Life is filled with ups and downs. When you feel like you're experiencing more downs than ups，sometimes it helps to get a little tough love. That's why we put together this list of five harsh（残酷的）truths that will help you grow.

1. Life isn't fair.

Life will hand you lemons，often when you least expect it. 【小题1】

2. The first step is always the hardest.

Changing bad habits is tough. Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu once said，" 【小题2】"So if you want to change something，start with small steps.

3. You may be better off without some of the people you currently care about.

Chances are that there's someone in your life you care about deeply who is holding you back. 【小题3】However，there comes a time when you need to make the tough decision to say no to people who can't help you grow.

4. 【小题4】

If you don't take risks you will have a hard time accomplishing what you want in life. People who truly change the world are the biggest risk-takers. And they treat each failure as an opportunity to grow and get better.

5. You are the only thing to hold yourself back from greatness.

Often we get so caught up in hoping for the next great thing that we don't realize what's unfolding right in front of our faces. 【小题5】 Instead, focus on the positive things you have in your life. Choose to be happy right now.

   As the pace of life continues to increase, we are fast losing the art of relaxation. _______ you are in the habit of rushing through life, being on the go（忙碌）from morning till night, it is hard to _______. But relaxation is _______ for a healthy mind and body.

Stress is a（n）_______ part of everyday life and there is no way to _______ it. In fact, it is not the bad thing that it is often supposed to be. A _______ amount of stress is important to provide motivation and give _______ to life. It is only when stress gets out of control that it can lead to poor performance and _______ health.

The amount of stress a person can bear _______ very much on the individual. Some people are not afraid of stress, and such a ________ is obviously chief material for managerial responsibilities. Others lose heart at the ________ of unusual difficulties. When exposed to stress, in whatever form, we ________ both chemically and physically. In fact we make a choice between ________ and fight. And in more ancient days the choices made the ________ between life and death. The crises we meet today are ________ to be so extreme, but however little the stress, it requires the same response. It is when such a reaction ________ long, through continued exposure to stress, that health becomes ________. Such serious conditions as high blood pressure and heart disease have ________ links with stress. Since we cannot ________ stress from our lives we need to find ways to ________ it.

So what do you think of stress? What is your way to deal with it?

Keep Calm During the Hard Times

When life gets hard, sometimes it's not easy to control yourself and not to sink deep into the bad feelings. Have you ever wondered how some people can be so calm during the hard times？【小题1】 Here are four things you can do to get through hard times.

Cry if you need to-for a while. Some people like to control themselves.【小题2】 If you do control them, it's like holding a ball under the water. You can do it for a while, but it will finally come back to the surface. So have a good cry once in a while to help you think more clearly.【小题3】 Lost in the bad emotions, we won't change anything. Let's say you just lost your job. Maybe it is a shock. After crying, then you should make the decision to put your calm hat on. Start to find new jobs. Then do something.

Ask for help. Unluckily, a lot of people think that asking for help is a sign of weakness. It's not!【小题4】 Nowhere! Having other people support you will make you feel like you have more power than before.

Believe that things will get better. If you don't believe that things will change, then they won't. I always love Henry Ford's words, "Whether you think you can or you think you can't-you are right." If you think things will get better, then they finally will. If you think they won't, then they won't.【小题5】

Stay calm when life gets hard. If you practice these steps on a regular basis, sooner or later it will become second nature to you.

   You’ve got the part, so you must be able to act! There are some classic acting strategies that you’ll need to nail down (确定) to wow the crowds. Are you ready for your first Oscar?

Read over the play. Before you begin acting, at least read through a few scenes to get the feel of what the play is about. Figure out the genre (体裁) , and who are the character. 【小题1】

Get into the character. Now that you know more about the character, get in their shoes. If you can, tell your friends about it, and practice having a conversation or doing things as if you were the character. Talk like they would, walk like they would, watch the shows they would, and do the things they would. 【小题2】

【小题3】Stand up, memorize a couple of lines and practice moving with them. If the play doesn’t tell you what actions to do, do what you think the character would do. You are now the character. If he would hold his head while screaming, do that! Do what needs to be done.

Memorize your lines. 【小题4】 During practice, you want to make sure you work more on your acting than just reading off the book. If you are reading, your hands and eyes are occupied, so learn ahead of time.

Act and Learn. Be confident, whatever your character is supposed to be. If you must, practice being in the character an hour before the show. 【小题5】 Unless it is a one-man show, listen to their input. They may have better ideas and even ways to improve your actions. Take this to heart. If you must, ask multiple people what you should do.

   One effective way of destroying happiness is to look at something and focus on even the smallest fault. It’s like looking at the tiled（铺瓦的）ceiling and concentrating on the space where one tile is_____ .

Once I heard a bald（秃头的）man said，“Whenever I enter a room，_____ I see is hair.”Once you’ve_____ what your missing tile is，explore whether getting it will_____ make you happy. Then do one of the three things：get it，replace it with a different_____ ，or forget about it and_____ the tiles in your life that are not missing.

We all know people who have had a relatively easy life，yet are essentially unhappy_____ people who have suffered a great deal_____  remain happy.

The first_____ is gratitude（感激）.All happy people are ______ .Ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that being unhappy leads people to______ ，but it’s truer to say that complaining leads to people becoming unhappy.

The second secret is______ that happiness is a by-product（副产品）of something else. The most obvious______ are the pursuit that gives our lives purpose-anything______ studying insects to playing baseball. The more passions we have，the more happiness we are likely to______ .

Finally，the belief that something lasting for a long time goes beyond us and that our______ has some larger meaning can help us to feel happier. We______ a spiritual faith， or a philosophy of life. Whatever your philosophy is， it should ______ this truth：If you choose to find the______ in every situation， you will be blessed；and if you choose to find the awful， you will be cursed. As with happiness itself， this is______ your decision to make.