When I was a little girl, my mom would say, “Half the fun of doing anything is sharing it with others.” {#blank#}1{#/blank#} Friends and mates allow us to enjoy our successes and our joys, comfort us in our hard moments, and provide a mirror for us to learn more about ourselves. I've always looked at friends as the family we choose. They enrich our lives. As Robert Louis Steven once said, “{#blank#}2{#/blank#}”.

    To be a good friend or partner, it's important to be a good listener. Hear what your friend or mate has to say first rather than jump to conclusions or get defensive. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} When they hear their words repeated back to them, it can help them to realize what they said was not exactly what they meant to say.

    {#blank#}4{#/blank#} You know the old golden rule, “Care for others the way you would like them to care for you.” The support of a friend during a tough time could make the difference between success and failure. Encouragement and confidence are the gifts that can help change a person's life.

    Take care, though, with whom you choose to have close relationship, for they can have a great effect on yourself – respect and life path. As someone once told me “{#blank#}5{#/blank#} They will either take you up or down.”

A. I am afraid so.

B. It is quite true

C. Friendship is the most important factor.

D. Sometimes it is useful to be their mirror.

E. A friend is a present which you give yourself.

F. The attitudes of your friends are like the buttons on a lift.

G. Patience, sympathy and understanding are also important qualities.

    It is easy to keep your spirits bright when life is going along smoothly and good news seems to turn up at every turn. It is an entirely different picture when life goes off course or bad news appears. The question then becomes: How do we keep our spirits bright throughout the different stages of life? {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Get Enough Sleep

    It wasn't until I became a mother that I realized how important a good night's sleep truly is. {#blank#}2{#/blank#}Sleep is such an amazing gift to recharge and start.

Back to Basics（基本）

    When I feel tired with too much to do, I love to put on my shoes and get outside for a run. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}Getting back to basics can include things like: getting outside, having real conversations with real people, enjoying a meal with a loved one or doing an activity that brings you joy.

    Time Management

    If life feels like it is out of control and you can't keep up, see what happens when you try to manage your time. There are many time management systems out there that can help. Have event reminders（提醒）on your phone and computer. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}Start your day by writing a list of what you plan to achieve. And sometimes we also need to let go of things that aren't important.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#}

    Keeping our deepest desires and dreams alive is the very fuel that keeps our spirits bright. Give yourself the gift of having goals and dreams, and don't allow fear to have a say in how big your dreams may be.

A. Dream Big

B. We can keep your spirits bright anytime

C. Set an alarm to remind you to leave early

D. Try out the following if they sound like a fit for you

E. For this reason, I should never feel tired in the outside

F. Getting enough pillow time has a way of making us feel more human

G. There's something about nature and fresh air that gets my stress away

    When was the last time you read a book or a magazine article? Do your everyday reading habits centre around updates on the Internet? In case you are one of innumerable individuals who don't make a habit of reading consistently（持续的）you may be passing up a great opportunity: Reading has a remarkable number of advantages and only a couple of advantages of reading are recorded below.

    Everything you read fills your head with new bits of information and you never know when it might be useful to you. The more knowledge you have, the better-equipped you are to overcome any challenge you'll ever face. Additionally, here's a bit of food for thought: Should you ever find yourself in terrible circumstances, remember that although you might lose everything else—your job, your possessions, your money, even your health—knowledge can never be taken from you.

    At the same time, the more you read, the more words you gain exposure to, and they'll surely make their way into your everyday vocabulary. Being able to express your ideas clearly in words is of great help in any profession and knowing that you can speak to higher-ranking people with self-confidence can be a great encouragement to your self-esteem（自尊）. It could even aid in your career as those who are well-read, well-spoken, and knowledgeable on a variety of topics tend to get promotions more quickly (and more often) than those with smaller vocabularies and lack of awareness of literature, scientific advances, and global events. Reading books is also vital for learning new languages, as non-native speakers gain exposure to words used in context, which will improve their own speaking and writing fluency.

    When you read a book, you have to remember a lot of characters, their backgrounds, ambitions, history as well as a variety of plots that weave their way through every story. That's a fair bit to remember, but brains are wonderful things and can remember these things with relative ease. Amazingly enough, whenever you remember something new, new synapses（神经元的突触）are formed and existing ones are strengthened. How cool that is!

    No matter how much stress you have at work, in your personal relationships, or countless other issues faced in daily life, it all just slips away（溜走）when you lose yourself in a great story. A well-written novel can transport you to other realms（领域）while an interesting article will distract you and keep you in the present moment, letting tensions drain away and allowing you to relax.

    Long ago, people believed that in the future we would work less, have more free time and get more relaxed. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    Today we work harder, work longer hours and have more stresses than ten years ago. We walk faster, talk faster and sleep less than previous generations. And although we use machines that save us time, we have less free time than our parents and grandparents. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} An American journalist James Gleick in a new book, says that people are suffering from "hurry sickness" — we're trying to do more things in less time. As a result, our lives are stressful. He says that if we don't slow down, we won't live as long as our parents. {#blank#}3{#/blank#}

Newspaper articles today are shorter and the headlines are bigger. Most people don't have enough time to read the articles, so they only read the headlines. On TV and the radio, newspapers speak more quickly than ten years ago. In the USA, there is a book called One-Minute Bedtime Stories for children. These are shorter versions of traditional stories, specially written for "busy parents" who want to save time! Some answer phones now have "quick playback" buttons so that we can replay people's messages faster— we can't waste time listening to people speaking at the normal speed! {#blank#}4{#/blank#} Ten years ago when people went to art galleries they spent seconds looking at each picture. Today they spend just three seconds! Nowadays, many people prefer faster and dynamic sports like basketball.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Our cars are faster but the traffic is worse, so we drive more slowly. We spend more time sitting in our cars, feeling stressed. Experts predict that in ten years the average speed on the road in cities will be only 17 km/h.

A.People didn't feel stressed ten years ago.

B.But unluckily, this has not happened yet.

C.Even when we relax we do everything more quickly.

D.But what is this doing to our health?

E.For most people, being faster doesn't mean being better.

F.The only thing that is slower than before is the way we drive.

G.Now everything is faster than before, which bring us more convenience.

    If you have ever been in a school play or even made to believe you were a doctor, a detective, or a space traveler, you know the enjoyment that acting brings. Almost all of us have the wish to play the part of someone — or something else.{#blank#}1{#/blank#}

    In the ancient world, acting was often connected with religious ceremonies and other special occasions. As far back as 2200 B.C., trained Chinese actors performed ceremonial dances in costume and makeup at harvest festivals.{#blank#}2{#/blank#}The imitation (模仿) of movements and gestures was gradually added to the dance, as well as the wearing of masks, the singing of chants, and finally the use of dialogue.

    While acting was coming into its own in the ancient Chinese classical theatre, it was doing the same in the western world, in Greece. From about 500 B.C. on, acting became a highly specialized art in Greece. Greek actors, however, still wore masks, and their motions (动作) were largely fixed by custom.{#blank#}3{#/blank#}

    Modern acting, by contrast, gives the individual actor great opportunity to develop his or her personal talents for serious, comic, or musical drama. The names, faces, and styles of famous movie actors are known worldwide.{#blank#}4{#/blank#}A special form of acting takes place in radio drama, which was highly popular before television. In radio drama the actors face a unique challenge. They are unseen by their audience. So they must rely on voice alone to make their characters real to the listeners.

    {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Only forty percent of Broadway actors are employed, most of them for only part of the year. Those who become stars need not only talent, but determination. They must not be easily discouraged. Otherwise, they might give up before the opportunity for fame presents itself.

A. The origins of acting are in the act of remembering.

B. Drama in Greece began with festivals honoring Dionysus.

C. It is believed that this was the first step in the development of acting.

D. Historical records indicate that this desire is as old as civilization itself.

E. Acting is not, as many people think, a quick, easy road to fame and riches.

F. Broadway and television provide other stages on which actors can display their talent.

G. Consequently, they had little opportunity to display their individual personalities.

Beijing Opera represents the finest combination of literature, music, dance, kung fu, fine arts and many other arts. Its way of performing is different from opera and drama. {#blank#}1{#/blank#}

Beijing Opera is a kind of art that pays equal attention to singing，speaking，acting and fighting. {#blank#}2{#/blank#} Meanwhile, Beijing Opera provides the opportunity to appreciate the pleasing artistic balance of the dance, the strength and music, even from only one act. {#blank#}3{#/blank#} According to the historical record, it dates back to the middle period of the Qing Dynasty. In the 55th year ruled by the Emperor Qianlong, the most famous four theatrical groups in Anhui went to Beijing to show their opera performance and then got a great success. Then, based on "Anhui Opera" and "Han Opera", and also mixed with characteristics of Beijing dialect, Beijing Opera was formed. {#blank#}4{#/blank#}

The Beijing Opera was officially formed after the 20th year of the Emperor Daoguang (1840). At that time, the forms of each kind of arias (唱腔) and the language characteristic of Beijing Opera originally came into being. New changes appeared in Beijing Opera's roles. {#blank#}5{#/blank#} Later, the first generation of the opera actors also appeared.

A. Beijing Opera is a kind of modem opera.

B. Actually Beijing Opera has its own characters.

C. Many roles of the Beijing Opera had appeared.

D. Because it was popular in Beijing, it spread nationwide.

E. Many people wonder what is the origin of the Beijing Opera.

F. It enables the audience to be inspired by language, music and fine arts.

G. Although in was formed in Beijing it didn't have its origins in Beijing totally.