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 all night writing, I was very tired the next day.

that we should prevent harmful habits like tobacco or alcohol abuse from dominating a teenager's life.

He gave me a big smile   the joke on him.

We were completely  after hiking through the Rockies to the fantastic lake.

It was time to start my afternoon run on the school bus. I drove up to the elementary school, parked and opened the doors.

Usually I enjoyed 1 the kids as they climbed aboard. Today I kept my 2 fixed straight ahead. I'd just come from a(n) 3 family counseling (辅导) session with my oldest son, Shayn. He started consuming alcohol at 17. I felt 4 . How did we ever get here?

I thought. Shayn was intelligent and had been a 5 to raise. The two of us were close. The kids walked past me onto the bus. One or two said hi. A little girl 6 a small piece of paper on my lap gently. "This is for you!" she said.

I absent-mindedly 7  the folded paper and looked up just in time to see wisps (缕，束) of long blonde hair 8  down the aisle (过道).

I'd hoped family counseling would help Shayn quit drinking. 9 at today's session, Shayn was angry. He said kids his age drink10 and that his drinking was under control. What hope did we have 11 Shayn couldn't see that he needed help?

I moved to throw the note in the rubbish can near the driver's seat, then12 What if the little girl sees you throw her present away? I thought. So I 13 it. Inside was a four-leaf clover (四叶草), along with a message written in a child's hand: "This is filled with 14 ."

As I read the note, my whole body15 . My thinking changed. I couldn't control Shayn's drinking. There was still hope, even when I didn't know what to do.

I searched my rear-view mirror (后视镜) for the child who'd given me the note, but not a single one had long blonde hair.

If you think you're a pessimist and there's no hope of ever turning it around, then think again! According to mental health experts, it is actually very possible to turn into a glass-half-full kind of person, and here's what you can do to see things in a brighter light.

Writing down your ideas of an optimistic tomorrow will make a huge difference when it comes to your overall attitude to life. You may also want to consider a serious challenge you have in life right now, and simply sit back and think about all of the possible positive outcomes.

Choose to be optimistic. Life is all about choices. You can choose to spend the entire day reading or cleaning. You can make the call you've been thinking about for a while or you can put it off for another day. What's more, you can also choose to be positive or you can choose to simply carry on living as you are. And then carry on that way for the rest of your life.

Extend positiveness to others. Making others feel good about themselves can have lasting positive effects on your own life. Never forget to admire your family, friends, and colleagues for the good things which they are doing in their lives, even if they don't directly affect you.

Recognize your negative thought patterns. It's fine to acknowledge that bad things in life might happen at any time. Yet being overly negative can seriously ruin your chances of finding happiness in his life. Reframing your awkwardly negative thoughts into more realistic patterns may be the key to helping you maintain optimism.

Practice gratitude. Spend some time thinking about all of the things you have to be thankful for.  You could even choose to keep diaries, where you can put down anything which makes you smile. If nothing else, take a moment every once in a while to stop, smile and be thankful for the positive things in life.

A．Imagine a positive future.

B．Form the habit of keeping diaries.

C．Of course, it's also necessary to praise yourself.

D．Ignoring reality isn't the most helpful method either.

E. Being optimistic starts with the decision to be positive.

F. It will often provide you with an instant optimism increase.

G. Take a moment to work out how realistic your thoughts really are.

Fire ants(蚁） dig tunnels efficiently by only a small percentage of the group doing most of the work. Free-loaders just sit around while their hard-working colleagues get things done. But might freeloaders actually be necessary for society to function efficiently? The answer could be yes.

Fire ants are highly social organisms. So, Goldman, a physicist at Georgia Tech, and his colleagues wanted to know how individual ants knew what to do without a central leader issuing orders. To find out, Goldman's team labeled individual fire ants with paint and then watched them dig their narrow tunnels —barely wide enough for two workers. Turns out, just 30 percent of the ants did 70 percent of the labor. "I was surprised that we ended up with so few workers actually doing the work at any one time." A quarter of the ants never even entered the tunnel. Others crawled inside, but left without digging single grain of dirt. These idling behaviors ensured the tunnels did not get clogged with insect traffic, which would make the construction process stop.

And when the scientists removed the five hardest working ants from the colony, others immediately jumped in to compensate (补偿) — with no reduction in the group's productivity. It seems that it doesn't matter which ants are working or freeloading at a given time, as long as there is some division of labor to keep the tunnels flowing smoothly. The findings are in the journal Science.

The study could have implications for robotics. Imagine groups of robots sent to search rubble (碎石) for disaster survivors. Or nanobots (纳米机器人) coursing through our bodies to diagnose illness and deliver targeted medical treatment. Such robot groups will need to avoid getting jammed up in tight spaces. It might be necessary to program them so some just sit back and watch their comrades work.

We were 3000 miles away from home on a Volunteerism Road Trip. Our funds were running low, so we had two goals: to try out our new "Smile!" signs and see how much joy we could spread and to raise $80, enough for gas to Portland.

I nervously raised our signs and shouted "Hi there!" to a young couple. They read my sign and broke into smiles. Before long, our signs were wildly popular. Strangers took photos with us and asked us about our signs. Some even asked if they could have a "Smile!" sign to carry around. We posed for pictures and sang with street performers. We got so wrapped up in our "Smile!" project that we forgot the other goal. Before we knew it, the sun was setting.

We sat down to think about how we'd raise the money we needed. A blind man had just finished playing the guitar. He was packing up when a passing crowd kicked over his coin jar. Coins scattered(四散）around and he felt his way to collect them. We rushed to help him, but before we cold get there, another man "stole" our good deed.

Once the musician had his money returned, we went to meet the "thief". "We just wanted to compliment you on your good deed," I said.

He smiled and asked about our signs. After learning about our road trip, he said sincerely," I'd like to contribute. It'll make me feel like I'm part of this adventure." Then this complete stranger opened his wallet and handed us four twenty-dollar bills, exactly what we had intended to raise that day.

Several years later, this man, whose name is Jared, went on his own road trip. He visited our city and volunteered with the non-profit organization we co-founded. So often we never get to see the ripple effect (连锁反应）of our kindness. But we are so glad he did.