When it's five o'clock, people leave their office. The length of the workday,for many workers,is defined by time. They leave when the clock tells them they're done.

    These days, the time is everywhere: not just on clocks or watches,but on cell-phones and computers.That may be a bad thing,particularly at work.New research shows on that clock-based work schedules hinder morale and creativity.

    Clock-timers organize their day by blocks of minutes and hours.For example: a meeting from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., research from 10 a.m.to noon,etc.On the other hand,task-timers have a list of things they want to accomplish.They work down the list,each task starts when the previous task is completed.It is said that all of us employ a mix of both these types of planning.

    What,then,are the effects of thinking about time in these different ways? Does one make us more productive? Better at the tasks at hand? Happier? In experiments conducted by Tamar Avnet and Anne-Laure Sellier,they had participints organize different activities-from project planning,holiday shopping,to yoga-by time or to-do list to measure how they performed under "clock time" vs "task time".They found clock timers to be more efficient but less happy because they felt little control over their lives.Task timers are happier and more creative,but less productive. They tend to enjoy the moment when something good is happening,and seize opportunities that come up.

    The researchers argue that task-based organizing tends to be undervalued and under-supported in the business culture.Smart companies,they believe,will try to bake more task-based planning into their strategies.

    This might be a small change to the way we view work and the office,but the researchers argue that it challenges a widespread characteristic of the economy: work organized by clock time.While most people will still probably need,and be,to some extent,clock-timers,task-based timing should be used when performing a job that requires more creativity.It'll make those tasks easier,and the task-doers will be happier.

    I was at a loss for how to handle the fights among my kick- Many activities had been tried, but they didn't work. After reading What I Know for Sure written by Oprah Winfrey, a thought occurred to me one day.

    “Starting with Dora, I want everyone to find the chance to say 'thank you' .” I declared.

    “What?” Ashley asked. “What's going on?''

    “Just do it.”

    Naturally, the kid^ all thought I had lost my mind. I wasn't sure if they were wrong, but I pressed on.

    “Now, we're going to keep going around and everyone tells what they're thankful for.”

    Clearly doubtful and frustrated, the kids launched in, and I kept them going.

    “I'm thankful for our house.”

    “I'm thankful for my clothes.”

    “I'm thankful for my whole life and everyone in the world.”

    “What? What am I supposed to say?”

    "Keep going."

    “I'm grateful for my underwear!” Instant laughter erupted, music to my ears!

    “Great, lei it out!” I encouraged. “What else?”

And that was all we needed. The gratitude--great and small, serious and funny—came rolling out.

    “My backpack.”

    “My teachers.”

    On and on it went until every face was lit with a new kind of joy and laughter. I could sense a new feeling of peace and comfort in the air a reminder of not only our blessings, but the love we really did have for each other.

    “I'm grateful for being grateful!” Dora declared.

    “Me, too!” was the unanimous response.

    I don't remember the activities that took place the rest of the day. But it was a day when our family was transformed by two simple words: thank you. Since then, it's become a family motto.

    Lisa Pina never thought she would need the fire safety training she received during her apprenticeship(学徒期)as a union painter and dry waller(筑墙工). On Friday morning, she was thanking God she had it.

    On Thursday night, while Pina was babysitting her granddaughter, nephew and two nieces in her sister's apartment, she smelled smoke and realized the apartment building was on fire. When her 4-year-old granddaughter Ilean Garcia began saying, “We're going to die, ”she knew she had to act.Pina,39, first sealed the door, and then told all four children to get on the floor. After calling 911, she told the children to start singing and promised them all treats as soon as they reached safety. “I said, ‘OK, we're going to lie down and we're all going to play a game,'” Pina said. “We all started singing our ABCs and 123s.I was just trying to make it fun.” Pina patiently waited, and a few minutes later, Riverside County sheriff's deputies (治安官的助手) arrived. Pina, Ilean,8yearold Gabriel Parga,5-year-old Aubreyana Parga and 4-year-old Meriyah Parga were all trapped on the second floor as flames filled the first story.  Pina did the only thing she could. She opened the window and dropped the children, one-by-one, into the arms of the sheriff's deputies about 15 to 20 feet below. “I just needed to keep the kids calm so they wouldn't be afraid，”Pina said.“I was deathly afraid inside，but I couldn't let them know that.”[Not long after dropping the children out of the window, firefighters arrived with a ladder and rescued her. Ten people were treated at the scene for suffering smoke, but nobody was seriously injured.

    Recently I had a conversation in Beijing with an adult Chinese friend who was complaining how difficult it was to study English. No surprises there. It is a difficult language to master, just like Chinese. I made a few suggestions based on my experience. One involved a very valuable fact which I learned from my high school Latin and Greek teacher, Dr. Smith．He is a gifted linguist （语言学家），and has an amazing ability to remember things, like poetry, essays, speeches, etc．His advice to us students is that for memorization purposes, there is forty minutes each day in which our memory is more acceptable than it is during the other 23 hours and 20 minutes.

    This 40-minute "super memory" period is divided into two parts: the 20 minutes before we sleep, and the 20 minutes after we first awake. The theory supporting this is pretty simple. First, the last information we input into our brain before bed has a better chance of taking root than information gained during the noisy daytime; and second, our mind is free of disturbance(干扰) when we first awake in the morning一so more receptive to inputs, like a blank slate（石板）．

    I took the advice to heart and it served me well in my school years. In my university days, our Chinese teacher would assign us 200 new vocabulary words each day, on which we would be quizzed（测试）the following day. Without the "magic" 40-minute technique, there's no way I would have passed those daily quizzes.

    As far as language study goes, it's not only useful for memorizing vocabulary. It's also a very useful window of time to listen to the language we're studying even with background noise, and even if it's at a level we find difficult to understand. It might be audio（声音的）language study, aids, or just radio, TV or whatever.

    Beyond our years of formal(正式的) education, memory skills are hugely important in any career. How many times have we heard a speaker read their speech from a prepared text, or read the word-by-word content of a PowerPoint presentation as they present each slide（投影片）? These are annoying, boring, and less effective ways of communicating. They are almost guaranteed(保证) to lose the audience's close attention and interest, let alone persuade or inspire anyone to do anything. And yet lots of people still make this mistake.

    If we use the 40-minute technique, we may not succeed in memorizing our presentation content on a 100% word-by-word basis, but we'll be familiar enough so that we can spend much more time making eye contact with our audience. We will get them in the process, while looking at our text instead of staring at it. This will also free up our hands and arms to convey some extra messages through gesture．

    As you see, the technique really works, but like many things, it takes practice to perfect it. Therefore, we'd better find ways to use the language outside of the classroom, as regularly and frequently as possible. One basic rule of language learning is, "Use it, or lose it·”

Seize the forty-minute learning window and we'll bring in a rich harvest of language learning.

    FOREIGN TEACHERS ARE NEEDED ALL OVER CHINA

    Ad No.90374

    Posted Oct 12, 2016 13:27 by Amanda

    Date due: Dec 12,2016

    Beijing Language Teaching Part Time

    We are looking for Teachers, whose Native Language is English, willing to teach in China.

    Mostly schools are in South of China.

    The Benefit package for ESL Teachers includes:

    Period: 1st Mar.2017 to 1st Jul.2017

    Salary: 4,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan /Month

    Teaching load&schedule:20 teaching hours per week

    A rent-free, fully furnished apartment for living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom

    Kitchen equipment provided. Other electric appliances will be supplied: water heater, microwave etc.

    If you are interested, please read the information above and kindly send your application to attach the following documents(doc or JPEG format). The subject to be mentioned, as "Teach in China".

    ⒈Resume(简历)

    ⒉A copy of academic degree/diploma/certificate

    ⒊A copy of your valid passport

    ⒋A recent color photo

    ⒌A letter of recommendation/or release letter from your previous Chinese school(Only if you worked in China previously)

    ⒍Any other relevant information that you think might help your application

    With its snow-covered mountains and a variety of wildlife, Yellow Stone National Park is one of the scenic treasures of the United States. Located primarily in Wyoming, the park hosts millions of visitors every year. If you plan to travel within the park, keep in mind advice from the National Park Service.

    Seasonal Travel

    Travel varies vastly from season to season. Roads are generally open in the summer except for cases of rock or mud slides, wild fires, accidents or road construction. Early snows in the fall can cause some roads to close temporarily. In the winter almost all roads are closed to motor vehicles, but snowmobiles and other snow vehicles with tracks are allowed. Roads begin to open for the spring by the latter part of April but can close if snowfall continues.

    Driving Time

    Grand Loop is the main road through Yellowstone National Park; it passes by most of the major attractions. These include Old Faithful, Yellowstone Lake and the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone. The maximum speed limit on the Grand Loop is 45 miles per hour, but the speed limit drops during some of the winding and twisting sections of this narrow road. Allow yourself at least two days to fully travel the loop due to the size of the park and being sometimes stuck in heavy traffic.

    Safety Awareness

    Buffalo(水牛)often block the roads in the park as they move through the fields. If a group is traveling across the road you are on  you can either wait for them to pass or find an alternative route. If you get out of your vehicle, the National Park Service says to stay at least 25 yards from any buffalo (and 100 yards or more away from bears and wolves). Buffalo are particularly unpredictable and charge people at speeds up to 30 mph.

    You can take your bicycle on any public roads and routes designed for bikes, but bicycles are not allowed on the park roads which are narrow with few shoulders. Altitudes range from 5, 300 to 8, 860 feet. The National Park Service recommends cyclists wear helmets and noticeable clothing.