Some people will do just about anything to save money. And I am one of them. My family’s last vacation was a good to prove it. It was my six-year-old son’s winter break from school, and we were home from Fort Lauderdale after a week-long trip. The flight was , and Delta, the airline, offered us $400 per person in credits to give up our seats and leave the next day. I had meetings in New York, so I had to . But that didn't mean my husband and my son couldn't stay. I took my nine-month-old and took off for home.
The next day, my husband and son were offered more to take an even later flight. Yes, I encouraged — okay, ordered — them to wait it out at the , to "earn" more Delta Dollars. Our total take: $1,600. Not bad, huh?
Now some people may think I'm a bad mother and not such a great wife either. But as a big-time bargain hunter, I know the value of a . And these days, a good deal is something few of us can afford to .
I've made living looking for the best deals and the worst tricks. I have been the consumer reporter of NBC's Today show for over a decade. So far, I feel proud that I have written a couple of including one titled Tricks of the Trade: A Consumer Survival Guide. And I really do what I in.
I tell you this because there is no in getting your money’s worth. Honestly, I’m also when it comes to shoes, clothes for my children, and expensive restaurants. But I wouldn't hesitate to spend on a good haircut. It keeps its shape longer, and it's the first thing people . And I will also spend on a classic piece of furniture. lasts.
A．sample B．excuse C．situation D．example
A．leaving B．heading C．getting D．arriving
A．overbooked B．overcrowded C．overworked D．overpowered
A．get on B．get over C．get back D．get away
A．seats B．credits C．bargain D．value
A．flight B．office C．school D．airport
A．dollar B．time C．family D．work
A．pass up B．pass down C．pass along D．pass on
A．expanding B．expecting C．exposing D．explaining
A．dictionaries B．newspapers C．novels D．books
A．believe B．put C．give D．come
A．harm B．shame C．doubt D．shock
A．generous B．tightfisted C．joyful D．patient
A．notice B．realize C．know D．understand
A．Satisfactory B．Quantity C．Ability D．Quality
Once upon a time a teacher and his student down under a big tree near the big grass area．Then suddenly the student asked the teacher，“Teacher，I’m puzzled．How do we our soul mate(知己)?Could you please help me?”
Silent for a few seconds，the teacher then answered，“Well，it’s a pretty hard and easy question．” The teacher ，“Look that way．There is a lot of grass．Why don’t you walk there? But please don’t walk ．On your way，try to find a blade(叶片)of beautiful grass and it and then give it to me．But just one．”
The student said OK and then he walked straight ahead to the grassy field．A few minutes later，the student came back empty-handed．When the teacher asked the ,the student said，“On my journey，I found quite a few beautiful blades of grass，but I that I would find a better one，so I didn’t pick it．But I didn’t realize that I was at the of the field，and I hadn’t picked any because you told me not to go back，so I didn’t go back.” Hearing this, the teacher said，“That’s what will happen in real life．”
What is the of this story? In the story，grass is the people around you；the beautiful blade grass is the people that you and the grassy field is time．In looking for your soul mate，please don’t always and hope that there will be a better one．By doing that，you’ll your lifetime．Remember “Time Never Goes Back．”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
We all laugh. We all hurt. We all make mistakes. We all dream, that’s life. It’s a journey. Please follow these rules to make the journey of your life a journey of joy!
positive through the cold season could be your best against getting ill, new study findings suggest.
In an experiment that healthy volunteers to a cold or flu virus, researchers found that people with a sunny characteristic were less likely to ill. The findings, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, build on evidence that a “positive emotional style” can help the common cold and other illnesses.
Researchers believe the reasons may be both objective as in happiness increasing immune(免疫的) function and subjective as in happy people being less by a scratchy throat or runny nose. “People with a positive emotional style may have different immune to the virus,” explained the lead study author Dr Sheldon Cohen of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. “And when they do get a cold, they may their illness as being less severe.”
Cohen and his colleagues had found in a study that happier people seemed less likely to catch a cold, but some questions remained as to whether the emotional tendency itself had the effect.
For the new study, the researchers had 193 healthy adults with complete standard measures of personality tendency, health-consciousness and emotional “style”. Those who be happy, energetic and easy-going were judged as having a positive emotional style, those who were often unhappy, tense and unfriendly had a negative style. The researchers gave them drops through their noses either a cold virus or a particular flu virus. Over the next six days, the reported on any aches, pains, sneezing they had, while the researchers collected data, like daily mucus(黏液) production. Cohen and his colleagues found that based on objective measures of nasal woes(鼻部的不适), happy people were less likely to develop a cold.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Dad was not only my best friend, but my compass (指南针)．While he was alive, he ____ me with his actions and advice. He taught me one important ____：“Believe in yourself.”
If there was one phrase my dad ____ liked to hear, it was “I can't.” He did not have chance to finish high school and ____ two jobs to support his large family, ____ he never complained. Through self-education and years of hard work, my dad became an excellent journalist.
When I was in high school, I had a ____ time with math. He tried to help me, but I ____ struggled. So my math teacher suggested I meet with him at 7：00 each morning before school for ____ help. I told Dad, “That's ____！ I'm tired! I can't do that！” He replied, “You're doing it. I'll send you to school.” Every morning at 6：45, we'd leave the ____.Despite (尽管) working 12 hours every day, Dad never once ____ driving me to school.
After months of ____， I was facing the final exam. I was so ____.On the day of the final, my dad hugged me and said, “Luke, ____ yourself. You can do it.” His words made me realize I needed to trust in my ____ and in the hours of work I'd ____.When I got my ____ proudly, the first person I called was my father. He cried, “Yes! You deserved it！”
Even now, whenever I ____ that a task is too much for me, I think back to that exam. No matter how ____something is, if you're willing to work, you can succeed. I'm forever ____ to Dad for that lesson.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
My grandmother was always encouraging me to set goals and work hard to achieve them. She would tell me not to be a follower and not to set ________on what I could achieve. She ________ believed that there were no limits that you could ________ whatever you wanted. I would never forget the following story that she once told me：A farmer won first ________at the country fair for his huge radish (小萝卜)that was the exact shape and ________of a milk bottle. Many were ________as to how the farmer was able to grow this radish that was the exact shape of a milk bottle.________ one gentleman went up to the farmer and asked the question. The farmer replied，“It was ________. I got the seed growing and then I put it into the milk bottle. It had ________else to go.”You can use this story as an analogy (比喻) to life－our lives are________ by the kind of surroundings we place ourselves in, the people that we allow to________ us, and the goals we give ourselves.If we only________ and take no action, then we get no further. But if we ________，set a goal and take action, then our life takes a________ shape.
Goals and actions can help us accomplish more in a year than what some people will accomplish in a lifetime. To prove this________ ，read the biographies of ________ people and you will see that goals and actions________played a big role in their success.
Remember the________ of Mary Kay Ash, who said，“Don't limit yourself. ” Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go ________ your mind lets you. Whatever you believe, remember, you can achieve.”
In summary, don't put yourself in a bottle; in other words, move out of what is ________ and secure if you want to move forward.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I believe that families are not only blood relatives, but sometimes people who show up and love you when no one else will.
In May 1977, I was living in a Howard Johnson’s motel off Interstate 10 in Houston. My dad and I a room with two double beds and a bathroom was too for a 15-year-old girl and her father. Dad’s second marriage was and my stepmother had us both out of the house the previous week. Dad had no_ what to do with me. And that’s when my other family .
Barbara and Roland Beach took me into their home their only daughter, Su, my best friend, asked them to. I with them for the next seven years.
Barbara washed my skirts the same as Su’s. She I had lunch money, doctors’ appointments, help with homework and nightly hugs. Barbara and Roland attended every football game where Su and I were being cheerleaders. I could tell, for the Beaches there was no between Su and me; I was their daughter, too.
When Su and I college they kept my room the same for the entire four years I attended school. Recently, Barb presented me with an insurance policy they bought when I first moved in with them and had continued to pay on for 23 years.
The Beaches knew about me when they took me in – they had heard the whole story from Su. When I was seven, my mother died and from then on my father relied on other people to _ his kids. Before I went to live with the Beaches I had believed that life was entirely __ and that love was shaky and untrustworthy. I had believed that the only person who would take care of me was me.
the Beaches, I would have bee a bitter, cynical (愤世嫉俗的) woman. They gave me a(n) that allowed me to grow and change. They kept me from being paralyzed(使麻痹，瘫痪) by my _, and they gave me the confidence to open my heart.
I family. For me, it wasn’t the family that was there on the day I was , but the one that was there for me when I was living in a Howard Johnson’s on Interstate 10.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|