Certain things confident people simply don't do.

They don't make excuses.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#}That's why you won't hear them blaming traffic for making them late. They don't make excuses, because they believe they're in control of their own lives.

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    Confident people don't give up the first time something goes wrong. They will figure out why it went wrong and how they can prevent it the next time.

They won't wait for permission to act.

    Confident people don't need somebody to tell them what to do or when to do it. Whether it's running a meeting or going the extra mile to solve a customer's problem, it doesn't even occur to them to wait for somebody else to take care of it. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

They don't need constant praise.

    Have you ever been around somebody who constantly needs to hear how great he or she is? {#blank#}4{#/blank#} . They don't think that their success is dependent on other people's approval, and they understand that no matter how well they perform, there's always criticism.

They won't put things off.

    Why do people postpone(拖延)? Sometimes it's simply because they're lazy. A lot of times, though, it's because they're afraid of change, failure, or maybe even success. Confident people don't sit around waiting for the right time. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. If they think it's not the right time, they make it the right time.

A. They don't quit.

B. They won't lose heart

C. Confident people don't do that.

D. They are not afraid of failure at all.

E. They see what needs to be done, and they do it.

F. They know that today is the only time that matters.

G. Confident people believe that they can make things happen.

    I grew up with a group of pets. As a mother, I was determined to provide my daughter with the same joyful experiences. Indeed, by the time my daughter was in elementary school, our house was known as "the neighborhood zoo". Now that she is a teenager, we've reduced the number of animals in our home, but we still live with two dogs. I can't imagine life without them.

    Regardless, I have become increasingly uncomfortable with the word "pet". When I came upon the conclusion by the University of Tennessee zoologist Gordon Burghardt that the best we can do for pets is a life of "controlled deprivation (剥夺)", I wished I had never bought Lizzy, our leopard gecko(豹纹守宫). I felt a pit in my stomach when I learned that Lizzy's constant clawing at the glass wall of her tank was most likely a signal of stress. It is perhaps not surprising that she died after only two years, despite our efforts to give proper care.

    The problems with the various small creatures we put into cages and tanks are relatively clear-­cut. More challenging moral questions, in my view, arise in relation to our closest furry friends: dogs and cats. Unlike animals that must spend their entire life in a cage or that must struggle to adapt to a human environment, most cats and dogs have it pretty good. Yet it is likely that our dogs and cats may be suffering in ways we don't readily see, because even the most well meaning owner doesn't always provide what an animal needs.

    It may be hard to recognize the harmful aspects of pet keeping when all we hear is how beloved pets are and how happy they are to be in our company. Advertisements showing golden­-haired children playing with golden-­haired puppies and YouTube videos of cats doing funny things make pet keeping look ever so precious.

    Yet if we really care about animals, we ought to know animals are not toys — they are living, breathing, feeling creatures.

    Imagine possessing something that you loved so much. Imagine what it would feel like if you lost it. While that item may be something as simple as a doll, you would still feel very upset, but you could replace it with a new one. Now imagine losing something that you depend on for survival and cannot be replaced. That is what it would be like if we lost the natural environment around us.

    Firstly, I believe the environment should be preserved because it supports human life. One of the largest examples is that we get all of our food and drinks from the environment. If the environment were to be destroyed beyond revival, then the human race would be over in months. Scientists have yet to find another planet with similar conditions to the Earth, and if it's found, we don't have the technology to get to that planet on time.

    Secondly, I believe that the environment serves as an amazing educational tool for students. When I was in second grade, I had an absolute interest in animals. When we had a field trip to the Daggerwing Nature Center, I was very excited. When we got there, I could hardly believe what I was seeing. There was a bridge to get to the main building, and under the bridge was a small swamp (沼泽) with turtles, fish, and my personal favorite, alligators. I was so surprised that I almost ran into the tour guide. We walked into the building and saw various animals in their habitats. I was so inspired by this visit. Six years later, I have taken an animal behavior class for three weeks. Meeting by chance with the environment can inspire people, and if preserved it will continue to inspire people.

    In conclusion, the environment is so valuable because it can't be replaced, keeps us alive, and serves as a great educational tool.

    To be sure, only children experienced some things differently from those with sisters and brothers. Many feel more pressure to succeed. They also tend to look only to their parents as role models in the absence of brothers and sisters.

    In India, 10-year-old Saviraj Sankpal founded a support group for the tiny minority(少数) of only children. Among other things, the group does volunteer work to fight against the false idea that they are not responsible. "People think we're treated too kindly and ruined," says Sankpal, a computer engineering student. "But I'd like to remind them how lonely it can get."

    Most only children, however, say they wish for sisters or brothers only when it comes to caring for aging, unhealthy parents. Britain's David Emerson, co-author of the book The Only Child, says that such a person has to make all the decisions alone. Emerson knows from experience. After his father died, he chose to move his elderly mother from their family home, where she was vulnerable (易受攻击的) to house breakers, to a new one with more safety. "The move was quite hard on her, and she might feel that I pushed her into it, "he says, "After all, I am left with that responsibility."

    In the future, more and more only children will probably face similar choices. With working mothers increasing, many families are finding they simply don't have the time, money or energy to have more than one child. As only children become common, perhaps the world will realize that the charge made against them is unfair.

    A person can use all five senses while spending time with dolphins. We can see them play in the waves, hear them call, and feel their skin. Dolphins can sense you, too, but not in all the same ways. They have good eyesight, for example, but no sense of smell. Sensory biologists try to understand connections between animal behaviors and the senses. One team of these scientists recently made an unexpected discovery about certain dolphins.

    The researchers found that Guiana dolphins can detect electric fields, an ability that may help them find fish to eat. The secret to this newly found sense, say the scientists, is hidden in the dolphins' snouts (口鼻部).

    "We were really surprised to find this in the dolphin. Nobody had expected it," said Wolf Hanke, who led the new dolphin study.

    Hanke and his team suspected the dolphin's electro－sense might have something to do with small dimples (酒窝) on the animal's snout. "We thought they must have some functions," Hank said. To find out for certain, his team studied two Guiana dolphins.

    The scientists first studied the dimples of a 29－year－old dolphin that had died of natural causes. Under a microscope, the dimples looked familiar: they were similar to the sensors used by other animals to detect electric fields.

    Next, Hanke and his team tested a live dolphin, a 28－year－old named Paco, to see if he could recognize an electric field. They taught Paco to swim close to a device that could create a weak electric field in the water. Then the team taught Paco to swim away from the device if he detected any changes. When the scientists created an electric field, Paco swam away—showing that he knew something had changed. When there was no electric field, Paco stayed there. When Paco's snout was covered in plastic, he didn't react to the electric field.

    Paco's behavior told the scientists that the dolphin used his snout to detect the tiny electric field. "This is a major breakthrough," Peter Madsen, a sensory biologist, said.

    Many of us know about Russia's Lake Baikal from our textbooks, or by listening to Chinese singer Li Jian's hit song, Lake Baikal. But over the past decade, the world's deepest freshwater lake has been in the spotlight for an extreme sport.

    Each March since 2005, about 150 people from around the world sign up for the Baikal Ice Marathon. They come to explore the lake's breathtaking beauty and challenge themselves in unpredictable conditions.

    The 26-mile (41. 84-kilometers) journey starts on the lake's eastern shore. In March, the ice is a meter thick and iron-hard. Runners cross this frozen surface, finishing on the western side of the lake.

    Known as the "blue eye of Siberia", Lake Baikal has exceptionally clear waters. This means its ice is almost perfectly transparent. "Seen from above, a runner on the ice looks as if he or she is jogging through space," The New York Times noted.

    The landscape might be beautiful, but it's also harsh. Strong winds blast (侵袭) across the lake and frostbite (冻伤) can occur within half an hour. Runners say the cold climate is what draws them. They want to test their limits.

    "When you are in such an environment, you don't have cars around you, you don't have the noise around. I think these extreme races allow you to be alone with nature," Alicja Barahona, a 64-year-old runner from the US, told ABC News.

    The location offers some strange and unique characteristics for this marathon. The finish line is visible from the start. But the endless white offers no progress markers. The race also ends with little fanfare (喧闹). Tourists crowding the ice are mostly addicted to snapping series (自拍) and just ignore the runners.

    For some runners, the absence of spectators makes the race more challenging, because it's lonely. They must fight with themselves. "You are alone on Baikal. It is your race. You are alone with yourself. All you need to do is to defeat yourself," Veronique Messina, a French runner, told the Telegraph.