It is very common for you to find yourself in an unfamiliar situation. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Yes, everyone tells you to stand on your own two feet and take responsibility for your action, but if you haven't experienced a situation before, how can you know what to do?

    We usually try our best to do everything on our own and not to rely on others, but at certain times calling for help is the best way forward. You can picture the scene of the man-it is usually a man-driving blindly around an unfamiliar town looking for an address he doesn't know. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}And he could get to his appointment on time. It is obvious to everybody in such a case that asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but rather the sensible thing to do.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} For example, you are looking for a new job and need to write your resume（简历）. If your pride prevents you from getting help and you just do the writing yourself, it may well cost the opportunity you are seeking. Similarly, when you just started a new job, you often don't want to admit that you haven't got the knowledge to finish a particular task, so you keep going and eventually make things worse than they were. This may lead to a diminishing(贬低) of you in the eyes of the boss. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

    Now you can see that asking for help is not a sign of weakness but is the sensible and mature thing to do.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Making your life easier by asking for and using knowledgeable help is not a sign of weakness, but is actually quite a clever thing to do.

Brainstorming for Ideas

    Try blind writing. When trying to get past a writing block or a brainstorming lag, take at least ten minutes to sit down and write. Force yourself to write for the full ten minutes, no matter what comes of it. The act of putting pen to paper will stimulate the part of your mind that generates ideas.

    Make a mind map. Mind mapping is a brainstorming strategy that allows you to map out different tangents of thought to stimulate new ideas. Get a piece of paper, poster board, or whiteboard and write your goal in the center. Write subtopics and related thoughts around the goal, and continue branching out from them to develop your train of thought. For example, a mind map about the environmental goal “Going Green” could branch into subtopics such as “Reducing Waste”, “Eco-travel”, and “Global Warming”.

    Attempt “rolestorming”. For a fresh perspective on a topic，attempt “rolestorming”. Picture yourself as someone else (e.g. a parent, friend, colleague, or partner) and imagine how you would approach a scenario as them. You can extend this brainstorming technique to famous people or historical figures (e.g. Albert Einstein, Bill Gates).

    Try meditation. To open your mind to new ideas, try meditation. Find a peaceful place to sit quietly and focus on the question at hand (e.g. “How can I promote my new business on my limited budget?”). Bring a pen and paper to jot down ideas, and meditate for about 30 minutes, or until a good idea comes to you. To avoid worrying about the time, set an alarm on your phone to signal the 30 minute mark.

    Remove limitations. Remove the limitations that may be hindering your brainstorming progress by approaching the subject as if there were no obstacles. While this process may not yield feasible solutions right away, it will open your mind to possibilities you would not look at otherwise. For instance, when planning a surprise party, you might overlook certain venues because of financial constraints, such as an expensive French restaurant that your friend would love to try. By allowing your mind to go there during brainstorming, you might get the idea to simulate the restaurant and meal for a house party.

    Discuss things in a group. Group brainstorming sessions can allow you to develop your thoughts by feeding off of the ideas of others. If you are working on a group project or collaboration, schedule brainstorming time in a quiet location with no disturbance. If you are working on your own project, ask friends or colleagues if you can bounce ideas off of them and get their input.

    Cross-country skiing can be enjoyed by a wide range of students, from the youngest kindergartners to those secondary students. It is really a fun activity, providing students a gentle workout outside in winter. While having fun, students can gain physical and mental benefits.

    The physical benefits of cross-country skiing are well-known. If we look at Olympic cross-country skiers, we can see the positive effects on the body that result from training for cross-country skiing.

    The average best female cross-country skiers carry 11 percent body fat, and best male skiers carry 5 percent. These percentages are well below the average people who are considered to be athletic—17 percent for females and 10 percent for males. Burning a high number of calories while skiing helps to keep skiers slim in a healthy and attractive way.

    Cross-country skiing is also an efficient way to exercise a large number of muscles at once. The upper body gets much more of workout because skiers use ski poles as a means of propulsion (推进), the force that drives skiers forward. Of course, the leg muscles also do their fair share. People who use cross-country skiing as a workout over several weeks will discover that the muscles of their whole body increase in strength.

    Cross-country skiing on a regular basis has a tremendous effect on a person's cardiovascular (心血管的) system. In addition to gaining strength in the muscles of the upper and lower body, people who use cross-country skiing as a workout method over several weeks will also discover that their heart is stronger. A strong heart pumps more efficiently, sending out more blood to the muscles with each contraction (收缩). Through weeks of skiing, people often discover that their resting heart rate has decreased. Highly trained Olympic cross-country skiers have resting heart rates between 28 and 40 beats per minute. Compare that to the resting heart rate of the average person, which is 60 to 80 beats per minute!

    The benefits of cross-country skiing extend beyond overall general health. A lot of evidence exists showing that regular physical activities increase the release of mood-lifting endorphins  (内啡肽) in the body. After fun skiing lessons, students will be full of energy; they will be relaxed and in a better mood than when they started class. Students will leave class with a sense of accomplishment, knowing that they have developed new skills in a fun activity.

Cross-country skiing is a great way to exercise the whole body. Now more and more students are taking part in this exercise outside during the winter months. They are enjoying it and benefiting from it!

Your friends have one, maybe even two or three. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Does it seem that everyone has one but you? No, it is not the latest video game, but something much more fun—a family pet.

    Dogs and hamsters(仓鼠) are both fun to hold and pet, but they relate to people in different ways. For example, dogs enjoy human contact. They love to play with their owners. They also like to show affection(喜爱) and love licking(舔) their owners' faces. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} They need fresh food and water every day, and they need exercise. They also need someone to take care of them when their owners go out of town.

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Having contact with people is not important to them. They like to sleep when people want to play. Unlike dogs, hamsters do not like being petted. Many will hide when their owners want to pick them up. Hamsters are also very independent. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Hamsters may be low on affection, but they need less daily care than dogs do. An owner usually fills up the food and water dishes only once a week. Hamsters need exercise too, but they get their exercise by running on wheels in their “houses”. If their owners go out of town, hamsters can be left alone.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} The choice is yours.

A. Dogs like to be petted.

B. Your neighbors have one.

C. Hamsters are very different from dogs.

D. They like to spend their time exploring.

E. They need food and water just as dogs do.

F. However, dogs need a lot of daily care, too.

G. Dogs and hamsters both make good family pets.

Decoding the young brain

    There was a funny experiment to see how a young child would answer a specific question compared to an adult. After the adult had spent some time speaking with the child, he asked the child, “What do you think about me？” The child answered, “You talk too much.” When the adult performed the same experiment with another adult, the reply to the same question was, “I think you're a very interesting person.” Even if the adult felt the same way as the child, his brain allowed him to take a moment，consider the question, and come up with an answer. He could have been annoyed, but his answer didn't reflect it because he was being polite.

    The secret lies in the science of the developing brain. The child's honest answer was reflected in the fact that his brain wasn't equipped to filter(过滤) information before answering the question. As a result, he was honest, but he said something that may have been hurtful. However, the child did not intentionally hurt the adult; it's just the way his brain works. As a child grows into adolescence and then into adulthood, that changes.

    The human brain is made up of billions of neurons(神经元). In order for our body to execute a command, like getting up from a chair and walking to the other room, the neurons in the brain have to communicate with each other. They also help us employ our senses like taste and touch and help us remember things.

    When the neurons send messages, perhaps one sensation(感觉) the person feels is excitement about eating a cookie because it is so delicious. Later, if that person smells a cookie or hears someone talking about a cookie, it can spark the electrical signals that call up the memory of eating the delicious cookie. In an adult, he or she may remember that eating too many cookies can have consequences, like weight gain. But because the younger brain is more impulsive(冲动的), the desire to feel the pleasure of the sweet treat outweighs the consequences.

    That is because when a child is young, his brain is “wired” in such a way that he seeks pleasure and is more willing to take risks than an adult. This affects his decision-making process and it is why younger people tend to be more impulsive. Sometimes parents have to tell their children over and over again before the child remembers that something is dangerous or risky. How many times have we heard a parent say, “I tell her this all the time, but she never listens！”

    To conclude, what we know about the young brain is that children are more likely than adults to be impulsive. It isn't always necessarily because they are being naughty; it may very well be because of their brains. So the next time you ask a child what he really thinks of you, be prepared for any kind of answer.

    Many people know that trash is a big problem on planet Earth. What many people don't know is that trash has become a problem in outer space too. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Statistically, there are more than 22,000 pieces of junk in space around the earth. And these are just the items that we can see from the surface of the earth by telescopes or radars. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Objects, like bits of old space rockets or satellites, move around the planet at very high speeds, so fast that even a very small piece can break important satellites or become dangerous to people, particularly astronauts. If the tiniest piece of junk crashed into a spacecraft, it could damage the vehicle. That's because the faster an object moves, the greater the impact if the object collides with something else.

    To help minimize additional space junk, countries around the world have agreed to limit the time their space tools stay in orbit to 25 years. Each tool must be built to fall safely into the earth's atmosphere, or the mass of gases that surround the earth, after that. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Many scientists are also proposing different ways to clean up space junk. The Germans have been planning a space mission with robots that would collect pieces of space trash and bring them back to Earth so that they can be safely destroyed.

    "In our opinion the problem is very challenging, and it's quite urgent as well," said Marco Castronuovo, an Italian Space Agency researcher who is working to solve the problem. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Many of these objects are tools that help people use their cell phones or computers.

    "The time to act is now; as we go farther in time we will need to remove more and more fragments," he says.

A. One reason that it's urgent is that countries are sending more and more objects into space.

B. There are also millions of smaller pieces of junk that we can't see.

C. Blowing up older satellites with a missile may create thousands of smaller pieces!

D. In the upper parts of the atmosphere, it will burn up.

E. When two objects in space collide, the two objects break into many smaller pieces.

F. Years of space exploration have left tons of "space junk" in orbit around the planet.