Bored？ Looking for a new challenge？ Youcan watch basketball， baseball， tennis， volleyball，and soccer games， or you can really enjoythem by joining your school team. Not intoteam sports？ How about playing chess，painting， or dancing...？

So many choices can seem over -whelming2. Then what are the benefits3 ofextracurricular activities？ You get to exploreyour physical， creative， social and careerinterests with like-minded people. You’ll findfriends. Trying something different may bringyou in contact4 with people you didn’t knowwho share your interests and curiosity5.

How to find the right activity for you？Review the activities your school offers andlisten to other students’experiences to find anactivity that meets your needs. Think aboutyour interests， abilities， and time. Have youalways wanted to give acting a shot？ Are you"tired of shooting hoops6 alone？ Are you lookingto meet friends or get support？ Don’t limityourselftothefamiliar.Trysomethingnew.

Things to think about before you make adecision also include：

Age. You may have to be a certain age orin a certain grade to join an activity.

Fees7. Do you have to pay to join？ Howmuch？ Are there fees for outings， uniforms， orother expenses8？

Physical condition. You may need to dosports. Your physical condition decideswhether a sport is a good choice for you.

Grades. Can you ensure that your gradesdo not drop after taking part in certainextracurricular activities？

Time. If you’re involved in competitivesports， you need to have the time to practiceand compete.

It’s important to keep a balance betweenschoolwork， extracurricular activities， sociallife， and your health. So think about itcarefully before you join. Will you have timeto eat， sleep， and relax？ If an activity adds lotsof stress to your life， it’s not for you.

你無聊嗎？在尋找新的挑戰(zhàn)嗎？你可以觀看籃球、棒球、網(wǎng)球、排球和足球比賽，也可以加入你的校隊(duì)來真正享受它們。不喜歡團(tuán)隊(duì)運(yùn)動？那么下象棋、畫畫，或跳舞怎么樣？

這么多的選擇似乎讓人應(yīng)接不暇。那么課外活動的好處是什么？你可以與志同道合的人一起探索自己在體育、創(chuàng)造、社交和職業(yè)上的興趣。你會找到朋友。嘗試一些不同的東西可能會讓你接觸到一些和你有共同興趣和好奇心的陌生人。

如何找到適合你的活動呢？回顧一下學(xué)校提供的活動，并聽取其他學(xué)生的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，以找到符合你需求的活動?？紤]一下你的興趣、能力和時(shí)間。你一直想嘗試表演嗎？你厭倦了一個(gè)人投籃嗎？你是想結(jié)識朋友還是尋求支持？不要將自己局限于熟悉的東西上。嘗試一些新的東西。

在做出決定之前你需要考慮的內(nèi)容還包括：

年齡。你可能必須達(dá)到一定年齡或年級才能參加某項(xiàng)活動。

費(fèi)用。你必須付費(fèi)才能參加嗎？需要付多少錢？還有外出、制服或其他費(fèi)用嗎？

身體狀況。你可能需要進(jìn)行體育運(yùn)動。你的身體狀況決定了某項(xiàng)運(yùn)動是否適合你。

成績。你能確保參加某些課外活動后你的成績不會下降嗎？

時(shí)間。如果你參加競技體育，你需要有時(shí)間練習(xí)和比賽。

在學(xué)業(yè)、課外活動、社交生活和健康之間保持平衡是很重要的。因此，在參加之前，要仔細(xì)想想。你有時(shí)間吃飯、睡覺和放松嗎？如果一項(xiàng)活動給你的生活增加了很多壓力，那就不適合你。

▏Notes

1. extracurricular 課外的

2. overwhelming 難以抗拒的，令人不知所措的；巨大的

3. benefit 好處，益處

4. contact 聯(lián)系，聯(lián)絡(luò)

5. curiosity 好奇心，求知欲

6. hoop 籃圈，籃筐

7. fee 費(fèi)用

8. expense 代價(jià)，費(fèi)用