Peer pressure is the phenomenon where we tend to get influenced by the lifestyles and the ways of thinking of our peers. Peer pressure can prove beneficial but it is often observed to have negative effects on society. 【小题1】 How does it affect us?

We tend to get influenced by the lifestyles of our peer group. The changing ways of life of our peers often force us to change our ways of looking at life and leading it. It's a human tendency to do what the crowd does. 【小题2】

When you do not like a particular idea, it is obvious that you won't like to follow it. For sure, you won't like to go that way. But it is your peer group that may force you to do something you hate. In such cases, there are chances that you won't do well in those things. 【小题3】 You cannot become successful in something you have never liked doing. So, it is important that you should not lose happiness of your life by giving in to peer pressure.

There are many teenagers who experience great pressure from their peer group that forces them to take to drinking. 【小题4】 In such cases, being overly pressurized by their peers can be harmful to their living. Some teenagers actually ruin their lives by giving in to peer pressure.

【小题5】 Extreme peer pressure may force you to go through everything they think right. You adopt their tastes of fashion, clothing, hair, music and general living. Then you lose your tastes of life and begin liking what they like.

For most people, graduation means the end of years of hard work. But my graduation day was not. I still remember that weekend two years ago. Many families flew in from across the country to watch our class walk across that stage. But we had seen the economy turn from bad to worse in my senior year.

We graduates with degrees, but very limited prospects (前途). I gathered up everything I couldn’t carry and put it into storage. Knowing the small university town couldn’t offer me any opportunities, I drove to Southern California to find work. But after I sent off a bunch of job applications, I found myself in the exact same spot as I was before. Now the day came for me to pay off my student loans(贷款).

Every morning I woke up, I felt anxious. How I hoped what happened to me was just a bad dream! Days felt like weeks, weeks like months. I felt painful and helpless in those months. And the most discouraging part was no matter how much I tried, I just couldn’t seem to make any progress.

So I began to write. Putting words on a page made everything seem a little brighter. And writing gave me hope. If you want something badly enough, sometimes a little hope is all you need!

I channeled my frustration(挫折)into a children’s book. Beyond the River was the story of an unlikely hero featuring a little fish who simply refused to give up on his dream.

And then one day, without any sort of writing degree---just a lot of hard work and perseverance(毅力)---I was offered a publishing contract for my first book! After that, things slowly began to improve. I was offered a second book deal. Then, a few months later, I got an interview with The Walt Disney Company and was hired shortly after.

If you work hard and give it time, things will always get better. Even if things seem hopeless now, don’t give up. Usually, our dreams lie in wait just a little further upstream. All we need is the courage to push beyond the river.

Students often ask me about writing for China Daily. Usually it’s along the lines of, “Why do you still teach, when you must be rich from all those columns you have published?” Actually, we “Hotpot” contributors don’t do this for the money. To most of us, this column’s just a place for us to share our experiences—often strange—about our everyday lives.

Recently, I addressed a group of students who were all studying to be writers, mostly in the field of medicine. All of them told tales of how hard they were working, and they all wanted to go out and make a name for themselves in the literary world. One of the students put his hand up, and asked, “What’s the best way to get a steady income from writing?” Twenty pairs of eyes focused on me as I thought about my next statement very closely. “Well,” I said, “have you thought of becoming a plumber (管道工人)? Or an electrician? Everyone needs a tradesman.” Their sharp intake of breath almost sucked the glass out of the windows, and a couple of students looked as if any second they would burst into tears. It was as if I’d kicked a puppy in full view of everyone.

I went on to tell them that it didn’t mean that they shouldn’t try to become famous in their chosen field. On the contrary, they should push harder, sharpen their skills and take every available chance to get ahead.

When I tentatively (尝试性地) put forth my first piece for China Daily, I never expected it to be picked up. I’d written it on my Phone, whilst standing at a bus stop in the snow, and sent it out of pure dissatisfaction with the whole public transport system. In fact, it wasn’t until I got an e-mail much later, asking me to expand it to 650 words, that I realized it was actually going to make it into print.

At that stage, the idea of money didn’t even enter into the equation (等式), and I was just more than happy to see my name on the page. Actually, it wasn’t until a few months later, when a sum of money mysteriously turned up in my bank account, that I even thought about it.

One thing then led to another, and I wrote more stories, often with a bit of back and forth help from Liu Jun, the column’s editor. At times it was an uphill struggle to try and change things around to fit the way she wanted it-but it was worth it.

It’s never been about the money. Sure, it’s nice, it buys bits and pieces along the way—but you couldn’t live off it. It’s been about telling the stories of the things that have happened to me from day to day, and generally trying to get people to see that there’s more in the newspaper than just doom and gloom!