“Life is speeding up. Everyone is getting unwell.”This may sound like something someone would say today. But in fact, an unknown person wrote it.

   Inventions can change our lives. But have all these things really improved our lives? Imagine this. You're doing your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings and the noise from the television is getting louder and louder. Suddenly the computer is turned off and you lose all your work. How do you feel? Inventions have speeded up our lives, but they often leave us feeling tired.

   One family in England went“back in time”to see what life was like without these inventions. The grandparents, with their daughter and grandsons Ben 10 and Tow 7, spent nine weeks in an old house. They had no computers or mobile phones. The grandmother, Linda, said,“The more things you have, the harder life becomes.” And Ben also noticed that his grandmother had changed. She cooked delicious food for them!

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In order to develop(发展) football in schools, the MOE (the Ministry of Education) plans to build 20,000 primary or middle schools with football specially(特色) by 2017.

 The MOE will choose 30 counties(县) as experimental areas(试验区) for school football. The purpose(目的) is to make football more popular in Chinese schools and let students who are good at football get more practice and training.

  The MOE says one tenth of those schools will be senior schools, three tenth junior schools and six tenth primary schools.

  The MOE says schools with football as specialties will get help in teaching, training, competitions, money and so on. The move will make schools have better P.E. courses and better P.E tools，and also make sure that students have at least one hour of sports in schools.

  The bad performance of China’s national football team in recent years is also a reason for the MOE to make this change in schools. Chinese football fans were angry that the national team missed the World Cup for the past 12 years.

What makes one person cleverer than another? What makes one person a great genius, like Albert Einstein, and another person a fool? Are people born to be brilliant or foolish, or is it the result of where and how you live? These are very old questions and the answers to them are still not clear.

   We know, however, that just being born with a good mind is not enough. In some ways, the mind is like a leg or an arm. It needs exercise. Mental (done with the mind) exercise is especially important for young children. Children who have a lot of mental exercise might do great things when they grow up. Many child psychologists think that parents should play with their children more often and give them problems to think about. The children then will probably grow up brighter and cleverer. If, on the other hand, children are often left alone with nothing to do, they could become silly and not clever.

   Parents should also be careful with what they say to young children. According to some

psychologists, if parents are always telling a child that he or she is a fool, then the child may keep doing silly and foolish things. So it is probably better for parents to say very positive (helpful) things to their children, such as "That was a very clever thing you did." or "You are such a smart child."

 Today’s children are the “result” of the modern society. Parents have jobs that keep them busy almost all day long. They only have a free day in a week. This doesn’t allow them to keep an eye on their children.

On the other hand, the modern society gives more freedom to the children than they could “handle”. As a child, you don’t know how to grow up by yourself until you reach a certain age. That is why you need schools and parents to be by your side all the time. If you don’t have either of them, you will make a lot of mistakes. The social system of the modern society is very lenient especially with the children.

Most of the children today are rude. They are given much freedom by their families. This is their parents’ mistakes. They ought to（应该）know that freedom they give their children is misunderstood.

For example, it is a bad thing for a 17-year-old child to go out in the evening on weekends. Parents are also guilty of the way their children show up in the street or at school. The same guilt belongs to the teaching system as well. Pupils shouldn’t be allowed to dress like they were on a fashion show at school.

Another important fact we can think of regarding the freedom of the children is their free will of spending money. Parents shouldn’t allow their children to spend money on whatever they want.

I think children are given too much freedom not only by their parents, but also by the society. The latter is more to be blamed!

 ●Our Needs

People are different, but they all have the same needs.Needs are things people must have to live. Our bodies need food and water. We also need air to breathe. We need a place to live to keep us safe. We need clothes to keep us warm. If we did not have these things, we could not survive.

Needs may be different for people who live in different areas. If you live where it is cold, you may need special clothes to keep you warm. If you live where it is hot, you may need more water.

People have found new ways to meet their needs. Farmers grow food that people eat. They used to plant seeds by hand. They used to pick plants by hand. Now they have machines that do this work.

●Our Wants

Wants are things people would like to have but do not need to live. Suppose* you hope to get a football for your birthday. A football is want. You can live without it.

Sometimes we must make choices between things we want. Suppose you want to go to a birthday party for your uncle. That day, a friend asks you to go to a movie. The movie is at the same time as the party.

If you choose to go to the party, then what would you give up? What would you give up if you went to the movie?

“Life is speeding up. Everyone is getting unwell.”

This may sound like something someone would say today. But in fact, an unknown person who lived in Rome in AD（公元）53 wrote it.

We all love new inventions. They are exciting, amazing and can even change our lives. But have all these developments really improved the quality of our lives?

Picture this. You’re rushing to finish your homework on the computer. Your mobile phone rings, a QQ message from your friend appears on the screen, the noise from the television is getting louder and louder. Suddenly the computer goes blank（空白的）and you lose all your work. Now you have to stay up all night to get it done. How happy do you feel?

Inventions have speeded up our lives so much that they often make us feel stressed and tired. Why do you think people who live far away from noisy cities, who have no telephones, no cars, not even any electricity often seem to be happier? Perhaps because they live simpler lives.

One family in the UK went “back in time” to see what life was like without all the inventions we have today. The grandparents, with their daughter, and grandsons Benjamin, 10 and Thomas, 7, spent nine weeks in a 1940s’ house. They had no washing machine, microwave（微波炉）, computer or mobile phones.

The grandmother, Lyn, said, “The more things you have, the more difficult life becomes.” The boys said they fought less. Probably, they said, because there was less to fight over, such as their computer. Benjamin also noticed that his grandmother had changed from being a “trendy（赶时髦的）, beer-drinking granny”, to one who cooked things.

Do you get angry when your friends sing loudly? Or when your best friend does not wait for you after school? If you do, you need to control your feelings and stop getting angry so easily. Getting angry easily can make you lose friends. Gary Egeberg, an American high school teacher, wrote My Feelings are Just Like Wild Animals to help you control your feelings. It tells teens how to stay cool when bad things happen to them. The book says that getting angry only makes problems worse. It can not make them better. "Getting angry is not a natural way to act", the book says. It is just a bad habit, like smoking. The book says you can control your anger easily, and all you have to do is to tell yourself not to be angry. When a baby falls over, it cries only when people are watching it. Like a baby, you can only get angry if you are sure it is the right thing to do. The book gives many suggestions to help you if you get angry easily.

Here are the top three. 

①Keep a record. Every time you get angry, write down why you are angry. Look at it later and you will see you get angry too easily.

②Ask your friends to stop talking to you when you get angry. This will teach you not to be angry.

③Do something different. When you get angry, walk away from the problem and go somewhere else. Try to laugh!

    "A wise(聪明的)old owl lived in an oak. The more he saw, the less he spoke, the less he spoke, the more he heard. Why arenˈt we alike that wise old bird?"-Edward H. Richards.

   We all need to learn to listen well. Listening is a learned skill, the same as speaking in public. It just takes much longer to learn! Listening is a skill we should be practicing every day.

   Listening shows others that they are important. Itˈs a sign of respect(尊重). If someone listens to you carefully when you are talking, it shows that they are really interested in what you are saying.

   How do you practice listening? Here are some rules:

   Put down whateveris in your hands. Are you in the middle of writing something? Put down the pen and start to listen. Are you reading something? Close it so that it will be

impossible for you to look down and start reading again. Then put it down.

   Turn off your computer.The computer will distract(使分心)you from your job at hand-listening.

   Face the person you are speaking with.Facing the person you are speaking with will help you listen more carefully. It will also make the person feel that you find what he is saying important.

Mind your body language.Standing towards the speaker will show interest. Looking around the room shows you have no interest. Looking that speaker in the eye tells him that he is important.

   Listen completely.Do not start making comments(评论)after the first few words. Do not start thinking about your reply in your mind. Listen to the speaker carefully and try to understand what he is telling you.

What do people do with their old, out of date but still useful computers? Most people don’t know how to deal with them. Many old computers are put away. Many more are simply thrown away as rubbish.

Finally, some companies are thinking of ways to bring down the number of old computers. Sony has agreed to help recycle old Sony products(产品). Dell, Hewlett Packard and other companies now also take back some old computers of their own brands.

In some countries, laws have been passed, too. Computer companies have to pay for collecting and recycling their used products. And 70% of the computer waste must be recycled. The idea behind the laws is that computer companies themselves should pay for the cost. That will encourage them to make computers which are easier and cheaper to repair and upgrade(升级).

Yet many people are throwing away good computers, while others cannot afford them at all. Hundreds of organizations are working on this problem. They collect and repair old computers. Some also teach others how to repair computers. These repaired computers then go to schools, charities(慈善团体) or people who need them. Giving a used computer to one of these organizations can turn one person’s rubbish into someone else’s useful things and cut down waste, too.

You can plan your own hours and work when you want to. There is no more rush hour and no hours that people waste when they get to and from a job every day.

②The Fact   The fact is that this dream can be attained. You can stay at home，work when you want to and make money when you need to. There are plenty of opportunities for you to make money at home, just by using your computer and the Internet．

③Start Today!  Educate yourself，look closely into all the opportunities and decide on what works best for you. It will not happen during one night, but you can make the decision today and start to make it happen today.

④How Could You Do It? Do you have a blog（博客）or a personal website like millions of other people?  Are you using it to make money? Most of these blog and website owners are not. But you can do that!

⑤             When you have your computer and the Internet working for you, your businesses will be working for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You will make money while you sleep, travel or do whatever you want to do all day long．

⑥Get Going!  There are many ways you can make money with your computer. And you can begin your Stay – at – home businesses with just a little money. What are you waiting for ?