Independence has been an issue of the Moldova of Gagauzia for years. Though its people are poor and rely on agriculture to survive, they cherish their language and culture deeply. Their lives are governed by the land, but their hearts are governed by the for identity.

The little-known is small, with just three towns and a population of 160, 000, and was formed out of a 19th century competition between the Ottoman and Russian empires. The landscape comes alive in spring and summer, but the winter is , -10 or -15 degrees Celsius. Nobody is on the streets. The people stay at home and wait for spring to arrive so they can start working in the fields again.

Though independence was gained in 1994, the people are satisfied theoretically but not . Agriculture is their only livelihood. In the morning they have to take the sheep up to the fields. Then they come back to milk the cows and make their own milk and cheese. Deeply by modern life, the younger don't enjoy this kind of life and go abroad. It seemed that their independence is not .

Gagauz had strong meaning in the past but the old songs that women proudly sang are no longer sung. The traditional clothes are only used in festivals and the traditional have never been held. The culture that was once proudly worn may soon be forgotten . The older generation have a language and a culture they identify with. But the younger generation can't speak the Gagauzian language, and they only speak Russian.

Houses of Culture — an old from the Soviet era—are still all around. But if the younger generation continues to work abroad, the culture will eventually disappear.

High school life is probably the happiest time of our lives. Our bodies go through a series of changes; at this point, we are mature enough to1our interests, our passions and everything else we need to know about ourselves.

Our parents loosen their grasps a bit on the rules and we therefore2a lot during this period. When we find ourselves in hot water, everyone will always come to our aid and claim, "But, they are just teenagers. Don't worry, everyone goes through this stage. They will soon grow up." So, we get away with a lot during this period.

It goes without saying that high school life is the most formative period of a person's life. The3of life becomes clear here and the students get a glimpse of how the real world works. Just like in real life, high school life can be grouped into two—the4side and working/studying side with a gray area in between, for activities such as hobbies and interests.

It is a joyful period in life, because teenagers have no sense of responsibility apart from studying. They start forming groups with other5individuals. Musicians form their bands, and athletes build teams, etc.

With so many different people in the same facility, there are unavoidable 6, which may be healthy-like in a classroom setting. They may also be unhealthy when students try to cheat their way into college.

When it comes to study, high school has the most demanding process of learning than other stages. Students spend all day in classrooms. They also have to7a wide range of subjects that they may not pursue in future.

Furthermore, students encounter pressure from all semesters. They have to 8at this stage or they will never make it to college. And they are reminded over and over again that it they do not get to college, they will amount to nothing in life.

Going hand in hand with the exhaustive study are the expectations that parents, friends and teachers have for the students. They make the situation9for them by deciding which universities they should go to. Most parents do not comprehend the problems their high school children go through. They assume that the only thing their children do in school is study, but that is not the case. They have to10education and the challenges they encounter in school.

While everyone dies in the end, few of us, not to mention teenagers, tend to think about that as we go about our daily business. Actually, it may seem abnormal at a glance to think about life in terms of your death that is approaching.

My class teacher held a special class meeting before the coming-of-age ceremony when I turned 16. She asked all the class to make a bucket list—a list of things you would like to do before you kick the bucket—to think about the things that we would like to achieve. My bucket list forced me to take a close look at my life.

Some of the dreams in my very first bucket list draft are：

—Studying architecture in Yale University

—Scuba Diving at the Great Barrier Reef

—Visiting Bran Castle and learning more about the legend of Dracula

—Writing a book of my travel experiences

—Getting married by the age of 30

By writing down my dreams, I became more motivated to accomplish them, since in order to achieve my dreams, I would most likely have to prioritize my activities, habits, routines accordingly. For instance, if one of your dreams is to perform on stage as a ballet dancer, ballet classes will probably be an important part of your life. If your dream is to travel around the world for a year, saving up enough money to achieve that goal will most likely be a priority for you.

It has been eight years since I first started on my bucket list. Some of the dreams on my bucket list have been achieved, some of them have been changed—I've got my bachelor's degree from Stanford University, but others remain distant for now. Achieving each dream and striking it off the list has also left me with a bittersweet feeling. It brings me satisfaction and joy each time I achieved a goal, but when I look at my list, I remember that I have only a limited amount of our most precious resource—time.

One 2013 survey of 485 adults in the U. S. linked travel to enhanced attention, energy, and focus. Other research suggests that the act of adapting to foreign cultures may also facilitate creativity. But what about the act of planning a trip?

Planning a trip can be almost as enjoyable as going on the trip itself. A 2014 Cornell University study looked into how looking forward to an experience (like a trip) can increase a person's happiness considerably—much more so than the anticipation of buying material goods. An earlier study, published by the University of Surrey in 2002, found that people are at their happiest when they have a vacation planned.

Amit Kumar, one of the co-authors of the Cornell study, explains that the benefits are less about obsessing over the finer points of a journey than they are about connecting with other people. ⁴⁴ Travelers end up talking to people more about their experiences than they talk about material purchases, " he says. "Compared to possessions, experiences make for better story material. "

Kumar's co-author Matthew Killingsworth, now a senior fellow at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, says trip-planning encourages an optimistic outlook.

"As humans, we spend a lot of our mental lives living in the future," says Killingsworth, whose work centers on understanding the nature and causes of human happiness. "Our future-mindedness can be a source of joy if we know good things are coming, and travel is an especially good thing to look forward to. "

One reason Killingsworth thinks that planning travel can be such a positive experience is the fact that trips arc temporary. "Since we know a trip has a defined start and end, our minds are likely to enjoy it, even before it's started," he says. "Sometimes people even prefer to delay good experiences like a trip so they can extend the period of excitement."

There's another reason why travel planning can produce happiness: We often know enough about a trip to imagine it and look forward to it—but there's also enough novelty and uncertainty lo keep our minds interested.

"In a sense, we start to 'consume' a trip as soon as we start thinking about it, " Killingsworth says." When we imagine eating gelato, the famous ice cream in Rome or going water skiing with friends we don't see as much as we'd like, we get to experience a version of those events in our mind. "

Planning for travel—thinking about it, talking about it, imagining it—may in fact be one of the best things you can do to stay optimistic.

If you're like most students, you probably started this new academic year with a resolution to study harder. Now, science can help you keep your resolution. Recent discoveries in brain research point to better ways to learn.

Think of the last time you looked up a number in the telephone book and dialed it. Could you remember five minutes later? Probably not! That's because it's in your short-term memory.

Our memory actually has three components. Sensory memory takes in information from our five senses, but these memories last just a few seconds. Short-term memory works like a "holding area" for new information—that's where you keep the phone number while you dial it. But if you can put the phone number into long-term memory, you'll remember that same phone number next week. This part of your memory holds everything from irregular verbs to the names of all your cousins.

When you study, you transfer new information into long-term memory. Every time we learn something new, the structure of the brain actually changes, as we build new connections to information that we already know. When there are more connections to the new information, it's easier to find it again.

Brain researchers have discovered three key points for effective study.

♦Find the most important information and organize it. Therefore, don't try to remember every detail. When studying a textbook, look for titles, headings, and illustrations to show you the main ideas.

♦Make the new brain connections stronger. This is the most powerful way to transfer information from short-term to long-term memory. Another method is drawing a picture of the information, to activate the visual part of the brain.

♦Give the new material time to soak in—your brain has to build new physical connections. For this reason, it's better to study for several short sessions than one long one.

By understanding how the brain works, and following these three tips, you can make this your most successful academic year ever.

假如你是明启中学的李华。学校学生会正在筹备下周末的"人文行走" (Humanistic Walk) 活动，现向全校学生征集目的地。写一封邮件给学生会，推荐一处"人文行走"的目的地并说明你的理由。

To Whom It May Concern,

Cultural Differences in the Workplace

No matter where you work, chances are you are surrounded by examples of cultural differences. What's fascinating is that classic examples of cultural differences are often misunderstood as simple personality traits. People may say, "I'm right, and they are wrong, and practical and positive comes out of the argument. Knowing how to identify cultural differences in the workplace can give you a competitive edge.

Giving suggestions or keeping to yourself

It wasn't the first time that Marta's manager had asked her to copy-edit the store flyer (传单). Their company served a large Latino (拉丁美洲人) population and Marta was happy to find that more Latino items ( offer) at local supermarkets, which was beyond her expectation. When she worked on the flyer featuring the new products, Marta noticed that the items were not being introduced in a way that (attract) Latinos. She thought of approaching her manager with her observations. But her boss might take them as criticism of the advertising team who (create) the copy. So she kept her mouth shut.

Later, when Marta mentioned her decision to Jim, a British colleague of , he said Marta s boss would probably welcome the suggestions. A good manager is usually happy to hear suggestions for improving products or services, and something that, for many Latinos and people from other backgrounds, seem like questioning authority. This is just one of many examples of cultural differences in the workplace. Think about it this way that you (pay) to come up with unique ideas that can give your company a competitive advantage.

To share or not to share

One of (common) examples of cultural differences in the workplace is how much people share about themselves and their families their co-workers. How much is too much? It really depends on who you ask.

Latinos tend not only to share a lot about themselves but also to ask about other people's families. They ask they care and they expect others to care about them as well. So when nobody asks Latinos about their sick child or their cousin who got married, they tend to feel isolated. If you use these cultural differences at work as an opportunity to learn from each other, you can make it a much better workplace.