Being outspoken is a quality that, when used with skill and wisdom, can set you apart from the crowd. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} The quality of being outspoken is a positive and active skill. Here are some tips.

    Gain self-knowledge(自找认识)through journaling. Knowing who you are, what you believe, and how you feel is the beginning of knowing yourself, and journaling is a great way to gain that knowledge. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Not only can you know yourself better, journaling is an excellent tool to improve self-confidence. Self-confidence is the foundation of being outspoken.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} In order to be outspoken, you have to believe that your voice has worth. You have to believe that your input will make any conversation better. And it probably will! It's different opinions that make conversations or debates interesting.

    Overcome shyness. The fact that you're confident doesn't mean you like hearing your own voice. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Overcoming a natural tendency towards shyness can seem horrible, but doing the opposite of your natural instinct can open up a whole new set of choices: brave choices.

    Back up your opinion with facts. Some people feel uncomfortable having or expressing an opinion because they don't know much about a topic. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} 

A. Be confident

B. Open your mind and speak it out.

C. The next step is overcoming your shyness.

D. Practice journaling for 15 minutes each night before bed.

E. Being outspoken is to speak your mind—to be honest and frank.

F. Allowing the other parties to make their points fully can help you seem more reasonable.

G. You can combat this feeling and have more confidence about your opinion if you learn facts that can support your opinion.

    If you wish to become a better reader, here are four important things to remember about reading rate:

    Knowing why you are reading or what you are reading to find out will often help you to know whether to read rapidly or slowly.

    Some things should be read slowly throughout. Examples are directions for making or doing something, arithmetic problems, science and history books, which are full of important information. You must read such things slowly to remember each important step and understand each important ideas.

    Some things should be read rapidly throughout. Examples are simple stories meant for enjoyment, news letters from friends, pieces of news from local, or home-town, papers, telling what is happening to friends and neighbors.

    In some of your reading, you must change your speed from fast to slow and slow to fast, as you go along. You will need to read certain pages rapidly and then slow down and do more careful reading when you come to important ideas which must be remembered.

    Most people who fly on passenger planes in the United States do not lose their luggage. Even if the luggage is lost, usually it is only delayed. Most “lost” luggage is found in a few days. Airlines search for the owners of unclaimed(未认领的) bags for up to three months. But when the owners cannot be found or the bags are not claimed, they are sold to a store in the small city of Scottsboro, in the southern state of Alabama.

    About one-half of one percent of all luggage passing through US airports is unclaimed. Many of the missing bags, and what is in them, are sold at the Unclaimed Baggage Center. Seven thousand items arrive at the store every day. Tom Barnes, who was shopping at the store said, “I can go into any of the large shopping centers, like the international malls. I can walk through there for an hour and come out with three items. But I come into this store, and then I come out with my car full of stuff.”

    Brenda Cantrell, who works at the store, said, “The Unclaimed Baggage Center is the only store in America that buys and resells unclaimed baggage from the airline industry. You would be surprised at all the jackets, eyeglasses, neck pillows, blankets, laptops, Kindles, iPads, and you know, all kinds of expensive electronics.”

    The store says it once sold a container for flowers for $80 that was found to be worth $18,000. And it says a painting it sold for $25 was later found to be worth $25,000.

    The store buys the luggage from the airlines. It does not examine the things inside them before buying them. Only about half of the items in the bags are suitable for sale at the store.

    Some people say it is not fair to the owners of the lost passage to sell their goods. Customer Daniel Martin is not one of them, saying, “I feel the airport may try to find the people that lose the things. If they've tried and they can't get a hold of them, it's better than throwing them away or just letting them rot in a warehouse somewhere.”

    People always think men are more skilled than women in driving. Nowadays women appear to have a positive image of themselves as safer drivers than men.

    In a survey done by insurer MetLife, 51% of women said they drive more safely. The evidence is on their side: Men are 3.4 times more likely than women to get a ticket for careless driving and 3.1 times as likely to be punished for drunk driving. "Women are on average less aggressive and more law abiding (手法的) drivers, which leads to fewer accidents," the report says. However, not all male drivers share the same opinion. Of the men surveyed by MetLife, 39% claimed male drivers were safer. The findings did back them up on one point: automotive knowledge. The report showed that more men are familiar with current safety equipment such as electronic stability control, which helps prevent rollover accidents.

    Auto safety unavoidably matters to money. Insurance companies focus on what classes of drivers have the lowest dollar amounts of claims, and for now, that mainly includes women. In general, women pay about 9% less for auto insurance than men. A study by the website Insweb also showed that auto insurance rates are lower for women in most states. Among individual states, women get the greatest advantage in Wyoming (where they pay 20% less), South Dakota and Washington, D.C., where their insurance costs are 16% lower.

    "More than 11, 9000 male drivers died in U.S. traffic accident in 2009, compared with just under 4,900 women drivers," according to the study. "Based on miles traveled, men died at a rate of 2.5 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, vs. 1.7 deaths for women."

    I always feel sorry for world leaders busy dealing with fights between nations. When my three children were young, most days it was hard to keep my house from becoming a battlefield.

    It got worse as they grew older. Three years ago, Zack, then 16, couldn't make it through a day without making his sisters, Alex 11 and Taryn 9, angry.

    My husband and I tried to be understanding the boy at such an age. We reasoned, punished, and left heartfelt notes on his bed about how he was hurting our family. His answer was" I say it because it's true."

    I even tried telling the girls to fight back. Bad idea. Now I had three children at war. Whatever I said to them, they paid no attention. When there was no way out, I told everything to my sister, Mary, in an e-mail. She replied, "Don't e-mail me. E-mail him."

    Our son was online every day, mailing and talking with his friends. Maybe he would actually hear me this way. I didn't say anything different, but e-mail just took the tension away. There'd be no shouting or door banging. Zack wouldn't feel under attack.

    Zack didn't reply for days. When he finally did, his entire message was four small words. I smiled when I read them: "You're right. I'm sorry."

    The children still fought, of course, but Zack changed. Best of all, I now have a better way to talk with not one but three of them. I like it that they don't tune me out as much as they used to. They like not having to listen to me shouting to them. Or as Alex says, "You're so much nicer online."

    All I know is that the house is quiet. But we're talking.

World Poetry Day takes place each year {#blank#}1{#/blank#} March 21 to promote the teaching of poetry, as well as the publishing, writing, and reading of this form of writing around the world.

It {#blank#}2{#/blank#} (declare) by UNESCO in 1999 in the hopes of supporting language diversity through poetic expression and increasing the opportunity for endangered languages {#blank#}3{#/blank#} (hear). World Poetry Day was about giving fresh drive and {#blank#}4{#/blank#} (recognize) to international, regional, and national poetry movements. It also focused on promoting a return to the oral (口头的) tradition of poetry recitals, as well as {#blank#}5{#/blank#} (strengthen) the association between poetry and other forms of expression, such as dance, music, and painting.

The day is celebrated {#blank#}6{#/blank#} (global). Government agencies, community groups and individuals get involved in promoting or participating in the day, which enables children to learn and enjoy {#blank#}7{#/blank#} (variety) of poetry. It is a time {#blank#}8{#/blank#} students are busy examining poets and learning about different types of poetry. Poets may be invited to read and share their work to audience at book stores and schools. Ceremonies are held to honor poets of {#blank#}9{#/blank#} (remark) achievements.

All in all, it's a day for poetry: {#blank#}10{#/blank#} ancient art form that still enriches our understanding of humanity today.