Scheduling Time with Yourself
Many of us are so busy with work, school and home life that often there is no time left over to do something that you enjoy. What follows are some ways to carve out that essential time you need to slow down, enjoy life and relax yourself.
1. . Try to save certain weeknights just for you. If others ask you to do things those nights, just tell them you have plans. Use the time for gardening, reading, exercise, thinking or the ultimate luxury of doing nothing!
Monthly Treat. 2. . It could be on your lunch break, a weekend or it could be leaving work early. Maybe you get a spa treatment, go to see a movie, a haircut, play golf or whatever treat you’re always thinking about but rarely get to. Schedule it in and it will happen!
Buy Tickets in Advance. Sports, theater, concerts or any other event you would enjoy. Schedule the plans with a friend later. 3..
4.. Huh? Yes, many of us stay at work late on a regular basis. If this is you, make it a point to leave work exactly on time at least once a week, if not more. And then enjoy that time! Leave work at work.
Join a Group. Here are some ideas of groups that can allow you some time away from work and home: singing group, gardening group, astronomy society, book club, biking clubs, ski club, etc. What are you interested in? Strike while the iron is hot.5.. If you can’t find a club, consider starting one yourself!
A. Schedule a treat for yourself once a month.
B. listen to your favorite music!
C. Look up a club in your area today and join!
D. Having the tickets already in hand will force you to make it happen!
E. Evenings with Yourself.
F. Take an Adult Education Class.
G. Leave Work on Time.
When one loves one’ s Art no service seems too hard.
Joe was a man with a genius for art. Delia did things in six octaves(音阶) promisingly.
Joe and Delia became in love with one of the other, or each of the other, as you please, and in a short time were married–for (see above), when one loves one’ s Art no service seems too hard.
They began housekeeping in a flat. It was a lonesome flat, but they were happy; for they had their Art, and they had each other.
Joe was learning painting in the class of the great Magister–you know his fame. His fees are high; his lessons are light–his high–lights have brought him fame. Delia was studying under Rosenstock–you know his reputation as a disturber of the piano keys.
They were mighty happy as long as their money lasted.
After a while Art flagged. Everything going out and nothing coming in, money was lacking to pay Mr. Magister and Rosenstock their prices. When one loves one’s Art no service seems too hard. So, Delia said she must give music lessons to make the ends meet.
For two or three days she went out looking for pupils. One evening she came home overjoyed
“Joe, dear,” she said, cheerfully, “I’ ve a pupil. And, oh, the loveliest people! General– General Pinkney’ s daughter Clementina–on Seventy-first street.”
“That’s all right for you, Dele,”said Joe, “but how about me? Do you think I’m going to let you work while I play in the regions of high art?”
Delia came and hung about his neck.
“Joe, dear, you are silly. You must keep on at your studies. It is not as if I had quit my music and gone to work at something else. While I teach I learn. I am always with my music.”
“All right,” said Joe. “But I may sell some of my pictures as well.”
The next few weeks, they both busied themselves with their own business and brought back a ten, a five, a two and a one–all legal tender notes–and laid them beside each others’ earnings. One Saturday evening Joe reached home first. He spread his $18 on the table and washed what seemed to be a great deal of dark paint from his hands. Half an hour later Delia arrived, her right hand tied up in a shapeless bundle of wraps and bandages.
“How is this?” asked Joe. Delia laughed, but not very joyously. “Clementina,” she explained, “insisted upon a Welsh rabbit(一种奶酪) after her lesson. In serving the rabbit she spilled a great lot of it, boiling hot, over my wrist. Nothing serious, dear.”
“What time this afternoon did you burn your hand, Dele?”
“Five o’clock, I think,” said Dele. “The iron–I mean the rabbit came off the fire about that time.”
“Sit down here a moment, Dele,” said Joe. “What have you been doing for the last few weeks, Dele?” he asked.
She braved it for a moment or two with an eye full of love and stubbornness, but at last down went her head and out came the truth and tears.
“I couldn’t get any pupils,” she wept. “I got a place ironing shirts in that big Twenty-fourth street laundry. A girl in the laundry set down a hot iron on my hand this afternoon. I think I did very well to make up both General Pinkney and Clementina. What made you ever suspect that I wasn’ t giving music lessons?”
“I didn’t,” said Joe, “until tonight. And I wouldn’t have then, only I sent up this cotton waste and oil from the engine-room this afternoon for a girl upstairs who had her hand burned with a smoothing-iron. I’ve been firing the engine in that laundry for the last few weeks.”
“And then you didn’ t …” said Delia.And then they both looked at each other and laughed, and Joe began: “When one loves one’s Art no service seems …”
But Delia stopped him with her hand on his lips. “No,” she said– “just ‘When one loves’.”
1.What can we know about the couple from the story?
A. They both became famous for their talents in art.
B. Studying from famous teachers contributed most to their poverty.
C. Art helped them out of the poverty they were faced with.
D. They turned out to be working at the same laundry.
2.What qualities of the couple’s are best conveyed in the story?
A. considerate and giving. B. faithful and romantic.
C. intelligent and economical. D. hardworking and loyal.
3.What does the underlined word “flagged” most probably mean?
A. Became weaker. B. Displayed its power.
C. Went in a wrong direction. D. Returned to its original condition.
4.Which of the following does NOT give readers a clue that the couple were telling white lies?
A. Joe washed what seemed to be a great deal of dark paint from his hands.
B. Delia’s right wrist was tied up in a shapeless bundle of wraps and bandages.
C. Delia said she must give music lessons to make the ends meet.
D. “The iron–I mean the rabbit came off the fire about that time” said Dele.
5.What can serve as the best title of this story?
A. A Service of Art B. The Love for Art
C. A Service of Love D. No Art No Love
“Tiger Mother” parenting raises media storm. A new book written by a self-described Chinese descent(血统)on her super-strict parenting—Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother has raised media storm and fierce debates in the U．S.
Amy Chua is a Yale Law School professor and the mother of two teenage girls. She is the daughter of immigrants of Chinese descent. In the Chinese culture，the tiger symbolizes strength and power. In her book Ms.Chua writes about how she demanded excellence from her daughters. For example，her daughters，Sophia and Louisa，were never allowed to attend a sleep-over，be in a school play，watch TV or play computer games. They couldn’t choose their own after-class activities or get any grade less than an A．They had to play piano or violin—and no other musical instruments. She writes that if a Chinese child gets a B—which she says” would never happen”—there would be a screaming，hairtearing explosion”．She describes making her 7-year-old daughter play a piano piece perfectly—yelling and not letting her leave the bench even to use the bathroom—until it was.
Many people have criticized Chua. Some say her parenting methods were abusive. She even admits that her husband，who is not Chinese，objects to her parenting style. But she says that was the way her parents raised her and her three sisters.
Stacy DeBroff，who has written four books about parenting，says Amy Chua’s parenting style is not limited to Chinese families. She says it represents a traditional way of parenting among immigrants seeking a better future for their children. But she also sees a risk. When children have no time to be social or to follow their own interests，they might not develop other skills that they need to succeed in life. Stacy DeBroff advised parents not to just repeat the way they were raised.
Alison Lo，an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Washington’s Bothell campus said,“I don’t think Amy is advocating a best practice of parenting style, or that success and achievements are critical yardsticks(衡量标准)of a good life. But I can imagine how strong her daughters’ college applications are going to be. For many parents whose dreams are seeing their kids graduating from a competitive university, Amy is sharing with the readers that it is achievable by persistent, dedicated parental guidance, ”Lo said in an interview with Julie Muhlstein, a columnist with the US-based Heraldnet.com.“In that sense, a young adult’s giftedness can be born, or made, ”Lo continued.
1.According to the passage，which is TRUE of Amy Chua?
A. She is an easy-going woman. B. She is an assistant professor.
C. She is a demanding parent. D. She is a cruel teacher.
2.Which of the following are Sophia and Louisa allowed to do?
A. Playing the piano. B. Playing the guitar.
C. Dating with boys. D. Getting an A minus.
3.Stacy DeBroff advised parents to________.
A. seek a better future for their children B. develop their own style of parenting
C. be strict with their children D. follow Amy Chua’s parenting style
4.Alison Lo concluded that________.
A. persistent，dedicated parental guidance is the best parenting style
B. parents should respect children’s personalities
C. a gifted child was born with talent
D. a teenager can be raised to be talent by strict parenting
I can still remember it as if it happened yesterday. I was a college freshman and had stayed up most of the night before laughing and talking with friends. Now just before my first class of the day my eyelids were feeling heavier and heavier and my head was drifting down to my desk to make my textbook a pillow. A few minutes’nap time before class couldn’t hurt, I thought.
Boom! I lifted my head immediately and my eyes opened wider than saucers. I looked around with my heart beating quickly trying to find the cause of the noise. My young professor was looking back at me with a mischievous, boyish smile on his face. He had intentionally dropped the pile of textbooks he was carrying onto my desk. “Good morning !”he said, still smiling. “I’m glad to see everyone is awake. Now let’s get started.”
For the next hour I wasn’t sleepy at all. It wasn’t from the shock of my professor’s textbook alarm clock either. Instead, it was from the attractive discussion he led. With knowledge and good humor, he made the material come alive. His insights were full of both wisdom and loving kindness. And the enthusiasm and joy that he taught with were contagious（有感染力的）. I left the classroom not only wide awake, but a little smarter and a little better as well.
I learned something far more important than not sleeping in class that day too. I learned that if you are going to do something in this life, do it well, do it with joy, and make it an expression of your love. What a glorious place this world would be if all of us did our work joyously and well ! What a beautiful world we could create if every doctor, teacher, musician, cook, waitress, poet, miner, farmer, and laborer made their work an expression of their love ! Don’t sleepwalk your way through life then. Wake up! Let your love fill your work and your soul. Life is too short not to live it well.
1.What did the author want to do just before his first class of the day?
A. Talk with his friends. B. Take a short sleep.
C. Get his eyes examined. D. Stay away from the class.
2.The underlined word “mischievous” in Paragraph 2 probably means “________”.
A. naughty B. tricky
C. sensitive D. dishonest
3.What else did the author learn that day?
A. Students should not sleep in class but respect their teachers.
B. Everyone should love his job and sleepwalk his way through life.
C. Life is too limited to make your work an expression of your love.
D. People from all walks of life should do their jobs with wisdom and love.
4.What can be inferred from this passage?
A. The professor often kept his students sharp by using a textbook alarm.
B. The author was attracted by the professor’s great wisdom and enthusiasm.
C. The author left the two-hour period not only wide awake, but a little smarter.
D. Though the author was frightened awake, he was not clear-headed in the class.
Anyone who is addicted to reading bus tickets or cereal packets will understand the appeal of poems on the underground. Some years ago，a few acquaintances who lived and worked in London，who used the Tube and loved poetry，decided that it would be pleasant to read a few lines by their favorite poets as they traveled around by Tube，instead of just glancing upwards at the tiresome advertisements. The underground had a surplus (剩余的) of advertising space on the trains. They suggested filling the blank space on the trains，for the entertainment of the traveling public.
The poems took on a new life when they were removed from books and placed alongside the adverts. Commuters enjoyed the idea of reading Keats. “Much have I traveled in the realms of gold” on a crowded Central Line train，or trying to learn by heart a sonnet between Hammersmith and Piccadilly. The choice of poems wasn’t arbitrary (随机的) but specially chosen. It catered for (符合) all tastes including living and dead poems from the homeland and from all over the English speaking world，and especially poems which have association with London.
The success of the poems on the underground enterprises confirmed that Britain was a nation of poetry lovers. Hundreds of people corresponded with London Underground suggesting poems，or just to say thank you. In January 1989，on the third anniversary after the first poems on the Underground，London Underground promised to donate all the spaces free，to increase the number available (at least one poem in each train carriage)，and to pay for the production costs as well. They also update the poems every few months. Posters of the poems decorated the British Council libraries throughout the world，but the best way to view the poems is to see them by yourselves，on whichever train you choose，in every zone of the network－for the price of an underground ticket.
1.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A. Shelly and Keat’s Poems B. The Poems on the Underground
C. Travelling on the Tube in London D. The Poems about London
2.The poems were________.
A. removed from books and placed in empty advertising spaces
B. taken from throughout the English speaking world and chosen to please everyone
C. including poems about London by Shelly，Burns，Keats and by the commuters themselves
D. meant to be read aloud and learnt by heart
3.Which of the following words is the closest in meaning to the underlined word “association”？
A. connection. B. difference.
C. similarity. D. comparison.
4.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage above?
A. People who like reading bus tickets advocate poems on the underground.
B. Spaces which were used for advertisements are now completely occupied by poems on the tube.
C. You can appreciate the poems you like at the cost of only a tube ticket in London.
D. The success of the poems on the underground indicates people’s love for the tube of London.
If you've ever been to a social gathering, you might feel awkward and uncomfortable. While social gatherings can be very enjoyable, especially when you are surrounded by people whose company you enjoy, there are social events that you sometimes find yourself wishing you were someplace else. Such occasions can sometimes be the cause of much anxiety and self-consciousness. You may even feel like everyone else is having a good time except for you. Yet the truth is that everyone has felt shy and awkward on occasion. One of the best ways to overcome self-consciousness or get past your feelings of shyness at social gatherings is to focus on the people around you. If you can remember that other people might also be feeling awkward or shy, you might find the thought of speaking to them less overwhelming.
The next time there is a social event you feel nervous about attending, you may want to try this exercise: Spend some time with your eyes closed and breathe deeply. When you feel ready, create your own zone of comfort by visualizing yourself surrounded in a warm white light that is protective yet accepting of others. Imagine people at the event being drawn to you because of the open and warm feelings that you are showing. When you arrive at the event, take a moment to spread this same light of loving acceptance to everyone around you.
Smile and greet people warmly. Try going up to someone who is standing alone and introduce yourself. When you show acceptance and openness, people can't help but respond to you in kind.
Focusing on how we can make other people at a social gathering feel at ease can help us forget about our own insecurities. The next time you attend a social gathering, invite people to join you in your zone of comfort that you have so lovingly and intentionally created. Let yourself enjoy being encircled in the warmth of their friendships.
1.In the author's opinion, people feel awkward at a social gathering because
A. the atmosphere is unpleasant B. they don't like the people there
C. they are too proud to talk with others D. they may feel they are different from others
2.The underlined word "visualizing" in Paragraph 2 probably means
A. introducing B. persuading
C. imagining D. forcing
3.If you feel uncomfortable about attending a social event, the author advises you to _.
A. invite some friends B. arrive ahead of time
C. talk with others nonstop D. be open and warm to others
4.What is the text mainly about?
A. How to make a good impression on others. B. How to feel at ease at a social gathering.
C. How to prepare for a social gathering. D. How to make friends with others.
