Brain fitness has basic principles：variety and curiosity. When anything you do becomes second nature，you need to make a change.If you can do the crosswords（纵横字谜）in your sleep，it’s time for you to move on to a new challenge in order to get the best workout for your brain. Curiosity about the world around you，how it works and how you can understand it will keep your brain working fast and efficiently.【小题1】

Play Games

Brain fitness programs and games are a wonderful way to tease and challenge your brain. Sudoku，crosswords and electronic games can all improve your brain’s speed and memory. These games rely on logic，word skills，math and more.【小题2】 You’ll get more benefit by doing these games a little bit every day—spend 15 minutes or so，not hours.

Think Deeply

Thinking deeply every day is perhaps the single greatest thing you can do for your mind or body health.【小题3】

Eat for Your Brain

【小题4】 Focus on fish oils from wild salmon（鲑），nuts such as walnuts，seeds such as flaxseed and olive oil. Eat more of these foods and less fats. Remove trans fats（反式脂肪）completely from your diet.

【小题5】

Stories are a way that we strengthen memories，explain events and share moments. Practice telling your stories，both new and old，so that they are interesting，attractive and fun. Some basic storytelling techniques will go a long way in keeping people’s interest both in you and in what you have to say.

How to Keep a Diary

In an age of blogs and social media postings，diaries still have a huge following. Here you can be completely honest，and protect your privacy. What's more，you can keep your writings forever. 【小题1】 Diaries have also been shown to help regulate（调节）moods and emotions. If you are interested in keeping a diary，you can refer to the following rules.

Be honest. Diaries can be very beneficial. A study at the University of California showed that writing about feelings honestly helps the brain regulate emotions. 【小题2】This is good for your emotional well-being.

Decide what to write about. There are many different types of diaries. Some people use diaries to record daily events. 【小题3】 If you're working towards a goal，like losing weight or completing a creative project，a diary can be a great means to discuss your feelings and progress.

【小题4】 Many people struggle to find the time to write a diary entry（记录）each day. If you're interested in keeping a diary，try to stick to a schedule. Write your diaries around the same time each day. In this way，it will become as much a part of your schedule as brushing your teeth at night or showering in the morning.

Write short entries when you're pressed for time. 【小题5】 If you're in a rush，just write a shorter entry. Write down the bare minimum of your feelings and thoughts quickly. You can always record more about an event later in the week when you have time. Simply try to write down the basic details before you forget.

   It has always been my dream to attend college. My parents were glad I chose this path. 【小题1】 Upset and stressed，I decided to look for ways to pay by myself.

My search for money began on the Internet. I went to every free scholarship search engine and spent a lot of time each day online looking for scholarships I was qualified for. 【小题2】 This gave me a way to prioritize（按优先顺序列出）my schedule. I finished applications due（到期的）in October in September，November's deadlines in October，and so on.

After organizing everything，it was time to fill out the applications. Some were easy and took little time while others were long and tedious. Despite the amounts，which ranged from $100 to $40，000，I took each scholarship seriously because together they would fund my goal.

【小题3】 Almost every one required an essay about my extracurricular activities，commitment to education and career aspirations. To perfect my writing，I turned to friends，relatives and teachers for advice.

Now I have won 80 percent of the scholarships I applied for. After many hours of staying up late to finish them，I managed to receive over $ 100，000. Now，I can attend college completely free. I feel that a huge burden has been lifted from my shoulders. This fall，I am attending Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. 【小题4】

The scholarship search truly made me a better person. I learned the importance of setting a goal and accomplishing it. 【小题5】 I'm delighted that I had the opportunity to learn more about my drive to succeed — I can push ahead no matter what obstacles are in my way.

   Living with a roommate can be a great experience as many roommates become lifelong friends. However ,roommates living together under the same roof for a long time unavoidably have conflicts（冲突） with each other. 【小题1】To prevent this from happening to you,each conflict should be handled in a productive,healthy way.

Once conflicts occur, you need to set up a time to discuss the conflict. 【小题2】 They may think about any problems they want to discuss. It also allows for a better discussion as both roommates will most likely enter the discussion fairly calm.

Before discussing the actual conflicts, set up some rules to guide the discussion. For example, each roommate is allowed to bring up one problem at a time and the other roommate has a chance to respond to it before another one is brought up. Making rules beforehand can prevent a screaming match from breaking out. 【小题3】

You can use your discussion to point out to your roommates their great advantages and specific things you like about them. While this won't solve the conflict, it can help your roommates be more understanding of your point of view and more willing to compromise（妥协）.

Once dissatisfaction has been said by both parties you should develop a roommate agreement that is written down. This agreement should discuss what the rules are as well as what results exist for breaking them. For example,roommates having a conflict about overnight guests may compromise to allow overnight guests only on weekends or guests on weekdays leaving by 11 p. m. 【小题5】 .

   Now a new study has showed a key trick in getting the best deal - asking for a range of pay, rather than a single figure.

The research contradicts（与……抵触）traditional wisdom that argues giving a range will automatically cause employers to focus on the lower end of the offer. For instance, if you want  $90,000 and you suggest a range between $90,000 and $110,000, the study finds employers are more likely to make a higher offer.

But simply asking for $110,000 in the first place increases the chances of the deal falling apart, as it is a sign that the employee is not open to negotiation（协商）.

The team made the discovery after running a series of experiments involving Amazon Mechanical Turk workers and business school students.

Respondents were asked not only what they thought their negotiation partner's lowest acceptable offer could be, but also questions designed to show how they viewed their partner.

One type of offer, called a “bracketing” range,places the figures on either side of the desired salary. For instance, if you want $90,000, you'd ask for a range of between  $80,000 and $100,000. This causes employers to offer the lower end of the scale,but, unlike single figure offers, the deals rarely fall apart as the negotiator is often viewed favourably. “If your goal is to get along with someone without losing money, the‘bracketing' range offers may be a good move,”Dr Ames told the Wall Street Journal.

The“backdown”range offer, meanwhile, uses the target salary as the high figure in the range. For $90 ,000, an employer would ask for a range between $70,000 to $90,000. These range offers , predicta-bly, give the worst results in terms of pay.

However, Dr Ames warns against setting the range too high and says the most successful range is usually within 20 per cent of the target offer.