During the recent school holidays I was walking past a playground on my way to a meeting. The thing that _____ me was not the number of children _____ the fresh air on a pleasant Queensland winter day，but the number of older people _____ those children.

Sure，there were a few younger mums and dads，but there were _____ more“old folk”who I doubt were all grandparents. It is great that they are able to _____ quality time with their grandchildren. After all，we often hear people say that their _____  for retiring（退休）is that they can devote more time to their families. However，I _____ how many grandparents are spending their retirement years taking on the role of full-or part-time _____ of their grandchildren.

Retirement is a(n) _____ time. We are generally living much longer than our own grandparents did, but as we ______ we become more limited in our ability to pursue our own ______. However, what if your plans for pursuing some of these lifetime dreams are ______ out of a sense of ______ for your family?

So how can you keep a ______ balance between helping out your family and ______ your dreams altogether？I'm not sure where the answer lies，but having an open and honest ______ with your family should be at the top of the list. You need to nip any sense of duty in the bud（对……一开始即加以阻止）— and sooner ______ later.

By all means，help your family whenever you can. Everyone will ______ from it，and your grandchildren will get the rewards from staying with their ______. Do it because you want to，not because you feel you have to. ______ spare time for yourself to realize your dreams and ensure that nobody puts your retirement on hold.

   "Which college are you going to？"Many high school students are often asked this question. For some，the answer is Harvard，Stanford，Princeton or another famous university. For others，it might be State U，a small liberal arts college or even a community college. Whether high school students' answer is a private top college or a large public university，it should be their best-fit choice.

Admission rates（录取率）of some of the country's top universities have been dropping for years up to now，with many admitting less than 10 percent of applicants. This makes these colleges all the more desirable to some applicants because they think being admitted to one of these highly selective colleges makes sure of success.

The truth is that the name brand doesn't make a college a good choice for you. Just ask one of the students who were admitted to all eight Ivy League colleges this year. He turned them all down to attend the University of Alabama，which best met his financial and academic needs.

Just like anything else in life，when something is a good fit，it works. Students that attend colleges that match their academic，social and financial needs，while still providing an academically challenging environment，are more likely to graduate on time. On the other hand，students who attend colleges that are not a good fit are more likely.to struggle，feel anxiety and stress，and fail to get out in four years. In fact，some of the colleges with the highest graduation rates aren't in the Ivy League.

It's a good fit that leads to good results — not the name of a school. Just look at some of the colleges with the highest starting salaries. Colleges like Montana Tech and Oregon Health & Science University are among the top 10 colleges with the highest early-career salaries-with Stanford and the Ivy Leagues only making the top 25.

No single college is going to be a great fit for every student，and this especially applies（适用）to the Ivy Leagues and other well-known colleges. That a college just has a famous name doesn't mean it's going to make sure of success in college or your career.

   Several recent cases of violence（暴力）against students at U.S. colleges have made global headlines，arousing questions about the safety of America’s campuses. Yet government data show that the number of violent assaults（袭击）at colleges actually has decreased in recent years. And most schools have worked to increase safety through technology and student behavior.

It’s also important for students to take responsibility for their own safety. Being familiar with local neighborhoods and campus services is key. Personal-safety expert David Nance says the most important thing students can do is be attentive-which means not being distracted by smartphones or other devices.

The website for the group PEACE OUTSIDE CAMPUS，formed in response to the murder of a student from the University of Delaware in her off-campus apartment in 2005，lists additional measures students can take：

1. Don’t walk alone after dark or while drunk. Contact a friend to take you where you need to go.

2. When driving，keep your doors locked，and park in well-lit areas.

3. Don’t wear earphones or play music so loudly that you are unaware of your surroundings.

4. Trust your instinct（本能）and don’t worry about overreacting. You’re better safe than sorry.

5. Avoid entering elevators with strangers. When this is unavoidable，stand by the control panel and，if faced with a threatening way，push the emergency alarm and all the floor buttons. Don’t press the stop button.

6. Don’t hold the door open for a stranger attempting to enter the house，even if it seems rude. Ask them to identify themselves.

7. Post the police’s and fire departments’ numbers by every phone，and put them into your cellphone.

8. Label your emergency contacts as ICE（In Case of Emergency）in your cellphone so officials will know who to contact for important personal or medical information.