From time to time, we all get a bit down. Maybe we are feeling bad because we're not doing well with our goals. There are many reasons for feeling down, but I'm not able to discuss all of them. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Make a list. Sometimes we are sad simply because we are troubled by all the things we have to do. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Make a list of the most pressing things you have to do. Thus you're getting things under control. You can see, right in front of you, what you need to do, and that can pick up your mood.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} You've made a list, and you still feel puzzled? Well, get started on the first thing you need to do. Once you get into action, you'll feel better. And once you start doing something, you will feel much better than lying around feeling sorry for yourself.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} I like Brown Eyed Girl, the Kinks, the Ramones, or an upbeat Beatles tune. You might have your own brand of feel-good music. Whatever it is, let yourself move to the beat. It may just be what the doctor ordered.

    Talk about it. Get a best friend, family member or coworker you can talk to. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} It can also help you work out the reasons you're feeling down.

Time for a Brainstorm

    A brainstorm is a session where a small group of people come together to solve a problem．People voice spontaneous ideas, sometimes just shouting , and a note-taker writes them all down．{#blank#}1{#/blank#}By getting different ideas out there, ideas are said to bounce off each other and even can help solve the problem at hand．Brainstorming is often a group exercise but individuals can also conduct personal brainstorms．

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}He defined it as using the brain to storm a creative problem and do so in commando (突击队）fashion，with each stormer attacking the same objective．According to him,, it was easier to tone down a wild idea than think up a new one．He placed importance on the collection of as many ideas as possible and dismissed scientific thinking．

    Brainstorming has become one of the most popular ways to solve problems and hold discussion in schools and businesses．Many students brainstorm for a group assignment or even for a personal essay． Sarah Grace, 24, is an Australian marketing analyst and uses brainstorming during all her creative duties． She thinks brainstorming is the best way to work as a team．The sessions get everyone on the same page，everyone moving together and with a clear understanding about the foundations of an event or idea．{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

However, a big problem with brainstorming is creating a mess that leads people further away from a solution．{#blank#}4{#/blank#} If you don't have a strong moderator or leader of the brainstorm, can go really off track，and people just start discussing something totally different． Brainstorming can sometimes confuse the human brain． {#blank#}5{#/blank#} If you brainstorm too much and your page is filled up with all the messy links, you can paint yourself into a bit of comer and get trapped with ideas． You need to move past brainstorming as soon as you have something workable．

A．The ideas can be smart，strange or crazy．

B．It is caused by a lack of direction from a leader．

C．Brainstorming really helps her organize her thoughts．

D．Brainstorming really is the best way to build team spirit．

E．It can open too many doors and not suggest a clear direction．

F．Brainstorms were popularized in the 1940s by American advertising boss Alex Osborn．．

G．They can be words, phrases, paragraphs and anything that can help answer the question．

    Are you truly happy? Do you ever know what it means to be happy and what it takes to achieve happiness?  {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The following are a few tips that I follow to create happiness in my life.

    Make a plan for attaining goals that you believe will make you happy. Your mood will very likely increase if you are going after something you value.

    Surround yourself with happy people. It is easy to begin to think negatively when you are surrounded by people who think that way. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    When something goes wrong, try to figure out a solution instead of being absorbed in self-pity. Truly happy people don't allow setbacks to affect their mood because they know that with a little thought they ran turn the circumstances back to their favor.

     {#blank#}3{#/blank#}These few minutes will give you the opportunity to focus on the positive things in your life and will lead you to continuous happiness.

     {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Whether you treat yourself to lunch, take a long, relaxing hath or simply spend a few extra minutes on your appearance, you will be subconsciously putting yourself in a better mood.

    Keeping healthy is another way to achieve happiness.  {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    What do the world's most successful people all have in common? The researchers found that high achievers like Robert Moses turn out to be all alike:

    Busy！Busy!

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} in a study of general managers in industry, John Kotter reported that many of them worked 60 to 65 hours per week-which translates into at least six 10-hour days. The ability and willingness to work difficult and tiring hours has characterized many powerful figures. Energy and strength provide many advantages to those seeking to build power.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say “no” to almost everything. And that's what gives them the time to accomplish so much. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. And focus means saying “no” to a lot of distractions（分散力）.

    Know what you are

    Ignore weakness and keep improving your strengths. Don't waste time exploring skill areas where you have little competence. Instead, focus on-and build on-your strengths. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Wiseman created a “luck school” to test these ideas-and it was a success. In total, 80 percent of people who attended luck school said that their luck bad increased. On average, these people reported that their luck had risen by more than 40 percent.

A. Just say no！

B. Ask for more time.

C. Strengths are exactly what you are good at.

D. Achievement requires concentrations（注意力）

E. This means knowing who you are and what you are good at.

F. Does applying these principle（原则）to your life actually work?

G. High achievers never stop working and they never lose a minute.

    It is easy to miss amid the day-to-day headlines of global economic recession, but there is a less obvious kind of social upheaval（剧变）underway that is fast changing both the face of the planet and the way human beings live. That change is the rapid growth in urbanization. In 2008, for the first time in human history, more than half the world's population was living in towns and cities. And as a recently published paper shows, the process of urbanization will only accelerate in the decades to come—with an enormous impact on biodiversity and potentially on climate change.

    As Karen Seto, the lead author of the paper, points out, the wave of urbanization isn't just about the migration of people into urban environments, but about the environments themselves becoming bigger to provide enough room for all those people. The rapid expansion of urban areas will have a huge impact on biodiversity hotspots and on carbon emissions in those urban areas.

    Humans are the ultimate invasive species-when they move into new territory, they often displace the wildlife that was already living there. And as land is cleared for those new cities—especially in the dense tropical forests-carbon will be released into the atmosphere as well. It's true that as people in developing nations move from the countryside to the city, the shift may reduce the pressure on land, which could in turn be good for the environment. This is especially so in desperately poor countries, where residents in the countryside slash and burn forests each growing season to clear space for farming. But the real difference is that in developing nations, the move from rural areas to cities often leads to an accompanying increase in income—and that increase leads to an increase in the consumption of food and energy, which in turn causes a rise in carbon emissions. Getting enough to eat and enjoying the safety and comfort of living fully on the grid is certainly a good thing-but it does carry an environmental price.

    The urbanization wave can't be stopped—and it shouldn't be. But Seto's paper does underscore the importance of managing that transition. If we do it the right way, we can reduce urbanization's impacts on the environment “There's an enormous opportunity here, and a lot of pressure and responsibility to think about how we urbanize,” says Seto. “One thing that's clear is that we can't build cities the way we have over the last couple of hundred years. The scale of this transition won't allow that.” We're headed towards an urban planet no matter what, but whether it becomes heaven or hell is up to us.

How to save a friendship

    Friends are like stars. Even if you don't see them, you know they are there. And while a shooting star is a beautiful thing to observe, a dying friendship is one of the most painful things to experience. However, if you believe that it is worth trying to save it, then it is worth it. So if you are still moved by a friendship that has given you priceless moments and treasured memories, at least try to save it. While problems are unavoidable, if both of you see the value in saving what you have, focusing on fixing things may just be effective, and your connection may even come through this test stronger than before.

    The moment you realize that the two of you have started growing apart, do something about it. Waiting will only bring about an unavoidable permanency of the loss of your friendship. Be prepared to be the one who makes the first steps; your friend may be laboring under the belief that it is something you have done to harm the friendship, so you shouldn't wait around for them to solve things.

    As life changes around us, friendship change too. However, changes in your life don't mean that your life has to destroy your friendship. Talking openly about the changes is important, as well as accepting that the two of you have changed but still have space, love and respect for one another in your lives. If your friend has distanced himself or herself from you because of changes in your lives, take the chance to show that while life has changed, the importance of your friendship has not.

    Make sure your friend has talked and listened, and both of you have looked for ways to reach compromises（和解）on the things that have weakened your friendship and set the relationship back on track. If you mean as much to this person as they mean to you, you will have at least made some progress in the right direction through mutual（彼此的）compromises in the end.

    Once you have worked through the challenges facing your friendship and come to a shared solution, show your friend how much they mean to you. Start creating new memories and precious moments that will make the unpleasant page in your common history look insignificant and never worth mentioning again.