for the next three or four days, but in vain.

    Then came yesterday. I heard a cry and found that it was from Harry. He grabbed a girl who was small and dark. For a while they just hung there to each other laughing and crying and saying things without meaning. She'd say a few words like, "It was the bus station I meant" and he'd kiss her speechless and tell her the many things he had done to find her. What apparently had happened three years before was that May had come by bus, not by train, and in her telegram she meant "bus station," not "railroad station." She had waited at the bus station for days and had spent all her money trying to find Harry. Finally she got a job typing.

    "What?" said Harry. "Have you been working in town? All the time?"

    She nodded.

    "Didn't you ever come down here to the station?" He pointed across to a magazine stand. "I've been there all the time. I own it. I've watched everybody that came up the stairs."

    She began to look a little pale. Pretty soon she looked over at the stairs and said in a weak voice, "I never came up the stairs before. Harry, for three years, for three solid years, I've been right over there working right in this very station, typing, in the office of the stationmaster."

    After a morning hike in the Saneum HealingForest, 46-year-old firefighter Kang Byoung-wook has tea made from the bark of an elm tree, practices yoga (瑜伽), and makes a picture with dried flowers. He is one of 40 firefighters taking part in a three-day program, the aim of which is to offer "forest healing" (森林治愈); the firefighters all have posttraumatic stress disorder (创伤后应激障碍).

    Saneum is one of three official healing forests in South Korea. Soon there will be 34 more. South Koreans-many of whom suffer from work stress, digital addiction, and great academic pressure have accepted the medicalization of nature with great enthusiasm.

    There is increasing evidence that being outside in a pleasant natural environment is good for us. But how many of us get to enjoy nature regularly? Fewer and fewer, it seems. According to Lisa Nisbet, a psychology professor at Canada s Trent University, evidence for the benefits of nature is pouring in at a time when we are most disconnected from it.

    "We don't think of being outdoors as a way to increase happiness," says Nisbet. "We think other things will, like shopping or TV." But South Korea is starting to challenge this opinion.

    So what are some of the benefits of nature that Nisbet refers to? Being surrounded by nature has one obvious effect: It calms us and reduces our stress levels. This has been shown to lower blood pressure and heart rates.

    Another experiment conducted by psychologist Stephen Kaplan found that people who took a 50-minute walk in a park had better attention and short-term memory than those who took a walk along a city street.

    Perhaps what's more surprising is that nature may also make us more creative. David Strayer, a psychologist at the University of Utah, showed as much with a group of participants, who performed 50 percent better on creative problem-solving tasks after three days of wilderness backpacking.

    In fact, we may never know exactly what nature does to the brain. Something mysterious will always remain, and maybe that's as it should be.

    When an earthquake hit a small town, many houses fell down. After the earthquake, all the newspapers reported many stories about some of the families who were in trouble.

    One Sunday, when I was reading a newspaper, a special picture touched me. It gave the clothing sizes of each family member. I thought that this would be a good chance to teach my children to help those who were less lucky than themselves. I said to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and three-year-old Meghan, "We have so much, and these poor people now have nothing. We'll share what we have with them."

    I filled a box with foods and clothes. While I was doing this, I encouraged the boys to choose their toys and donate some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys took out their old toys and games and put them together. Then she walked away. A few minutes later, she came back with Lucy, her much-loved doll. She put the doll on top of the other toys. "Oh, dear," I said. "You don't have to give Lucy. You love her so much." Meghan said, "Lucy makes me happy, Mommy. Maybe she'll make another little girl happy, too."

    I looked at Meghan for a long moment. She taught me a lesson. It's easy to give something that we don't want any more, but hard to give what we cherish(珍爱), isn't it?