The back-to-school season is upon us, and once again, parents across the country have loaded their kids' backpacks up with snack packs and school supplies. It's a good moment to reflect on what else we should be giving our kids as they head off to school.

    American parents are feeling particularly anxious about that question this year. The educational process feels more than ever like a race, one that starts in pre-school and doesn't end until your child is admitted to the perfect college. Most parents are more worried than they need to be about their children's grades, test scores and IQ. And what we don't think about enough is how to help our children build their character—how to help them develop skills like perseverance, optimism, responsibility, and self-control, which together do more to determine success than S.A.T. scores or I.Q.

    There is growing evidence that our anxiety about our children's school performance may actually be holding them back from learning some of these valuable skills. If you're concerned only with a child's G.P.A., then you will likely choose to minimize the challenges the child faces in school. With real challenge comes the risk of real failure. And in a competitive academic environment, the idea of failure can be very scary, to students and parents alike.

    But experiencing failure is a critical part of building character.A recent research by a team of psychologists found that adults who had experienced little or no failure growing up were actually less happy and confident than those who had experienced a few significant setbacks in childhood. “Overcoming those obstacles,” the researchers assumed, “could teach effective coping skills, help engage social support networks, create a sense of mastery over past adversity, and foster beliefs in the ability to cope successfully in the future.”

    By contrast, when we protect our children from every possible failure—when we call their teachers to get an extension on a paper; when we urge them to choose only those subjects they're good at—we are denying them those same character-building experiences. As the psychologists Madeline Levine and Dan Kindlon have written, that can lead to difficulties in adolescence and young adulthood, when overprotected young people finally confront real problems on their own and don't know how to overcome them.

    In the classroom and outside of it, American parents need to encourage children to take chances, to challenge themselves, to risk failure. In the meantime, giving our kids room to fail may be one of the best ways we can help them succeed.

How to Survive Exam Stress

    Exam time is one of the most stressful in school, whether it is high school, college or graduate school. Even the best students feel the pressure. The first sign of a problem while preparing for an exam is worry{#blank#}1{#/blank#} If we can get rid of worries, or at least control them, then we're in a much better position to do well on our tests. Take the following steps to survive exam stress and increase your overall performance as a result.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}What causes you anxiety when you are studying? Too much noise? Then move to a quieter place. Delayed work? Catch up with your studies a couple nights before. That way you can save the final night before the exam to review and get a good night of sleep.

    The second way to deal with worry is to displace thoughts. Suppose you wake up at three in the morning and you're worried about an exam. What do you do?{#blank#}3{#/blank#} Doing something productive might allow you to sleep better when you finally do go back to bed.

    Another way to displace negative thoughts is to do something physically active. Work out. Take a quick walk or a nice run{#blank#}4{#/blank#}For example, I might worry about the exam having surprise questions that I'm not prepared to answer. But I can shove those thoughts aside by reminding myself that I've taken many exams and I've handled surprise questions before.

    The third option is to treat the symptoms. Keep things in perspective. Think of one final exam that causes you the most anxiety. Now think of the worst thing that could happen. If you've prepared, then likely the worst grade you could get is a C. And, if you've been applying what we've been talking about, then you'll likely to do no worse than a B. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

A. How bad is that really?

B. The first is to delete the causes.

C. Another idea is to think positive thoughts.

D. Worry robs us of energy, focus and motivation.

E. How about getting up and studying for an hour?

F. What we should do is to think positively and get rid of it.

G. So just face the result bravely and make an effort to improve your grade.

    Most of us lead unhealthy lives; we spend far too much sitting down. If in addition we are careless about our diets, our bodies soon become loose and fatty and our systems slow moving.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}I am thinking of such features of modern city life as pollution, noise, rushed meals and stress. But keeping fit is a way to reduce the effects of these evils. The usual suggestion to a person who is looking for a way to keep fit is to take up some sport or other. While it is true that every weekend you will find people playing football and hockey in the local park, they are outnumbered a hundred to one by the people who are simply watching them.

    For those who do not particularly enjoy competitive sports—{#blank#}2{#/blank#}—there are such separate activities as cycling, walking, jogging and swimming. What often happens though is that you do them in such a leisurely way, so slowly, that it is doubtful if you are doing yourself much good, except for the fact that you have at least managed to get up out of your armchair.

    Even after you have found a way for keeping in shape, through sport or gymnastics, {#blank#}3{#/blank#}, because, according to the experts, you must also master the art of complete mental and physical relaxation. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Yoga, as practiced in the West, is the most widely known and popular of the systems for achieving the necessary state of relaxation. It seems ironical (讽刺性的), though, that as our lives have improved in a material sense we have found it increasingly necessary to go back to forms of activity—{#blank#}5{#/blank#}—which were the natural way of life of our forefathers.

A. be active and practise Yoga

B. There are some aspects of our unhealthy lives that we cannot avoid.

C. and it is especially difficult to do so if you are not good at them

D. physical effort on the one hand and relaxation on the other

E. they spent most of the time out of doors

F. you are still only half way to good health

G. It has to do with deep breathing, emptying your mind of all thoughts, meditation, and so on.

    If you travel, you will leave a carbon footprint in your wake. You can't help it. But eco-friendly travel practices can lighten the harm on Mother Earth. Green travel is not a passing trend but a lifestyle choice. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}.

    Choosing a green destination

    No destination is a Green Giant. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. However, some countries and cities show a deep commitment to Earth-friendly policies and practices. When researching a vacation spot, look for places that naturally embrace the green lifestyle.

    Choosing green transportation

    What makes Mother Earth proud? Seeing you use your own power to get around. Many adventure tour operators arrange cycling, hiking and walking holidays. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. The greenest rides typically run on electric power. Switzerland is taking the lead with its hybrid buses and trains powered by hydroelectricity; Japan is running close behind.

    Choosing a green hotel

    Once you are at your destination, if you can get the hotel right, you can make the greatest impact. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. Look for a fact sheet online, or call the front desk. You can also search for hotels approved by respected certification programs, such as Green Key and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}.

    The Earth-friendly choices are numerous: You can sail, bike, kayak, bike, swim, bird-watch and play I-spy-a-monkey in a tree. Visit a local food market, and don't forget to bring a reusable bag for purchases. You can also lend a hand during your holiday. The green movement has changed from how to preserve and protect to how to use less and do good when you're there.

A. Choosing green travel

B. Choosing green activities

C. Next in line are trains and buses

D. They all make environmental missteps

E. Most major chains operate in-house green program

F. If you plan to drive, consider a fuel-efficient vehicle

G. Follow the tips and watch your footprints turn greener

    On an average day most of us check our smartphones 47 times, and this habit clouds our judgment on what information to select and store, which might explain why it's time we should do things about the information we take in to form memories.

    As simple as it sounds, the repetition of tasks-reading, or saying words over and over — continues to be the best method for transforming short-term memories into long-term ones. To do that, we have to retrain our minds to focus on one task at a time. Sadly, most turn a blind eye to this formula because we believe we're productive. New connections are made in your brain when you learn, so to remember what you learn, do what you probably did in your youth: Repeat words, thoughts and ideas over and over until you get them right.

    Also, spaced repetition might be the best way. Quickly pushing facts into our brains leads us to forget them in the long term. When you review knowledge and practice it often, it sticks, a research has shown. So if you can include what you're trying to remember into daily life, ideally over time, your chances of keeping it significantly improve. But once you stop reviewing that knowledge, the retention (保留) drops greatly. To get past it, space out your repetition over a few days and test the effect yourself. But be careful: find a healthy interval that works. This is a good way to effectively start tackling a new language.

    Sometimes, memory and focus usually go hand-in-hand. Dr. Cowan suggests rearranging our office setup as one way to improve focus. "The rebirth of the open workplace cannot be helping stay on task, "Dr. Cowan said. Referring to work spaces without desks, physical barriers and privacy, but with a lot of playthings.

    Multiple studies have found that procrastination (拖延) leads to stress and completely kills focus. Stop engaging in useless tasks like surfing the web and just handle whatever it is you need to work on. Then watch your focus increase quickly and your memory improve.

    Memory is very cue (提示) dependent, "Mr. Schacter, a psychologist, said, referring to. Something he calls absent-minded memory failure. "Most say it could never happen to me, but it's a very long list of responsible people that it has happened to. When you don't have that cue, you can forget almost everything. "

    A simple way around that is to set reminders. Even better, combine a few of these techniques: Write your reminder on a post-it and put it on your desk so you're forced to repeatedly look at it over a long period, including the practice of spaced repetition.