It does not have to be January 1^st to give yourself a chance to make the most out of your day. Every day is a new day and a fresh start to learn, grow, develop your strengths, free yourself from past regrets or hurts, and move forward older and wiser. Every day gives you chance to reinvent yourself. It is never too late to change things that are not working in your life.

    Each day is a new beginning and a piece of blank paper. How would you like to create your day? If you wake up in a negative mind, you are more likely to paint a dark picture throughout the day, and your picture will not show hope, happiness and joy.

    If you take each day to think actively, and have a positive intention for how you would like to create your day, how would your life different? What can daily positive intentions do for you? Every day you will give yourself the gift of an “attitude of gratitude”.

    Each day is a chance to look at things in a different way. You can experience each day in the beauty of the world—and the beauty of you who is in it! You find yourself changing from “I can't” to “I can”. With a focus on positive intentions, you feel you are full of power and more like a “winner” than a “loser”.

    You pay more attention to the present, and will be more likely to live fully in the present each moment of each day. After all, the past is a great place to visit, but you don't want to live there! So how about starting each day taking a moment to think of a positive intention for the day?

How to Make Friends

    Friendship is a very important human relationship and everyone needs good friends. Good friendship has many benefits. If offers companionship, improves self-worth and promotes good health. There are times in our lives such as when we have recently moved into a new town, or changed our jobs or schools. Such changes often leaves us without a friend.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}. But for many of us the process is difficult and requires courage. Below are some helpful suggestions on how to make and keep friends.

1）Associate with others.

    The first step to making friends is associating with other people. You can go to public places to meet new people. Besides, you will need to make yourself known by becoming an active member of such places.

2）Start a conversation.

    Starting a conversation is the second most important step in making new friends.{#blank#}2{#/blank#} You can always start the conversation. Being able to make small talk is a very useful skill in relating with other people.

3）{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Choosing friends with common interests is important in building friendship as these interests would always bring you and your friend together. Hanging out will always be a pleasant experience.

4）Let it grow.

    It is a good thing to stay in touch. However, try not to press your new friend with calls, messages or visits as this would likely wear him or her out and finally you may lose your friend.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}. The best friendships are the ones that grow naturally.

5）Enjoy your friendship.

    The best way to enjoy your friendship is to allow your friends to be themselves.{#blank#}5{#/blank#} Try not to change them from who they are to what you want them to be.  Become the kind of friend you will want your friend to be to you.

A. Be cheerful.

B. So you will need to give your friend time to react to you.

C. Making new friends comes easy for some people.

D. For a friendship to develop you need to stay in touch.

E. Do not wait to be spoken to.

F. Try not to find fault with your friends.

G. Do things together.

    A man was going to open a shop selling hats. He wanted a good sign to put over his shop. He wrote:

    JOHN BROWN HATTER

    Makes and Sells Hats for Ready Money

    The first friend gave him the advice that the word "hatter" wasn't needed. So John crossed out the hatter. Then he came to another friend for advice. This friend said that it was not polite to say "for ready money". So he crossed out "for ready money'.

    The sign now said:

    JOHN BROWN

    Makes and Sells Hats

    One day a friend was passing his shop. He saw this sign and said that when a man bought a hat, he didn't ask who made it. So John crossed out "makes".

    But when another friend saw "John Brown sells hats", he said "Of course you sell hats. No one thinks you give them away."

    So, at last the sign read:

    JOHN BROWN

    As any plane passenger will confirm, a crying baby is almost impossible to ignore, no matter how hard you try. Now scientists believe they may have worked out why. A baby's cry pulls at the heartstrings(扣人心弦)in a way while other cries don't, researchers found.

    Researchers found that a baby's cry can trigger unique emotional responses in the brain, making it impossible for us to ignore them—whether we are parents or not. Other types of cries, including calls of animals in great pain, fail to get the same response…suggesting the brain is programmed to respond specifically to a baby's cry.

A team of Oxford University scientists scanned the brains of 28 men and women as they listened to a variety of calls and cries. After 100 milliseconds — roughly the time it takes to blink (眨眼) —two parts of the brain that respond to emotion lit up. Their response to a baby's cry was particularly strong. The response was seen in both men and women—even if they had no children.

    Researcher Dr Christine Parsons said, "You might read that men should just notice a baby and step over it and not see it, but it's not true. There is a special processing in men and women, which makes sense from an evolutionary(演化的)view that both men and women would be responding to these cries." The study was in people who were not parents, yet they are all responding at 100ms to these particular cries, so this might be a fundamental response present in all of us regardless of parental status.

    Fellow researcher Katie Young said it may take a bit longer for someone to recognize their own child's cries because they need to do more "fine-grained analysis". The team had previously found that our reactions speed up when we hear a baby crying. Adults performed better on computer games when they heard the sound of a baby crying than after they heard recordings of adults crying.

Toronto Greeters Program

Thank you for your interest in the Toronto Greeters Program. Toronto Greeters offer free visits to Toronto's lively neighborhoods and districts so you can discover the real Toronto.

Request Volunteer Greeters

We have lined up a large number of energetic, knowledgeable volunteer Torontonians, who are ready, willing and able to show you their favorite parts of Toronto. Tell us when you'll be visiting, when you have two to four hours of free time and what neighborhood you would like to see. We'll match you up with a greeter who shares your area of interest and you'll be all set to go. Please give us at least one-week notice to make the match. It is also important to note that greeter visits cannot be arranged for the first day of arrival in the city - just in case you are unavoidably delayed on your arrival.

Multilingual Greeters

The City of Toronto is one of the most multi-cultural cities in the world and celebrates over 100 different cultures. Residents speak over 180 languages and our city motto is Diversity is Our Strength. Toronto Greeters offer visits in a variety of languages.

Visitor Feedback

"I would like to give you positive feedback on the program that you are managing and the people that keep it going. The stories and explanation that Martin told me about the city were really interesting! I confirm that Toronto (and Canada in general) is a great place to visit, with wonderful people. You have a very nice and welcoming spirit in your community! You have a magic all around the city that makes a foreigner feel at home."

-- Eric Dan, Mexico

Effective Ways to Protect Our Planet

We only have one earth. However, humans haven't been very good protectors of the earth over the years. To leave a fine planet for our children and future generations, we all need to take steps to develop better living habits. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Buy less. Cheap goods in the sales may make your life better, but few of those are essential. And they almost always end up in the trash can or are forgotten in the back of a. closet. So next time you're hesitating about buying or accepting a non-essential item, think over whether it will truly improve your life. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

Turn waste into treasure. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} Not only does it keep items out of trash cans, but it can also prevent you from buying new items, which require lots of resources to produce. Moreover, children love making things. So instead of heading towards the craft store, check out your recycling bin first and improve your children's imagination.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#}Did you know it takes over 700 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to make just one plain T-shirt? Instead of going to the mall to buy new clothes, you can consider looking first in a secondhand shop or trading clothes. Second-hand shopping also applies to many other categories of consumer goods such as furniture, cars and children's toys.

Walk, bike or car sharing.According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a typical passenger vehicle emits (排放) about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per year. Thus, any amount of what you can cut back on will matter. For short trips, you can try walking or biking. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} If travelling on foot or by bike isn't practical, you can try carpooling with a friend, neighbour or coworker to the same destination.

A. Save water.

B. Choose second-hand stores.

C. If not, it's okay to just say, "No, thanks!"

D. And here are some ways to protect the environment.

E. Plastic bottles are a clear example of waste material.

F. In this way, you can get some exercise without going to the gym.

G. Creating something new with unwanted items is a good way to protect the environment.