My dear friend has invited me to speak at a women's meeting she was holding in Honduras. The night before I was to leave, I decided a warm bath would help me sleep. I turned on the hot water handle on the tub (浴缸) and waited. I complained, "Let me have some warm water!"" took forever for the hot water to work its way through the pipes to the back of the house. Needless to say, the bath wasn't relaxing.
The next afternoon, I arrived in Honduras. After the meeting, my friend took me to meet some of her family members. They lived in a stick-and-mud house and slept on dirt floors. The women cooked outside on the stove. Still, even in these terrible conditions, everyone I met had a smile on his or her face. They were so generous and almost always suggested we stay for coffee.
On our way to one home we passed a pond which was black and dirty. One woman pushed the cover back with a stick while the other put the water into a bucket. I prayed (折持)," Please don't let them offer coffee."
After we were invited in, a little girl ran inside. She held a mango in each hand. The one in her left hand was half eaten. This little beauty held out her right hand and offered me the other mango, which I gladly accepted. Her eyes danced. I remember thinking, "She has no idea that she is poor."
When it was time to leave, we walked outside and I noticed a muddy stream that ran beside their home. My friend said, "That is where they bathe. It is also where the animals drink and they push out waste."
The evening I returned home I went into my perfect bathroom and twisted the hot water handle. While bathing, I thought of this simple pleasure. Clean water wasn't my right; it was luck.
King's Point (Canada) (AFP) — At dusk, tourists arc amazed at the breakdown of an iceberg at the end of its long journey from Greenland to Canada's cast coast, which now has a front row scat to the melting (触化) of the Arctic's ice.
While the rest of the world nervously eyes the effect of global warming, melting icebergs have breathed new life into the far coastal villages of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Once a center of cod (鳕鱼) fishing, the province now plays host to large groups of photographers and tourists hoping to sec the breathtaking ice melt. As winter ends, iceberg finding begins. The increase in tourism around here in the past 10 to 15 years has been unbelievable. Last year, a total of 500,000 tourists visited Newfoundland and Labrador, a number almost as large as the province's total population. Those visitors spent nearly $433 million, government numbers show. The tourism boom has helped solve the decrease in the regions traditional fishing industry, which is in crisis (危机) because of overfishing at the end of the last century.
But under the shiny surface of economic success is the dark truth that the area is in part profiting from global warming. The Arctic is warming three limes faster than the rest of the world. In mid-July, record temperatures were recorded near the North Pole. In recent years, the icebergs have traveled further and further south. For now, tourists arc enjoying the view and the experience while they can.
Laurent Lucazcau, a 34-year-old French tourist, said seeing an iceberg was upsetting. "It is a picture of global warming to see icebergs making it to these places where the water is warm," he told AFP. "There's something mysterious and impressive about it, but knowing too that they are not supposed to be here makes you wonder, and it's a little scary."
Setting goals is common in our life. We look ahead, predict what may make us happy in the future, and then narrow down the things to something specific. For the most part, having goals is better than not having any, but there are also problems that come with spending an entire life living from goal to goal.
For one thing, we try to predict an unpredictable future. Who is to say that what you want next year is the same thing you want right now? What if what you want right now isn't in the right direction over the long term?
Secondly, and just as importantly, you only confine your expectations of happiness and satisfaction to the goal you have set so that you often forget that other things in your life can also add just as much joy to your experience. This creates a strange problem.
To solve this problem, we have to move towards something more unclear. Going after interestingness. I think, is what we should do.
Interestingness doesn't mean looking for pleasure only. It's deeper than that. It's doing that random (随机的) project you had no plan to do because you have a feeling that you might just learn something you didn't know about yourself. It's seeing a person you just met not as a possible partner or someone who can do something for you but simply as someone who may open a new, unknown and unique world for you.
Goals incorrectly assume (假设) that we already know what we want. Interestingness is more modest. It makes up its mind as it moves, slowly blowing from one thing to another, until it catches something that lies beyond prediction at last.
Learn How to Have a Learning Vacation
Going on a vacation to learn a skill you have long wanted to pick up sounds like a good gateway, but be cautious, said John Spence, the president of a travel company in Calif. "If you don't pick the right skill for you, or go in with unrealistic (不现实的)expectations, your precious time off won't be enjoyable," he said.
Here, he shares his advice on planning a learning vacation that you won't regret taking:
FOLLOW YOUR PASSION (热情). . They include cooking, photography, art history, farming or a sport such as diving or horseback riding. To get the most out of the trip, choose something you're passionate about.
With whatever skill you intend to learn, figure out whether you want an immersion (沉浸) or only to occupy a part of your trip. It's possible to learn cooking basics, for example, by taking a week long course at Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland. Another option is to attend several half-day classes at the school and have more free time to explore the destination itself. . So make sure that it's what you really want," Mr. Spence said.
CONSIDER YOUR BUDGET. No matter the skill, you can learn it by taking a vacation in a range of price ranges. . If you want to learn scuba diving (水肺式潜泳), for example, heading to the Maldives will cost several thousand dollars per person, while a scuba diving trip to the Florida Keys is a more wallet-friendly choice.
DON'T FORGET THE CHILDREN. provided that they are fun. "Yes, you want your kids to learn, but you don't want them to be bored by overloading them with too much information." Mr. Spence said.
A. A LITTLE OR A LOT
B. Don't be influenced by others' interests
C. WHAT SKILL DO YOU WANT TO LEARN
D. Learning vacations can be great family trips, too
E. The options for what you can learn on your vacation are limitless
F. Having a clear idea of your budget will help you home in on the right trip
G. Spending your entire break devoted to learning something new can be stressful
Everyone goes through some form of change. Going through change can teach us about our 1. In order to move on in life we must 2 change. We either accept it or 3 it. I have chosen to take it on with a 4.
Before entering junior high school, I thought 5 would be the same as things in my primary school. And then I began to realize that wasn't 6 not only was there more work but there were 7 friends. That also meant my old group of friends started to separate. As months went by, I realized I should 8 the fact that we were all going through a big change and that it was okay to grow 9.
I have also learned we should never 10 ourselves for someone but rather for ourselves. It is important for me to be happy and I shouldn't have to change myself only to 11 someone else. Recently, I have been able to realize that not everyone will 12 me or what I do or what I wear, and that's okay.
I believe in change but only if 13 from that person is put into it. If someone doesn't try to change, then I believe he won't 14 his goal and that he could possibly 15 the person or thing he loves. I noticed this 16 a friend of mine. She 17 saying she was going to change, but she put no effort into it and because of this she lost many close friends.
As we get older, it becomes easier to try new things and meet new people. Our 18 no longer affect just ourselves but our family and friends as well. Life is based on making decisions, some of them 19, and some of them bad. It's these decisions that make us who we are. Most people are 20 of change, but I choose to accept it gladly.
There is a growing interest in rock climbing. Recently there (be) an improvement in technology and techniques to perform it. The sport is getting more (attract) to many people. Although rock climbing has risks and physical challenges, people still have several reasons to take it up.
Some sportsmen feel that rock climbing can never become boring. This is because you have different places to go climbing. Additionally, there are several challenging routes to climb. If you are tired walls at your location, you may visit elsewhere (experience) other challenging walls.
(obvious), it offers great fun and adventure to people when they go high up on walls. When they push themselves beyond the expected limits, they get sense of achievement. Many people feel that rock climbing also gives them a feeling of (free), as they can go wherever they want.
There are many sportsmen also lake rock climbing as a physical challenge where they always move up the levels. After (cross) a set level, they move to the next and then to the next. And they can always give a fight to their previously achieved (goal). It all depends on their physical fitness and skill levels.
