When I was seven years old, I got the greatest Christmas gift ever.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}Now I realize I actually have the power to be a superhero. I may not able to fly, but I make a difference to someone's life. We all have the power to be a superhero to someone. Here are four ways you can be a real life superhero.

    {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Think about what it is. It could be your support, time, advice, a small gift or a thank-you card. Sometimes, even just the most harmless message can bring someone out of darkness and into the light. It's something that you have to give that can help others.

    Keep yourself healthy.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}Look after your body and helping people will be easier. You'll have a clear mind and energy to achieve any task in your way.

    Pick your fight. Every superhero has a battle. It's something that drives them to be the person they are.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}It could be anything such as working towards helping reduce the number of homeless people on the street. The fight does not need to be big, but it needs to be powerful.

    Make someone's day. Real life superheroes try to improve the lives of all the people they meet.{#blank#}5{#/blank#}You can also try your best to absolutely make someone's day every once in a while. The people who get your help will thank you for it.

A. What's your fight?

B. Stay happy all the time.

C. It was a Batman costume, complete with bell and shoes.

D. Use the things you have to help someone without them.

E. You can't be a superhero if you don't take care of your body.

F. They try their best to turn someone's bad day into a good one.

G. They just want to get up, save the world and forget it ever happened.

    Earth is home to around 7,000 languages, around half of which are expected to disappear by 2100.

    Languages disappear for many reasons. Sometimes younger generations stop learning a language because parents want children to fit in. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Native American children of the late-19th century were required to attend boarding schools where educators forbade them from speaking their native languages.

    The United Nations ranks endangered languages according to their risk level. For example, a "critically endangered" language is one that even grandparents don't speak often. New York's Onondaga language is an example with only 50 speakers left. An "extinct" language has no speakers. It is gone forever. Alaska's Eyak language is one example. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    {#blank#}3{#/blank#}In the same way, different languages contribute to cultural diversity. Saving these languages benefits our understanding of other cultures. Languages can show how a society looks at the world and what it values. A language may describe something in a way that is funny, too. In Welsh, it rains not cats and dogs, but old wives and walking sticks.

    The Endangered Language Alliance wants to save languages from disappearing. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} However, its efforts are limited. If an endangered language is going to make a real comeback, it'll probably get its start in schools. For nearly 100 years, public schools in Hawaii did not teach the Hawaiian language. Now students can keep learning in Hawaiian from elementary schools to college and beyond.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} At least one did. In 1881, a Jewish linguist named Eliezer Ben-Yehuda brought the 3,000-year-old language Hebrew back to life. Today it is one of the official languages of the country of Israel, with more than 4 million speakers.

A. The last person who spoke it died in 2008.

B. Why should we save endangered languages?

C. Various animals and plants benefit our environment.

D. With just 5 speakers left, it is absolutely endangered.

E. Can a language with zero native speakers come back to life?

F. Sometimes societies force minorities to give up their language.

G. The nonprofit group finds native speakers and records their stories.

    If you need to interview someone for an article but you have never interviewed before, it can be frightening. Here are some tips for preparing for and conducting a successful interview.

    {#blank#}1{#/blank#} If the person is a known author or speaker, take the time to read or listened to his/her work, or at least get familiar with his/her most recent or most important work. If the interview will cover events, review whatever is known publicly about those events.

    Being a recording device(录音设备). You can use your phone or an audio recorder. In this way you needn't struggle to write things down. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} And this will make it easier to include direct quotes when you start writing.

    Remember to make it a conversation rather than a list of questions. Prepared questions are just a guideline. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. You can also try to ask your interviewee about his/her personal thoughts and reactions to events and people they deal with.

Appropriate feedback(反馈) is also important. Feel free to say words that show you are listening, like “yeah” and “Mmmm”. {#blank#}4{#/blank#} You can also give more facial feedback like smiling.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} If the interviewee changes suddenly from one line of thought to another, lead them back to the area you are focusing on. Guide the interview but don't keep interrupting with many questions.

A. Politely ask if you can interview them.

B. Do your homework before you pick up the phone.

C. Then you can focus all your attention on the interview.

D. Consider how all the questions can be asked in a short time.

E. Nodding your head can be an encouragement to the interviewee.

F. In order to get the information you need, you should guide the interview.

G. You can try to ask questions based on what they have said to you in previous responses.

How old is “old”?

    How old is “old”? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}Two hundred years ago, you were old at 35. That was the average life then. At the turn of this century, as medical knowledge advanced, the average life span(长度) increased to 45. In 1950, 70-year-olds were really old. Today, a healthy 70-year-old is looking forward to many more active years.

    So, how old is old? The answer is one you've heard many times, from all sorts of people. “You are as old (or young) as you feel!” The calendar(日历) simply tells you how many years you have lived. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}

    Once an unknown author wrote,“ {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Nobody grows old by living a number of years; people grow old by giving up their goals.”

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Alice Brophy, when she was with the New York City commission for the Aging, said, “It upsets me when people say, 'Gee, you look young for your age!' What does that mean? Is there some model that you're supposed to look a certain way at 65 and 75 and 85? You know you can die old at 30 and live young at 80.”

There are many wrong ideas about aging. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}Here are some of the more common ones. For example, most older people are in poor health, or older people are unable to change.

A. Old is a point of view.

B. It's extremely terrible to be grown old.

C. The answer has changed over the years.

D. Your body tells you how well you've lived.

E. Older people are stubborn, unable to change.

F. Youth is not a time of life but it is a state of mind.

G. These ideas stereotype (固化) people on the basis of age.

    There are always a lot of pressures in life: appointments you are late for, health and financial worries and so on. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}. Under such pressure, your child came in: He'd lost his sneakers, and suddenly remembered that he needed a new notebook for school, or he was teasing his little sister.

    In your peaceful moments, you could probably have handled any parenting challenge much better from a state of calm. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}. How could this kid be so irresponsible, inconsiderate, ungrateful or even mean? So you scolded your child angrily. The whole process only took a few seconds.

    If your young child does not seem afraid of your anger, it shows that your child has seen too much of it and has developed defenses against it. The more often you get angry, the more prepared for it your child will be. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}. In the end, your child is more likely to be open to the influences of his peer group. That means you have some repair work to do.

    Sometimes your child gets angry too, so it's a double gift for you to find constructive ways to deal with your anger: Not only do you not hurt your child, but you also offer your child a role model. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}. So the best way is not to yell out. Stop and calm yourself down. Take a deep breath. {#blank#}5{#/blank#}. If you really need to scream, go into your car with the windows rolled up and scream where no one can hear, but don't use words.

A. The list is endless

B. Anger is scary enough

C. That deep breath is your pause button

D. How you handle your anger teaches your child a lot

E. There are some parents who never get angry at their children

F. And the less likely your child will want to behave to please you

G. But in the storm of your anger  you might feel it was your right as parents to be angry

Be a good Listener

    When communicating with others, we often focus (集中) on what we should say. {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Try the following tips to become a good listener.

    Pay full attention to the speaker. You can't listen effectively (有效地) if you're constantly checking your phone or thinking about something else. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} If you find it hard to do so, try repeating their words over in your head—it'll help you stay focused.

    Show your interest in what's being said. Nod and smile at the speaker from time to time. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} These show that you are listening with interest.

{#blank#}4{#/blank#} Listen without judging the other person or the things she tells you. If what she says frightens you, go ahead and feel frightened, but don't say to yourself, "Well, that was a stupid move." As soon as you allow yourself to be judgmental, you've decreased your effectiveness as a listener.

    Don't be a sentence-grabber. When you are trying to speed up the conversation by finishing the other's sentences, this usually lands you way off base. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} So what you need is patience, not speed.

A. Keep an open mind.

B. Look at each other in the eye.

C. The only way to find out is by listening.

D. But successful communication is more about listening.

E. Encourage the speaker to continue with small expressions like "yes" or "uh huh".

F. Stay focused on the moment-to-moment experience to pick up the important information.

G. You're following your own train of thought and ignore where the speaker's is headed.